World Leadership for Equal Dignity

HumanDHS is primarily grounded in academic work. We are independent of any religious or political agenda. However, we wish to bring academic work into "real life." Our research focuses on topics such as dignity (with humiliation as its violation), or, more precisely, on respect for equal dignity for all human beings in the world. This is not only our research topic, but also our core value, in line with Article 1 of the Human Rights Declaration that states that every human being is born with equal dignity (that ought not be humiliated). We agree with Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, who advocates the building of bridges from academia as follows, "I have always believed that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential for public policy. It is possible to affect public policy without being an advocate; to be passionate about peace without losing analytical rigor; to be moved by what is just while conceding that no one has a monopoly on justice." We would like to add that we believe that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential not only for public policy, but for raising awareness in general.

To promote the HumanDHS vision of a world of equal dignity for all, away from practices of humiliation, new forms of leadership have to be developed, both locally and globally.

We, as HumanDHS network, are ourselves looking for Coordinators/Directors for our Research, Education, and Intervention teams. Most people are socialized, and still embedded, into hierarchical top-down structures, and the role of a coordinator is automatically expected to mean "top-down leader." This is not the case in our network. Our definition of a coordinator is different. A HumanDHS coordinator is more of a facilitator and nurturer, implementing our appreciative approach. We use the image of a tree to illustrate the nature of our HumanDHS work (we sometimes also use the metaphor of a forest), and the coordinator is not at the top, but at the bottom of the tree, nurturing the roots, the trunk, and the capillaries of the tree, so that branches can grow, with fruit maturing on the branches. Our three main branches are our Research, Education, and Intervention initiatives and teams, and the fruits are the various tangible projects that are being developed by individual members of our network. 

We develop our Global Coordinating Team to nurture the entire network, and also each branch and sub-branch needs to be nurtured and facilitated by coordinators/directors, again working from the bottom, not from the top. A coordinator does not dominate the members of his or her team, but encourages our members to develop their own particular work in the context of the overall HumanDHS vision. The coordinator helps everybody to integrate their work with the other members, and facilitates cross-fertilizing by creating synergy between our members. A coordinator nurtures our work in a Diversity in Unity fashion (or Unity in Diversity), whereby the Unity is expressed in the HumanDHS vision of equality in dignity, and Diversity by the myriads of ways in which this vision can be expressed and embodied. A coordinator provides the nurturing of the roots, trunk, and capillaries of the tree in an appreciative fashion, he or she does not create the fruits, the particular projects. Each fruits is created by one or several individual team members.

Coordinators can also be members of their own team, in case they are also creating a fruit/project of their own. However, our experience tells us that these two roles must be kept apart very stringently. The members of a team must not mistake the coordinator's own project to be meant to dominate the work of the entire team. It must be made clear that the coordinator's own project, and thus role as member of his or her team, will not interfere with the more neutral nurturing and facilitating nature of the coordinating role.

As a result, we wish to arrive at "shared leadership" and "selfless leadership." Since we believe that it is important for all of us to walk the talk, we wish to invite people into our group who are willing and able to promote our mission to embed our network's vastly diverse approaches to our topic into a cooperative relational spirit of humility and mutual support and respect (please see Relationship Tips developed by Judith Jordan, and Linda Hartling, at the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute in 2006). Competitive and adversarial behavioral styles that draw their strength from dominating and humiliating others have no room in our work. We wish to encourage selfless leadership and would wish to avoid including in our group autocratic "big-ego" styles. (Peter Drucker called for organizations to function like orchestras. See Concept of the Corporation - With a New Introduction by the Author, published online by Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ, in 1993; originally published in 1946 by John Day Company)

The overall framework for our work that we hold to be important is that we wish to work for and not against, namely for equal dignity for all. And, even though we aim at raising awareness for the destructive consequences of cycles of humiliation and the suffering of people who are being exposed to humiliating treatment, we do not wish to engage in humiliating humiliators, which would merely turn the spiral of humiliation further. We rather wish to promote respectful approaches also to humiliators and the non-violent humbling of humiliators.

We call our approach the "appreciative approach." We aim at creating a humiliation-free, collaborative environment characterized by mutual respect, mutual empathy, and openness to difference. We believe that conflict can only be waged in a good way (as decscribed by Jean Baker Miller), if it is embedded into mutual appreciation. We wish to refrain from engaging in inefficient monologuous "loudspeaker communication." We wish to resist the widespread misconception that appreciation forecloses clarity.

Hans Blix formulated a list of adjectives that would be desirable for the conduct of an inspector. This list fleshes out the concept of walking the talk:
•  Driving and dynamic – but not angry and aggressive
•  Firm – but correct
•  Ingenious – but not deceptive
•  Somewhat flexible – but not to be pushed around
•  Calm – but somewhat impatient
•  Keeping some distance – but not arrogant or pompous
•  Friendly – but not cozy
•  Show respect for those you deal with – and demand respect for yourself
•  A light tone or a joke may sometimes break a nervous atmosphere.
- Hans Blix, quoted from http://www.un.org/. See also page 52 in Hans Blix (2004), Disarming Iraq: The Search for Weapons of Mass Destruction, London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Please see also:
•  Is it Possible to "Change the World"? Some Guidelines to How We Can Build a More Decent and Dignified World Effectively: The Case of Dignifying Abusers, by Lindner, 2006.
•  See also Creating We, by Judith Glaser, Platinum Press, 2005.
•  Appreciative Nurturing (AE), a text in the process of being written collectively.


 


Some Basic Principles for an Enabling Future

The Earth Charter's principles
I. RESPECT AND CARE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE
1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
a. Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.
b. Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in the intellectual, artistic, ethical, and spiritual potential of humanity.
2. Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.
a. Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.
b. Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.
3. Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.
a. Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to realize his or her full potential.
b. Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.
4. Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations.
a. Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.
b. Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the long-term flourishing of Earth's human and ecological communities.
In order to fulfill these four broad commitments, it is necessary to:
II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY
III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
IV. DEMOCRACY, NONVIOLENCE, AND PEACE

"Road Map To Good Governance - The Nine 'I' Model" by Syed Ahsanul Alam
Syed Ahsanul Alam, in his article "Road Map To Good Governance - The Nine 'I' Model" explains that "Democracy cannot flourish in the absence of good governance."
He explains: "The pre-condition for good governance is effective democratic institutions for democratizing the society. Improvement of the living standard of people cannot happen where people cannot participate in governance, human rights are not respected, information does not flow, and civil society and the judiciary are weak. Nine criteria of good governance may be used to determine whether any country qualifies to have good governance are:
1. INDEPENDENT AND NON PARTISAN ELECTION COMMISSION
2. INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY AND THE RULE OF LAW
3. INDEPENDENT MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH
4. INDEPENDENT ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION
5. INVESTING IN THE PEOPLE
6. INDEPENDENT AND EFFECTIVE PARLIAMENT
7. INDEPENDENT HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
8. INDEPENDENT OMBUDSMAN SYSTEM
9. INVESTMENT FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT."
"Road Map To Good Governance - The Nine 'I' Model" ( www.goodgovernancebd.org). Syed Ahsanul Alam is Associate Professor of marketing at the Univ. of Chittagong, & Chairman - Center for Good Governance.

Eight Principles by David Held
David Held, Graham Wallas Chair in Political Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, sets out a number of principles which he believes can be universally shared, and can form the basis for the protection and nurturing of each person’s equal significance in the moral realm of humanity. Eight principles are paramount. They are the principles of:
1. equal worth and dignity;
2. active agency;
3. personal responsibility and accountability;
4. consent;
5. collective decision making about public matters through voting procedures;
6. inclusiveness and subsidiarity;
7. avoidance of serious harm; and
8. sustainability.
Held, D. (2004a) Global Covenant: The Social Democratic Alternative to the Washington
Consensus. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Held, D. (2004b) ‘Future Globalizations’, a plenary talk given at the Inaugural Conference of
Globalization Studies Network, The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK, 20 August 2004.
Held, D. (2005) ‘Principles of Cosmopolitan Order’, in G. Brock and H. Brighouse (eds): The
Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Alan Black's insights (30 Nov 2007):

I have been teaching workshops and college courses on leading and leadership for over 20 years.
Among the many leadership books I have in my library I chose 100 of them about 5 years ago and reviewed them for the traits that the various authors felt leaders should possess.
The results included over 400.
What I teach my students, mostly high ranking police, public safety, fire officers, is that we need to be continuously training our leaders: present and future.
We also need to study our organizations, workplaces and teams for what traits of leading or leadership are truly needed at the time.
One of the books that I recommend people read is
FROM BARBARIAN TO BUREAUCRAT
By Lawrence M. Miller

As with the Life Cycle of a product businesses also experience life cycles and I believe families to countries also experience life cycles or continually changing situations.
As situations change leaders/organization/families/classrooms need different types of leading and leadership.
Also I believe that most people do not need leaders most of the time.

Here are some traits I share with my students/participants after I have them review about 150 from 5 books on leadership.

12 Cornerstones of Productive Leading - these come from surveys I did with hundreds of my Community Leadership Group Retreats over about 12 years:
1. Communication
2. Consistent
3. Centered
4. Compromise
5. Confidence
6. Caring
7. Creditability
8. Control
9. Commitment
10. Creative
11. Challenges
12. Competence

52 creative thinking traits:
Abstract, can easily move from reality to
Adaptable
Breakthrough from Current Limits, can
Change of Context (cross-interpretation)
Combination of Ideas/Facts (Synthesis)
Curious
Divergent thinker
Elaborative - in drawing, speaking
Energetic
Fantasy life when young
Fantasize, able to
Feelings & Emotions, expresses
Feelings & Emotions, senses
Flexible in problem situations
Flexible thinker - creates different types of ideas
Fluent - produces many ideas
Future oriented
Humor, unique sense of
Humor, varied sense of
Humorous Perspective
Idealistic
Imaginative
Independent
Ingenious
Learning, always
Movement & Sound (Sense change)
Multiple Idea Combinations
Non-conforming
Not motivated by money
Observant, highly
Open-ended
Openness-resisting early closure or completion
Original - uniqueness
Passionate about their work
Perceives world differently
Perspective, Internal ­ easily sees in to problems & things
Perspective, Macro Scale [seeing from larger view]
Provocative Viewpoint, takes
Question asker
Richness & Colorful Detail in thinking and communicating
See possibilities
Self- knowledgeable
Self-actualizing
Self-disciplined
Sense of destiny
Sensitive
Severely critical of self, their work, potential of area of focus and the potential of other people
Specific interests
Synthesize correctly often intuitively
Tolerant of ambiguity
Unusual Viewpoint, sees from, easily
Visualize ­ sensory or imaginary/intuitive
Alan Black

Principles for Global Sustainability
David Krieger is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and a Councilor on the World Future Council
•  Responsibility to allocate resources so that greed for the few does not eclipse need for the many.  (Survival Principle; Democracy Principle)
•  Responsibility to preserve the planet and its resources for future generations. (Intergenerational Equity Principle)
•  Responsibility to do no irreparable harm to the planet and its inhabitants. (Precautionary Principle)
•  Responsibility to foster diversity of species and ideas. (Anti-Monopoly Principle)
•  Responsibility to make war a last resort, not a first resort of the powerful. (Nonviolence Priority Principle)
•  Responsibility to hold accountable the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity, including genocide. (Nuremberg Principles; International Criminal Court)
•  Responsibility to guarantee basic human rights for all individuals. (Human Rights Principle: Universal Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Torture Convention, etc.)
•  Responsibility to cooperate across national borders to achieve these ends. (State Cooperation Principle: Global problems are incapable of solution by single states, no matter how powerful.)
•  Responsibility to choose hope over despair. (Hope Principle; Perseverance Principle)
•  Responsibility to leave the planet a better place than you found it. (Individual Action Principle; Horace Mann Principle: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”)
•  Responsibility to educate for global sustainability. (Education Principle; Critical Thinking Principle)

In sum, I would encourage you to seek to advance global sustainability by adopting a planetary perspective, doing no harm, engaging in doing good for the planet and its present and future inhabitants, choosing hope, and persisting. If we accept these responsibilities as individuals and work to implement them in our national and international policies, we can turn Earth Day into a year-around commitment to creating a planet we can be proud to pass on to future generations.

Ten Commandments
Evo Morales appearances at American University and the OAS.
See 10 commandments.

Worldchanging
Worldchanging is a 501(c)3 media organization that comprises a global network of independent journalists, designers and thinkers covering the world's most intelligent solutions to today's problems. We inspire readers around the world with stories of the most important and innovative new tools, models and ideas for building a bright green future. Our readers are ready to change the world, and Worldchanging links them to the first steps.

The Equality Trust
The Equalit Trust is an independent, evidence based campaign working to reduce income inequality in order to improve the quality of life in the UK.
UK income inequality is among the highest in the developed world and evidence shows that this is bad for almost everyone.
People in more equal societies live longer, have better mental health and are more socially mobile. Community life is stronger where the income gap is narrower, children do better at school and they are less likely to become teenage parents. When inequality is reduced people trust each other more, there is less violence and rates of imprisonment are lower.
If we want to build a better society, it is essential we take action now to reduce the gap between rich and poor. The Equality Trust is working with others to build a social movement for change. We analyse and disseminate the latest research, promote robust evidence-based arguments and support a dynamic network of campaign groups across the country.

 


We look for interested people, who would like to develop our WLeadersED page. Please see our Call for Creativity.


 

 

Links

Please note that the entire HumanDHS website is maintained by volunteers, since its inception in 2003, and this is mainly done by Evelin Lindner. Until 2012, she usually pasted interesting news into this Links section. From July 2012 until 2017, she tagged interesting information on delicious.com. From 2017 onward, you see Evelin's personal list of interesting web links on Twitter:

New UN Chief Guterres Plans to Focus on Human Dignity
NEW YORK (IDN-INS) - On December 12, 2016, António Guterres will be sworn in as the next United Nations Secretary-General. In his vision for the post, Guterres - a former Prime Minister of Portugal and UN High Commissioner for Refugees - has said that the world body is uniquely placed to connect the dots to overcome global challenges and further strengthen the nexus between peace and security, sustainable development and human rights policies. [IDN-INPS – 11 December 2016]

Leitartikel: Kampf den Avataren, Der Spiegel 21, 19.05.2014
Google missbraucht seine Macht und muss daher von der Politik neue Regeln bekommen....Google baut digitale Avatare von uns und spielt mit denen das große Konsumspiel. Dies verletzt die Würde des Menschen, und die soll unantastbar sein, sagt das Grundgesetz. Der Europäische Gerichtshof hat eine richtige Entscheidung getroffen. Wer sich vor einem falschen oder veralteten Bild seiner Persönlichkeit schützen will, kann sich an die Suchmaschinen wenden. Aber das greift zu kurz und ist prinzipiell der falsche Ansatz. Nicht der Bürger muss sich gegen die Datenkraken stemmen, sondern der Staat. Datenschutz sollte ähnlich wie Umweltschutz zur vordringlichen Staatsaufgabe werden. Auch die Umwelt wurde über Jahrzehnte vergiftet, weil man es einer verantwortungslosen Industrie überließ, ihre Profite auf den Verbrauch natürlicher Ressourcen zu gründen, ohne dafür zu zahlen. Der Staat hat die Pflicht, nicht nur die natürlichen Ressourcen der Menschheit zu bewahren, sondern ebenso ihre persönliche Ressource, die Würde. Die Politiker müssen sich jetzt um eine digitale Weltordnung kümmern, einen Gesetzesrahmen, der Machtmissbrauch verhindert. ... Wenn nicht die Politik Google einen Rahmen setzt, dann setzt bald Google der Politik einen Rahmen. Und verändert die Demokratie, wie wir sie kennen...
Read more at http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-127078940.html.

An Interview With Dr. Nora Sveaass: Why Torture is Wrong
by Nilantha Ilangamuwa
... A state that allows torture to happen not only violates international human law but creates a room that is extremely destructive. It undermines the trust and confidence that every society must contain, and such practices open up for more violence and disrespect of human rights. What was attempted as part of the war against terror was to create the picture that better one guilty than many innocent. But there is absolutely no justification for torture. And this campaign has also been used as a way of getting rid of or pacifying opposition. A lot of human rights violations over the last years have taken place under the auspices of fighting terror. The campaigns to fight this are extremely important. In addition, it has been argued, especially from people trained in interrogation and forensic psychology that torture, in addition to be totally wrong, also brings about wrong or false intelligence...
Read more at http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/11/why-torture-is-wrong/.

Globale Allmende
Der Autor, Gunther Mair, befasst sich mit Fragen, die den Umgang des Einzelnen mit Gütern der Gemeinschaft betreffen, Fragen, die globale Ausmaße annehmen (Klima, Ressourcen, Finanzmarkt). Für die Bearbeitung dieser Frage erhielt Elinor Ostrom 2009 (als erste Frau) den Wirtschaftsnobelpreis.

The System Improvement Process
SIP was developed to solve any difficult large-scale social problem. This includes the "excessive humiliation problem." Systems Engineer Jack Harich invites all researchers to study SIP (in a personal message, 15th January 2013).

Minnesota Group Builds a Peace Army
By Jean Hopfensperger, Star Tribune, January 10, 2011
Most Minnesotans have never heard of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. But nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates have endorsed this Minnesota-born nonprofit, including the Dalai Lama and former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu...
Read more at http://www.startribune.com/local/113179184.html.

Citizen's Basic Income
Our social awareness is lagging a long way behind the possibilities opened up by the worldwide division of labour and the resulting rise in productivity, write Götz Werner and Ludwig Paul Häussner. They continue:
"In a globalised economy in which we benefit from everyone’s initiative and work, a tax system that becomes involved in the process of creating added value and thus acts as a curb on initiative is anachronistic. A consumption tax (in the form of VAT), leaves the work contributed by an individual untaxed and is in keeping with the times as far as the global division of labour is concerned. The gradual conversion of the system to one in which only consumption is taxed can be carried out all the more easily as prices now already contain all taxes imposed."
Götz W. Werner is the founder of the dm-drogerie markt chain of drugstores, Director of the Inter-Faculty Institute for Entrepreneurship at the University of Karlsruhe and the initiator of an unconditional and substitutive basic income based on a consumption tax. Ludwig Paul Häussner has diplomas in business management and education, is a former manager and is currently an academic assistant at the Inter-Faculty Institute for Entrepreneurship at the University of Karlsruhe.

Monitoring Economic Performance, Quality of Life and Sustainability
December 2010 Joint Report as Requested by the Franco-German Ministerial Council http://www.sachverstaendigenrat-wirtschaft.de/fileadmin/dateiablage/Expertisen/2010/ex10_en.pdf.

Leadership is:
•  Caring more than others think is wise
•  Risking more than others think is safe
•  Dreaming more than others think is practical
•  Expecting more than others think is possible
- Detective James Shanahan, at the 2010 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Columbia University, New York, December 9-10, 2010.

African Free Trade Zone Is Agreed
The leaders of three African trading blocs on Wednesday agreed to create a free trade zone of 26 countries with a GDP of an estimated $624bn (£382.9bn).
It is hoped the deal will ease access to markets within the region and end problems arising from the fact several countries belong to multiple groups. The deal also aims to strengthen the bloc's bargaining power when negotiating international deals. Analysts say the agreement will help intra-regional trade and boost growth. The three blocs which struck the deal were the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa)...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7684903.stm.

Australia Abandons Asylum Policy
The new Australian government has abandoned the country's controversial policy of jailing all asylum seekers. In a major overhaul of immigration rules, the policy of detaining would-be asylum seekers in often remote jails will now be used only as a last resort. Children will no longer be held, and adults who are detained will have their situation evaluated every three months. Immigration Minister Chris Evans called the decision a move towards "more humane" treatment of asylum seekers. Human rights groups welcomed the announcement. Amnesty International called the reforms a "welcome step forward" that would bring Australia's system "into line with other Western democracies".
'Human dignity':
The strict policy of detaining asylum seekers and visitors who overstayed their visas was brought in by a former Labor government in the 1990s. But it was its hard-line enforcement by conservative leader John Howard that drew criticism from rights groups and the United Nations.
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7530156.stm.

World Trade Talks End in Collapse
Marathon talks in Geneva aimed at liberalising global trade have collapsed, the head of the World Trade Organisation has said. Pascal Lamy confirmed the failure, which officials have blamed on China, India and the US failing to agree on import rules. EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said the result was "heartbreaking". The talks were launched in 2001 in Doha and were seen as providing a cornerstone for future global trade. The main stumbling block was farm import rules, which allow countries to protect poor farmers by imposing a tariff on certain goods in the event of a drop in prices or a surge in imports. India, China and the US could not agree on the tariff threshold for such an event...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/7531099.stm.

US Film Director Steven Spielberg Has Withdrawn as an Artistic Adviser for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
In a statement, he accused China of not doing enough to pressure Sudan to end the "continuing human suffering" in the troubled western Darfur region...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7242016.stm.

Solve the Succession Crisis by Growing Inside-Outside Leaders by Joseph L. Bower
Harvard Business Review, November 2007
The most successful CEOs, on balance, are those who are developed inside the company—but manage to retain an outside perspective
When a CEO retires or steps down, companies are often left in the uncomfortable position of trying to find a new leader without having anyone in ranks who is prepared to take over the job. Bower argues that, rather than hiring an outsider as is often the case, companies should try to actively cultivate future CEOs on the fringes of the company. These employees would presumably have a hybrid "inside-outside" perspective. Bower very clearly outlines the numerous ways in which both outside and inside perspectives are essential to leadership, as well as the proper methods for "grooming" such individuals.
Please read more at http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/.

Europe's Border-Free Zone Expands
Forty-eight hours of celebrations are taking place to mark nine new states joining a European border-free zone. The Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel across the area, now embraces 24 nations...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/7153490.stm.

2007 State of the Future
By Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon
Article by Yuwei Zhang in the UN Chronicle Online Edition:
Providing a comprehensive overview of global trends and challenges, the 2007 State of the Future was launched at UN Headquarters in New York on 10 September 2007.
Produced by the Millennium Project, under the auspices of the World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA), the State of the Future report contains insights into the Project’s work from a variety of creative and knowledgeable people, obtaining information from and getting feed back on emerging crises, opportunities, strategic priorities and the feasibility of actions. The report comes in two parts: an extensive 99-page executive summary, and a compact disc containing over 6,000 pages of research, including the Millennium Project’s 11 years of cumulative research.
“The Millennium Project brings together futurists, scholars, business partners and policymakers who work for international organizations, Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and universities,” said UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka, who hosted the book launch. As one of the primary products of the Millennium Project, “it collects and assesses judgments from several hundred participants to produce the annual State of the Future report”, he remarked.
“All of us have been in situations where we’ve been asked to provide a big picture of economics, education, politics … but that is extremely difficult to do”, Jerome Glenn pointed out, adding that producing such a complex annual report was a daunting task when he first started the research in 1992. He explained: “We can document a range of potential futures and we have an ongoing and continuous feedback system with our nodes around the world.” It is a decentralized and globalized think tank, said Mr. Glenn, who has over 30 years of experience in futures research for Governments, international organizations and private industry. Co-founder and Director of the Millennium Project, Mr. Glenn told the UN Chronicle that it was an ongoing and accumulative project with specialized studies for each year’s report. Chapter 3 of the 2007 report presents 19 possibilities that could influence future education and learning by the year 2030 in a special study which distills insights from more than 200 participants from around the world.
A new idea mentioned in the report is “trans-institution”, according to Mr. Glenn, which is a kind of new institutional invention that allows independent organizations—Governments, corporations, NGOs, universities, individuals and the United Nations or international organizations—to act like a trans-institution and cooperate with each other. The report states: “Each trans-institution could improve global resilience as coalitions of the willing, composed of national resilience officers and their counterparts in corporations, NGOs, universities and international organizations.” Mr. Glenn also suggested that trans-institutions should be created for each of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are referred to throughout the report.
Speaking at the book launch, Stephen Schlesinger, former Director of the World Policy Institute at the New School University, said: “This is quite an extraordinary project. It is a balanced, nuanced, forward-looking and prerogative document.” The 2007 State of Future report is about bringing nations together and working in unison. “The notion of the UN itself is collective security, which is about nations working together for the benefit of all humankind”, Professor Schlesinger noted. Hoping the report will be well-circulated both within and outside the Organization, he said that as we are reaching the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, it would be a most reliable guide, which would help form the UN agenda for the future.
For more information on the Millennium Project, please visit: http://www.millennium-project.org
The Executive Summary of the report can be viewed at:
http://www.millennium-project.org/millennium/sof2007-exec-summ.pdf.

Columbia University World Leaders Forum
Launched in 2003, the World Leaders Forum is an annual University-wide initiative that helps realize Columbia's commitment to serving as a center for public discussion and debate on the large economic, political, social, and cultural questions of our time that cut across both traditional academic and international boundaries.
The Forum brings together a wide range of governmental leaders, influential citizens, and intellectuals from many nations to examine global challenges and explore cultural perspectives. Throughout the yearlong series of events, Columbia's students, faculty, and alumni, along with members of the wider New York City community, gather to engage in an open dialogue with a variety of world leaders.

Making the Inevitable Happen
- Everyone knows the outlines of the Middle East peace accord. What's missing is the political will to achieve it -
By Bernard Avishai and Sam Bahour
November 18, 2007
Anybody who knows anything about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict knows that the leaders expected at a summit meeting in Annapolis, Md., later this month, won't devise a deal. That's because the outlines of the deal have already been devised, in bits and pieces, through the Clinton parameters; the Taba summit; the Arab League proposal; international law, including myriad U.N. resolutions; and semiformal understandings, such as the Geneva Initiative...
Please read more at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-avishai18nov18,0,7447082.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail.
Comment by Evelin Lindner:
See also 18 Ways to Hate Your Neighbour: Europe's Lesson To The World! In combination, these two items underline that what we need at the current historical point in time is the political will to build global institutional structures that contain hatred.

'$100 laptop' to Sell to Public
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News
Computer enthusiasts in the developed world will soon be able to get their hands on the so-called "$100 laptop".
The organisation behind the project has launched the "give one, get one" scheme that will allow US residents to purchase two laptops for $399 (£198).
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/6994957.stm and on http://www.xogiving.org/.

The Earth Federation Movement
The Earth Federation Movement includes a worldwide association of World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA) Chapters and affiliated independent organizations, such as many youth, environmental, and human rights organizations, that affirm the creation of a non-military, democratic Earth Federation under the Constitution for the Federation of Earth. We have several web sites associated with our work for global peace with justice, environmental sustainability, and prosperity such as www.earthfederation.info.
Dr. Glen T. Martin is the Secretary-General of WCPA and President of the Institute on World Problems. Since its founding in 1958, the WCPA has focused on creating a non-military, democratic Constitution for the Federation of Earth. It has done this through four Constituent Assemblies of World Citizens meeting from 1968 to 1991, when the Constitution was finally completed in its present form.
WCPA now works to get the nations and people of the world to ratify the Constitution through the criteria specified in Article 17. The Constitution is permeated by the concept of human dignity, focused especially in Articles 12 and 13 on human rights. WCPA sees the ratification of the Earth Constitution as a central structural change, creating global democratic institutions of unity in diversity, that can facilitate the deep spiritual change toward planetary maturity that is also necessary for a world of peace, with justice and sustainability.

Joseph P. Baratta
Joseph P. Baratta (2004)
The Politics of World Federation
Vol.1: The United Nations, U.N. Reform, Atomic Control.
Vol. 2: From World Federalism to Global Governance
Westport, CT: Praeger
Please see here the Introduction to both volumes.
Please see here an editorial on the work of Joseph Baratta and Virginia Swain.

Garry Davis: World Citizenship, World Passport, World Presidency, World Service Authority, World Government of World Citizens, World Government House
Wikipedia: Sol Gareth "Garry" Davis (July 27, 1921 – July 24, 2013) was an international peace activist who created the World Passport, a fantasy travel document based on his interpretation of Article 13(2), Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on the concept of world citizenship. Previously Davis had worked as a Broadway stage actor and served as an American bomber pilot in World War II. He was a devoted World Federalist, although a consistent critic of the World Federalist Movement (quoted from Wikipedia).
Our dear Garry Davis went into hospice care on 18 July 2013, and died six days later. We mourn him in deep admiration for his life work and resonate with every word in Rene Wadlow's lovely reflection on Garry Davis: « And Now the People Have The Floor »
See also:
• Garry Davis’s Speechat the 2007 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict at Columbia University in New York
• Garry Davis at the 2009 Dignity Conference in Honolulu, Hawai'i
• World Citizen Radio with Garry Davis interviewing Evelin Lindner, Global Radio Alliance, Sunday, November 11, 2012
• Garry Davis and Mariana Vergara in Dialogue on the World Passport at the 2012 Workshop on Transforming Humiliaton and Violent Conflict at Columbia University in New York:


Please click on the picture above or here to see all the 177 photos of Day One of the 2012 Workshop

• Please see also The World Is My Country, and the documentary on Garry Davis by Arthur Kanegis:

 

Rosika Schwimmer and World Government
Rosika Schwimmer or Bédy-Schwimmer "Rózsa" Rózsika (1877-1948) set out to create a world government. In 1935 she formed the World Centre for Women's Archives with Mary Ritter Beard. She received a World Peace Prize in 1937 and formed the Campaign for World Government with Lola Maverick Lloyd. In 1947 she was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize but no one received it the next year...
Please read more on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosika_Schwimmer, or, please read also Remarks on the History of Hungarian Feminism by Judit Acsády.

Germany Wants Globalisation Push
By Tim Weber
Business editor, BBC News website, Davos
Western leaders must convince voters of the benefits of globalisation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said. But speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos she also warned of the flip side of globalisation. What was an opportunity for some translated into fear for others, said Ms Merkel, whose country currently holds the EU presidency. She called on politicians to create a framework that ensured globalisation would be fair to everyone...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/6296475.stm.

African Prize for Good Governance
Mobile phone magnate Mo Ibrahim funds a new prize to honor African leaders who stand out in a continent sapped by corruption
See http://www.cpu.org.uk/latestnews.html, or http://www.guardian.co.uk/, or http://www.time.com/time/.

Global Information Media
The Global Community has now streamlined the Global Information Media and have a new webpage for the Global Information Media.

Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve
by Jim Collins
E-book
Boards of directors typically believe that transforming a company from merely good to truly great requires a larger-than-life personality--an egocentric chief to lead the corporate charge. Think "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap or Lee Iacocca. In fact, that's not the case, says author and leadership expert Jim Collins. The essential ingredient for taking a company to greatness is having a "Level 5" leader at the helm--an executive in whom extreme personal humility blends paradoxically with intense professional will. Collins paints a compelling and counterintuitive portrait of the skills and personality traits necessary for effective leadership.

Ragnhild S. Nilsen
Ragnhild Nilsen Grødal holds a M.A. in Music and has studied Psychology, Pedagogy, and Dance. She combines at least three careers. She is reckoned as one of Norway's most skilled course holders and lecturers and is a sought-after educationist, communications artist and development consultant.
In addition, Ragnhild N. Grødal has served on the Board of Strømme Stiftelsen and has developed humanitarian projects worldwide, from East-Timor to Africa and South-America. Furthermore, Ragnhild N. Grødal is the author of several books, both fiction and non-fiction, that are sold worldwide. [read more]

aka Improvisation Labs
In 2001, Tiffany Von Emmel co-founded ILabs (aka Improvisation Labs), an organization which advances life-affirming approaches through research, education, consulting, coaching and community art projects. Currently, she serves as Managing Partner of ILabs.
Tiffany writes: Organization Development (OD) is a field concerned with how people work together to create healthy strong communities and organizations. OD applies the behavioral sciences: psychology, sociology, anthropology, adult learning and development. To advance relational creative approaches to OD consulting and coaching, my colleagues and I began in 1998 to interface theory and practice from the arts and somatics with OD. Somatics are body-oriented approaches to human development.

Jepson School of Leadership Studies
Joanne B. Ciulla, Ph.D., Professor, Coston Family Chair in Leadership and Ethics, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia 23173, USA kindly makes two of her papers available to the public. The first is on Bogus Empowerment and the second is a talk on work that she gave at Stanford.

European Business Ethics Network (EBEN).
Heidi von Weltzien Høivik is a core force in developing the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN).