'One World Governance - A Common Purpose?' by Martin Edwards
What does this have to do with the UN's Agenda for the 21st Century?
I am finding it encouraging, uplifting that many people are beginning to question most everything more and more these days.
In responding to people on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere I find that I am referencing the UN’s Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030 much more frequently. As such, I thought it would be useful to post the following information written by consummate researcher and writer, Martin Edwards of UK Column.
One World Governance - A Common Purpose?
Sunday, 30th May 2010
There can be little doubt which word won the prize for most important adjective in 2009. This was the year in which "global" swept the rest of the political lexicon into obscurity. There were "global crises" and "global challenges", the only possible resolution to which lay in "global solutions" necessitating "global agreements".
[Would these global agreements] sweep away any consideration of what was once assumed to be the most basic principle of modern democracy: that elected national governments are responsible to their own people – that the right to govern derives from the consent of the electorate.There'll be nowhere to run from the new world government
– Janet Daley
If you were to ask members of the public what they thought was the role of the United Nations they would probably reply: Peacekeeping as in Bosnia, or, that through its agency WHO (World Health Organisation) it is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters and for shaping the health research agenda. Fewer still might point out that in 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 21 (1) & (3) state that:
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
With little to choose between the election manifestos of the three main British Political Parties it is time to ask: Why not?
In this series of articles I will firstly, show readers how the Programmes of the United Nations and its’ agencies have, and continue to shape the policies of the Government and opposition parties of the United Kingdom: secondly, briefly look at a small number of Non Governmental Organisations who promote the work of the United Nations behind the scenes, and, finally look at some of the policies which have been disguised to appear as though they originate from either the Westminster or Scottish Parliaments.
The United Nations, Agenda 21 & the Millennium Development Goals
Our journey commences with a short examination of the UN document The United Nations, Agenda 21 & the Millennium Development Goals - Strengthening the Role of Non-Governmental Organizations: Partners for Sustainable Development”
In outline this United Nations document tells us how National Governments are required to create a legal environment in which non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) can operate effectively within our society. These non-governmental organisations provide the ground troops for the implementation and monitoring of the policies of the United Nations (Agenda 21). NGO’s become consulted and claim to represent public opinion during stakeholder consultations. What in effect happens is that the vote of individuals is stolen and participatory democracy is undermined. This is what the United Nations have to say :-
Basis for action
Non-governmental organizations play a vital role in the shaping and implementation of participatory democracy…Formal and informal organizations, as well as grass-roots movements, should be recognized as partners in the implementation of Agenda 21.
One of the major challenges facing the world community as it seeks to replace unsustainable development patterns with environmentally sound and sustainable development is the need to activate a sense of common purpose on behalf of all sectors of society.
Non-governmental organizations, including those non-profit organizations representing groups addressed in the present section of Agenda 21, possess well-established and diverse experience……. The community of non-governmental organizations, therefore, offers a global network that should be tapped, enabled and strengthened in support of efforts to achieve these common goals.
Objectives
Society, Governments and international bodies should develop mechanisms to allow non-governmental organizations to play their partnership role responsibly and effectively.
With a view to strengthening the role of non-governmental organizations as social partners, the United Nations system and Governments should initiate a process, in consultation with non-governmental organizations, to review formal procedures and mechanisms for the involvement of these organizations at all levels from policy-making and decision-making to implementation.
Governments should take measures to:
Involve non-governmental organizations in national mechanisms or procedures established to carry out Agenda 21….. especially in the fields of education, poverty alleviation and environmental protection
Take into account the findings of non-governmental monitoring and review mechanisms in the design and evaluation of policies concerning the implementation of Agenda 21 at all levels;
Review government education systems to identify ways to include and expand the involvement of non-governmental organizations in the field of formal and informal education and of public awareness.
We are also told that:
Governments will need to promulgate or strengthen, subject to country specific conditions, any legislative measures necessary to enable the establishment by non-governmental organizations of consultative groups, and to ensure the right of non-governmental organizations to protect the public interest through legal action.
Is there evidence that this is happening in practice?
Yes there is. For example, the minutes of the Harrow Agenda 21 Environmental Forum, 21 January 2009 tell us that:
MO explained the background to the Earth Charter (attached). It was an international initiative operating within the United Nations. Like Agenda 21, it dated back to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit…….. It was a universal, common purpose document whose aims could be easily supported, even and especially by diverse populations such as Harrow’s. There was no reason why it could not be endorsed by Harrow Council or Harrow Agenda 21, or both.
Readers may wish to conduct their own research into the legal status of Harrow Agenda 21.
The reach of Local Agenda 21 (LA 21) throughout Europe
Examination of the document POLICY AND PRACTICE LASALA: Evaluating Local Agenda 21 in Europe, BOB EVANS & KATE THEOBALD, Sustainable Cities Research Institute, University of Northumbria, 6 North Street East, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, UK". provides interesting reading. This paper reports on the main findings of the recent Local Authorities’ Self-Assessment of Local Agenda 21 (LASALA) project, which conducted a Europe-wide research programme into the European LA 21 initiative. This reveals that:
Local Agenda 21 (LA 21) may be regarded as one of the most enduring and possibly most effective outcomes of the 1992 Rio de Janeiro ‘Earth Summit’. In Europe alone, approximately 4000 cities, municipalities at regional and local level, and regional authorities are now engaged in a LA 21 process of some kind.
The HARMonization of individual programming cycles
Within the Report of the Secretary-General, United Nations, on the work of the Organization, Fifty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 1 (A/54/1), 31 August 1999 informs readers that
In response to a call by the General Assembly for greater HARMonization and simplification of the policies and procedures used by United Nations bodies, 100 country teams have now planned to have their individual programming cycles begin at the same time, and all country programmes will have harmonized cycles by 2004.
What this means in layman's terms is that United Nations Policies are introduced in Members States simultaneously. One classic example being the worldwide smoking bans introduced following the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
More particularly, this document also tells us that
The housing of United Nations entities in common premises (United Nations Houses) will foster a greater sense of community and common purpose ...In a number of countries, we are promoting "virtual" United Nations Houses that will connect separate offices via an in-country intranet and thus improve the sharing of information, practices and expertise.
Keywords: Elections, Agenda 21, Millennium Development Goals, NGO's (Non-Governmental Organisations, Common Purpose, Global Network, Partnerships, Consultative Groups, grass-roots movements, programming cycles, HARMonization.
In later articles we will examine the possibility that the networked, semi-secret, International Leadership Organisation Common Purpose plays an essential part in the United Nations Agenda 21 change program.
In Part 2, researcher and author, Nikki Rapana discusses how and why national governments began modifying national laws to adapt to the global communitarian system of world governance.
This is Part 2 by Nkki Rapana.
Our Common Community
by NIKKI RAPANA
Monday, 31st May 2010
Americans have a lot more in common with the British than many may realize. On both sides of the Atlantic there is a very quiet and totally identical revolution underway. Commoners from Alaska to London face the same enemy with the same name. What binds them in a way that surpasses all others is the simple fact that neither side knows what exactly their enemy is called.
It's not hard to notice cameras on every street corner. Their parents may still need personalized retraining, but every school age child has been taught their new responsibilities and requirements. Our national government's new and very serious concerns regarding our health and smoking, drinking, overeating and exercise is impossible to ignore. New strange sounding "wars" are being waged on activities like overeating and freedom of speech. It's no joke anymore that we all may have to pay global taxes on the air we breathe. Inside our private homes we're all dealing with a whole new bureaucratic system that assumed the role of our new Big Mother.
What we share in common is we're all children in Big Mother's global communitarian family. I do know communitarianism is a mouthful to say and a challenge to spell, but it is the most important word you'll mumble aloud this year. Its use is slipping into the mainstream a little more each month and I think they're gearing up to unveil it before the "unwashed masses."
Some of you may remember when it was introduced by Tony Blair and New Labour as the Third Way. Now Phillip Blond is reintroducing communitarianism as the newest theoretical political answer to what ails us. The British Conservative Party, under David Cameron, is leading the British communitarian resurgence.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in a TV interview on April 18, 2010, described Americans as more diverse and communitarian now. This was just the latest of Bill's assertions about American communitarianism, a repeat of speeches he's made in Toronto, Montreal and Berkeley over the past year. For once in his public-private career, Bill Clinton is not lying.
Communitarianism is a political system that gives authority over individuals to unelected community "stakeholder" councils. A stakeholder is defined as a "group, person, organization or system" which can be just about anybody or anything. You'll find the term used in just about every government and grant funded project in existence today. It's always used as if it means you.
Forming "partnerships" with "stakeholders" is an effective way to bypass voters and taxpayers living in the affected regions. Their community goals and missions always include "raising public awareness" and advising legitimate government bodies how to adopt the new communitarian laws (never identified as that though, unless it's a former communist new member EU state like Serbia, Croatia or the Czech Republic, or Bolivia and Peru with their new openly communitarian constitutions). Claiming to include more citizens in the democratic process, communitarian councils do just the opposite. And they continually seek more power.
Bill's right. We are all communitarians now. What that means to us is any body's guess. Most people will adopt the vague party line and agree it's a fresh solution to partisan politics. The libertarians will tell you they like the part about giving power to unelected, self-appointed community councils who have the communitarian power to regulate every one's personal life in the community. The Catholics will tell you they just hope a communitarian spirituality is included. The Protestants, Jews and Muslims won't want to seem selfish so they'll assume a moral value in it somewhere too. The left will dismiss it a right wing conspiracy theory and the far right will call it a communist plot. (If Sarah Palin ever mentions it we can be sure she'll confirm it!)
Here's the part that our politicians and the "experts" never tell us about communitarianism: it's also the law of the European Union. Communitarian Law is the entire basis for the supremacy of law clause that overrules all national, state, county and municipal laws in conflict with it.
Lots of really smart people will go to great lengths to explain the theory, how some parts of it make real sense to other smart people. Those same smart people will probably tell you they don't know anything about the law part, sorry. It's just a benign social theory, they say, one that rose and fell already, nothing to worry about. Others will tell you the law's a conspiracy theory.
Communitarian Law is the law regulating all community based government. At the top level it represents the global community. At the middle level it represents the regional community. At the bottom it represent the local community ("not to be confused with local government." Amitai Etzioni).
In October, 2004, Professor Jan Mazak, Ph.D., Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic published one of the most amazing descriptions of the EU I've ever come across. In it, he details the "immediate applicability of the communitarian law." He explains that the Slovak Constitution gave the Slovak government the power to sign an international treaty that transferred some of the republic's power over to the EU Courts, telling in no uncertain terms that communitarian law overrules conflicting national laws.
There was one news report that identified the French and Dutch referendums rejecting the EU Constitution in 2005 as based on voter concerns about the EU's supremacy of communitarian law clause. But both times the Irish voted on it I couldn't find any Irish articles or debates about the EU communitarian legal system Ireland was adopting. I thought that a matter of such importance would become a primary issue in a national vote over joining the EU. It never even became a minor point. The theories of communitarian justice, economics, development, morality, policing and mandatory volunteerism are not up for debate. To join, or not to join, that is the only question.
But the real dilemma is this: communitarianism is also the philosophical/legal theory for global sustainable development. Communitarian supremacy is the moral philosophy justifying new land and resource use regulations under UN Local Agenda 21. We don't need to accept EU style regional government to become communitarians. Yes the EU Communitarian system of harmonization and norms is the model for all the emerging trade unions from the Middle East to Africa and South America. But we already adopted community government hook line and sinker when we changed our national mission statements to adopt sustainable development principles.
Americans, like their neighbors across the sea, are manipulated back and forth between the right and the left, and then they're admonished for not thinking more communitarian. Whatever that means.
Communitarianism enriches experts, stakeholders and compliant citizens only. Individuals who can read and think for themselves need not apply. Voters who insist their national and state law reigns supreme in their nations must be re-educated into more moral, enlightened thinking. Our Common Destiny requires we all share one Common Purpose. We can forget Common Sense, it's completely outdated.