 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Few Ideas, But Confusing
In the wake of the end of the Cold War, when the series of thematic United Nations summits started in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the international community was packed with initiatives, ideas and utopias of some kind of a global understanding to solve the planet's problems, says Roberto Savio, founder and former Director General of IPS.
After all, the world's most divisive issue - the antagonism between communism and free market democracies - seemed then to be solved for good and all had understood the basic premise that humanity share a common space and have to live in it together.
Now, five years down the road, there are no ideas, no utopias and therefore the series of "plus five" meetings taking place are "taking us backwards," Savio told Terra Viva.
"Since the fall of the Berlin wall a series of world conferences began a debate on governance, but not quite on the issue of globalisation, which was then not fully assumed as a reality. In 1995, at the Copenhagen and Beijing summits, the globalisation discussion began in full," he explains.
"From 1995 on, three different mechanisms operate: the intergovernmental system began to decline, state power within national boundaries was reduced and civil society experienced an unprecedented growth which led to Seattle," he adds.
"But Seattle is gone and now there is no forum to a serious discussion on the crucial issue of governance of the globalisation process," Savio stresses.
He mentioned the much-attacked document "A Better World for All," launched this week in Geneva by the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, along with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Such document, Savio says ''escapes any definition on policies or the search for governance." As a result, he adds, "the U.N. missed the train" and the debate does not have a natural venue. "With the United States the multilateral system is crumbling, while the European Union abandons any attempt to become a political unit by growing into a 25-strong economic bloc."
The current system of governance "is unable to create an effort to arrive at the governance issue, the bottom line: power. This system is unable to open its gates, it does not allow participation and is in many cases not transparent," Savio adds.
Read TerraViva
The IPS renowned international newspaper will publish a special edition in Geneva, at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (Copenhagen+5). Follow the conference on line day by day from June 26 through July 1, with exclusive reports by a team of 13 IPS journalists from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, North America and Latin America.
A selection of the IPS Coverage from Geneva will also be carried by TerraViva Daily Journal (New York) and TerraViva Europe (Brussels),.
Has the world lived up to its 1996 commitments..?
Solidarity 2000 starting 17th of June!
MS's big summer event Solidarity 2000 will start very soon now, with a week-long variety of debates and arrangements. The activities range from encounters between young people from Balkan, Africa and Central America to big conferences on the planet's social development and environment.
Judge by yourself:
The 1996 Copenhagen Social Summit final report in English, French and Spanish.