January 2010, Issue #23 of The WorldVoter
The WorldVoter
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The WorldVoter
the newsletter of
Vote World Parliament
— democratic world parliament through a global referendum —
www.VoteWorldParliament.org
Vote World Parliament President is Jim Stark; Vice President is Ted
Stalets
www.RescuePlanForPlanetEarth.com
This site, above, is for the book Rescue Plan for Planet Earth
Issue #23, January, 2010
(This issue and all previous issues are posted at www.RescuePlanForPlanetEarth.com)
Quotes of the month
I have high hopes that the Vote World Parliament project [the global
referendum] will harness the awesome power of the Internet to initiate
a serious dialogue on the possibility of establishing an effective
federal world government. James A. Yunker, Political Globalization: A
New Vision of Federal World Government
The global referendum on democratic world government is a compelling
mobilizing strategy to jumpstart a grassroots movement to usher in a
just world order for the human polity and gaia. Saul Mendlovitz
(editor), On the Creation of a Just World Order: Preferred Worlds for
the 1990s
It is absolutely undeniable that … some of [the UN’s] most influential
and powerful members do not buy, as applicable to them, the principles
therein contained. In fact, they defend and apply the law of the jungle
—might makes right.… The United Nations has not achieved the
fundamental goals for which it was created.… If the United Nations is
evaluated having those [goals] in mind, then … it has failed.… I have
come to the conclusion that the time has already passed for reforming
or mending our organization [the UN]. What we need to do is reinvent
it. Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, the former president (2008-2009)
of the General Assembly of the United Nations
The hope that a radical transformation will occur in world politics
lies in the entry onstage … of a new political subject, the only
political subject that possesses democratic legitimacy: the citizen….
Empowering the citizen of the world means to build up at the global
level those checks and balances that have nurtured the evolution of
democracy. Daniele Archibugi, The Global Commonwealth of Citizens, p.
284
News in brief
WATUN to mobilize its member organizations (MOs) for the global
referendum on establishing a world parliament
A letter is to go out in a few days to all 27 member organizations of
the World Alliance to Transform the UN (WATUN), asking them to take
action according to the WATUN resolution of last December 2. Each
organization will be asked to:
1. formally endorse the global referendum on a world parliament;
2. ask all staff, directors and members to vote at www.voteworldparliament.org:
3. recommend similar actions to other civil society organizations, and
collect referendum ballots “however possible and as fast as
possible”;
and,
4. give your formal support to the draft UN resolution for a formal
global referendum on WP.
For the referendum campaign to go viral, it must reach and catch on
outside the confines of the WP movement, of course, but it is surely
up to the movement to ignite the fuse and get things rolling.
The letter to member organizations reads in part:
And if the universe unfolds as we hope it will, the member NGOs of
WATUN will all do their part to see what we can do by way of giving
birth to “Big Mo,” and our issue will emerge from virtual obscurity to
public prominence in the next year or two. With any luck at all, a
strong “global mandate” from the entire human race (or at least most
of us) will be in our hands within a decade. Leverage of that
magnitude has never existed before, and may well prove to be an
irresistible force for change.
VWP becomes a “membership” organization
Vote World Parliament—formerly known as Vote World Government—has
existed for more than five years, and there have been very few
substantial donations of money. In fact it’s fair to say there have
been very few donations, period. All our financial records are open to
public scrutiny on the site at http://voteworldparliament.org/about/finances/.
And the nearly $8,000 we owe doesn’t even include any value for the
years of labor that Jim Stark, Earleen Devine and Ted Stalets have put
into the project. We have no choice but to ask those who are receiving
our newsletter to consider becoming “members.” So now there is a
“Become A Member” button on our new site. Please use it, if you can.
A Christmas present for the ages
On Christmas day, 2009, we received an email from a Pradeep Poonia.
His organization, Manav Pragti Sansthan, is in district Churu in the
Rajasthan state of India, and he is associated with Bhawani Kusum, our
“main man” in India and the country coordinator for Intersect
Worldwide. Pradeep wrote to tell us that they had collected 4,000
votes, and would be submitting them soon. Now there is a Christmas
present to remember, even if it was not intended as a Christmas
present! We are deeply grateful for your work, Pradeep, especially for
the enthusiasm shown by the front line young people who went out into
the villages and got the ballots. As Confucius said, “Even a journey
of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” It is a mantra here at
VWP headquarters that collecting 2 billion “yes” votes (which is what
we need to win the day) is not a hard job … just a big one. Pradeep
and his friends are taking a large step towards our goal, and the
human race is in their debt for having genuine faith in the global
referendum before most people have paid any attention to it. Bravo!
Voting “yes” or “no”
As votes start to arrive in larger and larger numbers from vote
collectors, a new danger is found. To deal with it, here is a PS that
I added to an email to one NGO leader:
PS I notice that every vote today was a “yes.” While that is indeed
rather wonderful, I hope those who are asked to vote are assured that
if they are inclined to vote “no,” that’s okay too. When our results
start to command notice in the media and in political circles, we will
be attacked vigorously by those who oppose us, and I want to be able
to say that I encouraged all voters to express their own opinions when
choosing between “yes” or “no,” and that I asked all vote collectors
to make this abundantly clear to all prospective voters before they
voted.
The point is, we had an “incident” in this regard once before, at City
Montessori School in India, and we must be careful not to assume that
anyone with any common sense will agree with us as to the desirability
of creating a democratic world parliament.
Editorial, by Brian Coughlan
Linking up with the World Parliament Experiment
The World Parliament Experiment is a novel and radical concept to
bring online voting, on specific and detailed global issues, to the
general public. It allows anyone to participate in a concrete way in
the ongoing discussion about how our world should be governed. The
site sprang from the imagination and determination of Dr. Rasmus
Tenbergen, the Executive Director of the Institute for Leadership
Development in Bonn, Germany.
After discussions with the WPE, they have agreed to table a resolution—
which they are confident they can endorse—supporting Vote World
Parliament’s efforts. The resolution is already underway in the
“future vote” section of the site. The WPE is an open and
collaborative endeavour which means that anyone can register, and
begin to participate in the vote. To that end I would like to
encourage everyone who receives the newsletter to pitch in and vote on
our resolution! If you see anything else that interests you, feel free
to express an opinion there too—the more, the merrier.
Please note that two votes are required for each WPE resolution. The
first relates to moving a “future vote” to “current vote” status, and
the second is to vote on the actual resolution itself once it has been
accepted as a current vote. It’s important to do both, as the greater
the number of votes at each stage, the greater the legitimacy a given
resolution will ultimately have. The more computer savvy among you
will be easily able to monitor this for yourselves.
Despite our very different approaches to global governance, WPE is a
natural complement to VWP. On our site you only really get to vote
once, on theirs you can create a vote on whatever issue takes, tickles
or inflames your fancy. So if you’ve made your voice heard on the
referendum, and voting every few weeks is all you reasonably have time
for, then WPE is an opportunity to renew your commitment to global
governance at regular intervals, and on subjects that interest and
concern you. Not that we want to undercut our own “brand” here;
clearly, if you have the time to spare we could use your help at VWP
as well!
* * *
Brian Coughlan is the Liaison Officer of Vote World Parliament, an NGO
dedicated to launching a global referendum on the creation of a
democratic world parliament (see www.voteworldparliament.org or
www.RescuePlanForPlanetEarth.com; 121 supporting authors list is at
http://voteworldparliament.org/allies-initiatives/authors-campaign/)