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Presentation |
SUPPORTING ALL
OF THE EFFORTS FOR A WORLD PARLIAMENT AND GLOBAL DEMOCRACY
By Mr Rob Wheeler, UN Representative, Global Ecovillage
Network, USA
This proposal is to develop a matrix of proposals and
initiatives for establishing a World Parliament or Global
Democracy, which the world’s people can thus choose from and
support. This listing would be posted on the Coalition for a
World Parliament and Global Democracy website; and it would
describe how each of the proposals or initiatives can be
advanced and supported. It would thus make it easy for
people to get acquainted with the various proposals and to
decide which they like best.
The matrix could thus include such initiatives as: the World
Constitution and Parliament Association, the World
Parliament Experiment, the Global Community Earth
Government, the Peoples Congress, the World Democracy Forum
and Global Constitutional Forums, a UN Parliamentary
Assembly, and a UN House of the Peoples or World Parliament.
We would ask each of the organizations that are organizing
these initiatives to endorse and support the Peoples Agenda
or Platform of Global Proposals and to use it as a platform
of what they want to achieve through their efforts for
global democracy.
We could also develop a strategy plan to register as many
people as possible in the World Citizens Registry and to use
it as the basis for electing people to the Peoples Congress
in 2007. We could then develop a plan to hold elections for
the Peoples Congress in as many regions of the world as
possible. This would thus make it possible for us to create
an actual prototype for a World Parliament and to put
pressure on the governments to take our initiatives and
proposals for World Democracy seriously. If we can gather
enough support, it will also make the idea of World
Democracy seem both more practical and appealing.
We should also develop a plan for the Peoples Congress to
focus on the passage and implementation of the Global
Proposals or Peoples Agenda as one of its primary goals and
objectives. Then we can ask all of the organizations that
are supporting or participating in the Peoples Global Action
Campaign to help organize and participate in the elections
and proceedings of the Peoples Congress.
Speech of Mr Rob Wheeler, UN Representative, Global
Ecovillage Network, USA
Global Campaign to Implement the National Strategies for
Sustainability Workshop
At the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 in
Johannesburg all of the Governments agreed to create and
begin to implement a National Strategy for Sustainability by
2005. This was an important commitment because humanity is
seriously polluting the natural environment and rapidly
depleting our natural resource base. Unfortunately, however,
many of the governments have not taken this commitment
seriously and none are yet planning to make the transition
to full sustainability – which is in fact the fundamental
requirement upon which all of life depends.
The United Nations has drafted guidelines that if carried
out would lead us well on our way towards developing
effective strategy plans. Now we need to create a global
network of people and civil society organizations that
support the development of the National Strategy Plans. We
need to take the steps needed to ensure that all countries
create such plans, that they all focus on making a rapid
transition to achieving full sustainability, that specific
means are developed to finance the implementation and
transition, and that adequate processes are put in place to
review, evaluate, and improve the national plans so that
they are faithfully, effectively, and rapidly carried out.
Creating an International Sustainable Energy Fund:
Civil Society has also developed a proposal for an
International Sustainable Energy Fund which was proposed to
the United Nations during the Commission on Sustainable
Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
The governments have still not given serious consideration
to this proposal; though it would greatly increase our
abilities to make a rapid transition to renewable energy and
to avoid the problems that would come with Global Warming.
The fund would provide resources for Research, Marketing,
and Development of Sustainable Energy. The funds for the
program would come from reducing the existing subsidies for
fossil fuels. GRACE and the NGO Energy Caucus at the UN have
drafted a 20 page proposal or resolution which would
institute the Fund if passed. A serious campaign must be
launched by civil society in order to support this program
and ensure that we make the transition to renewable energy
while we still can.
Workshop and Plenary Presentation
Proposal for a Peoples Global Action Campaign
There are many global problems that are still not being
seriously, or at least adequately, dealt with by our
national governments and intergovernmental organizations.
There is thus a huge opportunity for the Global Democracy
movement to develop a listing of global proposals that we
can support and work for AND once a World Parliament is
created that it would address.
One of the most productive things that we could do to raise
public awareness and interest in World Democracy, would be
to organize an active campaign to support the various
proposals for dealing with our global problems - which will
come out of the Global Symposium.
Thus I am asking the organizers of the Global Symposium to
lay the groundwork for this proposal before the Global
Symposium even starts and to organize the symposium in such
a way that it will support the development of such a
campaign.
First, the Global Proposals should be posted on the CMS
and/or another website, along with a web forum where we can
discuss each of the proposals and with a means to rank or
indicate the degree to which we would support each of them.
The discussion forum could also include a place to make
suggestions for strategy development, how each of the
proposals could be adopted and implemented, to report on
progress made to date, to ask for the help that is needed,
and to list how one can participate.
Then during the Global Symposium we could schedule specific
sessions to discuss and create action/strategy plans both
for the overall Campaign and for each of the individual
proposals. We should also focus on developing specific plans
for how we can work together to ensure that each of the
proposals will over time be adopted and implemented. I can
provide an outline and make suggestions as to how these
sessions could be structured, facilitated, and organized if
that would be helpful.
Thus one of our objectives could be to develop a Global
Policy Board (or other such coordinating body) and a process
to promote and work for the adoption and development of this
platform of Global Proposals or Peoples Agenda. We could
invite Simultaneous Policy, the Coalition for a World
Parliament & Global Democracy, the World Citizen Alliance,
and City Montessori School to help in designing and carrying
out this process both before and after the Global Symposium.
It was mentioned to me that CMS is planning to publish and
distribute a booklet of the Global Proposals. Thus the
booklet could also tell people how they can support both
individual proposals and the overall campaign. We should
work with the Alliance for a Responsible, Plural, and United
World; the World Social Forum; UBUNTU; etc in order to
develop Working Groups or Activist Communities that would
further develop, support, and create strategies to encourage
the adoption and implementation for each of the primary
issue areas and the global proposals contained therein.
The development of this campaign would lead directly to an
outcome from the Conference that the participating
organizations can support and promote for years to come. It
will provide substantive proposals that a World Parliament
and Global Democracy can work for and that will draw the
interest and support of the world’s people.
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