With these words a four-year consultation process has begun
We urgently need voices from the South and the East to represent religions and intelligence from a full range of cultures.
Five years ago the Global Marshall Plan Initiative was able to consult and integrate a number of experts. From their roots in various strategic fields of expertise and five years experience in coordination efforts, the Global Marshall Plan Foundation and its partners started a worldwide consultation process.
Go to www.berlin-global-commons.org to experience the "Spirit of Berlin", access the full proceedings, listen to speeches, and get involved in the shaping of the consultation process.
Please follow the white arrows and click on the blue dots to listen to the speeches and interviews.
Coalition member presents at the Writers for Peace Committee Conference in Bled, Slovenia
One of the more recent presentations on the consultation process of the Coalition for the Global Commons was given by Coalition member Zeki Ergas recently at an International PEN Writers for Peace Committee Conference held in
"The response was good," said Ergas of the presentation to the assembly of writers. There were several interested in the process, all of whom received brochures, and who we hope will soon be themselves participants to the Coalition.
Zeki Ergas' most recent publication is a collection of essays entitled In Search of a Better World and is currently available in our on-line shop
Consultation process presented by Global Marshall Plan Coordinator James Quilligan
On March 28, James Quilligan spoke to a large auditorium of students and faculty at the College of Business at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. James spoke about world financial events and used a power point presentation to outline the objectives of the International Consultation Process. Following this, he asked the audience questions from the consultation process. Perhaps because of the current monetary crisis in the US, the Notre Dame business community was keenly interested in the presentation.
Book review by Ed O'Rourke on Lester Brown's new book Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.
Global Marshall Plan activist Ed O'Rourke's book review of famous US Environmentalist Lester Brown's Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. It is a short article highlighting the context and brief overview of Brown's proposals.
You can find a link to Ed O'Rourke's book review here, and a link to Lester Brown's book at the Earth Policy Institute website.
Global Contract and Climate Justice in the European Parliament in Brussels and a new EU strategy
Global
Contract and Climate Justice in the European Parliament in
"A New
Approach in International Relations: A Global Contract - With a Special Focus
on Climate Justice" was the theme of a high level luncheon debate at the
European Parliament, and which can be seen as a prelude to their greater
interest in the Global Marshall Plan - A Global Contract. Five delegates, including long-time
supporters of the Initiative Anders Wijkman and Jo Leinen, from the four most
influential constituencies were invited to the Eco-Social Forum
Europe-organized discussion. Additional contributions came from Gunnar Ludere
of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research; Luis Riera, Director of the
Department of Development Policy for the Directorate General of Development for
the European Commission; Hubert Gambs giving a speech on climate change and
international security on behalf of Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for External
Relations; and Franz Fischler who presented the 'global contract' idea, which
states the basic principle of climate justice (equal CO2 emission rights)
should be included in international business.
The European Parliament is planning a large conference in the fall
devoted more particularly to this theme.
EU
Strategy: Global Marshall Plan - A Global Contract
Last fall
an informal brainstorming session took place in the Renewable Energy House in
1.
Management through Taxes (Financial Transaction Taxes such as greening the tax
systems)
2. Growth
and/versus Sustainability
3. Global
Governance and Climate Justice
The aforementioned foci would be more positively considered in particular should there be more civil society engagement in these areas. Additionally, assessing methods to make these themes more concrete would be a starting point for implementing the Global Marshall Plan into the "political reality".
"No to war funding - Yes to Global Marshall Plan"
The Network of Spiritual Progressives and the Global Marshall Plan have drafted a bill, which will now be put before the United States Congress under number H Res 1078.
As stated under said proposal and based off of a Global Marshall Plan resolution, the United States would lead the other G-8 nations in dedicating an amount equivalent to 1-2% of each country's gross domestic product each year for the next twenty years to eliminating poverty and to healing the environmental crisis.
Says Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor of Tikkun, "It's the best way to get out of Iraq and empower the progressive forces all over the world--by adopting a strategy of Generosity to secure homeland security, in place of the current strategy of Domination that has led us and others into endless wars and into the fantasy of a war on terrorism that will keep justifying every future war dreamt up by the fearful and the militarists."
It is now up to the US citizenry for bill H Res 1078 to gain sufficient political momentum for the upcoming election. Contact your city council and state legislature to endorse it. "The Global Marshall Plan is a much more sensible way to spend your tax dollars," affirms Rabbi Michael Lerner. He implies that rather than spending the billions of dollars on the Iraq war, funds could be directed in more positive directions.
To learn more about this initiative or get involved yourself, there are several options:
In the US, there will be 3 events this weekend in Philadelphia, April 11; New York City, April 12, and Central New Jersey, April 13. For further information on these events, go to the Network of Spiritual Progressives website.
For more information regarding bill H Res 1078, go to the Tikkun homepage www.tikkun.org or to keep track of this bill through the Library of Congress website
Report and proposed organizational structure
Liberty 4 Africa, an organization which has been supporting and promoting the Global Marshall Plan Initiative in Nigeria and other African countries, in the past months gave a lot of thought to an implementation plan.
In his report Careca Akarue, CEO of Liberty 4 Africa, explains more about the plan and vision, structure and guidelines which will stem from these.
To the full report by Careca Akarue
To the structural chart
il mercato eco-sociale per un mondo in equilibrio
An article by Carla Cimatoribus about the Global Marshall Plan in Italian.
To the article
News articles on the Global Marshall Plan and Plant for the Planet
06/16/2008 - 06/18/2008
Glasgow
A unique global youth forum encouraging young people to engage with critical challenges facing their communities, countries and the world
The CIVICUS Youth Assembly will be held immediately prior to the World Assembly in Glasgow and has rapdily established itself as a unique global youth forum encouraging young people to engage with critical challenges facing their communities, countries and the world. It will offer an exceptional opportunity to meet and work with other young women and men who are really making changes for the better. It will give young people an opportunity, programme and space to develop and commit to unified action internationally. The dates of the Youth Assembly are 16th -18th June 2008.
06/18/2008 - 06/21/2008
Glasgow
Acting together for a just world
The overall theme of the 8th World Assembly will be Acting Together for a Just World, with a focus theme of People, Participation and Power.
People, Participation and Power involves people coming together to access, engage and participate in the various spheres of governance at the local, national and international levels. Civil society has long bemoaned the fact that governments do not appear to listen to the voice of the people. What therefore is the role of civil society in governance?; why is its participation so resisted?; what does civil society need to do to overcome these challenges? Business seems to be more successful at getting governments to hear their views; Can we learn anything from some of the methods they employ?
Once again the 2008 programme will include plenaries, mini-plenaries, learning exchanges – such as a visit to the Scottish Parliament – workshops, film screenings and networking opportunities.
For more about the CIVICUS World Assembly, visit http://www.civicusassembly.org or email civicusassembly@scvo.org.uk
06/30/2008 - 07/04/2008
Melbourne/ Australia
Globalisation for the Common Good: An Interfaith Perspective
Melbourne, the Major Events 'capital' of Australia, is preparing a warm welcome for participants at the 2008 International Conference, Globalisation for the Common Good - at historic Trinity College, the first College established within The University of Melbourne.
Melbourne is recognised as the Interfaith Centre of Australia and is proud of its multicultural and multi-faith communities. The city will also host a series of events prior to World Youth Day in July 2008 and host the 2009 Parliament of the World's religions.
The GCG 2008 programme is designed to achieve three objectives:
* To explore the far-reaching ramifications of conflict in the Middle East (broadly defined) for the religious, cultural and political landscape of the Asia-Pacific region;
* To bring together in fruitful interaction the insights of several disciplinary traditions (in particular religious studies, cultural studies, international relations, history, sociology and law);
* To illuminate and strengthen the connections between the Middle East and the geographic regions which constitute Asia Pacific, in particular West Asia, South Asia, Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.
Previous conferences have been held in Oxford (2002), St Petersburg (2003), Dubai (2004), Kericho, Kenya (2005), Honolulu (2006) and Istanbul (2007). The Melbourne conference will be the first in the series to be held with a clear Asia-Pacific focus. For background information on the initiative and details of previous conferences visit: http://www.globalisationforthecommongood.info/.
This major international conference is organised by the Centre for Dialogue (La Trobe University; Melbourne, Australia), Trinity College (University of Melbourne), the Melbourne College of Divinity, and the Asia-Pacific Institute for Inter-Religious Dialogue (Australian Catholic University).
The Conference is jointly convened by Dr Kamran Mofid and Professor Joseph A. Camilleri (Director of the Centre for Dialogue and Professor of International Relations, La Trobe University).
For more information please click here.
