PEOPLE POWER FUTURE TAPES INTERVIEW ROBERT MULLER
BACKGROUND
At the time of this interview in 1983, Robert Müller (1923-2010) was Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the Co Founder and Chancellor of the University for Peace in Costa Rica. A native of Belgium, he grew up in Alsace-Lorraine, was in the French resistance in WWII.
He was instrumental in the conception of many multilateral bodies, including the UN Development Programme, the World Food Programme, the UN Population Fund, the World Youth Assembly, and the UN-backed University for Peace in 1980. He rose through the ranks at the UN to the official position of Assistant Secretary-General and served under three Secretaries-General.
Robert Muller created a "World Core Curriculum" that earned him the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in 1989. The World Core Curriculum helped inspire the growing Global Education movement. More than 30 Robert Muller Schools were founded throughout the world, including LIFE School in Panajachel, Guatemala, from which students have gone on to pursue degrees in International Affairs.
He was the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including the Albert Schweitzer International Prize for the Humanities and the Eleanor Roosevelt Man of Vision Award.
Robert Muller was an early participant and supporter of the Global Vision Project.
At the time of this interview in 1983, Robert Müller (1923-2010) was Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the Co Founder and Chancellor of the University for Peace in Costa Rica. A native of Belgium, he grew up in Alsace-Lorraine, was in the French resistance in WWII.
He was instrumental in the conception of many multilateral bodies, including the UN Development Programme, the World Food Programme, the UN Population Fund, the World Youth Assembly, and the UN-backed University for Peace in 1980. He rose through the ranks at the UN to the official position of Assistant Secretary-General and served under three Secretaries-General.
Robert Muller created a "World Core Curriculum" that earned him the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in 1989. The World Core Curriculum helped inspire the growing Global Education movement. More than 30 Robert Muller Schools were founded throughout the world, including LIFE School in Panajachel, Guatemala, from which students have gone on to pursue degrees in International Affairs.
He was the recipient of multiple awards and honors, including the Albert Schweitzer International Prize for the Humanities and the Eleanor Roosevelt Man of Vision Award.
Robert Muller was an early participant and supporter of the Global Vision Project.
This is the transcript of a video interview produced and directed by Michael O'Callaghan as part of his Future Tapes interactive video exhibit in 1983.Full transcript (272 words, slightly edited for clarity).© 2019 Global Vision Foundation.
MICHAEL O'CALLAGHAN: How do you feel about the future?
ROBERT MULLER: The future of Humanity on this beautiful planet of ours is going to be essentially what we are going to make it. We are now four-and-a-half billion people. [The number has increased to 7.6 billion as of May 2018 - Ed.] Think for a moment, how much the future will depend on the individual actions, on the individual peace, happiness, good behaviour, kindness and love of all of those people. This is the great key to the future.
The future is no longer going to be in the hands of a few governments, a few inventions, a few corporations. No! It is the people of this planet who have the future in their hands. The way we behave towards the elements, the way we conserve on energy, on water and food - and above all, our happiness! Those at least who are no longer hungry, who have a job, who have gone to school, they must be grateful to God for the greatness of life.
And we must see our happiness now for the entire planet, so that there will be no more wars, no more hunger, no more illiteracy, no more great diseases on this planet. And we are working on it! Of course there are many, many things that are wrong, because we're just coming out of the cave ages of our history. It is for the first time that we are living in a global world. So there are many hesitations still about that future. But after my thirty-three years at the United Nations, I am really thrilled, and very very confident about the human future.
ROBERT MULLER: The future of Humanity on this beautiful planet of ours is going to be essentially what we are going to make it. We are now four-and-a-half billion people. [The number has increased to 7.6 billion as of May 2018 - Ed.] Think for a moment, how much the future will depend on the individual actions, on the individual peace, happiness, good behaviour, kindness and love of all of those people. This is the great key to the future.
The future is no longer going to be in the hands of a few governments, a few inventions, a few corporations. No! It is the people of this planet who have the future in their hands. The way we behave towards the elements, the way we conserve on energy, on water and food - and above all, our happiness! Those at least who are no longer hungry, who have a job, who have gone to school, they must be grateful to God for the greatness of life.
And we must see our happiness now for the entire planet, so that there will be no more wars, no more hunger, no more illiteracy, no more great diseases on this planet. And we are working on it! Of course there are many, many things that are wrong, because we're just coming out of the cave ages of our history. It is for the first time that we are living in a global world. So there are many hesitations still about that future. But after my thirty-three years at the United Nations, I am really thrilled, and very very confident about the human future.