The Forge – Newsletter No 3.
“I am a citizen, not of Athens, or Greece, but of the World” Socrates.
The last few days have been pretty hectic. I now feel that I have got a better grip on the status of the world-wide movement for DWG – Democratic World Government -and am in the process of drafting a plan of action based on my understanding of the situation. I have made contact with several of the international players and will be asking for both your and their inputs to the draft. A summary of the situation as I see it, is inserted below. You will see that little progress has been made since Socrates’ day – but that now the need is more urgent (and the opportunity for effective action far greater) than it ever has been in the last 2500 years.
A. Background.
1. The idea of a Democratic World Government (DWG) has been around for many years. Several practical models exist as to how it should function were it established.
2. Many organizations have sprung up to advocate a DWG solution to the dangerous problems that have resulted from the anarchy in which international relations are currently “regulated.”
3. Though there are many advocacy groups and there is good will between all concerned, there appears to be very little coordinated action between the groups.
4. There is an unhelpful lack of funds available. Those that there are, are widely dissipated.
5. Though all are agreed on the need to replace the current anarchy with an effective DWG, there is no agreement as to the best route to that desired goal.
6. The UN is the most obvious lead organization under whose umbrella this movement could develop. However, the constitution of the UN is such that it appears almost impossible that its controllers would allow it to provide any initiative in this direction.
7. Probably the most promising route (the least impossible!) is that advocated by Profs. Falk & Strauss. Twenty to thirty nations get together to set up a prototype DWG and, as their success is apparent, other nations inevitably gravitate towards the club.
8. Any movement to DWG will be (rightly) seen as a threat to the power of current ruling elites. It will therefore face powerful resistance that can only be overcome by democratic pressures from the grass roots.
9. Despite and because of the above factors, the concept of DWG, as the only way out of humanity’s current dilemma, has made virtually no impression on the global consciousness.
10. Humanity is faced with a rapidly rising global population; rapidly rising global temperatures, growing inequalities between populations, proliferating WMD and conventional armaments and the existence of only one superpower whose leaders lack the vision to use its unique position for other than selfish ends. Crises will follow each other with increasing rapidity as the century advances. The case for a DWG solution will become ever easier to make and ever harder for the powerful to resist.
I am going to be incommunicado in Australia for the next week so no replies to communications will be forthcoming over that period. In the next few days, Steve, our webmaster will be putting up an article by Professor Andrew Strauss which I recommend to all. As I have little time in which to write a full newsletter, I attach a newsletter from another DWG site – this heroic effort is published in 5 languages! You will notice the article on the Wiki of the World Citizen Alliance by Josep Ortega.
World democracy newsletter: 2005
WELCOME TO THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE WORLD DEMOCRACY NEWSLETTER.
"There is one thing stronger than all the armies of the world and that is an idea whose time has come" - Victor Hugo
As the world goes deeper into the new age of globalization, global problems are increasingly affecting every area of our individual and collective life. This is why a growing number of citizens and their governments around the world are coming to realize that we need modern democratic institutions to solve problems that can only be addressed on a global scale. The World Democracy Newsletter represents an effort of concerned world citizen and mundialist organizations to spread relevant information and news, introduce ideas and projects, and help citizens of the world create and support a legitimate form of democratic world parliament.
"Enforceable International Law is the idea whose time has come" - Jagdish Gandhi
We welcome contributions. Please contact webmaster@utopianchronicles.org.
HISTORY OF WORLD DEMOCRACY (Ken Kostyo, U.S. lawyer living in Amsterdam)
Most people think of the world democracy movement as a new phenomenon. A closer examination of history reveals that we are pursuing a goal that has been the dream and practical project of many throughout the world and throughout the ages.
The first intellectual step to take is tapping into the history of democracy and republicanism. Studies of Native North American Indian tribes reveal that these desirable forms of good governance have been around since before recorded history and long pre-date nation-state systems. In ancient democratic city-states (Athens) as well as republican systems (Carthage) ultimate power over all matters, including international affairs, resided with the citizens and/or their representatives. The current idea of the king speaking for his people in external matters is a recent product of the Treaty of Westphalia and the resulting nation-states. Even within that system, many democratic writers and activists spoke of democracy as a universal right. We think of Jefferson, Cloots, Rousseau, and Harrington as being involved in the American, French, or English revolutions, but that is a reading of where they worked and not what they wrote. Today we are just finishing their work and not reinterpreting it.
Another relevant history is that of international peace systems. As early as the 13h Century King George of Bohemia called for an international body to resolve European disputes. Erasmus, William Penn, and early socialist writers all offered similar alternatives to war centuries before the League of Nations. Unfortunately these plans were finally realized in the era of empires and the resulting cold and hot wars. Only now as multi-national corporations and global justice activists lead us to a world functioning beyond borders can we return to the ancient work of la République Universelle.
THE WIKI OF THE WORLD CITIZEN ALLIANCE (Josep Ortega, president of the Word Citizen Alliance, Andorra)
The wiki of the Word Citizen Alliance is intended as a collaborative space where world citizens can meet to work together, learn, discuss, make proposals, express opinion on issues and decide on courses of action. It is a place where mundialist organizations can network to interact and engage in formal and informal communication with others for mutual assistance and support; and where proposals for global justice and environment sustainability can be presented, voted on and endorsed.
The World Citizen Alliance itself is a new structure intended as an umbrella for the World Citizen Registry, the Community of World Citizens, the Consultative Assembly of the Peoples' Congress, the Coalition for a World Parliament and World Democracy, the Peoples' Congress, and eventually other mundialist organizations. It was created at the meeting of the Consultative Assembly held in Paris, March 12 & 13, 2005.
You are earnestly invited to participate either individually or as an organization. Please visit the wiki site at http://ascop.editme.com or contact jllortega@gmail.com.
BIKE FOR GLOBAL DEMOCRACY - POPULARIZING THE NOTION OF A WORLD PARLIAMENT (Mona Lee, Author, member of Women's Int. League for Peace and Freedom)
Andrew Strauss, International law expert, has admitted that, now might not be the best or easiest moment in history for creating a world parliament or global peoples' assembly. There have been better times but at those times we have not been ready with an organization. We have not been able to fill that vacuum with a popular movement. Our task at this time is to build that organization to create that popular movement. We must all do our small parts.
My part is very small, a sort of "each one teach one" method. For example, I stand in shopping malls selling my book, "Alien child" and watching the eyes of the person light up when I say the words "Global parliament elected by the people of the world". My husband, Dick Burkhart and I have another way of doing this. We have a tandem bicycle with which we are trying, in segments, to circumnavigate the globe, talking to people we meet along the way about a world parliament.
We have made several trips already, clocking a total of 8.500 kilometers in the US, Canada, India, Brazil and Europe. Everywhere we go, people gather round and want to know what we are doing. We try to talk with them in rudiments of the local languages if possible and hand out copies of our brochures that we have had translated for them.
Although global democracy may be a hard sell among many intellectuals who conceive of the obstacles and difficulties involved in bringing it about, I can assure you it is an easy sell among the people. Everyone knows that the world could really use a global parliament elected by the people.
Look for my next book which is a travel adventure story. "Humbler than Dust; A Retired Couple bicycles the Real India" will be published this summer 2005 by James A Rock publishing of Rockville Maryland.
THE 2005 YEARBOOK ON WORLD CITIZENSHIP, GLOBAL JUSTICE AND WORLD DEMOCRACY (Josep Ortega)
Josep Ll. Ortega, president of the Consultative Assembly of the Peoples' Congress proposes the publication of a yearbook of the world citizen movement for the year 2005, with would include, at least:
A list of mundialist organizations, with data such as: name, mission, website, contact, representatives, postal address, and a small report or summary of the activities during 2005, including specific goals for 2006.
1. A list of all the individual world citizens who want to appear in it, also with personal and contact information.
2. A list of noteworthy events, books, articles, Web sites, etc, aggregated among all of us.
3. A list of projects suggested for the year 2006.
4. A certain number of articles on world citizen and democracy topics.
If you wish your organization to be included in the yearbook, if you want to be listed as a world citizen, or if you want to contribute, please contact jllortega@gmail.com.
WILL WE LET WOMEN AND CHILDREN DIE FROM STARVATION IN A WORLD DEMOCRACY? (Didier Coeurnelle, jurist specialized in social security, Belgium)
It could be that a parliamentary democracy is not synonymous with perfection.
But at least then we would all be responsible collectively - without the powerful ones and the deciding ones to oblige us. We would also not have the powerful ones as an alibi or excuse for us not to act. And it seems quite probable that the majority among us, inhabitants of a single planet, would not accept such a situation for very long. And this is even more the case because these same men and these same women who suffer would have the same weight in the cosmopolitan elections as the banker of Wall Street, the Danish farmer or the Japanese billionaire.
WORLD PARLIAMENT SESSION AT THE GERMAN SOCIAL FORUM, JULY 21-24 IN ERFURT (Rasmus Tenbergen, Executive Director of the Institute for Leadership Development, Germany)
A World Parliament Session just happened at the German Social Forum, July 21-24 in Erfurt, Germany. This was a real-life meeting of the World Parliament Experiment with a connection between the ongoing internet project and real-life conferences. The project is organized by five international students of the University of Erfurt from Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia and Germany as a part of their Political Advocacy and Leadership coursework (Instructor: Rasmus Tenbergen). You will find more details about it on the website of the project: www.world-parliament.org.
DEMOCRATIC SOCIAL NETWORKING AND SIMULTANEOUS POLICY IMPLEMENTATION (Doug Everingham, Australian, former physician, MP & Health Minister)
Everyone needs a chance to enroll as a voter -- to vote on various local, national, and/or global, environmental, interpersonal, etc. issues, including UN declarations. Related issues need both to liaison with each other and with adjoining levels of administration. Practical examples:
· Sociocratic Center, http://www.sociocratie.nl
· Shann Turnbull, Principal, International Institute for Self-governance, http://ssrn.com/author=26239
· How voters can persuade governments to cooperate more, compete less: ISPO, http://www.simpol.org ("ratchet lobbying": tell candidates we'll give them voting preference if they support ISPO (International Simultaneous Policy Organization) proposals being developed by ISPO members and pledge to implement those proposals when enough governments agree to do so simultaneously. )
TOWARDS NEW WORLD ORDER
(Raj Shekhar Chandola, Head, World Unity & Peace Education Department, City Montessori School, Lucknow, India)
The Second Global Symposium for NGOs and Civil Society is being held from 10-14 December 2005 as part of the Sixth International Conference of Chief Justices of the World, organized by the World Unity and Peace Education Department of City Montessori School (CMS) at Lucknow, India. The Symposium held in December 2004 witnessed participation from 52 countries.
The theme of the Symposium is "Towards a New World Order". The topics for the Thematic Discussions are New World Order, Spiritual Well Being, Meaningful Education, Sustainable Development and Civil Society (for more details please check http://www.cmseducation.org/symposium/categories.htm)
CMS has been organizing the annual conference of Chief Justices of the World since 2001. A highlight of the conference is the presentation of an appeal to the world judiciary by CMS students on behalf of world’s two billion children and generations yet unborn, asking their support for the formation of a duly-constituted World Parliament empowered to enact world law capable of ensuring children’s rights to inherit a safe and healthy ecology. The Board of Patrons of this Conference of Chief Justices includes the Chief Justices of Uganda, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mauritius, Seychelles, Laos, Mozambique, Gibraltar, Namibia, Gambia, Malawi, Burundi, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Macedonia, Serbia and Sudan, besides a Judge of the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands and other eminent legal luminaries (http://www.cmseducation.org/article51/our_patrons.htm).
The objective of the Chief Justices’ Conference as well as the Symposium is to build global public opinion in favor of world democracy.
ABOUT THE COORDINATORS OF THIS NEWSLETTER (Rob Wheeler, Coordinator of the Coalition)
The Coalition for a World Parliament and Global Democracy was formed at the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India in January 2004 to bring together individuals and groups that are working for a World Parliament or Global Democracy. Our primary purpose is to support and promote all of the initiatives and groups that are active on this around the world.
Members of the Coalition organize workshops and speak at various conferences and events; promote meetings and conferences that are organized by our member groups; are circulating a referendum on establishing a World Parliament; organizing a World Democracy Forum; and support proposals and initiatives leading toward, or that could be taken up by, a World Parliament.
Both individuals and groups are invited to join the Coalition and participating organizations can select someone to serve on the Coordinating Team. Please write to us through Dick Burkhart at dickburkhart@comcast.net if you are interested.
We sent this mail, available to you in the 6 languages of the UNO, because we think that you may be interested in the topic of "World Democracy". Please do not hesitate to transmit it to other concerned people. To stop receiving our newsletter, just answer "unsubscribe". To receive it if somebody forwarded it to you, send "subscribe". Lastly, to propose an article, please send the idea or a short text to the address: webmaster@utopianchronicles.org.
For more information see: http://www.world-democracy.org and http://ascop.editme.com
World democracy newsletter: 2005/2
Last Modified September 6, 2005
