VI. Summary 3

This summary was originally written in French. The following translation was made with the help of computer-assisted translation software, then was edited for mistranslation and basic grammar, but without the proper work needed to provide a “good” translation. We apologize for any reading inconvenience brought about by this timesaving decision.



by Arnaud BLIN and Germà PELAYO

Here is the summary for the third theme of the forum, which is about the internal and external organization of a World Parliament. This subject includes questions such as the place and the frequency of meetings of a World Parliament; who should participate in it; whether it should include—and how—local and regional assemblies, preliminary meetings, and the organization of the processes; what its mandate should be; and what its relations with other agencies or governmental bodies should be.

For our theme on the organization of a World Parliament, the discussion moved suddenly from theoretical and general considerations to practical questions. For some, to debate the organization of a World Parliament at such an early stage could seem like putting the cart before the horse. On the other hand, to take things from this perspective could also serve to add clarity to our embryonic vision of a World Parliament.

Direct democracy: doing without representatives!

One of the central discussions on democracy is related to the idea of direct and indirect democracy, with effective representation. Modern democracy, such as it has changed since the end of the eighteenth century, is built for a large part on systems of representation, which made sense at a time when communication was rather primitive and elections and referenda were difficult to organize. With the progress made by information technology and by modern communications, it can now be the time to reconsider democracy in order to bring it directly to the individuals.

Thus, a World Parliament can be a fertile field for the practice of direct democracy. A way to do this could be for every citizen to be able to vote (through universal suffrage) for (or against) of the ideas rather than for individuals or parties (representatives). Thanks to a multiple voting scheme where each voter would be able to, for example, vote on ten positive proposals and two negative ones. Then, and according to the result of the vote, the World Parliament would name teams of competent individuals, responsible for implementing and developing to completion the proposals that have been voted.

Among the scenarios and mechanisms of how the direct democracy can function, here is an example (drawn of l’État esthétique by Andreu Junoy): a period of universal consultation for the elaboration, the study, and the voting of programs. The elaboration would be granted publicly to independent teams of individuals who would leave their usual jobs for a few months and would be paid during this time. Then, there would be a universal period of consultation where everybody would obtain a paid holiday from their work to study the programs that are presented. At the end of this period, there would be a vote by universal suffrage in two turns. Thus, the team with the program obtaining the most votes would become responsible for governing, in the application of its program, for four years.

An Earth Federation with a World Constitution for problems transcending national borders

Looking through at initiatives for a World Parliament that have been around for a long time, you can find the "World Constitution," an interesting document, which we are going to summarize here for two of its fundamental ideas, including Article 5, which is specifically about the World Parliament.

The World Constitution begins with long lists of broad powers and the specific functions of the World Government. It also includes some provisions for: 1. the World Parliament; 2. world executive power; 3. world administration; 4. the Integrative Complex; 5. the World Judiciary; 6. the implementation system; 7. the world people’s defender. The World Constitution limits the authority and the powers of the World Government formally to the problems and affairs that transcend national borders, leaving the internal affairs of the respective nations to the jurisdiction of national governments, but in agreement with the authority of the World Government with regard to the protection of the universal human rights, such as they are defined in this World Constitution.

The basic direct electoral and administrative units are called World Electoral and Administrative Districts. There should be as many as 1000, more or less equivalent in their population.

"Article 5 - The World Parliament. The House of Peoples shall be composed of the peoples delegates directly elected in proportion to population from the World Electoral and Administrative Districts. The House of Nations shall be composed of national delegates elected or appointed by procedures to be determined by each national government on a proportional basis. The House of Counselors shall be composed of 200 counselors chosen in equal numbers from nominations submitted from the twenty World Electoral and Administrative Regions, which include the districts, and will be elected by the members of the other two houses of the World Parliament from the particular region. Any legislative measure or action may be initiated in either House of Peoples or House of Nations or both concurrently, and shall become effective when passed by a simple majority vote of both the House of Peoples and of the House of Nations.”

An evolutionary democracy moving toward increasing participation of individuals in the decisions that affect them

The organization of an entity such as a World Parliament is an evolutionary process. While democracy requires some measure of top-down organization, the organization of democracy can be much more and much better than a copy of existing federations or of the European Union. Evolutionary democratic constitutions are submitted to review, often through referendum, and to other movements toward more participation of individuals (voters and taxpayers) in the political decisions that affect them.

As for the internal organization, a multi-party system is the best than can be done, given that parties are unavoidable in a society that allows freedom of organization. The major parties have managed to convince most of us that two-party systems are better for obtaining government stability and continuity, and yet these virtues disappear when the opposition takes over the government after an election.

We should not forget the financial organization of a World Parliament

It seems desirable that voters should have their voice heard as to the sums of money that should be assigned to the World Parliament, in terms of the percentage given to individual states. Thus, it would be necessary to set up a transnational and independent financial organization (for example, a Transnational Observatory for Monetary Flow - TOMF). Such an organization would first determine the amount of currency circulating, including the amount available for individual states and for the World Parliament (through, for example, central banks and a parliamentary bank).

The tree as a metaphor to understand the World Parliament

One of the criticisms of the forum was the propensity of the discussion to become muddled in very theoretical and philosophical discussions and to draw complicated answers to some of the basic questions exposed at the beginning of the discussion. Sometimes, a simple image can give meaning to a set of complex ideas. Let’s see how we can conceive more clearly what we are trying to do here.

The metaphor of the palaver tree, which a participant had already proposed a few weeks earlier, can help us here to see more clearly how we can consider a World Parliament. The roots can be founded on the local assemblies, whereas the trunk can be built around a world assembly. At the top of the tree, the branches and the leaves that provide us the necessary shade to meet and to debate things can consist of continental assemblies and their networks. In any case, the organization of a World Parliament would go undoubtedly beyond national limits, a fundamental principle that its structure and its organization should reflect.

Every citizen’s empowerment is fundamental

If one looks at the different solutions for governing democratically, the most democratic is what we could call collective sovereign citizenship. It is declared right that every citizen should behave as sovereign with regard to public affairs so that, essentially, he has the right to benefit from them but also the duty to dedicate his time to them. Then, it is the citizens who make decisions and laws, and are the public managers in charge of executing them.

One of the problems of democracies today is responsibility (that of elected officials). A way of reinforce people at a local level would be to begin to develop a process of declaration of inability on a world scale. A World Parliament could operational in all of the NGOs and could will also need local support to make sure this happens. The World Parliament could then be the people’s true voice everywhere in the world. Thus, a World Parliament should have a method to make sure that its elected official are responsible to the local peoples of the world. A World Parliament would be:

a) a place where one can present and debate world questions; b) where those who participate can work to obtain a consensus on the questions presented; c) where the proposals or recommendations of significant solutions are based on research to be able to bring them to the attention of the people, the media and the governments; d) a place with mechanisms that make it possible to move to the declaration of inability of any elected official at the local level of any nation, who doesn’t hear his/her people’s will; e) where messages are carried to elected officials at their single seat of government, then to the U.N., and finally back to their starting point, thus producing mandatory and then enforceable legislation, based on people’s will to keep their governments under control for the good of all.

In any case, we have to start from existing organizations

Activist organizations could play an important role in the establishment and the mechanisms of the World Parliament and they could be formally included in the organization process. A council of delegates could be set up to provide a means of producing feedback and contributions from the local and regional assemblies and the organizations participating in the World Parliament.

There are several activist organizations, with a lot of members, that back the idea of setting up a World Parliament. These people have excellent organization skills, knowledge of politics and world questions, and a lot of the resources needed to build support for the World Parliament.

For example, those who have been active in the Global Peoples Assembly Network (GPAN) developed a plan for a council of delegates that would include representatives of all local and regional assemblies around the world, with the participation of NGOs, and whose ultimate authority they would have for the World Parliament. These representatives would act as links and it would be required of them to report all fundamental decisions to their assemblies for discussion and consideration. So the decisions by the council of delegates would be based on discussions held around the world with feedback and contributions from local and regional assemblies.

Yes, but... What is the first argument for a World Parliament?

However, several questions remain concerning local and regional assemblies. For example, what is the official platform of a World Parliament? What is its manifesto? What does a World Parliament defend officially so we can go to people and say to them, “This is what we are defending?"

Another more general question has to do with the idea that a World Parliament should be based on a guiding principle. One participant to suggested: "Every human being has an equal right by birth to the earth and to earth’s resources.”