The world needs a Global Marshall Plan
"You’ve convinced me and I fully support this legislation.
Now go out there and force me to do this."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the labour leaders in 1934
Dear supporters of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative,
the time is ripe: In the US the Global Marshall Plan is an issue among Progessives (Democrats, Liberals, Greens, …) as uniting vision of the Americans; maybe already in 2008, at the latest in 2012 a Global Marshall Plan shall be an issue of the election campaign. The magazine www.tikkun.org published two articles about the Initiative. 55 Global Marshall Plan events took place all over the country on April 15th (more).
Today we would like to ask you for half an hour of your precious time:
• On June 5th 1947 US-Secretary of State George Marshall presented the Marshall Plan in Harvard.
• On June 5th 2007, the eve of the Heads' of States arrival to the G8-Summit in Heiligendamm the German Chancellor Merkel has the chance to call for a Global Marshall Plan.
Please write to her and tell her that the world needs a Global Marshall Plan. Tell her that Germany has the responsibility to give something back to the world and that she shall demand publicly a Global Marshall Plan on June 5th 2007. Former Chancellor Kohl gave his speech on the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan in German Parliament on 12th June 1997. This time there is also no session in Parliament on June 5th 2007. However, it would be too late to postpone it after the G8-Summit. Please address her with your own words! If many people write authentic letters it will encourage Chancellor Merkel. Our American friends will publish this public call by Merkel in the media.
The G8-Summit needs a sustainable vision.
Please try to win over other people to write to Merkel too. Every authentic letter will have an effect.
Bundeskanzleramt
Bundeskanzlerin Dr. Angela Merkel
Willy-Brandt-Straße 1
10557 Berlin
Germany
or email her
Presentations in Philadelphia, New York City, San Francisco etc.
The Global Marshall Plan was the focus of many different events in the US at the last weekend. On April 14th Frithjof Finkbeiner presented the Initiative and its goals at the "Step it up Congress" in Philadelphia. The following day, 55 events organized by our partner organization Network of Spiritual Progressives took place on "Generosity Sunday". Many of them dealt with the Global Marshall Plan. In New
York Jonathan Sheff, Dr. Bruce Matthews, Diane Williams, Rick Ulfik, and Dr. Bruce Hirsh presented the Initiative, in Oakland it were Michael Lerner, James Quilligan und Frithjof Finkbeiner.
Video- and audio files of the US events
Speech by Peter Gabel (audio, 5,5 MB)
Speech by James B. Quilligan and Frithjof Finkbeiner (audio, 8,5 MB)
Speech by Rabbi Michael Lerner (audio, 8,5 MB)
Speech by Imam Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson (audio, 6,7 MB)
Interview with Rabbi Michael Lerner zum Global Marshall Plan und Generosity Sunday (video)
Nichola Torbett (NSP) explains Generosity Sunday (video, 8 minutes)
New materials at the website
Global Marshall Plan presented in Olomouc
Klemens Riegler presented the Global Marshall Plan at the Sustainable Development Conference organized by the Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Palacky University in Olomouc (Czech Republic) on April 19th. The participants were mostly from the Czech and Slovak Republics, but some came from as far as South Africa.
We very much appreciate the possibility to present the Global Marshall Plan within contexts like these and to spread the Ideas of our Initiative further. If you are interested in booking a speaker, please contact Andrea von Lehmden at the coordination office.
Liberty 4 Africa promotes the Global Marshall Plan
Find out more about the organization's activities: report by Careca Akarue.
The student initiative is inspirational: It is a chance to raise global conciousness by personal action.
Only one month has past since our campaign started: 30 schools participate, more than 10,000 trees were pledged and 8,000 were planted.
Also the media watches at Plant-for-the-Planet with interest. The radio station Deutschlandfunk broadcasted a report about the initiative, the daily papers write about it, as well as online websites. The articles are available in German on www.plant-for-the-planet.org .
New video online
"The Marshall Plan (from its enactment, officially the European Recovery Program [ERP]) was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the allied countries of Europe, and repelling communism after World War II. The initiative was named for United States Secretary of State George Marshall and was largely the creation of State Department officials, especially William L. Clayton and George F. Kennan. The reconstruction plan was developed at a meeting of the participating European states on July 12, 1947. The Marshall Plan offered the same aid to the Soviet Union and its allies, if they would make political reforms and accept certain outside controls. However the Soviet Union rejected this proposal with Vyacheslav Molotov describing the plan as dollar imperialism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in July 1947. During that period some $13 billion of economic and technical assistance was given to help the recovery of the European countries that had joined in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
By the time the plan had come to completion, the economy of every participant state, with the exception of Germany, had grown well past pre-war levels. Over the next two decades, many regions of Western Europe would enjoy unprecedented growth and prosperity. The Marshall Plan has also long been seen as one of the first elements of European integration, as it erased tariff trade barriers and set up institutions to coordinate the economy on a continental level. An intended consequence was the systematic adoption of American managerial techniques."
Video
News articles on the Global Marshall Plan
05/04/2007 11:00 am (local time) - 05/05/2007 5:00 pm (local time)
Munich, Germany
Venue: KHG at the TU Munich
Agenda.
05/17/2007 11:00 am (local time)
Heiligendamm, Germany
On invitation of the Fundus Group.
07/05/2007 - 07/09/2007
Istanbul, Turkey
"A Non-violent Path to Conflict resolution and Peacebuilding"
Istanbul, Turkey
The City of Understanding and Reconciliation between East and West
5-9 July 2007
With Post-Conference optional tour to
KAPADOKYA – KONYA
Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative, greatly acknowledges the kind support and sponsorship of our 6th Annual Conference by Department of Public Administration, Fatih University, Istanbul & KADIP/ Intercultural Dialogue Platform, Istanbul
Istanbul Conference 2007 program
09/26/2007
Bad Schallerbach, Austria
To the program and registration form (pdf, in German)
