office@ecpd.org.rs; +381 11
3246-041/2; +381 11 3240-673
Athens
Greece, June 2021
Clinton
Foundation, USA
I once forwarded a Letter-Proposal to
the prestigious Clinton Foundation (October, 2018). Its title: Public Health & Health Diplomacy: Greece and the Balkans with
American Input. It seemed then to nestle nicely within the Clinton Foundation’s three programmatic goals. Since then, I have
mailed several letters to you. In the last one I
offered that the probability of being
read seems remote. It was a disappointment! It would have been life support for
an institution in Belgrade whose mission is peace and development.
As
a reminder, you lost a life time opportunity to confront Balkan ghosts through support
of public health and a University of Peace institution, Belgrade as well as to participate,
contribute and gain from the activities of the World
Philosophical Forum, Athens. Your chance to be present at a reenactment of the
death of Socrates, father of life-long learning, walk through the streets of the
old Town of Plaka and dine out under the Acropolis, in a colorful tavern has
passed. I was generous and even offered you a big bang for your 75th
birthday within the 200th Anniversary of the Greek War of Independence.
In any case happy birthday to both of us!
Recently, and by
invitation I heard your Belfer Center interview. With respect to public health
and its related Schools It indicated that you have maintained your opinion on
the needs for global health activities. It was presided over by Nicolas Burns
who knows the Balkans well. It seems to
me that we agree that public health is a non-traditional security issue. It is
a necessary shield for humanity. In hearing your comment that public health
must do much more globally, it is hard for me to understand that I received no
response to Public Health & Health Diplomacy: Greece and the Balkans
with American Input.
Schools of Public Health
developed to support colonialism and became focal points for change in
sanitation and infection control. They opposed slavery and supported human
rights. Their prestige abroad in hot colonial climates exceeded their cooler
acceptance on the home soil. They developed in support of sanitation on trains
and ships to support the Industrial Revolution. They
developed to deal with infectious disease in hot climates and at home. Their
overwhelming support today is crucial to sustainability of society and its
basic functions. The Athens School of Public Health (1929-2019) was one of the
first Schools in Europe. It was three decades in the making, functioned well
but under constant duress for ninety years and finally fell to the
executioner’s axe. Its birth was in response to health problems emanating from
a large influx of refugees from Asia Minor and a pandemic of dengue fever from
Syria.
Mr. Clinton Public Health is a cross-culture lingua franca, a catalyst for
peace, an integral factor in socio-economic development
but with a deceptively neutral appeal.
Public health is powerfully political and can be used as an instrument of
foreign policy and a tool to foster international relations. Global health can
help build a more resilient and peaceful world. Autocrats
do not support it; democrats do not always fully support it or they simply pay
it, lip service.
As you have said the President has the power to end the world. A Button can be
pressed. The soon to be, upcoming Biden-Putin Geneva Summit has a reasonable chance
to assure the world that likelihood of nuclear conflict between the two
superpowers approaches, zero. It has also an opportunity to apply the principle
of No First Use and ensure that autonomous systems are well-vetted. It is scary
that two leaders temporally in Geneva will carry with them their nuclear
briefcase. Perhaps the Geneva Summit can put directional signposts in place to
a better future.
You can still help build
the Balkans by support of public health. You might wish to read the Skopje Declaration:
public health, peace & human rights (2001), which expresses the social
conscience of public health, appropriately emerging from the heart of the
Balkans, circa 2000. Its representatives urged that the principles and truths of
public health be effectively integrated into social policy for the benefit of
all mankind. The experience of COVID has emphasized a great need for the
reinforcement of public health education in America, Greece, in the Balkans and
throughout the world. You still have a chance to make Jesse Jackson jealous and
allay all lurking Balkan ghosts. Your support of Public Health & Health Diplomacy in the European Center for
Peace and Development, Belgrade can be positive for your legacy. Non-support is
a boon for doom. Thomas
Jefferson’s worst dream was that no one was listening.
This letter is my way of
bringing some resolution to my attempts (2018-2021) to convince you to reach
out to the Balkans and in the certainty that people of goodwill everywhere are
bound by a common humanity and a great resolve to build a better world. The
Balkans needs a better chance.
Yours with all due
respect,
Professor
Dr. Jeffrey Levett
Founding
Dean, National School of Public Health, Greece
Past
President, Association of the Schools of Public Health in the European Region
(ASPHER)
Professor,
Health Diplomacy, ECPD, Serbia
International
Gusi Peace Prize Laureate
References
My
latest ASPHER BLOG https://www.aspher.org/articles,4,119.html
https://wsimag.com/economy-and-politics/66077-springtime-begins-in-saken
1821:
freedom or death: History, drama of ceaseless struggle, 16 April 2021, Jeffrey
Levett, wsimag