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MEMBERS

David Thompson

1) When did you join the World Federalists?
It's so long ago, I don't remember!  It was probably in the early 1980s when I was active in the anti-nuclear weapon movement.

2) Why did you join the World Federalists?
Because as long as nation states cling to absolute sovereignty – in particular the right to go to war – human survival will be tenuous.  There will always be rogue states. Some of them will eventually turn to nuclear, biological or chemical weapons and wipe us all out (and much of the rest of life on our planet.) 

3) What do you like about the World Federalists?
Their long-term thinking.  Most activists are (understandably and justifiably) concerned about immediate issues – child poverty, starvation, drought, AIDS, tsunamis, recessions, etc.  Unless we can create global governance institutions, we will lurch from crisis to crisis forever.

4) What would you like to change about the World Federalists?
Our ages!  It is not just that I'd like to be 50 years younger I'd like most of our membership to be much younger than we are.

5) In your view, what are the most important global governance issues these days?
Eliminating weapons of mass destruction, preventing climate change, reducing global inequality, reforming the mass media, establishing democratic institutions globally and locally.

6) Who is the political figure or political activist that you most admire?
A hard choice. Perhaps Nelson Mandela for his perseverance in sticking by his principles while both powerless and powerful.

7) When you explain world federalism at a party or other public social occasion, what do you say?
Once upon a time, the thugs who were most violent oppressed everyone else. Within nations, we have learned ways to overcome this oppression. Now we need to do the same between nations. 

8) Any other comments or anything else you would like to share about yourself and/or the organization?
Since the founding of the World Federalists over three-quarters of a century ago, global governance and the rule of law have advanced enormously.  World Federalist thinking has always been ahead of the process and has occasionally instigated it.  Currently the world is in fact being globally governed, more or less. The task now is to figure out how this governance can be democratized.