di Derek Boothman
Testo integrale

Peace in our era should not be understood as solely the absence of war; it must also imply something positive, namely a just and balanced relationship between the peoples of the world. Currently the powerful States of the "North" of the world dictate the rules of the game by imposing conditions that are not always to the benefit of the weaker nations. It may be appreciated that, in the example outlined in the translation exercise, Southern countries may have their debt reduced but

• the enormous debts built up in the developing world reflect the desire of financial institutions in the Northern world to make profits without regard to criteria of whether, during the years of debt accumulation, they were introducing distortions into the economies of the debtor nations;
• debt-for-equity exchange mechanisms may alleviate current crisis situations, but they do so at the expense of extending the economic and hence also political control of the wealthy "North" of the world over the countries of the "South".

Inequality in power relations is hence consolidated, with the consequence of social tensions building up and increased risks of warfare in various forms through the exasperation of the world's disinherited, "the wretched of the Earth" to use the English translation of Frantz Fanon's borrowed phrase "les damnés de la terre".

For the peoples he was referring to, Homer's three thousand year old expression is still valid:
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes - I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts.