Global Marshall Plan Initiative

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The logo of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative

The Global Marshall Plan Initiative sees itself as an integrative platform for a world in balance. It has five key demands for a fairer globalization . Due to its network-like character, it is organized without hierarchies and without a head office.

The aim of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative is to establish a framework for the global economy that is compatible with sustainability : a global eco-social market economy .

Creation of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative

Al Gore - Author of "Paths to Balance - A Marshall Plan for the Earth"

The idea of ​​a "Global Marshall Plan" was first published in 1990 by the US politician, entrepreneur and environmentalist Al Gore in his book "Paths to Balance - A Marshall Plan for the Earth". The choice of the name deliberately reminded of the historical Marshall Plan after the Second World War (officially: European Recovery Program), a symbol of hope , solidarity and peace .

The idea of ​​a Global Marshall Plan was not new, but was taken up in the 1990s by personalities from very different areas: Kofi Annan , Hans Küng , the political scientist and writer Susan George , Mikhail Gorbachev , Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, George Soros , Lutz Wicke, Georg Winter and many more (Global Contract). In the early 1990s, prominent personalities such as the journalist Franz Alt and the German Green Party politician Joschka Fischer initiated an ecological Marshall Plan, supported by many, which called for the establishment of an eco-social market economy, 100 billion DM per year for the environment and a kerosene tax .

Against the background that the world is increasingly in a difficult, untenable situation as a result of rapid globalization - both in terms of the environmental situation, poverty and distribution issues as well as the balance between cultures - the original idea for a global Marshall Plan was launched on March 16 Resumed in May 2003 by representatives of 16 civil society organizations as a movement for world peace, sustainability and justice and the Global Marshall Plan Initiative launched at Frankfurt Airport. Since the initiative was to be organized as a network, i.e. decentralized and without hierarchies, various people and institutions were commissioned to coordinate the tasks and activities: Franz Josef Radermacher took on the coordination of the content in his role as institute director of the FAW / n , politics, especially on the EU -Ebene Josef Riegler and the Eco-Social Forum Europe (see Eco-Social Forum ). The World Contract Foundation and Frithjof Finkbeiner were commissioned to coordinate, initiate and promote the activities of supporters and partners internationally. Due to the enormous positive response and the large number of activities, this contract was soon transferred to the non-profit Global Marshall Plan Foundation, which was specially founded for this purpose.

The long-term goal of the initiative since then has been to establish a global eco-social market economy, i.e. to change the current global framework conditions that neither lead to lasting peace and sustainability. Right from the start, the founders wanted to develop the initiative as openly as possible and also win over business as supporters. All actors and parts of world society should find themselves constructively in the Global Marshall Plan, and a one-sided development should be prevented. In addition to the greatest possible support from the global public, the initiative also wants to ensure that the substance, quality, implementation and scope of the plan are continuously developed.

In a series of lectures in 2003/04, the contents were further specified and finally a first report to the Global Marshall Plan Initiative ("Global Marshall Plan - A Planetary Contract for a Worldwide Eco-Social Market Economy") was drawn up, which was published in September 2004.

In the meantime, more and more members of the EU Parliament and national parliaments have supported the initiative. Civil society and business associations soon followed, as did the first university. The initiative also met with a very positive response internationally. In the meantime, the initiative has grown into a network of more than 5000 supporting individuals, organizations, federal states and municipalities.

With the conviction that the will to change must be generated in the middle of society, the supporters create awareness for the interrelationships of globalization and motivate their respective environment to work for a fairer globalization. Lectures are an essential element of multiplication. Broad alliances are to be formed through awareness-raising and information and pressure "from below" generated. In the Global Marshall Plan Academy , committed people are trained to become multipliers.

Self-image

Any effort to overcome this unsustainable development will be much more difficult in the future or it will even be impossible to overcome if a fundamental turnaround does not occur soon.

The Global Marshall Plan Initiative wants to campaign for a trend reversal towards sustainability. With the self-image of a network-like movement for a world in balance, it gathers forces from politics, business, science and civil society behind calls for a more just globalization. It relies on the simultaneous pursuit of 'bottom-up' and 'top-down' approaches, i.e. awareness-raising and lobbying.

Through lectures, information events and publications, other people and groups are to be informed about the necessity and the possibility of global eco-social framework conditions, so that the will for political change arises in the middle of society.

aims

The aim of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative is to make a substantial contribution to a global eco-social market economy. According to the initiative and its supporters, there would be a realistic perspective in such an eco-social Marshall Plan

  • to overcome the degrading poverty of half of humanity, which has long been recognized as the main cause of existential world problems,
  • for the successful global establishment of ecological and social standards for sustainable development ,
  • to overcome the deep cultural frustration and humiliation of much of humanity and thus to eliminate an explosive environment that creates international terrorism and threatens global security,
  • for a new economic miracle that specifically promotes the hitherto almost completely idle human potential of more than three billion people, from which ultimately all of humanity would derive immense benefits,
  • for a generally fairer shaping of globalization
  • and for the realization of human rights and human dignity for all.

According to the initiative, however, a Global Marshall Plan would also offer attractive new perspectives for numerous other problems that have arisen from unbalanced globalization. Possible effects would be for example:

  • The prosperity and thus the wages increased in the developing countries, so that would drop the wage pressure in the economy of the traditional industrial countries. The increased demand on the world markets would then also help to secure jobs in the industrialized countries.
  • Implementing ecological goals would be much more realistic than is currently the case, since poverty, so the argument goes, is one of the causes of environmental degradation in poorer countries. Anyone who has to fight for daily survival would be difficult to win over to environmental protection . In large parts of the world, the implementation of ecological goals is therefore only realistic if they are directly linked to the active promotion of social and ecological development.
  • The model of an open, peaceful, democratic, constitutional and educated civil society, which many see as the best guarantee for good and dynamic future prospects for all communities, would be advanced by an eco-social Global Marshall Plan.

The aim of the Global Marshall Plan is to link appropriate regulatory processes with competitive mechanisms on a global level in order to combine human potential, resources and infrastructure with well thought-out institutional solutions to create value systems. A global eco-social market economy would therefore strike the right balance between a competitive economy, social solidarity and ecological sustainability.

The logic of the plan

At the center of the logic of a plan as proposed by the Global Marshall Plan Initiative is the following principle: Investments , coordinated market openings and co-financing in many areas are made in return for the alignment of social and ecological standards. In this way, a form of targeted global poverty overcoming is to emerge, which is intended to release very strong new economic impulses for the region in question as well as the entire world economy. By coupling the new growth with clear ecological standards, a strong greening of the economy is to be promoted at the same time.

According to the initiative, the new economic, ecological and social perspectives would create a strong impetus for the inner pacification of global society, which in turn is important for the sustained and sustainable prosperity of the economy.

It is also assumed that the positive effects of a Global Marshall Plan would subsequently increase the pull on those governments that have so far closed themselves to eco-social development. The pressure on them would be increased to give space to such a development, to reduce corruption and to promote good governance . "Good governance" (also called "good governance" in German) describes a good control and regulation system of a political and social unit such as the state or municipality. The principles include terms such as transparency , efficiency , participation , responsibility , the rule of law , democracy and justice .

It is particularly important that a Global Marshall Plan should overcome old conflicts of interest and achieve unusually broad support.

One of the surprising interim results of the initiative's course so far is that it is supported by business enterprises and business associations as well as by sharp critics of the current form of globalization, and by representatives from the “North” and the “South”. Various well-known representatives of all major political currents, all social sectors and global networks of civil society spoke out vehemently in favor of this initiative. The previous approaches and impulses of the initiative could therefore open up a real chance of building broad social bridges.

Core requirements for a world in balance

Elements of the Global Marshall Plan, which comprises five interrelated building blocks, are already contained in the results of previous UN summits, part of European politics and demands of various NGOs and institutions. The five building blocks, which are continuously adapted to current challenges, form the starting point and at the same time the foundation of the initiative.

Further development and implementation of the UN Millennium Development Goals

In September 2000 the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) met to discuss the main challenges of the coming decades. In the final Millennium Declaration , globalization was highlighted as one of the most important contemporary issues.

In this declaration , the 192 UN member countries committed themselves to concrete Millennium Development Goals , which should help ensure that globalization ultimately benefits everyone. The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), also known as the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), represent the first intermediate step towards a fairer world order and sustainable development. Not all goals could be achieved by 2012, many problems have even worsened - a blatant failure of the world community . This should be all the more an incentive to update the goals and quickly realize them.

Provision of additional funds

A number of correct and necessary declarations and agreements (for example the aforementioned Millennium Development Goals) have so far only been implemented to a highly discouraging extent. If the obvious gap between the declaration of intent and the power to act is not soon overcome, there is a risk - in addition to the escalation of global problems - above all a dramatic escalation of the crisis of confidence in decision-makers at all levels and in the political capacity to act as a whole. The phase of understanding must therefore be followed urgently by a phase of decisive implementation. In addition to the implementation mechanisms (see point 5.4.), This primarily concerns questions of financing.

According to an analysis by the UN in 2001, the unmet financial needs for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals were around $ 50 billion per year plus around $ 20 billion for the provision of public goods and humanitarian operations. Compared to the status quo, however, considerable additional funds are now required for development cooperation (US $ 100-150 billion) and the implementation of the MDGs. With the implementation of the 0.7% GNP target for the financing of development cooperation, which the international community has been aiming for since 1969, the material basis for this would be in place.

For comparison:

  • The percentage volume of the US Marshall Plan after World War II was 1.3% of the US gross domestic product - over a period of 4 years.
  • World armaments expenditures in 2004, excluding costs for the Iraq war, amounted to approximately $ 1,000 billion (approximately 2.2% of world GDP of $ 45,000 billion in 2004). The Iraq war also cost several hundred billion US dollars.

These figures make it clear that the proposed Global Marshall Plan can be financed to the extent proposed.

Fair taxation of global value creation processes

In addition to market openings and new implementation mechanisms, global development also requires the above-mentioned financial resources for international cooperation. Despite the possibility in principle of providing the necessary amounts from the national budgets, it would be easier, for fundamental and procedural reasons, to find other ways of providing these funds.

On the one hand, the national budgets are not directly burdened, on the other hand, the money generated can be better decoupled from the national interests of the donor countries and it becomes easier to move forward together at the same pace. Since the dependence on national interests in the past repeatedly impaired the efficiency of development cooperation measures and, as a result, the public image of the programs fell significantly, new financing instruments can decisively improve both political and public acceptance of a Global Marshall Plan.

The initiative therefore demands that, for regulatory reasons and because of an improved steering effect, as well as to increase transparency and, in particular, better control of the global financial sector, taxes on global value creation processes and the use of global goods are to be consistently established. Examples of this are a tax on global financial transactions, trading in CO 2 emission rights in the context of climate justice and a kerosene tax . Some examples are detailed below:

A financial transaction tax

Another proposal for financing a global Marshall Plan, which also has the support of numerous experts, is a tax on global financial transactions - the financial transaction tax (FTT) , which is currently about to break through in the EU .

Critics of this idea fear that this would burden the “ collective intelligence ” in controlling the very sensitive financial flows. On the other hand, in the most recent excesses and "bubbles" on the international capital and financial markets as well as in the area of ​​the new economy, this intelligence has not proven to be very far-reaching. In any case, however, only very careful use of this instrument is proposed and this is only proposed on a global level.

A cautious entry could, for example, be a global financial transaction tax of 0.01 percent initially. If the experience is positive, the value could be increased to 0.02 percent. This could provide $ 30 to 40 billion annually.

However, it must be taken into account that such a global levy would require the establishment of new international structures with the necessary authority and effective sanctions.

Further considerations

In addition to the two financing options presented, the establishment of a Global Climate Certificate System (GCCS), a future bond, an international finance facility and a carbon tax on kerosene are also being discussed.

Additional important considerations are the debt relief of developing countries, the closure of offshore tax havens, through which the national tax systems are deprived of around $ 50 billion annually, the dismantling of protectionist structures and considerations for an international antitrust authority .

Fair, global partnership and effective use of funds

A fair partnership in development cooperation at all levels and an adequate flow of funds are the prerequisites for sustainable future prospects for the whole world. The promotion of good governance, subsidiarity, regionality, education, the fight against corruption, as well as coordinated and grassroots forms of use of funds are seen as crucial for self-directed development (e.g. microfinance ).

In order to be able to develop the desired effect and thus to find broad and lasting support from global civil society, but also from business and politics, earlier mistakes in development cooperation must be avoided when implementing the Global Marshall Plan.

Overcoming global market fundamentalism and realizing a worldwide eco-social market economy should be made possible by establishing a better regulatory framework for the world economy within the framework of a fair world treaty. The most suitable way to do this appears primarily to link ethical, economic, ecological, social, cultural and democratic standards with such a program.

The standards and regulations are thus linked to (co-) financing programs. The allocation of funds must not be influenced either by the short-term economic interests of rich countries or by the short-term power interests of elites in poorer countries. This can best be achieved through consistent orientation to the standards mentioned, an associated accountability and active and transparent involvement of business and civil society organizations.

For the first phase of the Global Marshall Plan, the aim is to apply the following standards, for which a consensus among UN members has already been found:

Failure to comply with some of these standards represent the main competitive advantages of economically lagging regions in some areas. The example of EU enlargement nevertheless shows that agreements on the application of common high standards and levels of protection can be reached if at the same time co-financing of the development of the weaker partners through developed countries. This coupling is beneficial for everyone involved.

The most effective way of enforcing standards at the global level so far lies with the World Trade Organization (WTO). Nevertheless, the organization is, above all because, in accordance with its mandate, primarily promoting the dismantling of trade barriers and neglecting ecological, social and cultural aspects, like no other.

In the longer term, however, the WTO could be reformed into a suitable institution by combining the trade rules with the standards mentioned above to form a fair, balanced and coherent economic system geared towards sustainability. All elements of a future regulatory framework should be given the same possibilities for legal action and sanction if they are not observed.

The equality of trade, environmental and social standards via a link with the WTO is one of the central concerns of the initiative.

Alternative considerations regarding the enforceability of ecological and social standards rely on strengthening a reformed UN and more efficient instruments for enforcing social standards within the framework of the ILO and human rights .

Both the individual, local, national and global levels have their own indispensable tasks in a globalized world. Dealing with the tasks according to the principle of subsidiarity - i.e. at the level at which they can be best and most effectively carried out - is essential for the efficient implementation of a Global Marshall Plan and requires some changes, since the political decision-making structures today are by no means converging World community fair.

Efforts must focus on knowledge transfer, empowerment and targeted investments in education and health. The following are decisive for achieving a reasonable regulatory framework and self-directed development:

  • fair cooperation based on partnership at all levels
  • Strengthening the decision-making and design options of the partner countries
  • Promote good governance and fight corruption
  • coordinated and grassroots forms of use of funds, e.g. B. Microcredit
  • and suitable / adequate financing.

The ideology that happiness is on the side of the able, i.e. that poverty is essentially self-caused, ignores the diverse dimensions of poverty and neglects its causes, which are not least due to unequal property and power structures that have maintained poverty and dependence for centuries .

A worldwide expansion of the development of the “West” while ignoring our unsustainable undesirable developments does not lead to comprehensive prosperity of all nations and people, but to cultural impoverishment as well as to the destruction of our natural foundations of life.

From development aid to development cooperation

The arrogance of “Western civilization”, which people perceive as humiliating, degrading and threatening, provokes anti-Western sentiments and is the breeding ground for hatred and violence. In addition, there are unfairly distributed opportunities and a lack of balance of interests.

The fight against misery in the world is therefore not a charity, but a humanitarian duty and peace policy - also in self-interest. Nowadays, comprehensive human security cannot be achieved against one another, but only with one another. In addition, it is necessary to build mutual trust and to accept the people in the disadvantaged countries as equal partners and to allow them to participate in international negotiation and decision-making processes.

Use of the funds

Against the background of the considerations outlined above, the Global Marshall Plan Initiative considers the following principles and suggestions for the use of the funds to be particularly worth mentioning:

  • The specific funding programs should be coordinated through the relevant specialized agencies and programs of the United Nations. The role of the United Nations needs to be strengthened.
  • Using the example of “ The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria ”, which has already been set up , it is to be observed whether the establishment of such special UN-related funds in interaction with actors from business and civil society is helpful for the core goals of the Global Marshall Plan.
  • If funds are obtained from a world trade tax, consideration should be given to using them initially for development goals in those economic sectors in which the revenues are generated, in order to increase the approval of the economy.
  • An essential instrument of the use of funds should be the public tendering of planned programs to non-governmental organizations in order to obtain the best cost-result ratio in healthy competition.
  • Clear priority should be given to projects that are based on the entrepreneurial potential of the local people - for example, small credit banks and development schools where locals are trained to be development workers.
  • In the case of technology transfers, the selection of the funded projects should be geared primarily towards ensuring that as wide a range of locals as possible acquire the ability to deal with them as quickly and efficiently as possible independently.
  • The search for particularly successful and effective social and ecological projects and their success criteria should be defined and promoted as a new international research focus. In this way, the efficiency of many current forms of development support can be massively increased.

Worldwide eco-social market economy

With the gradual realization of a global eco-social market economy, a regulatory framework compatible with sustainability is to be established for the world economy and global market fundamentalism to be overcome. Functioning global governance structures need reforms of existing institutions and regulations. (e.g. United Nations, World Trade Organization and the world financial sector), as well as their coherent connection to a functioning whole.

Next Steps

Currently, the initiative for a Global Marshall Plan is supported by more than 5000 individuals, 200 organizations, all federal states of Austria as well as some cities in Germany and well-known public figures. National and regional structures were formed in many European and non-European countries. From 19th to 20th April 2008, representatives of numerous local and regional groups from Germany met in Erfurt to discuss the establishment of a "National Initiative" in line with the new governance structure of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative. As a result, an "Erfurt Declaration" was passed, in which the will to found an association as the umbrella of the local, regional and national groups is expressed. In order not to contradict the own self-image of the network character as well as the open design of the initiative, at that time, however, a national organization was ultimately not founded. In principle, people can join one of the numerous supporting organizations or get involved in local groups, either informally or organized as an association. There should be no national organization or umbrella organization.

As an international initiative, the strategic goal of the initiative is to advance the implementation of a Global Marshall Plan and to develop broad public awareness of globally responsible action. Only an increased awareness and an improved understanding can be a reliable basis for making the initiative even better known and for making globalization fairer.

The Global Marshall Plan Initiative deliberately addresses different addressees with its considerations and proposals in parallel:

  • to all people in the world to contribute their knowledge, experiences and ideas to the initiative.
  • to the religious communities as well as the media and artists to carry the idea of ​​the Global Marshall Plan on and to create awareness.
  • to interest groups and to civil society organized in NGOs. The aim is to join forces and fight together for a fairer, sustainable globalization.
  • to science. All disciplines are invited to develop the Global Marshall Plan into a more detailed and interdisciplinary project.
  • to the economy to make the Global Marshall Plan their own concern - for socially just and ecologically responsible economic development.
  • to the governments and parliaments of the nation states to officially support the Global Marshall Plan and to shape it in dialogue with the other actors. This new quality of global ability to act and solve problems is in the long-term interest of all countries.
  • to the European Union , as an important beacon of hope for the project and for many people around the world. The EU member states are facing the historic opportunity to transform former colonial powers into partners of an effective and comprehensively understood development policy. The EU can and should courageously develop an alternative to the current form of globalization and consistently represent it in international negotiations. A European citizens' initiative for an unconditional basic income is appealing to the EU for the inner European social balance .
  • to the UN and its programs and specialized agencies, which play a central role in the implementation of this project. Initiatives to reform the UN in the direction of more efficiency, agency and funding are supported by the initiative.
  • to the G8 not to focus on short-term measures such as aid and debt relief when fighting poverty, but to fight structural poverty at its roots by reforming global rules and institutions.

Shortly after founding the Global Marshall Plan Initiative, Karolin and Frithjof Finkbeiner founded the Global Marshall Plan Foundation. From then on, the foundation assumed the tasks of an international coordination office for the initiative originally assigned to the World Contract Foundation. Since then, the Foundation has acted as the secretariat for the initiative, ensures that the logo is used correctly, networks stakeholders and, with the help of numerous supporters, promotes many innovative projects. In addition to supporting the Plant-for-the-Planet school initiative , several international conferences, such as the World Commons Forum , were organized and around 40 multipliers were trained within the annual Global Marshall Plan Academy.

Some of the more than 200 organizations that support the Global Marshall Plan Initiative were set up in December 2010 in Munich as the initiative's coordination group and thus took on the tasks of content-related and political coordination that had been previously distributed elsewhere. The coordination group develops strategic and content-related positions for the Global Marshall Plan Initiative, decides on the support of projects, works on the further development of the content and is therefore also responsible for the content of the initiative's annual meetings. Since November 2011, the members have been working on a list of requirements for the financial crisis. The current papers can be downloaded from the initiative's website.

The current projects of the initiative are the University Days Eco-Social Market Economy and Sustainability, a joint project of the initiative and 5 other organizations, as well as the further training of multipliers through internationalization and the offer of other formats within the Global Marshall Plan Academy. Both projects are supported by the Global Marshall Plan Foundation. The Foundation finances one of three project offices for the university days, and the organizational management for the Global Marshall Plan Academy. The care and support of local activities by the coordination office, the coordination and placement of speakers as well as giving lectures are still an important part of the initiative's commitment.

The Plant-for-the-Planet and Global Marshall Plan initiatives jointly operate an online shop that offers fair trade chocolate, information material, books, newspapers and magazines. The Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation is responsible according to the legal notice.

supporter

The initiative is supported by Hans-Dietrich Genscher , Hubert Weinzierl ( BUND ), Rita Süssmuth , Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker , Franz Josef Radermacher , Jakob von Uexküll , Ulrich Martin Drescher , Renée Ernst , Sandra Maischberger (all Germany), Josef Riegler , Franz Fischler (Austria), Prince El Hassan bin Talal (Jordan), Vandana Shiva (India), Jane Goodall (Great Britain) and around 5000 supporters with a focus on Germany and Austria.

The supporting organizations include the Club of Rome , the Eco-Social Forum Europe, AIESEC Germany and Austria, Cap Anamur / German Emergency Doctors eV , VENRO , the UN Millennium Campaign Germany and all federal states of Austria.

In January 2007, the Thuringian state parliament became the first state parliament in Germany to commit to the goals of the Global Marshall Plan. In the resolution (Landtag-Drucksache 4/2658) the Thuringian state government is also requested to support the development of a concrete package of measures for the implementation of the Global Marshall Plan and to make it better known with highlighted example projects and information events in Thuringia as well as on the progress every three years to report to the state parliament for the first time at the end of 2009. The City of Munich has also supported the Global Marshall Plan since November 2007 .

At the local level

Since the spring of 2004, supporters have founded local and university groups in many places. The official website of the initiative lists seven "active local groups" and 13 "local groups" as of January 2020, but only two of the "active local groups" give contact addresses.

See also

literature

Web links

Members of the coordination group (selection)

credentials

  1. Petition: European Citizens' Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income - Research into a path to emancipatory welfare state framework conditions in the EU ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.globalmarshallplan.org archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , globalmarshallplan.org, May 14, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  2. Welcome to the Good Shop! In: www.thegoodshop.org. Retrieved January 19, 2020 .
  3. Local groups. In: www.globalmarshallplan.org. Retrieved January 19, 2020 .
  4. ^ The initiative / toggle "coordination group". In: www.globalmarshallplan.org. Retrieved January 19, 2020 .