In the early 90s I wrote a story called The Rules of the Game. It was about kids coexisting in the backyard bush and I tried to model it on the UN and the various agencies, I guess according to how I perceived that organisation to have been intended. It was the time when the PLO wanted to sit in UN meetings. I thought at the time that it would be better to let those who thought differently in to the club rather than shut them out. Once in, everyone would have to abide by the rules. Naive?
Today, reading in the SMH that Western countries walked out of the UN Conference I’m rethinking those thoughts, but I still come to the same conclusion. You set up an organisation for a better world, your members have different viewpoints – some of which you align with under other circumstances depending on political stakes – so all you need to do is get your members to thrash things out at the conference table. Naive?
So you try and get everyone inside. What happens? I don’t want to go. I might get trapped. I might lose face. I might lose money. I might lose my job. OK, I’ll go. Childish?
So a lot of one side turn up and some of the other. The ones in the smaller group have been calling the shots for a long while so they know the ropes. But they seem to be finding the kitchen too hot and so walk out. I don’t want to stay. I don’t want to play. Not with you. I might lose. I might lose face. I might lose money. I might lose my job. Childish?
And offstage behind the scenes are men, women and children who just want to get on with their lives, want their children to have a life, to have a world; want their politicians and puppetmasters to stop playing dangerous games in which we all are the pawns; want them to grow up. Naive?
