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John Folk-Williams

#mediation #peace #participation School:Nonkilling studies - Wikiversity - 0 views

en.wikiversity.org/...School:Nonkilling_studies

collaboration nonkilling peace nonviolence politics dialogue international

shared by John Folk-Williams on 22 Aug 09 - Snapshot
  • John Folk-Williams
    John Folk-Williams on 22 Aug 09
     
    Online center for research information on a global nonkilling initiative
rob g

An Answer to the Question: "What is Enlightenment?" | Immanuel Kant (1784) - 0 views

sap.ereau.de/...what_is_enlightenment

Kant enlightenment ***** HumanRights democracy global international politics

shared by rob g on 03 Jan 09 - Snapshot
  • rob g
    rob g on 03 Jan 09
     
    This remains one of the best texts of the permanent struggle for Enlightenment -- values that assert universal human freedom, dignity and equality. Values that include internationalism, participatory and representative democracy based. These values inform our struggleto end of political and social domination of persons and societies globally. - Zackie Achmat
Arabica Robusta

Can democracy save the planet? | openDemocracy - 0 views

www.opendemocracy.net/...can_democracy_save_the_planet

democracy development international opendemocracy sustainable

shared by Arabica Robusta on 05 May 08 - Snapshot
  • The questions addressed included: can a world of 9-10 billion people
    vote its way to a sustainable future - or are new forms of leadership (even
    forms of authoritarian rule) going to be necessary? Are the rising global
    powers (China, India and Brazil among them) best placed to move towards more
    sustainable forms of development?
  • What of the link between democracy and
    sustainable development? Most respondents held that voter pressure meant that
    democracy was of benefit to sustainable development. Yet consultation with
    a more specialised group of experts found that only 28% believed that
    capitalism (often paired with democracy in its liberal variant) aided
    sustainable development, against 36% who said that capitalism inhibited it.
    Overall, Doug Miller saw in the figures an activation of people's survival
    instinct: as the planet "speaks" through extreme weather events, citizens are
    starting to listen.
  • Many of the issues the roundtable addressed had been
    highlighted in a keynote paper commissioned ahead of the meeting from Ian
    Christie. This made four basic propositions about democracy, ecologically
    sustainable development, and environmental/sustainability campaign
    organisations (SD-NGOs). He argued that together, these phenomena offer a
    paradox about the relationship between democracy, civil society and
    sustainability; and that resolving it is now an urgent and complex task - for
    the west, for newly industrialised democracies, and for emergent democratic civil
    society in the global south.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Democracy poses huge problems
    for sustainable development. In the advanced liberal capitalist states, democracy
    is tightly coupled to the promise of economic growth, ever-rising consumption
    and individual freedom. Democracy in such states now entrenches the interests
    of the affluent majority and well-funded lobbies in the political system (a
    point analysed by, among others, JK Galbraith and Mancur Olson).
  • Environmental/sustainability
    campaign organisations (SD-NGOs) are a massive success for civil society
    worldwide. Without them, we would not have anything like the progress we have
    seen in the past half-century in protecting the environment, cutting pollution,
    raising resource efficiency, highlighting linked issues of environmental and
    social injustice, and saving wildlife and habitats from destruction. Without
    them, the discourse and practice of sustainable development would not have
    become established in governments worldwide, and huge issues such as climate
    disruption would not have been acknowledged or tackled sufficiently by
    governments and businesses.
  • SD-NGOs are a massive failure by their own
    standards. For nearly fifty years they have campaigned and educated citizens
    and governments and businesses worldwide; yet ecological damage continues on a
    vast scale, environmental injustices abound, and dangerous climate disruption
    seems to be unavoidable. SD-NGOs have achieved limited gains in specific areas
    of policy but have failed to mobilise and energise citizens on a large enough
    scale to put real pressure on politicians and businesses in the west and
    beyond. Moreover, they lack clear answers to challenges to their own legitimacy
    and accountability, and have sometimes spoken as though they were representative
    voices of "civil society", when in fact they constitute a small and highly
    unrepresentative section of it in many countries.
  • Arabica Robusta
    Arabica Robusta on 05 May 08
     
    a Consultation on Democracy and Sustainability was held at the Science Museum in London on 18 March 2008. It was convened by the Environment Foundation, the 21st Century Trust and SustainAbility, and supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

    The questions addressed included: can a world of 9-10 billion people vote its way to a sustainable future - or are new forms of leadership (even forms of authoritarian rule) going to be necessary? Are the rising global powers (China, India and Brazil among them) best placed to move towards more sustainable forms of development?

    Democracy has a central role to play in any discussion of the future of the planet. But democracy is in trouble in many parts of the world, and must - if it is to deliver, remain relevant and meet people's needs and aspirations - mutate and evolve (see Larry Diamond, "The Democratic Rollback", Foreign Affairs [March-April 2008]).
Arabica Robusta

Philanthrocapitalism: after the goldrush | openDemocracy - 0 views

www.opendemocracy.net/...ocapitalism_after_the_goldrush

business development international nongovernmental philanthrocapitalism philanthropy

shared by Arabica Robusta on 23 Apr 08 - Snapshot
  • Arabica Robusta
    Arabica Robusta on 23 Apr 08
     
    "Wealth is like an orchard", says the Mexican philanthrocapitalist Carlos Slim, "you have to distribute the fruit, not the branch", presumably because the branch, tree and forest all belong to him.
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