Report 2008 and Program 2009/2010 of the Global Marshall Plan Foundation
Help us prepare for the World Commons Forum
What do children want for the future and how can they share those wishes with decision-makers? The Global Marshall Plan Foundation, with partners, will make an attempt using computer-based interviews, and we need your help to make it happen.
Representatives of the younger generation from over 100 countries during the UNEP International Children’s Conference in South Korea this August will be asked questions about their collective future. This method of questioning enables us to gather the emotional and unconscious valuation patterns of children and then comprehend what is truly important to them. We want to show what kind of world our children want to live in and what they intuitively expect from us adults.
On September 29, 2009 the children will present their hopes and fears to the international participants of the World Commons Forum at the Residence in Salzburg. At the same time, on the same day, the children will send their requests to the “10,000 Most Influential” and display all the responses they receive on a website. The goal is to provoke an inter-generational dialogue. The power of such an initiative done by children for their future will also have a direct influence on the UNFCCC Conference in Copenhagen, where the likelihood of a global contract for climate protection will be debated.
This is where YOU come in. We need YOUR help to build that list contacts for the 10,000 Most Influential. We are trying to make this list as comprehensive and balanced as possible. Please send us your suggestions for whom should be included in this mailing list, or simply what criteria you feel we should take into consideration. We have started the categories by sector: arts, business, politics, religion, science, social.
Contact Sumiko at sumiko.tanaka@globalmarshallplan.org for your suggestion (put “10,000 Most Influential” in the subject line). For more information on the World Commons Forum, please get in touch with the Global Marshall Plan Foundation head office at info@globalmarshallplan.org or call us +49 (40) 822 90 420.
Zeki Ergas Rebukes Krugman’s criticism
In his March 16, 2009 New York Times Op-Ed piece, Paul Krugman, specialist in economics, gave a brief overview to his concerns as to the insufficiency of Europe’s reaction to the international financial crisis. Zeki Ergas, writer, scholar and social activist, takes issue with, in his view, narrow assessment of the problematic. He goes on to give a point-by-point critique, where he puts the emphasis back on needing to take a global perspective.
For the full article use this link to Media for Freedom. Krugman’s Op-Ed piece can be found at this link to the New York Times.
Prince El Hassan Addresses the 2nd World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists
Press Release
(Amman – Majlis El-Hassan)
HRH Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan stressed the importance of Access to Justice and the Rule of Law which includes access to education and the eradication of legal illiteracy; Pointing out that charity and the sphere related to charity "is not philanthropy, not zakat, not ihsan and not sadaqat. It is all of these terminologies put together. It applies to all people, not singularly to Muslims. So we’re talking about raising the quality of life; closing the human dignity deficit."
In a DVD message addressing the participants of the "2nd World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists" in Abu Dhabi this week, HRH said "I am delighted to feel that when I speak of an international giving exercise – south-south – and whether we are harnessing the mighty Senegal River (Senegal River Valley project), which was funded by the Kuwait Fund, or by cooperation with the riparian of the Senegal River, one is talking about a supra-national concept; a concept which promotes the public good in Islamic jurisprudence – the public good is the object of good governance." Adding that, in terms of property rights, "we have to join efforts, other than commit ourselves to evolution, to make an assessment of our resources and in particular the good 'bedside' manner of, not the state in terms of government, but participation by ad hominem individuals from government, from the private sector and from civil society."
"I think it is important to bear in mind that Islamic endowments, foundations, guilds – and I am now talking about establishing a link between the goldsmiths guild in London, for example, with the goldsmiths of Cairo and of Istanbul – the goldsmiths professional guild, are examples of professional people’s people-to-people interaction that we need to develop," said the Prince.
"I notice with interest that Islamic banking is being adopted by many international banks. Yes, the bank makes a profit on its basic holding, but I think that developing this basic holding as in, for example, the development of The Sudan with its vast agricultural potential; the development of the Jordan Rift Valley; the development of the whole concept of water and energy alternatives such as the DESERTEC project, that is to say Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), extending from the Middle East region all the way across North Africa – is the path called for."
Prince El Hassan said that there are issues that "do not need to be discussed in international conferences, with their focus on media coverage, but that need to be conceptualised at meetings behind the scenes; meetings where we sit down without an agenda behind closed doors with not more than twelve participants and emerge with some clear answers on how we move from globalisation to universalisation; how we move from exploitation to social equity and how to confront some of the relevant grim realities." Reminding that by 2050 "we will have an army of intolerant, hatred-driven young unemployed people in Arab countries alone. They will not be going to banks to ask for collateral. They will not come to you unless a clearing house for charity has been established globally - patently capable of vetting the necessary and required focus mindful of a mission-oriented purpose. That mission should be to give people dignity; to pull people out of poverty and poverty issues, not by doing everything for them but by encouraging them to do something for themselves."
(Amman 25 March 2009)
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Marwan Hamdan
Press Secretary of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal
Majlis Elhassan
Tel: +962 6 46 444 07
Mobile: +962 79 675 49 38
Newspaper articles about the Initiative and Plant-for-the-Planet
04/16/2009 09:30 am (local time)
Brussels Belgium
Presentation and Panel Discussion
At the joint event by CoR-EU, R&D, VODO & SERI
takes place in the European Parliament, Room 1G2
9:30 till 13:00
Programme
Simultaneous interpretation Dutch/English/French/German
Opening: Bart Staes, MEP
Presentations:
Francois Schneider (R&D)
Raoul Weiler (CoR-EU)
Stefan Giljum (SERI)
Panel Contributions:
Joan Martinez Alier (Autonomous University of Barcelona)
Ronald Janssen (European Trade Union Confederation, ETUC)
Frithjof Finkbeiner (Global Marshall Plan Initiative)
Discussion Moderation: Paul Metz (INTEGeR)
Closing Remarks Leida Rijnhout (VODO)
Registration are on our website:
http://www.clubofrome.at/2009/degrowth/
CoR-EU EU-Chapter Club of Rome, Brussels-Belgium;
R&D Research and Degrowth, France;
VODO Vlaams Overleg Duurzame Ontwikkeling, Flanders-Belgium;
SERI Sustainable Europe Research Institute, Austria.
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
