Poet-Philosopher Muhammad Iqbal on the League of Nations (Today’s United Nations)
By Dr Abdul Jabbar
San Francisco, CA
The League of Nations was the predecessor of the current United Nations. With its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the League was formed in 1920 after the First World War to maintain world peace and prevent international conflicts. It failed to do its duty just as today’s United Nations is proving itself to be useless. It could not prevent the Second World War just as the current United Nations is failing to stop the world’s drift toward the possible Third World War.
Iqbal’s Criticism of the League of Nations
In his Persian poem, “Pas che bayad kard, aqwam-e sharq” (“What Now Should Be Done, O People of the East”), Iqbal criticized the League, calling its representatives “coffin thieves.”
Life is a constant struggle.
The example of Abyssinia should teach us a lesson.
With no discussion or debate, Europe’s law
Has permitted wolves to devour lambs.
We need to design a new world order.
No hope is possible from coffin thieves.
What is in Geneva other than cunning and deceit?
It is a system of agreed-upon hunting territories. (My translation from Urdu)
What Iqbal said so long ago about the League of Nations is fully applicable to the current United Nations, which can also be called “a system of agreed-upon hunting territories.” Just as a handful of powerful European countries dominated the League of Nations, the five countries with the veto power rule the United Nations today. The veto-wielding countries make a mockery of democratic values, as they keep the remaining 188 member states powerless to prevent catastrophic slaughters, such as the one we are witnessing today in Gaza. Had there been no veto, the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza would have been stopped as soon as it started on October 7, 2023. Similarly, had Russia not vetoed the UN Security Council’s resolution to stop the Syrian Civil War, nearly a quarter million Syrian lives could have been saved. Examples of the murderous effects of the veto abound, but limiting our discussion to Gaza, the United States used its veto power four times to kill the Security Council’s resolutions for a ceasefire, resulting in the deaths of over 50,000 defenseless, innocent Palestinian civilians.
Iqbal’s Poem “Abyssinia”
“Abyssinia” is another of Iqbal’s poems that points to the League of Nations’ failure to stop aggression. Iqbal condemns Italy’s undeclared invasion of Abyssinia (today’s Ethiopia and Eritrea) in 1935. Italy occupied three-fourths of the country and kept it as a colony until the Allies liberated it in 1941. Iqbal expresses deep disappointment at this desecration of the Pope’s “High Church.”
Abyssinia
The European vultures are still unaware
Of the poison in Abyssinia’s corpse.
That long-dead body is about to fall apart any moment.
The acme of material civilization has become
The nadir of decency.
Nations sustain their economies through plunder.
Every wolf is forever crouching to pounce on an innocent lamb.
What a shame that Rome has shattered in plain view
The image of the High Church.
O Pope, this fact is heart-breaking. (My translation from Urdu)
“We Need to Design a New World Order”
Those words from Iqbal’s aforementioned Persian poem “pas che bayad kard” (“What Now Should Be Done”) express the world’s need plainly and forcefully. His following words from the poem are especially noteworthy:
The acme of material civilization has become
The nadir of decency.
In a similar vein, Iqbal had expressed his deep dissatisfaction with the Western civilization when referring to the First World War he had said, “That is not the rosy dawn of a new age on the horizon of the West, but a torrent of blood.” To benefit from the wisdom of the towering thinkers like Iqbal, we can look at the United Nations, the world body that was formed in 1945 at the end of the Second World War with similar goals as those of its predecessor, the League of Nations. An organization like the United Nations should have the power to enforce its resolutions and impose sanctions on the offending countries regardless of how powerful they are. No country should be allowed to continue committing crimes against humanity with impunity. The world should unite and act quickly to stop such aggression. The simple majority decision is all that it should take to isolate and punish the criminal country. This ability is woefully lacking in the current United Nations. It is for that reason that we continue to witness the pulverization of weaker nations by the much stronger states, wolves devouring lambs, in Iqbal’s words.
How the Veto Can Be Ended
The way the United Nations is currently structured, five member countries hold the veto power. If one of those five countries decides to go against the Security Council’s resolutions, it can use its veto power to kill the resolution. The US has used its veto power more often than any other country, nearly fifty times just to protect Israel’s violations of international law. Holding the 192 out of a total of 193 UN member states captive to one veto-holding country makes no sense and is the cause of most of the world’s explosive problems.
Proposed Reform
According to the UN Charter, the five veto-holding countries have to agree to end their veto power; otherwise, they can kill the UN Security Council’s veto-ending resolution, thus making it impossible to implement it. Speaking for the international community, a recognized leader, preferably a former UN Secretary General should request those five members to surrender their veto power to make the world body democratic. The acting Secretary General may not have the authority to make such a suggestion. In case of non-cooperation from any of those five countries, the remaining countries should form a new world body without the veto power. The headquarters of the new UN could be anywhere in the world. If the current veto-holding countries wish to join this new, vetoless world organization, they should be allowed to do so.
Lives of Millions Are Threatened
Limiting our discussion to Gaza, it appears that after occupying Gaza, Israel intends to drive out Palestinians from the West Bank. If the veto is not ended, the US will continue to use its veto power at the UN to enable this destruction of nearly six million Palestinians. Apparently, there is no other choice but to end the veto at the UN or form a new world body that is egalitarian and democratic. It is that kind of a decisive and bold step that Muhammad Iqbal would have suggested had he been living today.
(The author is an Emeritus Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies at City College of San Francisco and author of the book, “Not of an Age, but for All Time: Revolutionary Humanism in Iqbal, Manto, and Faiz,” published by Peter Lang International Publisher)
