By Alain Caillé (The convivialists)
Humanity is faced with a growing number of problems – health, environmental, economic, social, moral, etc. – and the need to address them is growing. – which appear increasingly difficult to analyze and solve. There are many reasons for this impotence, but it is possible to isolate two main ones:
The first is the rivalry, ever stronger today, between states, cultures, religions, etc.
The second, closely related to the first, is that there is no moral authority sufficiently legitimate to make a diagnosis that can be shared and can propose plausible solutions on a global scale. The UN represents States and can, at best, only organize arbitrations between their interests. This is also true of all the international organizations that depend on it, such as UNESCO, WHO, etc., as well as of all the major international meetings between heads of state (G7, G20, etc.). The IPCC is independent and influential, but it is not in a position to propose the economic, social and political changes implied by its climate diagnostics. The Davos Forum brings together the world’s most powerful and wealthiest people, but it only represents them and only aims to guarantee their pre-eminence.
It is therefore imperative and urgent to create a moral body with sufficient legitimacy to speak in the name and from the point of view of humanity as a whole. It is in this spirit that the grouping of international networks of networks, Multiconvergence, might decide to launch a process of creating a Global Citizen Parliament. Multiconvergence, present on all continents, already brings together some twenty international networks of networks (mobilizing millions and millions of people). And many more who will be able to join them very soon. This is not much compared to the nearly 8 billion people on Earth, but it is already significant and sufficient to begin with. Because we must start well. There is urgency.
How could such a Parliament be constituted?
The following principles have been retained:
- Must be represented: 1. Intellectual personalities, scholars, philosophers, famous writers, etc. 2. Religious or similar personalities 3. World citizens from as many countries as possible, members of the civic networks belonging to Multiconvergencia, designated or chosen by drawing lots organized by them.
- This Parliament will be bicameral. It will be composed of: 1) a Council of the Wise, comprising 5/12 intellectuals; 2/12 religious personalities; 5/12 world citizens. It will include a maximum of 120 members. 2) an Assembly of World Citizens, with a maximum of 480 persons, including, in addition to the members of the council, up to 360 persons proposed by the constituent networks of Multiconvergencia.
- For the Council of the Wise, each of the constituent networks makes proposals, some of them for world citizens, others for religious or intellectual personalities. In the beginning, the total number of members should not exceed 60 in order to leave room for future networks that will join Multiconvergencia. Each network will have at heart to respect as much as possible the parity between men and women and the balance of countries and continents.
- For the Assembly of World Citizens, it will be necessary for the first instance to designate 240 people (120 in addition to the members of the Council of the Wise¹), not more, again, to leave room for future new members. Each of the current networks (20) will have the right to designate 6 persons (including 3 if possible by drawing lots) taking care to respect not only as much as possible the parity between men and women and the balance of countries and continents but also the balance between professions or social conditions (peasants, workers and employees, unemployed or homeless, civil servants, artists, entrepreneurs, etc.)².
- The meetings will be held by videoconference.
- The current working languages are English, Spanish, French and Portuguese (Brazil). There will be translators in each of these languages.
Purpose, strengths and weaknesses of the Global Citizen Parliament
What would such a parliament work on? What kind of decisions would it make?
It would work on any subject it chooses. Both the assembly and the Council of Elders are separately self-governing. In each of these bodies, decisions are taken by a simple majority. But in order to be definitively endorsed, they must be endorsed by the other body.
The decisions are rendered in the form of the shortest and most concrete proposal possible³.
They cannot, of course, be binding. The weakness of Multiconvergence is that it has no financial, media (and even less police, military or mafia) means. But this is also its strength. No one can suspect or accuse it of working for this or that power. He is only animated by concern for the common good of humanity. Its sole purpose is to contribute to the overthrowing of world public opinion by making it aware that we are not condemned to impotence. To this end, all Multiconvergence networks are committed to making the existence and decisions of the moral world citizen Parliament known, not only to their own members but to the public opinion of all the countries in which they are established.
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¹ Or their replacements.
² Not all constituent networks are equally well placed to make these various choices, and therefore may give up or exchange their “rights to choose” with others. For example, it is hypothesized that convivialists are well placed to recruit intellectuals, much less so for religious and assimilated personalities, and have no special skills in recruiting global citizens. They can therefore cede their “rights to choose” religious and assimilated personalities (2 persons for the Council) and world citizens (5 persons for the Council), which would give them in exchange if they agree, the right to choose up to 12 intellectual personalities. Even more, if the other networks cannot reach their quota in this sector.
³ This does not prevent the details of the discussions that led to the decision from being made available on the Multiconvergence website.)
The first meeting, Saturday, December 5, 2020
18:30 to 21:00 hs Paris | 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm London | 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm Rio, Buenos Aires
12:30 am to 3:00 pm Montreal, Quebec
At the initiative of the Association convivialiste internationale, a first zoom videoconference is being organized on Saturday, December 5, to examine the desirability and feasibility of this project. The main language will be French, but there will be translations into English, Spanish and Portuguese (Brazil). To avoid hackers, the link of this meeting will be communicated at the last moment within each of the participating networks. On the Pressenza website, a link will be given to follow the meeting in streaming on Facebook.
Agenda of the meeting:
- First time (half an hour): Quick presentation and a reminder of each of the networks.
- Second time (one hour): Discussion of the Global Citizen Parliament Project by language group.
- Third time (half an hour): Reports on what was said in each group.
- Fourth time: General discussion and conclusion
Request the Zoom link to participate in the meeting with people from your Network or just watch the event through the link below
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