Beyond the grave

On the 2nd of October, the United Nations commemorates World Peace Day. The idea is to promote peaceful cooperation between people, one of the founding principles of the UN. Dag Hammarskjoeld, the UN's second Secretary-General, dedicated his life to working towards a harmonious world.

He died in a plane crash in September 1961, while he was on a peace mission to Congo. He is still seen as the most influential leader the UN ever had. World in Progress talked to the executive director of the Dag Hammarskjoeld foundation, Professor Henning Melber.

Deutsche Welle: When Dag Hammarskjoeld died 50 years ago, the state of the world was pretty dramatic - the Cold War and several conflicts were going on, and a lot of counties were being decolonized. Do you think the world has become more violent since Hammarskjoeld's time?

Henning Melber: Well as you said, the world was very much polarized then, we had the East-West conflict, we had the nuclear arms race at its peak, so it was certainly not an easy job.

But I believe the job hasn't become easier now, 50 years later.

Instead of 50-odd states in the United Nations, we have close to 200, the East-West polarization has shifted to a north-south divide, the world is as little governable today as it was then.

What adds to that is we do not have the ethics of global leadership which were represented by people like Dag Hammarskjoeld. It might be speculative to think about what would happen if he was with us today, but I think we are on safe ground to conclude that he would never have stood a chance of becoming Secretary-General of the United Nations because it would not be in the interests of the big powers to have someone of Hammarskjoeld's caliber.

That in itself speaks against the diagnosis that we are living in a better world today.

When I ask people in my environment - journalists, colleagues, younger people - most of them have never heard of Dag Hammarskjoeld. Do you think they should know about him?

Yes, I think they should. But more importantly if you move in UN circles, it is quite heart-warming to see how many international civil servants do know who Dag Hammarskjoeld was and what values he represented.

They are in dire need of leadership that resonates with these ethics of global responsibility, but they are denied that leadership. We are living in a time where whistle-blowers in the UN system are punished. Dag Hammarskjoeld would have welcomed and encouraged whistle-blowing, so we really live in a dramatically changed world half a century later.

But I think we are also looking for ethics and values, especially the younger generation. We see young people coming to the Dag Hammarskjoeld Foundation - they discover Hammarskjoeld thorough 'Markings', the book he left behind, and they find a meaning in duty that makes sense to them.

I am pretty optimistic that even if for bad reasons they are starting to look for role models and Hammarskjoeld is definitely one.

Why do you think he was so especially inspiring - he was killed in a plane crash, you only see black an white pictures of him - but what made his personality so outstanding, almost larger than life?

Like many others who were denied the chance to live life to its fullest extent there is a tendency to idolize, but beyond that he represented the utmost integrity and loyalty to values. He didn't compromise his fundamental principles, he very often made reference to the United Nations as an organization based on the fundamental principle of solidarity. We hardly hear the world solidarity these days.

And on top of it, he was a person who combined several very different approaches.

He was not only a politician, for him it was politics, a love for nature, a love for art and being deeply religious, and he combined all of that in what he did.

It is very difficult to find a leader in the world today who is open to all these different dimensions of life.

Why do you think our current political leaders are so bland compared to such an outstanding character?

Maybe the first part of the 20th century provided more space for such characters to develop and flourish and be visible.

Albert Einstein would be another example who represented not only science, but philosophy and a love for peace and commitment. We hardly see any Albert Einsteins today. But even then I think they were a pretty rare species.

For him (Hammarskjoeld) the United Nations had to represent the weak states, the voiceless in the world. And his office was supposed to be independent of the strong states because he said they already have more than enough influence in the world.

But the strong states also opposed him very strongly if you think about Khrushchev calling for him to step down.

Yes, and later on the French. A cartoon was published in the New York times and it showed Nikita Khrushchev and General Charles de Gaulle, and Khrushchev had something on his jacket saying 'I don't like Dag', and de Gaulle had something on his uniform saying 'I don't like Dag either'. And Hammarskjoeld said 'I take this as a compliment.'

I believe you did a bit of research into the plane crash and the circumstances of Dag Hammarskjoeld being killed in 1961. Do you believe it's possible that he was killed by people who didn't like his approach?

I am reluctant to make ultimate statements or conclusions, but what is obvious is that there are a lot of questions and no good answers.

There is a lot of evidence which would suggest that it might not have been a pure accident. He stood obviously for something which was in the way of hegemonic interests.

We at the Dag Hammarskjoeld foundation say it is more important to stress what he represented, what he lived and died for instead of wasting energy on the circumstances of his death.

Hammarskjoeld, I think was a very optimistic person despite all the challenges he faced. He allegedly said he was optimistic about the future because there would always be enough people to fight for a decent future. What hope do you have that this is true?

Exactly as he said then, that there are enough people who are willing to commit their energy to the values Hammarskjoeld promoted. And you have those people, very courageous people the world over, they are the ones who induce change. Normally in our world, change doesn't come from the top, it comes from the bottom. We have witnessed it in the Arab Spring and other social movements. People are willing to sacrifice their lives for their values and I think that is indeed the salt of the earth, that is the hope that there are always enough people who are willing to change the world for the better.

Interview: Anke Rasper (tw)
Editor: Tamsin Walker