Institutionalized aggression can take many forms; in the UN, agencies like the World Bank and the Security Council reward economic and military aggression with positions of privilege vis-a-vis other states. Indeed, nuclear arms play a key role in determining which states have the greatest influence in world affairs. Legitimizing aggression with the UN imprimatur allows NATO and its member states to exercise unilateral violence against states contesting this hierarchy of the new world order.
Political violence by the UN against indigenous nations involves confiscation of Fourth World properties without their consent, rationalized by philosophies of dominance like the Doctrine of Discovery, plenary powers, and national security. While charges of racial discrimination are levied against member states by the Human Rights Council, the UN itself practices exclusion based on forms of social organization; even as the global body celebrates cultural and biological diversity and bestows human rights on indigenous peoples, it simultaneously funds development programs intent on both ecocide and genocide.
Yet, despite the hypocrisy of the UN, the states and nations of the world need a place to talk about our mutual future. The fact that that future is imperiled by the institutionalized aggression there may be cause for cynicism, but it should not be an excuse for inaction. There is simply too much at stake.
