Further to the post "Manifesto for a global democracy" which was first posted on Federal Union, Paul Feldman has come back with the following.
Democracy is more than a governance issue.
The fanfare launch of a Manifesto for Global Democracy backed by
significant thinkers ought to be a cause for celebration.
Unfortunately, its content is so weak that at best it’s a missed
opportunity and at worst a step backwards.
Among the signatories are democracy expert and professor Daniele
Archibugi, Noam Chomsky, the writer and journalist George Monbiot,
globalisation expert Saskia Sassen and scientist and activist Vandana
Shiva. They and others wrote and signed the manifesto. Much of the document states the obvious, though it’s none the
worse for doing so. You can only nod in agreement when the manifesto
says:
In spite of their many peculiarities, differences and limitations, the protests that are growing all over the world show an increasing discontent with the decision-making system, the existing forms of political representation and their lack of capacity for defending common goods. They express a demand for more and better democracy.
It portrays the “emergence of regressive and destructive
processes resulting from the economic and financial crisis, increased
social inequalities, climate change and nuclear proliferation” and
concludes: “Global crises require global solutions.”
However, the assertion that the failure of national and
international leaders to deal with global events shows merely that
“existing forms of global governance are insufficient” is superficial
and wrong. That’s because the 872-word document avoids, omits, ignores,
rejects or sidesteps the nature of our current social system, aka
capitalism.
