The Dag Hammarskjöld Year:
Could a new Hammarskjöld be found now?

By Gunnar Westberg, TFF's board


In 2011 it was 50 years since Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane accident in Africa. To this day we do not know if there was a pilot error or if the plane was shot down or sabotaged, maybe on order from one of the big powers. During 2011 several conferences were held at which Hammarskjöld’s life and legacy were discussed.

When Hammarskjöld was appointed United Nations Secretary General he was seen as a civil servant from a neutral country who was unlikely to cause any trouble for the big powers in the Security Council.



Dag Hammarskjöld was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously in 1961. Photo UN/DPI


However, Hammarskjöld had his own vision. His perspective on history was that society develops from the family or clan into the village and on to the nation state. Now the time had come to advance further - to the beginnings of a world community, governed by international law. The UN was a first manifestation of world governance. The road ahead was unchartered.

Hammarskjöld was held in great respect also by those who didn’t agree with him. I once met an elderly US diplomat who had worked in the UN in the fifties: “We saw him as the greatest person alive. Here was a man who read poetry and philosophy in several languages, who read Meister Eckhart and
Martin Buber, and who lived what he learnt. He was an inspiration to us all.” President Kennedy called him the “greatest statesman of the century”. His work for the UN was carried forth with vision, pragmatism and creativity.


Markings

After his death a kind of diary of “my dealings with God” was found and published under the title of "Markings".

The book is important for anyone who wants to understand Hammarskjöld - a man who lived with a heavy feeling of duty even calling, tempered by mysticism. Today, the interest in Dag Hammarskjöld as a thinker is as great as the interest in him as a statesman.

Read "Markings" slowly; it is a meditation. Unfortunately, the translation into English by W.H. Auden is less than congenial. Do not read the Preface by Auden; it gives a perspective on Auden, but a misleading one on Hammarskjöld!



Hammarskjöld's desk in his farmhouse (see below)
in Backåkra in southern Sweden. Photo Jan Oberg


Can a new Dag Hammarskjöld be found today?

The UN is in need of thorough reform. Actions by the Security Council, responsible for keeping peace in the world, are often blocked by the veto of the permanent members. In addition, powers go to war without a mandate from the UN, as in Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, or carry out military action far beyond the UN mandate, such as in Afghanistan and, most recently, in Libya.

The big powers have so far successfully prevented the election of a strong Secretary General who could possibly increase the independence of the UN. However, the role of the Secretary General could be developed considerably.

Article 98 of the UN Charter says that the Secretary General shall perform such functions as are entrusted in him by e.g. the UN General Assembly. With the support of the Assembly, the Secretary General could have extensive powers. Article 99 says that the Secretary General may bring to the attention of the Security Council threats against international peace. Even the most powerful states can not prevent him from taking up matters he deems of the highest importance.


Could Hammarskjöld have prevented the Iraq War?

If the Security Council is unable to take action to keep the peace, the UN General Assembly can overrule the Council and take measures to avoid a war. The General Assembly could then force a party, even a superpower, to refrain from military action by using sanctions against it. In the case of Iraq, it would have been sufficient if some of the biggest oil-exporting countries would have refused to accept payment in US dollars. I believe that that would have stopped the war.

Unfortunately, this action was not taken - and not even seriously considered - because the loss of the US dollar as the foundation of the international currency system would have been a catastrophe for the international markets. Be this as it may, the status of the dollar is in decline and even a limited threat against the US currency could have been sufficient.

Other sanctions could be considered - the boycott of French wine stopped the nuclear testing in the Pacific...

A new Hammarskjöld? An action by the UN General Assembly to prevent war? Such developments seem unlikely today.

But the times they are a-changing, and during the last quarter century we have seen that very unlikely and positive developments do occur, even more unlikely than a reform of the United Nations. Let us not despair.


Links to more information about Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hammarskjöld

The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation

Quotes from Dag Hammarskjöld's book "Markings"




Hammarskjöld's farmhouse in Backåkra at the south-eastern tip of Sweden situated in a breathtakingly beautiful landscape. He withdrew to this place for writing, contemplation and walks, being so much of an outdoor man.
Close to it, there is a large round place for meditation melting into the hilly landscape and facing the sea.
Due to financial problems, this place is closed all 2012 while it is hoped that funds can be raised for quite comprehensive renovation of both the house and its beautiful courtyard. One would like to believe that Sweden will not let this place of simplicity and beauty, even peace, disintegrate. Photo Jan Oberg