Alfred-Maurice de Zayas Quotes

As an American citizen, I vote every two years, but I know that our two-party system has proven to be undemocratic. Indeed, whether I vote Republican or Democrat, I get more of the same, because both parties are committed to exceptionalism, imperialism, interventionism, Wall Street over Main Street. It is like having to choose between two beverages that almost taste the same, like Pepsi and Coca-Cola. Both parties approve of killing tens of thousands of civilians with drones. Both approve the use of radioactive depleted-uranium weapons. Both persecute journalists and whistleblowers who dare disclose the crimes committed in our name. Both parties are strongly pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian. Both impose illegal unilateral coercive measures on countries that do not obey Uncle Sam's political orders.

The United Nations is the best hope to spare humanity from the barbarity of war, from the senseless death, destruction and dislocation it brings about.

If you want to make America great again, all you have to do is to revive the legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Peace is not the silence of cemeteries, but the song of social justice.

We don’t want a dystopian future in which corporations and not democratically elected governments call the shots. We don’t want an international order akin to post-democracy or post-law.

It is the responsibility of all of us to remind governments of their commitments to settle disputes by peaceful means and to negotiate in good faith under the UN Charter, and to denounce war agitation particularly by the media.

In my reports to the United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council, I said that democracy means the correlation of the will of the people and the governmental policies that affect them. Democratic governance is much more than ritual periodic elections, but entails genuine policy choices, people's power to propose legislation, challenge laws and regulations by referendum, demand transparency and accountability from government.

Sterile legalisms, the fetishism of law — otherwise known as the doctrine of positivism — have emerged as a serious impediment to a world order based on the rule of law, which must also be the rule of justice

According to a 2014 report, the European Union is spending at least 315 million euros on drone-related projects.

Reduced military budgets will release funds for the promotion and protection of human rights and for addressing global problems such as pandemics, climate change, deforestation and acute water shortages.

The bearers of the right of self-determination possess justiciable rights, not mere promises.

War is over, if we want it” was one of John Lennon’s best messages, next to “Imagine”. Why can't our generation see the relevance of the songs to the Ukraine war? Why can’t our leaders learn from Wilfred Owen and Erich-Maria Remarque? It is time to speak truth to power. But it seems that our leaders are hooked on war. They actually want war, not peace, because some of our “elites” in the military-industrial-financial sector are making billions in profits, and the revolving door puts the CEO's of banks and corporations into government, so that they can continue funnelling taxpayers' money into the monstruous military machine. These “elites” do not care about the lives of the Ukrainian and Russian soldiers and civilians who are being slaughtered in the name of geopolitics and self-righteousness. The mainstream media nurtures generalized herd mentality and “groupthink”, which effectively negates our common sense and leads us to self-censorship, when we realize that we are expected to accept the propaganda or take the consequences. We find our “comfort zone” in going along with those who pretend to love Big Brother. Of course, there are many alternatives to confrontational politics and war – namely dialogue and compromise, which certainly do not entail greater risks than our present military policies that generate perpetual war. Only a climate of patience and perseverance will allow humanity to advance from anarchy to peace, from hatred to mutual respect.

Over the past twenty-five years bilateral international treaties and free trade agreements with investor-state-dispute-settlement have adversely impacted the international order and undermined fundamental principles of the UN, State sovereignty, democracy and the rule of law. It prompts moral vertigo in the unbiased observer.

To the extent that bilateral investment treaties and free trade agreements lead to violations of human rights, they should be modified or terminated

Moreover, a well-informed electorate is necessary for a functioning democracy. This means that there must be access to truthful information and a plurality of views. This is sabotaged both by government and private-sector manipulation of news. Far from advancing democracy, the U.S. media conglomerates and corporate press, including the New York Times and Washington Post, undermine it by "manufacturing consent" (Chomsky)