At 09:16 AM 7/15/00, Michael Sondow wrote:
>Craig A. Johnson (CPSR) wrote (to CPTech):
> >
> > Jamie,
> >
> > Hans sent this last night (Japan time). Can you post to your list?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Craig
> >
> > --------------------------------
> >
> > PETITION
> > CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION IN ICANN
Excerpts from:
Civilizing Society
by David C. Korten
The FEASTA annual lecture.
Dublin, Ireland - July 4, 2000
The citizen protests in Seattle the end of last year brought the World
Trade Organization meeting to a stand still and focused world attention on
an increasingly visible tension between two extraordinarily powerful social
forces.
One is the force of corporate globalization driven by a once seemingly
invincible alliance between the world's largest mega-corporations and most
powerful governments. In the eyes of its proponents the integration of
national economies into a seamless global economy is spurring economic
growth through the expansion of trade to bring material prosperity to all
the world, spread democracy, and create the financial resources and new
technologies needed to protect the global environment. But most of all it
is making many of these proponents very rich and powerful, which may have
something to do with their enthusiasm.
The second force is the global democracy movement being advanced by a
planetary citizen alliance known as global civil society. Before Seattle
'99 this force found expression in the national democracy movements that
played a critical role in the breakup of the Soviet empire and the fall of
apartheid in South Africa -- and in other great progressive social
movements of our time, such as the civil rights, environmental, peace, and
women's movements.
The corporate force is centrally planned by a well-organized and
well-funded corporate elite and PR rhetoric not withstanding, the driving
motive is a competitive drive for profits. The citizen force depends
largely on voluntary energy, is self-organizing, and is grounded in a deep
value commitment to democracy, community, equity, and the web of planetary
life. Although it has no identifiable organizational or institutional form,
it is taking on a striking sense of coherence and acquiring the power to at
least make the corporate elites very nervous. Its impetus comes from the
awakening of millions of people of every nationality, race, and religious
affiliation to the contradictions of corporate globalization, which
contrary to its claims is enriching the few at the expense of the many,
replacing democracy with an elitist and authoritarian corporate rule,
destroying the environment, and eroding the relationships of trust and
caring that are the essential foundation of a civilized society -- all in
the mindless pursuit of money to further enrich those who already have more
money than they could possibly use.
Read the rest at:
http://cyberjournal.org/cj/korten/korten_feasta.shtml
Respectfully,
Jay Fenello,
New Media Strategies
------------------------------------
http://www.fenello.com 770-392-9480
Aligning with Purpose(sm) ... for a Better World
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"We are witness to the emergence of an epic struggle
between corporate globalization and popular democracy."
-- David Korten
