By IPS Correspondents
RÍO GRANDE, Puerto Rico, Dec 9 2005 (IPS)

Neither the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland nor its counterpoint, the World Social Forum, will lead to a better world, since the former seeks only to create more wealth and the latter to distribute it more evenly, stated one of the leaders of the Human Forum, which is holding its annual meeting Thursday through Saturday in Puerto Rico.

The aim of the Forum is to “reconnect us with what is truly human, and to advance towards the goal of integrating love into our actions,” Arsenio Rodríguez, director of the Alliance for a New Humanity, told IPS. The Alliance brings together a variety of organisations and social leaders from the worlds of business, human rights, philanthropy, the environment and the media.

Love, peace and connectedness are some of the words most often heard among the hundreds of participants meeting this week at a luxury hotel in the Puerto Rican location of Río Grande, about 22 kilometres from San Juan. The Forum’s slogan is “The Power of Oneness: Connecting the seeds of a new humanity.”

“The development models we have at present do not work, wealth is poorly distributed, the United Nations has no negotiating credibility, and the United States’ unilateralism prevails, so we need to create new paradigms centred on human beings and their happiness,” Rodríguez said.

But doesn’t this seem a rather vague and even romantic aim in the world as it is? “We’re just taking the first steps and we believe it can be done, if all of us who want a more humane, harmonious and peaceful world join together and connect with one another,” he responded.

Surrounded by beaches, swimming pools, a gigantic golf course and restaurants offering haute cuisine, the participants at the Human Forum are sharing experiences, discussing and debating the international situation and designing strategies to advance their project.

The organisers also indicate that these are times of “a human emergency” in spite of scientific and technological advances, because “inequality is getting worse,” and scientific progress is used to develop ever more destructive weapons.

“More than 900 billion dollars are spent annually on the military-industrial complex, but the 40 or 50 billion needed to solve the food, health and education crisis that afflicts half of humanity, cannot be found,” the Forum complained

The meeting in Rio Grande is the third of its kind since 2002, when at the invitation of the Senate of the U.S. free associated state of Puerto Rico, a Conference on “Peace in Peace” was held there. At that conference, the Alliance for a New Humanity was born.

Its founders included Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica from 1986 to 1990 and winner of the 1987 Nobel Peace prize, Indian-U.S. doctor and writer Deepak Chopra, Spanish Judge Baltazar Garzón, U.S. human rights defender Kerry Kennedy, and Israeli activist Sara Ozacky-Lazar, co-director of the Arab-Israeli Peace Centre.

U.S. businessman and philanthropist Raymond Chambers, and Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin are also among the founders.

The programme for the Human Forum in Puerto Rico includes guided meditations led by Chopra, whose books on spiritual development are sold by the millions. This year the organisers put up a white stage in one of the hotel conference rooms surrounded by small cubicles where participants can exhibit their experiences in the form of pictures, books and videos.

Delegates are from the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress, created by the former Costa Rican president; the television programme “Chat the Planet;” the Chopra Centre for Well Being; the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti; Kiej de los Bosques, of Guatemala; the Ricky Martin Foundation; and the Mythic Imagination Institute.

Among the topics for discussion are “The power of peace, restoring sacredness to life,” “The power of nature, seeking harmony,” “The power of the heart, awakening the new consciousness,” and “The power of Alliance guides, inspires and connects.”

“The Human Forum is not a naïve dream, but the right way to unite efforts for a better world. Justice must be pursued whilst considering our connection with nature, with the spirit, and with love,” Rodríguez remarked.

He believes that this is not being done at the other world forums, such as the World Economic Forum which draws corporate bosses and global political leaders to the Swiss resort town of Davos at the beginning of each year; or the World Social Forum normally held in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, where social activists and alternative groups congregate under the slogan “Another world is possible.”

“The Davos forum is essentially about multiplying money and profits, and the Porto Alegre meeting is about better redistribution, but neither of them includes the human dimension,” he commented.

The Human Forum and the Alliance for a New Humanity operate like “a networking service,” Rodríguez explained.

“We enable people and groups who work for a new humanity to meet and connect with each other. We are a thinking-space,” he added.

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