DEMOCRACY AND DEVELOPMENT: TWIN ENGINES OF PROGRESS

A key challenge of the 2003 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, from 5-8 December, is understanding how democratic values and practices can be harnessed to help communities achieve more growth, develop better health and education systems, and increase their living standards, writes Don McKinnon, Commonwealth Secretary-General since April 2000. In this article the author writes that one important way of achieving progress in both democracy and development is through consensus-building. The process of global dialogue on which the Commonwealth is based allows leaders to develop joint approaches to problems of common concern. We use the power of consensus in the area of trade and economic development. Because it embraces such a great diversity of states -- large and small, rich and poor, island and land-locked -- the Commonwealth is strategically placed to ensure that the voices of its smaller and developing members are not ignored. The greatest obstacle to effective consensus-building is often the lack of common ground. Here lies the Commonwealth advantage: our nations are not only united by self-interest; they also share common values, similar political, judicial and administrative structures, a common language and a similar business culture.

TERRORISM: FIGHT THE ROOT CAUSES OR FIGHT FOREVER

Hopefully President Bush and Prime Minister Blair in their summit talks in London will realise the need to attack the root causes of terrorism, writes Kaare Willoch, former leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of Norway from 1981 to 1986. In this article, the author cites former US president Bill Clinton who, during a recent visit to Oslo, asserted that \'\'in a world where it is impossible for us to occupy, capture, or conquer whoever aims to harm us, we need to work harder to achieve a world with more friends and fewer terrorists\'\'. And Ami Ayalon, former head of Israel\'s security service Shin Bet: \'\'Those who want \'victory\' against terror without addressing the underlying grievances want an unending war.\'\' One cannot expect non-Westerners to consider it more a more heroic act to bomb Palestinian homes from airplanes than to blow oneself up. US-financed missiles and shells are inflicting a much higher death toll on innocent civilians. It is only natural that many outside the West believe that we oppose only certain forms of violence and condone other far more lethal ones by ourselves and our allies.

THE MISGUIDED WAR ON TERRORISM

There is a connection between a lack of military power to confront injustice and the use of terror. Nuclear weapons are an element of one party\'s crushing superiority in the Middle East. The West - with good reason - seeks to prevent other countries from acquiring them. But the US refuses to hear criticism of Israel\'s nuclear arsenal, writes Kaare Willoch, former leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of Norway from 1981 to 1986. In this article, the author writes that one cannot expect non-Westerners to consider it more a more heroic act to bomb Palestinian homes from airplanes than to blow oneself up. US-financed missiles and shells are inflicting a much higher death toll on innocent civilians. It is only natural that many outside the West believe that we oppose only certain forms of violence and condone other far more lethal ones by ourselves and our allies. Western leaders must turn their attention to the root causes of terrorism and take action to eliminate them.

THE POLITICAL SUICIDE OF ARIEL SHARON

The UN resolution recently approved condemning Israel\'s decision to remove Yasser Arafat is a clear demonstration of the world\'s moral and political incomprehension of Israel and of US policy towards the Middle East, writes Mario Soares, prime minister of Portugal between 1976-1978 and 1983-1985 and president between 1986-1996. In this analysis, Soares writes that the key to real stabilisation of the region is the resolution of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. For this reason the strategy of Sharon seems suicidal and a sure recipe for irreversible disaster. How is it legally possible to publicly advocate the assassination of an adversary, a man elected president of the Palestinian Authority and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate? Has there been no thought given to the repercussions this would have not only in the Middle East but the entire world? Israel\'s policy inflicts long-term and in cases irreversible damage to the moral and political prestige of Israel, whose people, persecuted throughout their history, are turning into persecutors, oppressors, and colonialists.

OPEN FIRE AND OPEN MARKETS: STRATEGY OF AN EMPIRE

Eruptions of armed aggression by the US should not distract us from the underlying logic of economic imperialism. America\'s \'\'war for freedom\'\' or \'\'war on terrorism\'\' is at one with its expansionary goals for the market: open invasion in some places, and open markets everywhere. In this article for IPS, the author writes that the plans for Iraq go beyond reconstruction. The intention is to create a dream economy -- completely privatised and foreign-owned. The war on Iraq was shadowed by a battle among American corporations to win reconstruction contracts. Resistance to the unilateral US strategy does not go over well. In March 2003, President Bush alluded to the possibility of reprisals if Mexico didn\'t vote America\'s way in the UN Security Council on the question of Iraq. In July 2003, the administration cut off military aid to 35 friendly countries in retaliation for their support of the International Criminal Court (ICC). And following the collapse of trade talks in Cancun, the US is threatening \'\'to take note\'\' of those countries that \'\'torpedoed\'\' the negotiations in Cancun. However, the US position as a solo superpower could be short-lived. Washington\'s desire to dominate affairs around the world has created a global resistance stoked by a combination of developing country resentments inflamed by US arrogance, a crippled economy, an expensive invasion and occupation of Iraq that has not gone well for the US, and reinvigorated civil society resistance to corporate driven globalisation.

DANGER

Power feeds on fear. Without the demons that create it, it would lose its source of justification, impunity, and fortune, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer and journalist, author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. Fear distracts and deflects attention. Were it not for the services it performs, the obvious would be plain for all to see: that power looks at itself in the mirror and incites fear by telling us what it sees, Galeano writes. Patriotism is a privilege of those in power. When practised by those who are ruled, is it reduced to mere terrorism? To take two examples, the suicide attacks by desperate Palestinians evicted from their country, or the national resistance to the foreign forces now occupying Iraq: are these terrorism and nothing more? Power disguised negates common sense. If it weren\'t thus, could there be any doubt that the current government of Israel is practising terrorism, state terrorism, and is spreading madness? The more land this country devours and the more humiliation it inflicts on the Palestinian people, the more criminal responses it will generate.

HELP FOR POOREST COUNTRIES LIES IN WTO REVITALISATION

If the promise embodied in the name of the Doha Development Round is to be fulfilled after the WTO failure at Cancun, these negotiations must be re-vitalised, writes Ian Goldin, Vice President, External Affairs and United Nations Affairs of the World Bank. In this article, the author writes that rich countries need to take the lead in re-starting the multilateral process by making more ambitious offers than were on the table in Cancun, and developing countries should follow by showing increased flexibility to open their own markets. This will ensure that the developing countries are able to take full advantage of the benefits from investments in research and extension and rural infrastructure to enhance their global integration and trade. The potential benefits for the developing world from global trade reform are estimated to be as high as USD 349 billion per year when dynamic impacts are taken into account. The goal of Cancun was that business as usual cannot continue and that a new equilibrium needs to emerge that will give Africa a chance to benefit from the powerful engine of growth and poverty reduction that trade has proven to be in other parts of the world.

UK STUDY FINDS NEW RISKS IN GENETICALLY-ENGINEERED CROPS

A major new study on the environmental impact of genetically- engineered (GE) crops adds yet another concern to the growing list of ecological risks associated with transgenic crops, writes Peter Rosset, biologist and co-director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First, based in the USA. In this article, Rosset writes that the study found that there were very serious impacts on biodiversity. In two of the three crops studied, herbicide use drastically affected plant biodiversity and consequently also had very negative affects on birds, bees, and butterflies. This raises the spectre of widespread above-ground ecosystem disruption in areas with broad use of herbicide-tolerant crops. Each new study adds new risks to an already overflowing list. In many cases these are risks --like lower soil fertility, reduced natural population control of pests, and loss of local varieties-- that will effect poor farmers more severely than wealthy farmers and threaten their livelihoods. The question is, when will governments ban international trade and planting of these unnecessary and dangerous crop varieties? the author asks.

MEDIA FOR ALL BY 2015

Information and communication technologies offer us an historic opportunity to create a new world of mutual responsibility and human solidarity -- though only if and when the majority of the world has the chance of fair and equitable access to the means of communication, writes Anuradha Mittal, director of OneWorld International Foundation and author of numerous articles of issues of global justice. In this article, the author writes that the real communications revolution will only come when enough citizens have the option to become media producers: when they can talk with as well as listen to those of us who are media professionals playing the role of facilitator. The People\'s Media era will begin when the Information Society is replaced by a Communication Society. When the People\'s Media era dawns, we will have no excuses left for being ignorant about what is really going on in the world. We will have no more excuses for global apartheid.

BOLIVIA: THE COUNTRY THAT WANTS TO EXIST

A gigantic explosion of gas -- this was the popular uprising that shook all of Bolivia and culminated in the resignation of President Sanchez de Lozada, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer and journalist, author of \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire.\'\' In this article, Galeano writes that the gas was to have been shipped to California, for a minuscule price in exchange for a few miserable gifts. Sanchez de Lozada called this false privatisation \'\'capitalization\'\', but the country, tired of living to fuel foreign progress, demanded that the gas be used for Bolivia. These fast-moving times are marked by astounding achievements in Bolivia. In 2000 an uprising deprivatised the nation\'s water. A few months ago another popular explosion forced the government to annul the payroll tax that the IMF had demanded be implemented. And popular disobedience derailed a juicy deal for Pacific LNG, comprised by Repsol, British Gas, and Panamerican Gas, known to be a partner of Enron. As for the fugitive Sanchez de Lozada, he lost the presidency but he won\'t be losing much sleep. Though he has the killing of over 80 demonstrators on his conscience, this champion of modernisation is not bothered by anything that can\'t turn a profit.

UNITED STATES: LET HISPANICS LIVE IN PEACE

It must be election time again. Hispanics are suddenly being rediscovered in the United States, by both US and Spanish politicians, writes Joaquin Roy, \'Jean Monnet\' professor and Director of the European Union Centre at the University of Miami. Amazingly, the presence of the mythical 40 million \'\'Hispanics\'\' in the US is being wielded as justification for the Spanish government\'s unconditional backing of US policy in Iraq, the author writes. But did Aznar read the polls showing that Hispanic support for Bush\'s policies in Iraq was 20 points lower than the national average? And why does Spain\'s prime minister hold US Hispanics in much higher esteem than the other 40 million real \'\'Hispanics\'\' in Spain, who overwhelmingly (90 percent) opposed the Iraq adventure? Applying his own logic, Aznar should side with Castro against the US because of the presence of 10 million \'\'Hispanics\'\' in Cuba. A humble suggestion. On the occasion of October 12th, the Day of Hispanity, the national day of Spain, or the Italianified Columbus Day in the US, leave Hispanics and Latinos in peace. They will really appreciate it.

WTO: THE POST-CANCUN CHALLENGE

It would behove us now to put behind us the accusations and recriminations about what happened or failed to happen at the WTO Ministerial in Cancun and focus on how best to launch a new phase of negotiations in Geneva by the end of this year, writes Carlos Perez del Castillo, president of the General Council of the World Trade Organisation. The outcome of Cancun has dampened the will of many countries to continue doing their utmost for a multilateral process which, since Doha, has been characterised by one failure after another, the author writes in this article for IPS. Some major trading partners are already talking about alternative ways of achieving free trade. Others have severely questioned the principles and organisation of the WTO and its failure to tailor itself to existing demands. Should we fail to put the negotiating process back on track, not only will the 1 January 2005 deadline for completion of this Round be jeopardised; the relevance of the multilateral trading system itself will be called into serious question. For this reason, a major and decisive new phase will be launched in Geneva this week.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE UN

The Iraq debacle provides a historic opportunity to implement long-sought and widely-supported reform of the UN to assure its independence and its vital role in this new century, writes Hazel Henderson, author of \'\'Beyond Globalisation\'\' and co-editor of \'\'The UN: Policy and Financing Alternatives\'\' (1995). The breakdown in the Security Council over the US war on Iraq clearly illustrated its obsolete and dysfunctional aspects. The Council needs to finally dispense with the veto. Then the permanent seats can be rearranged to accommodate important new world players, including India, Brazil, Japan, South Africa, and Indonesia. Another long-sought security council reform --more necessary than ever in a world of terrorism and asymmetrical threats-- is a standing UN peace-keeping and humanitarian force. The world recognises again that the UN is indispensable, the only forum that can convene all the world\'s nations. Even the Bush Administration is seeking UN help, namely \'\'burden sharing\'\' of the costs of its ill-considered adventure in Iraq. Only the UN can legitimise reluctant member nations\' involvement in re-building Iraq.

THE DIVIDING LINE

Every major issue of our day derives from four fundamental crises: the threat to peace from the religious war that looms over us; the globalisation of the economy and the need for both ethical and juridical regulation; the growing --and intolerable-- imbalance between the d eveloped world and the world of hunger and poverty; and the process of continuous and often irreversible environmental degradation, writes Mario Soares, president of Portugal from 1986-1996. The solution of the four underlying crises, and all of their progeny, would be within the reach of science and humanity if there were the political will. But at present there isn\'t, Soares writes. There are many signs of a building reaction against the global system that contributed to the current regression of the world, particularly in the area of social justice, human rights, international law, and even the operation of our democracies. It is becoming clear that today\'s reigning economicism, together with the media-inundation of societies, dominates politics and threatens justice. Things cannot go on like this.

THE DANGEROUS RAINBOW

The cross and the sword are raised high as in old times, and with good reason: in the last few months, homophobia has come under serious attack, writes Eduardo Galeano, a Uruguayan writer and journalist \'\'The Open Veins of Latin America\'\' and \'\'Memories of Fire\'\'. Earlier this summer, the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that criminalised homosexuality, effectively voiding similar laws in 12 other states. And in New Hampshire, for the first time in the history of Christianity the faithful and the clergy of the Episcopal Church elected a bishop who is openly gay. Galeano writes in this article for IPS that all of these acts of \'\'grave immorality\'\', of liberty and mental health, are not gifts: they are victories, the result of the persistent battle of gays and lesbians against discrimination and violence. Armed with the rainbow banner, a symbol of human diversity, they are overturning one of the most sinister heresies of the past. The walls of intolerance are beginning to fall.

//CORRECTED REPETITION//THE MEANING OF CANCUN

The failure of the WTO Fifth Ministerial in Cancun is a severe blow not just for the WTO but also for regional agreements such as the Free Trade Area of the Americas, writes Anuradha Mittal, Co-Director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy, also known as Food First. In this analysis for IPS, Mittal writes that the lack of attention to the legitimate concerns of the developing countries, the hunger of the US and the EU to capture world markets, and the mounting evidence that the free trade agreements have failed the poorest and the most vulnerable in our society, have alienated both the poor countries and civil society. Cancun offers an important lesson: strong arm tactics, which might have worked in the past for the US and the EU, will not work any more. There is clear agreement on one principle: No agreement is better than a bad agreement.

BUSH TEAM TARGETS NGOs ‘GROWING POWER OF AN UNELECTED FEW’

The Bush administration and its unelected advisers at the American Enterprise Institute have launched a concerted attack on international NGOs for actions they say are subverting national sovereignty, weakening corporate power, and thwarting US freedom of action in global affairs, writes Mark Sommer directs the US-based Mainstream Media Project and hosts an award-winning syndicated radio programme, \'\'A World of Possibilities\'\'. For a regime whose own legitimacy stands starkly in question after what many Americans view as a stolen election and whose hidden sources of power in government agencies and corporate boardrooms are all unelected and inaccessible to the broader public, the charge that NGOs represent \'\'the growing power of an unelected few\'\' is supremely ironic. Indeed, Sommer writes in this analysis for IPS, the unaccountability and unchecked power of state and corporate elites are precisely what have spawned the antiglobalisation movements of recent years. Yet having challenged the legitimacy of the Bush administration and its corporate sponsors, NGOs do indeed need to address the challenge of establishing their own legitimacy as representatives of a broader public.

US – OVER OR UNDER THE UN?

However much the Iraqi people need and deserve urgent assistance from the UN, the member organisations cannot permit the US to wage wars of aggression and leave it to the UN to tidy up when the US gets bogged down, writes Fredrik S. Heffermehl, president of the Norwegian Peace and member of the International Peace Bureau. This is an unacceptable precedent. It is now imperative to let the US learn its lesson. Other nations should stand by France, Germany, and Russia in their defense of the UN and not be too quick to offer military assistance and relief. Without concessions and some unambiguous guarantees from the US, a new Iraq resolution in the Security Council must be rejected, Heffermehl writes in this analysis for IPS. US withdrawal is absolutely necessary to stabilise Iraq, but Washington offers no credible promises for a genuine transfer of power to the Iraqis and sets no exit date for US and foreign forces. The US should renew its commitment to the UN and collective decision-making and promise to pursue a fair and equitable world order, based on law, as a condition for a new resolution for the UN take-over in Iraq. This would be a fight against terrorism that could be won.

A PEACEFUL SOLUTION FOR VENEZUELA

As early as August 19, 2003,Venezuela plans to hold a recall referendum on its embattled president, Hugo Chavez, who was elected in 1999 on a platform of redistributing the country\'s oil wealth for the benefit of the poor, writes Christena Mann, an international schools educator currently enrolled in the Conflict esolution Masters program at Landegg International University in Switzerland. The situation in Venezuela is complicated by the fact each side in the conflict appears to believe that the other side will lose the referendum, which introduces an element of danger. In some countries, similar situations have escalated into civil war and even foreign intervention. In this article, the author asks whether a third voice could emerge from a combination of moderate voices from either side, introduce a process of cooperation, and shift the focus to the urgent challenges facing every person in the country. If so, then perhaps the immediate and pressing challenges of the country can be overcome, just as many situations of heightened tension and conflict have been resolved peacefully around the world by focusing on the common interests of all parties. Or will each side claim to speak for the real majority and insist on getting its way, continuing to propagate stereotypes aimed at boosting their own and damaging the other side\'s reputations, bringing misery for all?

A NEW TEST FOR GUATEMALA AT THE POLLS

Once again Guatemala has become a test case for building a democracy, writes Rigoberta Menchu, who received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1992. Guatemala\'s high court recently declared legal the candidacy for president Efrain Rios Montt, who came to power in a coup in 1982. The decision, influenced by the ruling party, violates the basic juridical principles of any nation and the Guatemalan constitution. Elections are set for 9 November with a run-off on 28 December. In this article for IPS, the author writes that Montt should be behind bars for the crimes against humanity committed when he was in power. The most serious element in this new chapter of Guatemala\'s permanent crisis is the extension and strengthening of clandestine structures of power which have hijacked the state and placed it in the service of its own criminal activities. There is a very real threat that the ruling party will attempt to keep itself in power through fraud and intimidation. Strict vigilance is the only way to guarantee free elections.

BRAZIL: ONE FOOT IN UTOPIA, ONE IN MATHEMATICS

In Brazil, 115 years after the proclamation of the republic, it is as if the monarchy still existed, writes Cristovam Buarque, minister of education for Brazil, ex-rector of the University of Brasilia, and ex-governor of the Federal District. Brazil has still completed neither its republic nor the abolition of slavery. To this day, members of parliament consider themselves nobles, unemployment has replaced forced labour, slaves have been transformed into the poor, and education is for the few. The election of Lula as president completes the republic and the abolition of slavery, Buarque writes in this article for IPS. What is necessary to the completion of abolition is intense, total, and radical land reform. It is also necessary to create jobs to end slavery and the secular Brazilian tragedy of transforming fed and chained slaves into hungry and unemployed free men. To complete the republic, equal access to education must be guaranteed, which is only possible through a free, quality public school system for everyone.