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In more practical terms it means: Let everybody participate equally. Collaborate beyond borders and disciplines. Take responsibility not only for ourselves, but for others too. Inclusiveness not exclusiveness. Long-term thinking not short-term solutions. Connectivity. And integrity – let quality, not power, control! And finally banish the invisible hand – say no to lobbyism! The most radical approach was given by Chandran Nair, founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow. Turning to our politicians and corporate managers, this Hong-Kong-based unconventional thinker argued passionately for more honesty. He challenged us to commit ourselves to fundamental restrictions – because with a population of seven billion people living on this planet we cannot continue to consume as we have done over the past decades in the western world – and not to punish our governments when they act accordingly. He asked for a stronger state. He asked economists to leave Adam Smith behind. And he alerted us to STOP thinking of the world as being dominated by one particular region – many people say it’s now Asia after a long period of American dominance succeeded European control – and urged us instead to start thinking of the world as one global community.
CHARTING THE PATH TO A BETTER SYSTEM These are high aims – but the question remains what civil society can do to achieve them. How shall we proceed? How do we create a genuine cyber organization? Or how do we turn existing rules and organizations such as the IOM – International Organization for Migration or the UN into organizations that aren’t dominated by those with money and pover? Unfortunately there was only limited time to discuss these issues and only a few, very practical ideas were mentioned. But that only makes space for us first to discuss the ones we have and second to come up with new ones. You are invited to do so! So please continue the discussion on our online platforms. Besides the virtual discussion we will also continue it for “real” at the Global Economic Symposium in Kiel! Here is a shortlist of what came out of Salzburg with a few follow-up questions: • • • • • •
We have to understand WHY we need global governance – how can we do this? We have to allow ourselves to spend more time on ideas! We should constantly encourage ourselves to push back frontiers. We should force ourselves really to take that next step! Let action follow the talk! We should make much better use of our existing knowledge – how do we do this? We should include “youth”! For the very first time in human history we see something like a “generational consciousness” all over the world – how can we use it? • We should define more “Manhattan Projects” – meaning we should put the problem in the center and mobilize all actors around it. • We should start NOW to prepare the ground for 2015 – the deadline for the UN’s Millennium Development Goals – and define a new “declaration of global rights and obligations” under a holistic, much more complex approach that includes the economy, politics and human rights. These are all glimpses of a vision of a new way of being in the world. It will take a lot of people – people like YOU and me, like us – feeling in their guts and thinking with their hearts to try and understand what this GREATER WE is all about. The answer isn’t there in a book. It’s not there in a formula. It is something that we have to live together and co-create. After all, our diversity and creativity is sufficiently stunning to carry us! Isn’t it?