From blogs to international conferences, Global Commons gains momentum
Beyond the initiative of the Global Marshall Plan Foundation for a Coalition for the Global Commons (the CGC coordination group and discussion can be found here), champions of the Global Commons are going public and spreading awareness for this new global perspective.
Silke Helfrich and Jörg Haas have started a "Commons Blog" on Wordpress, an Open Source Software that embodies the practicality of the Global Commons concept. In it there is information on the commons, on-going discourse, literature and stories on the commons meant to provoke thought and hopefully prompt action.
In the latest posts on the Commons Blog, one of the Coalition for the Global Commons’ partners, Chico Whitaker, founder of the World Social Forum (WSF), was mentioned in a report on his speech to the latest WSF international conference. For the remainder of the conference the commons discussion was concentrated and passionate and to be labelled “a discourse on vision, around which the political discourse is reorganized ”. The immediate result was the creation of “Commons Sites” available in the four official languages of the WSF (Portuguese, Spanish, English, French), and meant to make the Commons a more tangible theme, while also giving a platform for various projects and initiatives dealing with commons issues. (The full posting, in German, can be found here.)
In October, we had the privilege of receiving Chico at a meeting for the Coalition for the Global Commons in Hude, where participants (for the most part leaders of international organizations) came together to find better means of collaborating on a large network basis. During the intense three days of small meetings, Mr. Whitaker made a pledge regarding his personal commitment to the Global Commons, one of which was to further promote the concept at the World Social Forum. Indeed he kept true to his word.
To the WSF Manifesto pela recuperação dos bens comuns da humanidade (manifesto for the recuperation fo the common goods of humanity).
With eyes on America, a message reverberates worldwide
The Global Marshall Plan Foundation sees a global paradigm shift as necessary for we as a global citizenry of people to achieve peace and stability. With many people struggling of late to find better solutions to our various global problems, these crises are in fact a chance to bring about the change needed to achieve our goals.
It has often been noted that times of crisis are often the moments and best opportunities which enables change to occur. From World War I, the League of Nations was founded, and after World War II emerged the United Nations. Now as the world faces two of its most difficult challenges in recent years, climate change and the global financial crises, on top of dozens of already dire humanitarian crises, it is clear that the global framework needs change. The United Nations, though an obvious place to start this dialogue, needs, however reform to better reflect and represent the world in any decision-making process.
The crisis cum change model has most recently enabled Barack Obama to achieve the highest office in the United States, a historic mark for the many minority groups he represents. His motto of change breaches more than political platitudes as can be witnessed by the team he has assembled to govern in the next four years. His choice of Susan Rice as the US United Nations representative particularly sends a message of change to the international community that the United States is moving more towards an embrace of multilateralism.
With both the international crises and an era of change wafting from the White House, it would appear that there is no better time than now to really delve into a dialogue of United Nations reform in earnest. A few experts have already weighed in with their views of the necessity and opportunity of reforming the United Nations in the upcoming years.
The vision of a renewed United Nations, is a short article written by Global Marshall Plan supporter Peter Hesse covering material from his new book Vision Works. For the full article please use this link.
If you are interested in buying the book, please contact maike.grundmann@globalmarshallplan.org.
Urgent: Refounding of the United Nations, an article from scholar, politician and former Director-General of UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza makes his call for UN reform. For the full article please use this link.
A new book called The Change Monster, written by Jeanie Daniel Duck gives more insight to what successful change looks like and how to make the best out of crisis. More information on this book can be found here.
Hazel Henderson tackles finance reform
The complexity of US economy is baffling for most people, particularly when it comes to understanding the factors that led to its current ailing. Hazel Henderson, Global Marshall Plan supporter and Coalition for the Global Commons partner, explains the various sectors in a medical metaphor to give us a clearer picture of what we are dealing with. In her analysis, the economy is suffering from several problematic conditions, but ultimately sees a hopeful future.
For the full article* use the following link.
Hazel Henderson is author of Ethical Markets: Growing The Green Economy, president of the independent Ethical Markets Media, LLC, and co-creator of the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators (updated regularly at www.calvert-henderson.com).
*Published by Ethical Markets, 2009.
Walden Bello supports a Global Marshall Plan as part of Global Social Democracy
Framed by questions of the new Obama administration in the United States in addressing the global financial crisis, Walden Bello gives a brief overview of Global Social Democracy and how it is in the best position to succeed the neo-liberalism influence on global markets. Furthermore, he details how it best serves globalized interests and should be strongly pursued by progressives.
For the full article*, go to this link.
Walden Bello, a Fellow of the Transnational Institute, is a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus, a senior analyst at the Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South, president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, and a professor of sociology at the University of the Philippines.
* Published by Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF), a project of the Institute for Policy Studies © 2008.
Update on the activities from Liberty4Africa
Careca Akarue presents current projects and ideas for the Global Marshall Plan in the Delta State in his paper.
To the report (pdf, 9,7 MB)
02/27/2009 - 03/01/2009
Oldenburg, Gremany
"Social Change"
05/31/2009 - 06/04/2009
Chicago
Conference Themes
The Conference will focus primarily on a critique of the role of the United States in the current dynamic of world affairs. We will examine the positive and negative dimensions of America’s global stance. Finally, we will explore some of the very real challenges that America must meet if globalization is to be guided toward the common good, both within the US and in the larger world.
Other thematic areas will also be addressed. They include (but are not limited to) the following:
* Globalization, Civilizational Dialogue, and the Role of the Global Interfaith Movement
* The Global Environment: Climate, Habitat, Water, Energy, and All Life
* The Struggle for Social and Economic Justice and Universal Human Rights
More information can be found here
08/28/2009 - 08/31/2009
Montreal
Conference for Citizen Participation
For more information please consult Civicus' website http://civicus.org
