CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: WALKING THE TALK

Corporations today face a challenge from the world\'s newest superpower: global public opinion, with its power to make or break companies\' brands and reputations in today\'s round-the-clock, global electronic marketplace, writes Hazel Henderson, author of \'\'Beyond Globalisation\'\' and a creator, with the Calvert Group, of the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators. Many companies will fail the test, as they seek to \'\'green-wash\'\' their operations with advertising and public relations. Others try \'\'blue-washing\'\' by engaging the UN Global Compact\'s ten principles of global corporate citizenship. Such companies actual performance in walking their talk is now increasingly monitored by legions of civic organisations and auditing firms The growing global debate over socially-responsible investing funds is a very positive development, since higher ethical standards and performance on broader social and environmental criteria will determine the future of capitalism itself. Indeed this re-shaping of capitalism and corporations to conserve the environment while serving human needs and aspirations for equity justice, health, education, and the rights of all will also affect humanity\'s survival on this small planet.

THE WATERS OF OCTOBER

A few days before the election of the president of the planet in North America, in South America elections and a plebiscite were held a little-known, almost secret country called Uruguay. In these elections, for the first time in the country\'s history, the left won; and in the plebiscite, for the first time in world history, the privatisation of water was rejected by popular vote, writes Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist and author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. In this article, Galeano writes that it will not be easy. Reality will promptly remind us of the inevitable distance between the desired and the possible. The left is coming to power in a shattered country which in the distant past was at the vanguard of universal progress but today is one of the furthest behind, deep in debt and subjected to the international financial dictatorship. Today we have very little manoeuvring room. But what is usually difficult, even impossible, can be imagined and even achieved if we join together with neighbouring countries, just as we have joined together with our neighbours. The winners have a tremendous burden of responsibility, for those who voted and those who they voted for. This rebirth of faith and revival of happiness must be watched over carefully. We should recall every day how right Carlos Quijano was, who said that sins against hope are the only sins beyond forgiveness and redemption.

THE NORDIC SECRET: MARKET ECONOMY WITHOUT A MARKET SOCIETY

Finland has, once again, been rated the world\'s most competitive economy, writes Erkki Tuomioja, minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland. The fact that not only Finland but Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well are usually in the top ten raises an obvious question: why have these welfare states defied the judgments pronounced over twenty years ago that they had outlived their purpose and were ripe for dismantling? This success can be attributed to four factors, the author writes in this article: knowledge and education, entrepreneurship, cooperation and solidarity, and the Nordic model of the welfare state. Is this approach sustainable in our globalising world? The success of the Nordic countries, which are all small economies highly dependent on global trade, indicates that it is, the author writes in this analysis. At the end of the day what will decide the future of our welfare states is still our own political will. If this is decided through democratic procedures, there should be no problem. But we are very much aware that well-financed lobbies are hard at work trying to introduce neoliberal policies to the Nordic countries as well.

THE CHALLENGE OF AIDS IN AFRICA

The devastation that HIV/AIDS is wreaking in Africa in the midst of abject poverty and abandonment is of a severity and scale found nowhere else. It silent, misunderstood, and overwhelming threat to peace and security on the continent, writes Wangari Maathai, recipient of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. We in Africa must encourage a freer and more enlightened debate on the HIV/AIDS threat, the author writes in this article. We must at the same time learn from our own successes in the fight against the disease. In Uganda 15 years ago the fear was that HIV/AIDS could destroy the whole society; today we see a dramatic improvement, largely because of the responsible political leadership of President Museveni. HIV/AIDS is a global challenge for both political and religious leaders. While we need the encouragement, support, and cooperation of the rest of world, we also need the respect and trust that some of the solutions will emerge from our own value systems.

MICROCREDIT WORKS: HELP THE POOR HELP THEMSELVES

Overcoming poverty, for many poor people in developing countries, depends on self-employment through microenterprises, writes Lennart Bage, president of IFAD, a United Nations agency fighting rural poverty. Unfortunately, Bage writes in this article, 70 percent of the world\'s poor lack access to services such as credit, savings, and money transfers. IFAD has been supporting microfinance institutions in their effort to tailor their services for rural clients. Some, for example, have adapted repayment schedules to coincide with crop growing cycles, and others are using shops and post offices for transactions. Poor families who have access to financial services are more likely to send their children to school, or obtain health insurance. Microfinance is a key element of development strategies that are not built on handouts, but on unleashing the capacity of poor people to find lasting solutions to their own challenges. Meeting poor people\'s growing demand for basic financial services will bring enduring benefits that are well worth the investment.

FANATICISM IN THE WHITE HOUSE

George W. Bush is a political catastrophe both for the US and for the world, writes Mario Soares, president of Portugal from 1986-1996. In the US we find the predomination of an uncompassionate conservatism, an inclination for retaliation and violence, disregard for human rights, unilateralism, religious fanaticism, irrationalism, and a blind drive to combat terrorism that does not seek to eradicate its many and complex causes, among which poverty and humiliation stand out in clear need of redress. In Europe, on the other hand, we have the cult of rationality and dialogue, multilateralism and respect for the United Nations, laicism, tolerance, and giving priority to human rights and sustainable development with social and ecological dimension. This is the gap that today separates us. If we do not have the courage to state the truth, sooner rather than later we will begin to slip towards the abyss the US is now headed for, surrounded by hatred and incomprehension, as its social fabric grows increasingly brittle and trapped in the quagmire of Iraq.

BUSH VICTORY ONLY HASTENS END OF AMERICAN EMPIRE

In the near term, the re-selection of Team Bush would seem to give neoconservatives free rein to pursue their imperial dreams. But a host of factors beyond their control threatens not only to slow their momentum but to bring the empire to an earlier end than even its opponents assume, writes Mark Sommer, who directs the US-based Mainstream Media Project and hosts an award-winning syndicated radio programme, \'\'A World of Possibilities.\'\' The crux of the American empire\'s vulnerability is its a wilful and increasingly desperate denial of facts and a blindness to the limits to its own power. Some US analysts already doubt that the world will tolerate another \'\'American century\'\' and see a gradual waning of American power over the next thirty years as other great powers like the EU, China, and India challenge US dominance. But the American imperial project may not even last that long. The pace at which negative trends are moving both within and towards the American empire could greatly accelerate this time-line. Wealthy and powerful as it still appears, the Bush regime is pursuing self-destructive policies that together could create \'\'the perfect storm\'\' in a dynamic not unlike the collapse of the Soviet empire.

US EMPIRE PROMISES MORE OF THE SAME

Throughout the recently concluded US presidential campaign, the world has looked on in fear as violence raged in Iraq and President Bush responded with bellicose declarations, with his adversary Kerry not far behind, perhaps a shade less warlike. This violence is an integral part of the imperial spirit deeply rooted in western culture, which has always shown itself to be imperialist, imposing itself on all \'\'others\'\', those who are \'\'different\'\'. The re-election of Bush assures the continuity of this tragic policy if not an intensification of it, writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian theologian and environmentalist. In the name of national security, constitutional rights that were an integral element of the US are being suppressed. Those accused of terrorism are arrested and kept in secret locations, sometimes outside of their own countries, without access to family, lawyers, or even the International Red Cross. And as if this weren\'t enough, the superpower now practices pre-emptive military actions and cooperates with only those international organisations that serve its ends. This is the return of the-state-as-Leviathan envisioned by Hobbes, visceral enemy of any strategy for peace. His logic admits no future either for peace or for humanity.

INTERVIEW: HANAN ASHRAWI – “UNILATERAL DISENGAGEMENT PLAN IS A DIVERSION TACTIC”

As Israel\'s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza approaches its fifth decade, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is proposing a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The issue has created a contentious debate. In the meantime, people keep dying: since the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000, around 3,500 Palestinians --including suicide attackers-- and 960 Israelis have died as a direct result of the conflict, according to Agence France Presse. Hanan Ashrawi, an outspoken Palestinian scholar from Ramallah, educated in Lebanon and the U.S., speaks with IPS about Sharon\'s move and Palestine\'s perspectives.

WORLD FOOD DAY OR WORLD HUNGER DAY?

World Food Day is a painful reminder of the divide between those who are well nourished and those who live in hunger, writes Mary Robinson, Executive Director of Realising Rights: The Ethical Globalisation Initiative, and former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In this article, Robinson writes that every seven seconds a child under 10 dies directly or indirectly of hunger; more than 2 billion people worldwide suffer from hidden hunger or micronutrient malnutrition. The crisis is compounded by other global challenges which must be fought vigorously, particularly the fight against HIV/AIDS. Infection rates are rising among African women. Almost 60% of those living with AIDS in Africa are women, who make up 80% of Africa\'s small farmers and have traditionally been able to help their families and communities most in times of food crisis, but the toll taken by AIDS makes this task increasingly difficult. At the heart of any new strategy must be a greater commitment to implementing the human right to adequate food.

THE FUTURE OF THE CAR, AND THE EARTH

If oil lubricates the global economy, its increasing scarcity is driving the development of new technologies, writes Mark Sommer, directs the US-based Mainstream Media Project and is host of award-winning syndicated radio programme, A World of Possibilities. In this article, Sommer writes that with crude oil prices soaring and turmoil in oil-rich regions, transition technologies like electric-gas hybrid vehicles are starting to look like a cheap price to pay for salvation. But while current demand for hybrids is rising rapidly, it could yet collapse if its early promise is not followed up by auto makers with major expansion of production capability to meet rising demand, increased R&D to refine the technology, and a wider range of vehicles and models to meet varied user needs. In the case of hybrids, the customer is literally in the driver\'s seat. If we insist on fuel-efficient vehicles and forcefully address our demands to both auto makers and government regulators, we\'ll get them sooner rather than later. And by increasing sales volume, we will drive prices down to achieve mass market affordability. In the process, we will save more than money. We\'ll save ourselves, the author states.

THE FUTURE OF THE CAR, AND THE EARTH

If oil lubricates the global economy, its increasing scarcity is driving the development of new technologies, writes Mark Sommer, directs the US-based Mainstream Media Project and is host of award-winning syndicated radio programme, A World of Possibilities. In this article, Sommer writes that with crude oil prices soaring and turmoil in oil-rich regions, transition technologies like electric-gas hybrid vehicles are starting to look like a cheap price to pay for salvation. But while current demand for hybrids is rising rapidly, it could yet collapse if its early promise is not followed up by auto makers with major expansion of production capability to meet rising demand, increased R&D to refine the technology, and a wider range of vehicles and models to meet varied user needs. In the case of hybrids, the customer is literally in the driver\'s seat. If we insist on fuel-efficient vehicles and forcefully address our demands to both auto makers and government regulators, we\'ll get them sooner rather than later. And by increasing sales volume, we will drive prices down to achieve mass market affordability. In the process, we will save more than money. We\'ll save ourselves, the author states.

OSCE TO MONITOR US ELECTIONS

It\'s definitely news, but may well pass unnoticed: the upcoming US presidential elections will be monitored by a group of international observers working under the authority of the OSCE, writes Joaquin Roy, \'Jean Monnet\' Professor and Director of the European Union Centre of the University of Miami. The intervention of the OSCE was brought about by the confluence of two factors. On the one hand, the organisation already has a tradition of observing electoral processes in member countries, Roy writes in this article. On the other hand, there was the direct invitation issued by Secretary of State Colin Powell to participate in these elections, which followed the action of a group of thirteen democratic congressional representatives who, fearful of a repeat of the contentious 2000 contest and the administrative chaos of Florida, called on Kofi Annan for UN assistance. Annan replied that a direct request by the US government would be necessary to bring the UN into the act. Powell\'s alternative invitation of the OSCE came quickly to the rescue of electoral rigour.

WITHOUT PATRICIO

\'\'One day, an ordinary day, walking down a street in Buenos Aires, I came across some writing on a wall, scrawled in colour on this lifeless surface, just five words: \'\'Patricio I love you. Papa.\'\' Never in almost fifty years had I seen graffiti dedicated to a son by his father. And I began imagining the story that might have given rise to this act.\'\' Thus begins the brief presentation of \'\'Without Patricio\'\', the latest book of Walter Veltroni, released in late September. The book is comprised of five stories and is the first work of fiction by Veltroni, the author until now of essays and books on political themes. Veltroni has been the editor of the newspaper l\'Unita di Roma, leader of the Democrats of the Left party, vice president of the Italian government. He is a Euro-parliamentarian since 1999 and the mayor of Rome since 2001. By agreement with the Rizzoli publishing company we are offering in this column an introduction to the book and excerpts from the second chapter.

WE CAN END WORLD POVERTY, IF WE WANT

In September 2000, 189 world leaders signed the Millennium Declaration, a global deal committing themselves to \'\'free our fellow men, women, and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty\'\' by 2015 by achieving the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDG), writes Eveline Herfkens, Secretary-General\'s Executive Coordinator for the MDG and Netherlands Minister for Development Cooperation from 1998 to 2002. But there are real concerns about the rate and breadth of progress, which has been inadequate in still too many poor countries. . The goals are achievable: the world has the resources, and we know what to do. Even in Sub-Saharan Africa and the least-developed countries success is possible: Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania will achieve goal 2 on basic education; Tanzania is also on track to achieving the water goal; Uganda and Senegal have reversed the AIDS pandemic; and Mozambique\'s child mortality goal might be in reach. In these countries the \'global deal\' is in place: they have reasonably good policies, while the donor community has been relatively generous with aid and debt relief. If some of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa can achieve some of the goals, why would they not they be achievable everywhere? The real problem is that many government leaders come to the United Nations make beautiful speeches and promises and fly back to resume business as usual.

BIODIVERSITY ESSENTIAL TO ELIMINATING HUNGER

World Food Day, October 16, presents an occasion to reflect on the nature and extent of hunger in the world today, which affects more than 840 million people, writes Jacques Diouf, Director General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). In this article, Diouf writes that this year FAO has decided to stress the importance of biodiversity for the world food supply, present and future. What this means is that the conservation of the varieties of plants and animals that we have today is fundamental to preserving an array of essential natural processes, from pollenisation by insects to the regeneration of soil with microorganisms. It also means that we must create the conditions for plants and animals to be better able resist blights and disease. The reduction of biodiversity seriously jeopardises world food security. The food supply is growing ever more vulnerable, and opportunities for growth and innovation are growing fewer in agriculture, the capacity of which to adopt to environmental changes is weakening.

THE NEW URUGUAY

Uruguay has passed through one of the most dire crises of its history, which called into question the values on which our society rests and was painstakingly built by previous generations, writes Jorge Larranaga, National Party candidate for president of Uruguay. In this article for IPS, Larranaga writes that the priorities of the next government must be job creation, decentralisation of the government bureaucracy, rejuvenation of the country\'s system of production, education, regional integration, and participation in the international arena. Four principles will guide a National Party administration: a reaffirmation of the principle of equal opportunity for all Uruguayans; making a top priority the satisfaction of the needs of the least well-off sectors of the society; the restoration of intergenerational solidarity; and transparency and honesty in all public service. A collective project of this nature must include all Uruguayans and be lead by an organisation that has true credibility. The National Party, which was founded with the country itself and represents, and has always represented, the true modernisation of Uruguay, has the credentials to realise the shared hopes of the people. I know that I am up to this daunting task.

THE SHADOW OF 9/11 OVER GLOBALISATION

One of the consequences of the September 11 attacks was to stall the process of globalisation, writes Rubens Ricupero, Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In this analysis, Ricupero writes that underlying the logic of globalisation was the idea that national borders were losing relevance as the quantity of cross-border transactions rose dramatically. Since September 11 there has been a reversal of this idea. National boundaries are again a central concern. Worldwide, there are many more obstacles to the movement of the people and goods and even services. In the long and middle term, globalisation and the reinforcement of national boundaries are incompatible. The latter tendency, of course, is a mere three years old, so it is premature to predict that it will bring about the end of globalisation. We are seeing to some extent in the US the emergence of a new war economy, like that of the Vietnam era when the combination of a war economy with considerable pressure on oil --which we see today as well-- led the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates, setting off the foreign debt crisis. While it cannot be argued that the same is going to happen now --largely because in contrast to the 1970s we no longer have high inflation -- nonetheless there are elements which are disturbingly similar.

THE ECLIPSE OF THE FATHER

The complex social division of labour, the participation of women in public life, and their harsh criticism of the patriarchy and machismo have thrown the father figure into crisis. In a sense, what has emerged is a fatherless society, or one in which the father is absent, writes Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian writer and theologian. In this article, Boff writes that the eclipse of the father figure has destabilised the traditional family. The increase in divorce brought with it considerable and at times dramatic consequences. According to recent official statistics from the US, 90 percent of children that run away from home come from fatherless families; 70 percent of juvenile crime is committed by youth from homes without fathers; 85 percent of juveniles in prison and 63 percent of juvenile suicides grow up without fathers. It is the father figure that provides an understanding of the difference between the world of the family and the social world, where there is not only well-being but also work; where there is both kindness and conflict; where there is both winning and losing. The absence of a father figure deprives children of structure, leaves them adrift, and erodes their desire to commit to a life plan. We have to bring the father back.

EXCHANGING DEBT FOR DEVELOPMENT – A NEW WEAPON AGAINST POVERTY

Speaking on September 20 at the Summit against Poverty, in New York, Spanish president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced that his government will be actively involved in exchanging debt for social development initiatives, and especially in the field of primary education, writes Antonio Vereda del Abril, president of the Iberoamerican Foundation for Development (FIDE). In this article, the author writes that exchanging foreign debt for development co-operation amounts to freeing up resources so that poor countries can invest in the education and health of their citizens, fund microcredit operations that can result in the creation of great numbers of jobs, and in general, have the resources to spur their own development. Through foreign debt, finance has become an instrument of domination and inequality. Many countries have to channel 30 percent of their budgets to service their foreign debt, thus becoming exporters of capital, which prevents them from investing in their own development.

RECONCILIATION IS THE BEST CURE FOR TERRORISM

South Africa has never enjoyed the peace it enjoys today nor been as stable and as free of the risk of unacceptable political conflict. The extent and depth of reconciliation within our diverse nation have never been as pronounced, writes Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa. In this analysis, the author writes that in his country, change came about as a result of a settlement negotiated by antagonists that had stood at the barricades for 350 years, each unable to defeat and destroy the other. This peaceful outcome culminated in the equally peaceful general elections of 1994, which surprised the cynics and sceptics, who were convinced that our people, black and white, were incapable of solving their problems peacefully. But the doomsters had not understood that as the first and principal victims of violence and war, the masses of our people, black and white, would be the first and best guarantors of the peace they won in 1994. This has been confirmed by the virtually total disappearance of political violence in our country, even during election periods. Despite, and perhaps because of our history, we stand in the front ranks of the group of countries across the globe that are truly peaceful, stable, and not consumed by the threat of terrorist bombs.