Issues		January 2008 Newsletter
Programs		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. REFRAMING GLOBAL DEMOCRACY Claude Buettner, President, Minnesota Chapter, CGS Among the noteworthy speakers at the recent CGS national meeting in Minneapolis was Didier Jacobs, author of Global Democracy . One proposition of this brilliant book is that the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization together form our current global government, albeit an ineffective one. But it is the global government that the permanent members of the Security Council want: a "weak confederation," with veto and opt-out privileges for a select group of powerful nations, the so-called P-5, and a "federation," with no veto and no opt-out privileges, for all others. Mr. Jacobs asserts, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, that the global government we already have is characterized as a system of apartheid, in which one's position in the pecking order is determined by the color of one's passport. Among the take away points in Global Democracy's conclusion are: Institutions are essential ("Governance without government" is, at best, nonsense) "Global democracy is a big idea that is astonishingly easy to communicate: 'We believe all people should have equal say in decisions that affect all of them' 'The World Trade Organization is not democratic and that is not OK.' …'The Security Council does not have proper checks and balances; that's bad in national politics, it's also bad in world politics.'" In our everyday conversation we can promote global democracy by referring to the UN or the WTO as "our global government." But this is not enough; eventually ordinary citizens will rightfully expect to elect their representatives in that government. The peace movement needs to form and promote a long-term strategy for change (even in between unpopular wars) instead of abdicating that role to nationalist and benevolent imperialist think tanks. Reframing the Global Solutions debate in this way is worth considering in spite of the risk that it will be seen by some as excessively ambitious. As we slide well into the 21st century it's time to reframe our stand on how we can solve such seemingly intractable global problems as environmental degradation and nuclear arms, among others, that are beyond the capacity of the currently undemocratic "global government" to manage effectively. In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power, but carries the ultimate responsibility. Norman Cousins 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, January 17, 7:00 - 9:00 pm. HIV/AIDS, 2OO8, THE GLOBAL SITUATION This talk will examine the epidemiology of HIV/AIDS at the global, national and local levels. It will note current trends in the spread and treatment of the disease and consider what more can be done by the US and globally to prevent its spread and treat existing victims. The medical, economic, and socio-political dimensions of the problem will all be analyzed. Presenter: KEITH HENRY, M.D. A practitioner at the Hennepin County Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Henry received his MD from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1978 and trained in internal medicine in St. Louis from 1978-81. He held a fellowship on infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota (1984-87) and established the state's first HIV clinic in 1985 and has since focused exclusively on HIV care and clinical research. He has published more than 100 papers and abstracts on his specialization and has a wealth of relevant domestic and overseas experience. Thursday, February 21, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. "PEACE ISLAND": HOPE IN ATIME OF CRISIS Since late 2006 a committee of eight dedicated activists has been preparing a major conference to be held at the same time as the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September. This conference, to be held at Concordia College in St. Paul, will establish a true "Peace Island" between the dynamics of the Convention itself and the myriad demonstrations and events to which the Convention will give rise. Sponsored primarily by the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers, Peace Island will feature local and nationally known presenters to promote and celebrate peace, justice, non-violent activism, harmony, care of the earth, and a vision for a better world. If you or a group to which you belong would like to become associated with or learn more about this exciting project, you ought to attend this Third Thursday Forum. Presenters: DICK BERNARD, MARIE BRAUN and DENNIS DILLON. Following a career with the Minnesota Education Association, BERNARD became a virtually full-time peace and justice activist. A past Board member of CGS MN, he has also served the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP) in numerous capacities and was as its President for the past three years, a period in which MAP witnessed truly remarkable growth. BRAUN has been associated with Women Against Military Madness for 25 years, is a co-founder of WAMM's Iraq Committee and is active with several other groups working on Iraq. She was named "Activist of the Year" by the Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action in 2003 and, along with her husband John, was a co-recipient of a 2006 peace and justice award from the Hawkinson Foundation. DILLON is active in various justice, peace and sustainability issues at the Basilica of Saint Mary and elsewhere in the Twin Cities. He represents the Basilica in MAP; serves on MAP's Executive Committee, the Steering Team of the Network of Spiritual Progressives and the Board of the MN Chapter of CGS; and chairs the Peace Island steering committee. Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich. Sir Peter Ustinov (The late Peter Ustinov served for many years as President of the World Federalist Movement.) WEIGHTED VOTING AND SECURITY COUNCIL REFORM Joe Schwartzberg's paper, "Universal Regional Representation as a Basis for Security Council Reform" (presented in June 2007 at the annual meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System in New York) was published in the November number of The Federalist Debate (vol. XX, no. 3, pp. 17-21). This well-edited journal, published three times per year in Turin, Italy, provides news relating to federalism in Europe and the world as a whole and offers a stimulating forum for relevant opinions and new ideas (see item on page 4). Subscriptions are $18 for one year, $30 for two years and $42 for three years and can be ordered via e-mail at federalist.debate@libro.it. If you are interested only in Joe's paper, you can obtain it electronically by requesting it from him at schwa004@umn.edu or you may read it on line via the Center for War/Peace Studies, for which contact information appears below. A somewhat earlier version of Joe's proposals relative to weighted voting in the Security Council is featured, along with several other exciting ideas on UN reform, on a DVD produced by the Center for War/Peace Studies, www.cwps.org. You may also access the DVD on the CW/PS website via YouTube; just click on the following links: Introduction by Myron W. Kronisch Walter Cronkite <> The Binding Triad The Tobin Tax The Schwartzberg Plan Edward C. Luck Your Role The DVD can be ordered from CW/PS, 330 East 38th Street, suite 19Q, New York, NY 10016 or by contacting the Center's Executive Director, Lucy Webster at lucywebster@lvistas.net. CW/PS is making a major effort to promote the idea of weighted voting in the UN. Board members Myron Kronisch and other CW/PS supporters have constituted themselves as "Ambassadors for Weighted Voting" and have been visiting foreign ministries, the media and NGOs in national capitals on five continents as well as national missions at the UN to promote the idea. Joe has been doing much the same thing during trips to New York in June and to Europe in August. He finds that his ideas are being given careful consideration in many quarters. They have been prominently noted in scholarly works in English, German, Italian and Czech and a brief version (five-pages) of his Security Council paper has been translated in Beijing into Chinese. 2008, A YEAR OF GREAT OPPORTUNITY A new year has begun. Naturally, we wonder what it will it bring us? But it is more important that we ask what we can bring to it. As it happens, Minnesotans will have a rare opportunity to help shape history when the Republican National Convention takes place this September in St. Paul. The eyes of the world will then be focused on the Twin Cities and thousands of media people will be here in search of stories, many of which will serve as counterpoints to the carefully orchestrated ritual unfolding inside the Excel Center. That is why I am so enthusiastic about the Peace Island project, which will be the subject of our Third Thursday Global Issues Forum in February (see p. 2). This imaginative and ambitious undertaking promises to provide the world with a view of America vastly different from the dreary spectacle of arrogance, violence and morbid fear projected by the Bush administration over the past seven years. Each of us can find a way to be a part of that effort. Additionally, we can find other creative ways to make our feelings known in the months leading up to the convention and during the convention week itself. An apathetic citizenly is one of the reasons for our current global predicament. We can and must do better. If ever there was a time for political activism, this is it. Do your part; and remember that you are a citizen not only of the United States, but also of our indivisible, interdependent world. Joe Schwartzberg BOUTROS-GHALI: DEMOCRATIZATION AT GLOBAL LEVEL NEEDED (Excerpted <>from The Federalist Debate, vol. XX, no. 2, July 2007, p. 49) "In a message addressed to the supporters of the Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly in May 2007, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former UN Secretary General, said: 'If the process of democratization does not move forward at the international level, democracy at the level of the nation-state will also dimin ish. In the process of globalization, problems which can only be solved effectively at the global level are multiplying and requirements of political governance are extending beyond state borders accordingly. Increased decision-making at the global level therefore is inevitable. We need to promote the democratization of globalization, before globalization destroys the foundations of national and international democracy.' According to Boutros-Ghali, 'the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations has become an indispensable step to achieve democratic control of globalization.'" (Much is happening in regard to a World Parliamentary Assembly of which most Americans are totally unaware. We hope to explore this theme in a future CGS MN Newsletter and perhaps in a Third Thursday Global Issues Forum.) THANK YOU, DICK BERNARD In December 2007 Dick Bernard completed three years as President of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers, an organization with which the Minnesota Chapter of CGS (and formerly of WFA) has been closely associated since its very inception in 1995. MAP has been blessed with a succession of outstanding leaders, but none has worked harder or more imaginatively than Dick in that demanding position. Dick has overseen the growth of MAP to seventy-one member organizations; and cooperation within that group in the cause of peace, justice and environmental sustainability has steadily increased on his watch. Thanks, Dick for a job well done. Citizens for Global Solutions (formerly the World Federalist Association) 17350 West 67th Street Circle Eden Prairie, MN 55346 www.globalsolutionsmn.org We must renew democracy itself. We have to fight cynicism and inertia and restore faith in the advancement of our country. Paul Wellstone Citizens for Global Solutions Minnesota 17350 West 67th Street Circle Eden Prairie, MN 55346 www.globalsolutionsmn.org Newsletter January 2008
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Posted February 2,2008