The UN must be saved, however.

After the First World War, and given the carnage that conflict entailed, the belligerent countries, among others, founded the League of Nations as a multilateral organization with the goal of ensuring global peace and prosperity. Fine words that failed to halt either the rise of fascism in Europe or the Second World War. However, it became clear that in the post-colonial world, at least in appearance, that followed the new conflict, even bloodier than the previous one, a multilateral organization was needed in which all countries of the world would have the right to speak. The headquarters ceased to be in Geneva and was moved to New York, in the United States. Thus, the victorious power of the war, which held and still holds global military and economic hegemony, welcomed everyone to this headquarters. However, the Security Council was composed only of the powers that possessed nuclear weapons, the only ones with veto power.

This has worked more or less this way, with more or less crises, with more or less wars, since 1946. Now, however, the institution is possibly facing one of its worst crises. At all levels. On the one hand, an economic crisis resulting from the loss of contributions from major donors, especially the United States but also other countries, which will force it to lay off many workers and reduce many of its aid and development support programs. However, on the other hand, the main crisis is one of legitimacy. With US President Donald Trump at the helm, its main objectives: ensuring peace and security, respect for human rights, and development, are being called into question.

Right now, peace and security are not being achieved, and there are more conflicts than ever before. There are even genocides, as in Gaza, that no one knows how to stop and that not even the UN officially condemns. Respect for human rights, which would seem unquestionable, is, instead, what is suffering the most serious crisis. The entire culture war of Trump and his followers directly attacks the foundations of these rights, calling into question concepts shared until now such as equality, diversity, and minority rights. For them, human rights are "culture." woke", and machismo, racism and xenophobia are considered values to be defended. In this context, development is not, for this rising neoliberal ideology, a global objective, because they have no guilty conscience about the colonial exploitation of the poorest countries and they do not care what happens to the countries of the Global South as long as they profit from it. stop hunger and disease in these countries.

Trump, in his speech before the UN this week, hammered another nail into the coffin of multilateralism, which he would like dead and buried, although not everything can be given up for lost. now, the only space for conversation in which the smallest and most disadvantaged countries in the world can make themselves heard.