Citizens for Global Solutions - Minnesota Chapter

OUR VISION:
We envision a future in which countries work together to abolish war, protect our rights and freedoms, and solve the problems facing humanity that no country can solve alone. This vision requires effective democratic global institutions that will apply the rule of law while respecting the diversity and autonomy of national and local communities.

OUR MISSION:
We are a membership organization working to build political will in the United States to achieve our vision. We do this by educating Americans about our global interdependence, communicating global concerns to public officials, and developing proposals to create, reform and strengthen international institutions such as the United Nations.

As I write this, it is still unknown who will be the next President of the United States. No matter who wins, his team will have their hands full repairing the immediate damage and aftermath of the recent banking meltdown, which will almost certainly result in a protracted recession and possibly something worse.

This puts me in mind, somehow, of "chaos theory." Chaos theory is best known for its so-called "butterfly effect," according to which a butterfly flapping its wings in China could lead to a hurricane on the other side of the planet (Wall Street?). This is known as "critical dependence on initial conditions," which also means that it's virtually impossible to model completely complex system, including the world economy. But the feature of this theory most germane to our efforts to establish a safer and more just world is the insight that certain equilibriums are preferred while others ought to be completely avoided. After the ongoing seismic movements in our global banking system subsides, what will be the new equilibrium or "rules of engagement" for the relationship between banking institutions and governments?

The most important question for the progress of global governance is not whether the US will be able to sustain its status as the sole remaining superpower in the long term, but rather will the European Union hold together when the (blue) chips are down? Initially, the responses to the banking crisis as it washed over Europe were actions by individual nations, rather than a coordinated EU policy. The situation bears watching in the months ahead and may indicate needed changes to EU institutions and crisis management.

An unfortunate consequence of the banking crisis is that it shifted attention from Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran. These are major issues for this election according to former UN weapons inspector, Scott Ritter (author of Iraq Confidential and, more recently, Target Iran), who recently spoke at an event sponsored by CGS-MN.

If an enemy had caused a trillion or two dollars of damage to our economy it would be seen as an act of war. But the incredible thing about the on-going debt buildup and the resultant crisis of liquidity is that we did it to ourselves. This is a sobering thought when we consider our own stockpiled weapons of mass destruction and our recent cowboy foreign policy. Maintaining even our present quasi-peace will require shifting from assumptions originating in an earlier era. In the unpredictable changes ahead as the 21st century unfolds, butterfly wings will surely flutter.

THIRD THURSDAY GLOBAL ISSUES FORUM
Free and open to the public.
Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Avenue, Minneapolis (at Lyndale & Hennepin) Park in church lot.

Thursday, November 20, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
RETHINKING 9/11
Rethinking 9/11 is a compelling 60-minute documentary that presents photographic and other evidence regarding the fall of World Trade Center Tower No. 7 and other issues that make the official story of 9/11 very unlikely. It pays particular attention to behind the scenes activities of intelligence agencies from at least four countries and references other videos and documentaries in detail. For example, members of Israel's Mossad were present at the scene on 9/11; and some money for Al Qaeda came from Saudi sources through Pakistan's ISI (Interservice Intelligence Agency).
Presenter: PROFESSOR MICHAEL ANDREGG.
Dr. Andregg has been the Director of Ground Zero Minnesota since 1982, an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota since 1981, and an adjunct professor of justice and peace studies at the University of St. Thomas since 1993. He is an internationally recognized expert on intelligence operations, the author of the award-winning book, On the Causes of War, and the producer of scores of videos, including approximately fifty for the TV series, Rethinking the World.

On September 14, the peace and justice movement lost one of its most dedicated workers, Alfred Aeppli. A native of Zürich, Switzerland, where he received his doctoral degree in mathematics, Alfred accepted a teaching position at Cornell University in 1957, joined the faculty in Minnesota in 1961 and retired in 1998.

Alfred's career in Minnesota was marked by his attempt in the 1970s to unionize the faculty and he remained dedicated to that cause. But he was also active in many other causes. In Switzerland he was especially active in the scouting movement and in Minnesota, he was, for decades, one of the most active members of the World Federalist Association and of its successor organization, Citizens for Global Solutions, He served for three years as WFA's chapter President, for many terms as a Board member and as the coordinator of the Minnesota contingent of the national WFA/CGS Partners Program. Alfred and his genial wife, Dorothee (whom he married in 1955), regularly hosted the September Board meeting with which WFA/CGS inaugurated the new working year. Alfred was also a stalwart in the Macalester Plymouth United Church, sang in the church choir, and was the regional representative of the church for 27 years. In June of this year, the national General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church adopted a resolution authored by Alfred calling for nations to resolve their differences though dialogue and cooperation rather than armed conflict.

Alfred was a past president of the Board of Directors of the Twin Cities Swiss American Association. He was a gifted pianist and also enjoyed membership in the Minnesota Streetcar Federation, driving a vintage streetcar at Lake Harriet for over 20 years.

Gifts in Alfred's memory (not tax deductible) may be made to the Minnesota Chapter of Citizens for Global Solutions. See address on page four.

We need grassroots solutions to pressing global problems not only in our civic organizations, the usual foci of op-ed columns in this newsletter, but in our physical environment as well.

In June, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) belatedly joined a growing chorus of climatologists in predicting warmer weather patterns and less frequent, but more intense, precipitation. With a growing population, crowded largely on floodplains, and an economy facing increasing scarcity of hydrocarbon fuels, our country (like many other parts of the world) is increasingly vulnerable to severe dislocations.

The case for a large-scale return to native plants is gaining ground. Native plants are deep-rooted and hence drought-resistant. Their long root pathways filter contaminants and promote slow release of water, thereby moderating soil erosion and impeding flooding. Native plants provide a refuge for diverse wildlife, from melodious songbirds to agriculturally important pollinators and offer a spiritual refuge to overstressed humans as well.

The final report of the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group, issued in April, was a wake-up call asking us to rethink many economic processes and align them with processes in the natural environment. Native plants will play a growing role in energizing future economies and cleansing contaminants. Even lowly soil fungi will help bolster biomass for the next generation of biofuels and will help in the storage of excess carbon.

Across the globe we are witnessing growing use of native vegetation for elegantly simple responses to diverse challenges such as soil loss and declining biodiversity. Striking successes can be found in World Bank-sponsored development projects. For example, in the Pastoral Project in the Sahelian Grasslands of West Africa the return to extensive use of native vegetation was a key ingredient for revitalizing areas of pronounced aridity stretching across several countries. The improvement of agricultural practices was accompanied by shifting the decisions of local pastoralists to a more rational rotational grazing model. Shifting management back to the grassroots, so to speak, enabled more timely and flexible decisions that promoted regeneration of the common rangelands.

More than twenty years ago, early in the debates about global climate change, our family became involved. Although we participate in many meaningful activities, native plants became our favored niche. Healthy landscapes do not exist without people who value them and are willing to restore, protect, nurture and celebrate them as part of their lives. We found many ways to get involved, including active participation in conservation groups, restoring the prairie remnants on our family farm, donating books to school children, mentoring native plant gardeners, supporting native plant nurseries as customers, serving as volunteer interpreters, and advocating for legislation to promote incentives for native planting. In short, we are nurturing a grassroots movement that encourages expanded planting of native vegetation.

Editor's Note: Jim, obviously, is a guy who not only talks the talk, but also walks the walk. We need more Jims.

The following op-ed is an edited message from the World Federalist Movement of which CGS is a US national affiliate. A full statement is available at www.wfm.org. Editor

Since the failings of the global financial sector have rocked the international community in the last few weeks, many world leaders have used the United Nations General Assembly session to speak in favor of new global laws and institutions to better regulate the international financial system.

British and French leaders called for global regulatory agencies and measures to be adopted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or Group of Eight (G-8). William Pace, General Secretary of the World Federalist Movement, - Institute for Global Policy, which advocates for democratic reform and oversight of international institutions, warned that these proposals were headed down the wrong path.

"One dollar one vote, or one Euro one vote, decision-making helped cause the crisis in the first place," says Pace. "The IMF, controlled by Europe and the USA, has a voting structure established in 1949 and is unrepresentative of the world's political and economic reality in 2008. The G-8 is even worse. Most of the world's governments, will not accept proposals based on these undemocratic institutions," he added. WFM argues that the General Assembly, which has universal membership of governments, is the most democratic forum and the most appropriate setting to initiate the debate.

Weeks before the global financial crisis, the new General Assembly President, Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, called for the GA to debate global financial architecture and decision-making in his proposal for a High-level Dialogue on Democratization of the UN. WFM believes, according to Pace, that "the proposed democratization dialogues could be the best forum for the first discussion of the of new global regulatory mechanisms for the international financial sector." Moreover, "Initiating these discussions in the IMF or G-8 could mean the discussions are dead on arrival."

WFM also advocates that the GA consider, after 63 years of marginalization, the potential role of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as a mechanism for global financial policy-making. The combination of one dollar/one vote and one nation/one vote, which could be achieved in ECOSOC, may be the most viable structure to develop needed regulations and structures for the international financial system. "The missing ingredient has always been the political will to begin the negotiations," Pace said.

Legitimate international debates must also include representatives of international organizations and non-governmental organizations with relevant expertise in a consultative capacity, stressed WFM.

This November CGS-MN Board member, Joe Schwartzberg, will be in Europe. There he will: a) present a paper on reform of the Security Council at the UN University campus in Bruges, Belgium, b) be an observer at a meeting in Brussels of the steering committee of a committee promoting a UN Parliamentary Assembly, and c) participate in the annual meeting in The Hague of the Council of the World Federalist Movement of which he is a member. More details in our next Newsletter.