Humanity needs an alignment for peace 
In 1955, a conference of African and Asian states was held in Bandung, Indonesia, and amid the intense bipolarization opposing Warsaw Pact-aligned nations with those on the side of NATO, these mostly newly-independent countries gave rise to what we now call the Non-Aligned Movement.
The NAM promoted cooperation, disarmament, decolonization, fairness toward developing countries and the overall objective of peace. The movement still exists and represents 55 percent of the world population, the largest grouping of states after the UN.
Today, an alternative source of power lies not so much with a grouping of states but with the broader group of global public opinion. As we have witnessed, the UN has been almost entirely ineffective in dealing with the world’s grimmest challenges in Gaza and Ukraine.
Now the strength of global public opinion has emerged as a powerful voice for peace, and opposition to the policies of states actively or passively enabling the warring parties and prolonging the suffering of innocent people.
There was a time when the injustices perpetrated against the Palestinian people were highlighted almost exclusively by the Arab world. While the rest of the world has also given voice to the suffering of Palestinians, it is an entirely new phenomenon to see Americans take to the streets in numbers and with regularity.
The planet needs a new force for balance, decency and humanity. We can each call such a grouping what we want, my own term shall be ‘Humanity’s Alignment for Peace.’
They have come out to denounce Israel’s indiscriminate killing of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians and the razing of Gaza to the ground. US politicians — long firm allies of Israel — have felt the pressure and been compelled to impose some clearer and more public limits on Tel Aviv’s actions.
The UN Security Council today unfortunately resembles a doctor with cholera trying to revive a person dying from a car accident, while the EU has shown through Brexit and far-right wins across Europe that it is not immune to breakage. It is time for humanity itself to take responsibility for peace, stability, tolerance and compromise.
Global public participation is the one force able to make a difference today, a force that is not erratic, that does not waver and does not seek vengeance. We cannot leave the world’s greatest challenges to politicians who find themselves prisoners of narrow interest groups and big business.
This is because it is clear for all to see how our environment and scores of innocent civilians have suffered as a result. Global public opinion must become a much stronger part of the world’s power equation.
The planet needs a new force for balance, decency and humanity. We can each call such a grouping what we want, my own term shall be “Humanity’s Alignment for Peace.”
We need a power for good in this world that is not tied to other interests and does not risk going mad with nuclear weapons. The institutions of the West have unfortunately failed to bring peace and common ground.
Global public opinion can today be harnessed for the good of our planet and all of humanity.
• Hassan bin Youssef Yassin worked closely with Saudi Arabia’s petroleum ministers, Abdullah Tariki and Ahmed Zaki Yamani, from 1959-67. He led the Saudi Information Office in Washington from 1972-81 and served with the Arab League’s observer delegation to the UN from 1981-83.
