CITIZEN DESTINY

                                      Photo : philrights.org

Citizen organizations throughout the world, and especially in industrialized countries, have been instrumental in preserving human rights, natural environment as well as being involved  in technical watch and analysis. Unfortunately, they remain powerless when they aim to enforce general concern issues that are in conflict with the interests of some powerful corporate private sector. This has been particularly the case during Cop 15 en Copenhagen and  Cop 16 in Cancun of the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

In democratic countries, citizen organizations are free to express their views and demands  but they have little to no impact on technical choices imposed by governments and financial, industrial and military sectors. Further more, in some democratic countries, religious groups imposes their views on policies aimed to be of general interest but are detrimental to their dogmas..

This powerlessness of non partisan citizens results in the use of very profitable technology of mass destruction of human and other natural species resources on this planet. Fifty millions dead during the second world war is enough to prove what is being asserted here. Millions more violent deaths due to wars since.

Inadequate transportation technology and policies have resulted in a similar number of death around the world in the last 60 years. 

Some of the technology being used at large such as nuclear energy, agrochemical pesticides and GMO’s are known to have rapid, massive and irreversible negative impact on human health and the natural environment. It adds up to destruction of biodiversity, climate catastrophe and to a growing number of human beings  living in desperate conditions, worsening the imbalance capacity of resilience that exist between reach and poor segments of society should it be in rich or poor countries.
Further more, conflicts arising between powerfull corporate interests and social and environmental civil organisations leads goverments such as the United States administration to implement abusive laws classifying activists as terrorists when it comes to illégal but legitimate actions.  
If you admit this assessment as relevant, one should ask why citizen organizations of reflexivity should satisfy themselves with street circus acts for medias, or complacent green political parties with almost no impact on national policies or private sector development strategies ?

In fact, citizen organizations of reflexivity have an enormous capacity to mobilize an impartial gray power if a friendly political environment exist. But in order to have any reel impact on national policies, those organizations have to see themselves as a relevant stakeholder in the governing system of any republic. They have to act in way to be legitimize as an executive governing force according to their specific status and act on positive compromise not on surrender of principle.

The first step undertaken here has been to evaluate the converging views that exists between very specific citizen organizations of reflexivity. Those common values such as the respect of universal human rights will set the basis of a permanent cooperation between CO’s regarding to a large spectrum of national or international issues such as natural environment safeguards, consumers rights or indigenous people rights. The main objective for CO’s is to be active on an executive manner at  the first stage of any decision making regarding research and development or any issues that will have an impact on general interest and the welfare of citizens. No doubt exists on the direct impact of consumerism on the ecosystems and biodiversity of the planet. At this stage, citizens at large are the main stakeholders and also the more exposed to wrong decisions taken by governing bodies regarding their means of existence today and for future generations. 

Therefore, CO’s should not be cornered in a sterile  role of irresponsible advisors, or excited activists, or as a complacent panel of self satisfied bobos  (bourgeois-bohemians) acting as if they were assistant junior diplomats of the Cop 16 Conference.  (See the last press conference of CAN Int.).

The astonishing fact  is that the activist movement on a national or international level are loosing ground to conformist “real politiks” under media pressure in order to gain some sort of normality.

The other danger is that medias have been focusing on spectacular Greenpeace’s outdoor acts, leaving in the dark numerous citizen initiatives, specially in rich industrialized countries such as the United States, Germany, England or even France.

This is a very dangerous situation leaving Greenpeace to act as some sort of providential sect holding alone the fate of the world. The medias are fabricating this fantasy and Greenpeace seems to have no other choice than to keep with its communication strategy, becoming an end in itself rather than a means to achieve its goal. 

What is the issue then for responsible citizen, if not move CO’s actions toward a more powerful and diversified involvement in public affairs if we don’t want the corporate private sector and the military to keep our destiny in their hands  ?

We can get out of this system.

Having established that numerous converging views and goals exists between specific citizen organizations of reflexivity, it will be possible to create permanent forum of citizen movements in each friendly country where freedom of opinions remains. This being done, it will be far more easier to be heard by politicians and media. The question is to find out if  citizen organizations of reflexivity are willing to get involve in a campaign aiming at reshaping parliamentary institutions in such way that CO’s could be incorporated in the decision making mechanisms of a republic or a democratic Kingdom.

In doing so, CO’s would have to mute in more rigorous internal and external behavior without loosing its democratic basis. CO’s are not political clans. They exist by their acts and clearly identified goals, not by some tortuous ideologies or their connections with the corporate world, the military or the religious elite.

The only way to go ahead with this project is to identify and organize some constructive debate with CO’s of reflexivity.

How do we identify those CO’s of reflexivity.

Briefly we can say that a CO’s of reflexivity is a laic citizen non profit organization having in the past clearly stated its specific goal and actions aiming at safeguarding the general interests of this planet inhabitants in such way that they will live and die in a dignified manner in full respect of  the United Nations Universal declaration of Human Rights. 

Reflexivity is the ability to propose solutions to solve problems of general concern based on impartial and exhaustive knowledge, the organization said to be reflexive  having acquired the ways and means to do so.  

By what means can we identified such organizations ? This is a recurrent questions being asked either by candid politicians or non active citizens in NGO’s.

We have of course well known organizations committed to specific aspects of general concerns such as human rights, ecology, technical watch, consumers right, and so on. The United Nations Economic and Social Council has open its doors to selected world NGO’s being used as some sort of advisory body in specific issues : gender rights, children welfare, international aid, and so forth. In France for instance, government has open briefly the political scene to a very unusual “Grenelle de l’Environement” were the main French citizen organizations mainly active in ecology, human rights and consumers concerns had been briefly asked to express their specific demands with a very large media coverage. Not much came out of it, but this act was in fact a very helpful way to identify the active citizen organizations of reflexivity in this country. International high level gathering on economic issues are also an opportunity for NGO’s of many countries to be identify and have their voices heard.

That is to say that citizens organizations exists in most countries, that they are active, reliable in their specific sphere of interest and probably very frustrated by the way governments deals with people rights.

Furthermore, CO’s throughout the World unites many millions of good willing citizens, far more than any political parties in any country.

When it comes to financing organizations, one could of course use Greenpeace strategy as a model. But its not the only way to proceed. Just look at the ways political parties are being financed in some democratic countries where this type of financing is subjected to transparency by laws and public founding (even thought corruption might occur unfortunately in political spheres left without any reel control by civilian society or Justice)

We firmly believe that a good wind prevails today to embark in a new venture in democracy in order to reach the shores of a more open space of free thinking for citizen organizations.

The first step to the endeavor is to create in each country a national permanent Forum of CO’s representatives acting as if they were an executive parliamentary body. For instance, any national issues of general concern being debated in the House of elected representatives of the Parliament could be submitted to the citizen forum. This type of democratic control of an elected majority would certainly be full of surprises. For instance, the Clinton administration would have had a very difficult time to push the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA) voted in an obscure manner, allowing for instance American  financial institutions to peddle at large the infamous Credit default swaps (CDS) without any convincing control and financial resources. This has led to a gigantic financial catch 22 situation were the ordinary citizen, mainly taxpayers would end up as being bankers for banks, government cutting public spending and services and  people losing their jobs and houses. While bankers and financial institutions where getting wealthier.                

More recently in France, a law has been voted in similar conditions stating that certain areas of government  buildings, including the president residence known as the “Palais de l’Elysée” could become secluded area under the secret defense act in order to withdraw pieces of evidence from judges being engaged in so called anticorruption proceedings. As in Italy, France’s political elite is facing numerous corruption scandals ranging from illegal arms trading to pharmaceutical and public health wrong doing killing thousands of people. 

Furthermore, governments of so called democratic countries such as United State, France, UK, Spain and so on are engaged in a war in Afghanistan without any proper agreement from their elected members of Parliament.

Our democracies are endangered by the very ones that should be their guardians, the elected members of Parliament, of any so called political majority facing a powerless minority, itself part of a corrupted system This is the rule of the game. In this setup, regulation by so called independent institutions or advisory  councils, are at best an exercise of complying political compromises keeping in minds who’s the one that holds the stick.

This is why citizen organizations must engage in building a new democratic reflexive checkpoint between the executive body and the law makers in such way that they be no bypassing of the general interest of the citizens of any republic or kingdom.