DEVELOPMENT:
Global Plus Local Equals 'Glocal'
Leonardo Sacchetti
ROME, May 23 (IPS) - "Glocalize" means to combine global questions
with the identities and necessities of local communities. Elected
officials, youth leaders, intellectuals and athletes are gathering
in the Italian capital this weekend for an international meet on
this ostensibly paradoxical equation.
And the meeting will not be just another series of speeches.
Saturday afternoon, for example, a team of young Israelis and
Palestinians will take on another from Rwanda made up of ethnic
Tutsi and Hutus in a football match near the archaeological site
of the Thermae of Caracalla.
The second conference of the "Glocal Forum" was convened by
centre-leftist mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, and by Israeli Uri
Savir, president of the organisation, and chief negotiator for his
country in the 1993 Oslo Accords with the Palestinian National
Authority.
"Rome is the capital of dialogue," Veltroni told IPS. He noted
that the diverse origins of the participants in the meeting are an
expression of "our idea of a globalisation from below."
Over three days there will be opportunities for encounters and
dialogue between locally elected leaders whose countries are in
conflict.
Among these participants are the mayors of the northern
Palestinian city of Nablus and of the central Israeli city of
Rishon Le Zion, the mayors of Sarajevo and of Belgrade, the mayors
of Asmera and of Addis Ababa, and the mayors of New Delhi and of
the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.
"We want these different conflictive realities to be brought to
light and discussed. This is our idea of constructing peace,"
explained the mayor of Rome.
The Italian capital, designated "sister city" of Kigali, is
backing an agricultural project in the outskirts of the Rwandan
capital.
"This new Glocal Forum is more than a second international
meeting of communities, it is the cement for new international
relations," Savir said.
Last year, the first meeting of the Glocal Forum was also held
in Rome, and within that context a delegation from the Israeli
government, including Savir, and a delegation from the Palestinian
Authority, led by the Palestinian Legislative Council spokesman
Abu Ala, held discussions behind closed doors.
The subsequent intensification of violence between Israelis and
Palestinians back home blocked the paths for dialogue that the two
delegations had cleared at the meeting.
This year, the Glocal Forum will include a meeting of 70
members of the World Youth Parliament, an international body that
seeks to give a voice to the political concerns of the younger
generations.
Also scheduled for the weekend are several musical events, such
as the "We are the future" project on Saturday, to benefit
children in war-torn countries, organised by U.S. musician and
producer Quincy Jones, and a jazz concert featuring Italy's own
Stefano di Battista, at the Basilica of Massenzio, next to the
historic Coliseum.
"The conclusions of this second Glocal Forum will be presented
to French President Jacques Chirac at the upcoming meeting of the
G-8," Jun. 1-3 in the French alpine city of Evian les Bains, said
Veltroni.
The G-8 (the group of eight of the world's most powerful
countries) comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan, Russia and United States.
While the globalisation of markets continues to expand, and
international institutions like the United Nations and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation endure crisis, the Glocal Forum aims
to create a space for citizens to participate in international
affairs.
"The objective is to reform international relations through a
new local diplomacy, linked to the role of the cities, because
peace cannot be something that is imposed from above," explained
Savir.
In that framework, Nobel Peace laureate and former Israeli
prime minister Shimon Peres will meet Sunday night with Abu Ala.
"To build peace, politicians must first get to know each other and
establish mutual trust," Peres said.
The Glocal Forum is also setting its sights on creating a space
for itself among the progressive proposals emerging from
international civil society, such as the World Social Forum
movement and from the more established left-leaning parties.
The big question, admitted Veltroni, is whether governments
will pay attention to a proposal for the paradox of "localising
globalisation". The G-8 meeting in June could provide the
beginning of an answer.
(END/2003)
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