This post by Vicki Assevero is republished from Great Transition Initiative

When I first read Heikki Patomäki’s essay, I felt like cheering. A call to action, instead of more words and analyses of our common predicament, about which those in this list-serv already know so much.

However, early on, Heikki pulled back: “For many reasons, a detailed blueprint for a WPP is neither advisable nor possible.”

Without a blueprint, what then is this WPP? We do get some
“contours”: morality and ethics that can be validated independently of
the authorities that promulgated them; positive collective learning,
which requires improvements not only in knowledge dissemination about
our global interconnections but also in pathways for effective
transnational participation. Thank you very much for referencing the Big
History Project, and thank you to David Christian for expanding on the
utility of creating this type of comprehensive learning platform. Let us
not forget one of the most important contours: “the fundamental shift
from the currently dominant national mythos to a global imaginary.”

I believe that a significant shift to a global consciousness is
consistently manifesting—through the many transnational civil society
movements—whether human rights, environment, inequalities, etc. Many
progressives have been opposed to the globalization of recent decades
(global capital movements, global trade increases, and expanded global
telecommunications), not for spurring the consciousness of our
interdependence and interconnectedness but for the exploitative and
inequality-engendering effects.

Like it or not, we are in the planetary twenty-first century. We are
indeed constrained by fears that the nefarious effects and ugly
consequences of greedy oligopolists, cyber criminals, or just the sheer
ineptitude to evolve a new economic and social model will derail the
efforts towards cohesion. But for things to cohere, we have to be able
to tell a story based on a largely shared vision of inclusive prosperity
for the CEO in Kenya, the janitor in Finland, the textile worker in
India, the construction worker in China, and the unemployed factory
worker in Kentucky, USA.

My conclusion is that the call for a WPP is perhaps misnamed. Conceivably, we need a World Political Platform,
with a clear set of objectives. If we have such a platform, then local
governments, advocacy groups, associations, and organizations can adhere
to the platform and work to accomplish the goals articulated therein
through the political structures extant where they find themselves.
There could be some type of linkages transnationally highlighting who
was accomplishing what within such a framework. Vivienne Ming, the
neuroscientist and AI expert has said that you need to “solve the
problem first,” and then you figure out how the machines can help you. I
think that the Sustainable Development Goals work is moving in this
direction even if it was an inter-nation effort; many civil society
organizations and businesses are using this framework to tackle poverty
and inequalities and move to a green energy future.

Particularly useful to localized action under the WPP banner would be
more and better methodologies for actually legislating, advancing
policy reforms, and advocacy that would push the goals of a WPP to the
top of many organizational agendas.

Vicki Assevero is an international lawyer with a longstanding interest in sustainable development.  She is the founder of The Green Market in Santa Cruz, Trinidad, a practical experiment in community-based sustainable development.

Photo by SeppoU
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