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BOOK REVIEW: Zen Benefiel, “Planetary Citizens: Awakening the Heart of Humanity”

In Being a World Citizen, Book Review, Conflict Resolution, NGOs, Peacebuilding, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, United Nations on February 23, 2026 at 7:00 AM

By René Wadlow

Zen Benefiel, Planetary Citizens: Awakening the Heart of Humanity.

Chandler, AZ: Be The Dream Publishing, 2025, 126pp.

“I believe that the mark of the truly educated and imaginative person facing the twenty-first century is that he feels himself to be a Planetary Citizen.”

U Thant, former Secretary General, United Nations.

The current effort of Planetary Citizens is a reincarnation of a movement led by Donald Keys active from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. I was a member of the Planetary Citizens Advisory Board and Donald Keys was the United Nations (UN) editor for Transnational Perspectives, a journal I edited. Thus, Donald Keys and I were in close touch and cooperated on many projects.

The first objective of Planetary Citizens was to help people in as many countries as we could reach to cross the threshold of consciousness from a local and national perspective to the inclusive and global view required in this planetary era.

The office of Planetary Citizens in the Church Center for the UN, was directly across the street from the UN. The Center housed a good number of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the UN. Thus, the focus of Planetary Citizens was on issues which were discussed at the UN in New York. Cooperation was close with other Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) such as the Baha’i UN Office which shared a vision of world unity. Planetary Citizen identity cards were issued to those who requested it and affirmed their responsibility to a just world society. Some 200,000 people joined the effort, 60,000 in Japan.

The major effort of Planetary Citizens was the preparation and then the holding of a major conference held in Toronto, Canada, in June 1983. Some 500 people gathered to draft the “Declaration on the World We Choose” facing the challenges of a world with violence, human rights violations and persistent poverty. The Declaration identified three aims:

1) Self-Realization: The opportunity for achieving the individual human potential and realizing the essential spiritual identity of each person giving rise to oneness with all life, the assumption of responsibility and initiative in a spirit of cooperation.

2) Human Community: There is a natural progression from self-realization to the creation of vibrant communities capable of demonstrating cooperation and stewardship.

3) A United World: A cooperative world order characterized by membership in the family of humanity and by global governance based on justice. A result will be true international security.

Unfortunately, soon after the Toronto Conference, Donald Keys became ill and was unable to continue in a leadership role. As with many NGOs, too much responsibility rested on one person. When he/she is no longer there, the organization becomes weak and can shut down. This is what took place with the first incarnation of Planetary Citizens. All its papers and reports are now in the Peace Library of Swarthmore College near Philadelphia.

Zen Benefiel has revived much of the thinking and spirit of the original Planetary Citizens. As he notes, “The path ahead is not easy. It will take courage, collaboration, and commitment.” There is a need for bridge-building among the many groups working for the well-being of the Earth. There is a need for new kinds of leadership that feels comfortable with networking and nurtures creativity in others.

We wish the new incarnation all the best in the effort to create a just global society.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

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World Day of Social Justice: Renewed Efforts Needed

In Human Rights, Current Events, Human Development, Solidarity, The Search for Peace, United Nations, Being a World Citizen, Social Rights, NGOs, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding on February 20, 2026 at 7:00 AM

By René Wadlow

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly by Resolution 62/10 set February 20 of each year as the World Day of Social Justice. Today, as Citizens of the World, we can highlight world-wide gains in education, the reduction of extreme poverty, and the reduction of child labor.

Nevertheless, there are strong threats to social justice with inaction and apathy toward human misery. There is famine in parts of the world, armed conflicts, and uprooted and displaced populations.

The UN system is called upon to respond to these very diversified situations, often involving provisions of crucial direct aid to people in deep distress. At the national level, there is a need to place social justice at the core of policy making and to provide universal social protection.

Resolution 62/10 of the UN General Assembly

A particular aspect of the lack of social protection is the fate of small rural farmers. There is an increasing amount of rural productive land that is falling under the control of urban elites, sometimes urban elites in other countries. Land ownership inevitably involves the distribution of power within a society. One answer to why the rural poor stay poor is that they are rarely well organized. The least powerful among the rural poor – the tenant farmers, the landless laborers, the members of tribal societies – are the least well organized, the most easily divided and blocked.

Thus, there is a need for renewed efforts for social justice carried out by persons with a long-range holistic vision able to see trends and the links between different social situations. There is a need for long-term cooperation among universities, religious groups, and Nongovernmental Organizations. The World Day of Social Justice is a time for a rededication for positive action.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

Of related interest: Celebrating Social Justice: The People’s Revolution is On the March (February 22, 2015)

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Child Soldiers in Colombia: Action Needed

In Human Rights, Current Events, Solidarity, Conflict Resolution, The Search for Peace, United Nations, Children's Rights, Being a World Citizen, Humanitarian Law, NGOs, Track II, Latin America, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding on February 18, 2026 at 8:00 AM

By René Wadlow

The Association of World Citizens (AWC) has worked actively in the United Nations (UN) human rights bodies against the use of child soldiers in armed conflicts. The Association has also made direct Appeals to governments and militias that use child soldiers.

During the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1985) tens of thousands of Iranian youth, tied into groups to prevent their escape, threw themselves onto barbed wire or walked straight into Iraqi mine fields and faced machine gun fire. In at least twenty-one armed conflicts in different parts of the world, child soldiers have been used.

(C) International Crisis Group

February 12 has been set by the UN General Assembly as the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers. Thus, the Association of World Citizens along with the International Crisis Group with its headquarters in Belgium focused on the use of youth by militias, often involved in the drug trade, in Colombia where youth are forced into militias. There had been in 2016 a ceasefire agreement between the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the largest of the armed groups active in the country. This agreement has led many of those in the FARC ranks to be integrated into civil society. However, smaller armed groups have continued to be active. They are often involved in the drug trade as a way to finance their activities.

Thus, strong social action is needed, especially in those parts of the country inhabited by indigenous populations. Events in Venezuela also have an impact on Colombia and thus merit watching closely.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.

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