Читать книгу Black Panther and Philosophy - Группа авторов - Страница 46

For centuries, Wakanda pursued a policy of isolation fueled by the desire to maintain its traditions and by the spirit of nationalism. Outside Wakanda were the scourges of colonialism, slavery, and wars of conquest. For Wakandans the question was whether to maintain their isolationist ways or to join the international community. Should they share their vibranium-based technology, or perhaps use it to support oppressed people across the globe? We get an answer at the end of Black Panther. T’Challa establishes an outreach center at the building where N’Jobu died, and he appears before the United Nations to reveal Wakanda’s true nature to the world.

The United Nations is based on the notion that the member states have sovereign equality.⁴ Each state, regardless of size or population, is legally recognized as equivalent with every other state. The inequalities between states, however, are codified through the veto power granted to the five permanent members of the security council: China, Russia, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Notably, only international problems are within the jurisdiction of the United Nations. The UN Charter does not “authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state.”⁵ Increasingly, current wars have been civil wars, which do not legally fall under the provisions in the UN Charter. However, the prelude to and fallout from civil war can often demand UN attention: refugees seeking asylum often crossing international borders, and weapons of war being transported through transnational networks.

The UN is designed primarily to maintain international peace and security. Collective security is based on the proposition that potential aggressors will refrain from the use of force against another because they know ahead of time that their use of force will be met by all, or many, states joining together against the aggressor. The goal of achieving peace through collective security relies on several assumptions that will also help us understand why T’Challa believes that joining with the United Nations and building a community center is the best approach to solving the global oppression faced by people of African descent. The first assumption is that wars are preventable and will not occur if all parties exercise restraint. A second assumption is that aggressors, no matter who they are, should be stopped. This presumes that the aggressor can be easily identified by members of the international community. In many cases, though, it is difficult to tell who the aggressor is and who the victim is.⁶ Lastly, collective security assumes moral clarity, meaning that the aggressor is morally wrong because all aggressors are morally wrong. As a result, those who are right must act together to meet the aggression. This also assumes that the aggressors know that the international community will act to punish the aggressor, or those committing the initial injustice.

In practice, collective security has been difficult to achieve since World War II. In most cases, states dare not interfere in actions taken by an ally or foe, even if that state was the aggressor, for fear of starting another world war.⁷ The aggressor cannot always be easily identified and even if the aggressor can be identified, that party may not always be morally wrong. Trying to right a previous wrong is not necessarily wrong, nor is trying to make just a prior injustice always unjust. Ultimately, collective security in practice supports and maintains the status quo, leaving victims of oppression, both domestically and internationally, looking for answers.