The Jam in Jo�fburg

�hContinua"2002
Severn�@Cullis-Suzuki

Tuesday, February 5th, 6:45AM.  My alarm goes off and I�fm half asleep
dragging myself into the shower.  Somehow I make it to the train station and
by 7:15 I�fm on a train to Grand Central.  As the train pulls out I�fm
trying to gather myself together and make a mindshift from sleep/Yale/New
Haven to a nine-thirty meeting with the UN Secretary General�fs Advisory
Panel for the World Summit on Sustainable Development ?the WSSD-- in
Johannesburg this August.  At the moment my lack of sleep makes me feel
unprepared and as usual before these things, a bit intimidated.

0730 On the train I think back to our first meeting in October.  September
11th had just passed; everywhere in NYC were slogans of solidarity, defiance
against terrorists, heart-swelling images of the American flag.  No one in
New York was thinking about issues of the environment, or of sustainable
development.  My main point and concern at that last meeting was making
public the correlation between violence and un-sustainability.  If anyone is
going to pay attention to a summit on sustainability, they have to
understand why fighting against violence means fighting for sustainability.
Environmental degradation leads to poverty, which leads to violence.  They
are sides of the same coin.  Our one-day meeting had left me feeling
confused and unsatisfied with the way that the UN is bogged down its own
democratic processes and bureaucracy.

0742 The train is full of business people going to work.  The panel consists
of 13 members, including myself.  They are an impressive group, ranging from
former Prime Ministers Moeen Qureshi and Joseph Warioba, of Pakistan and
Tanzania to Jane Goodall, crusader for chimpanzees, to HRH Prince Willem
Alexander of the Netherlands, who is deeply concerned with global water
issues.  I always have to psych myself up to make sure that I open my mouth.
I have to remind myself why I�fm on the panel, as the one young person at
the table, but also because I have had ten years of experience working on
social and environmental issues, was on the Earth Charter Commission for
five years, and have become familiar with the UN.

0750 I pull a binder from my backpack (if I�fm going to talk about the Earth
Charter I�fd better be up its progress).  It is a document written to be an
ethical code of conduct towards the Earth and to each other.  It was put
together from statements from civil societies around the world and by a
diverse Commission.  The process was lengthy (it took three years for the
Commission to come to agreement on a draft!) and was my first experience
with the UN, and with the process of translating an ideal into something
that could be accepted worldwide.   By now it has been endorsed by over 4000
organizations, institutions, cities, governments and communities worldwide.

0754    The train passes big ads at the stations.   Catchphrases.   So many
after Sept. 11th.  The WSSD?   Desperately needs a better title, a
catchphrase.  It�fs the ten-year anniversary from the UN Conference on
Environment and Development (also called the Earth Summit) held in Rio de
Janeiro in 1992.  (The speech I gave there when I was 12 is the reason that
I started getting invited to these UN things).  Rio was a two-week affair
that included a political plenary, an NGO forum and even a conference for
civil society.  It was the largest gathering of heads of state ever held,
where the UN�fs global sustainable development plan �gAgenda 21�h was born,
and where the term �gsustainable development�h was coined.

0802   A perfume ad goes by.  Between $500 billion and $1 trillion is spent
on advertising per year, while $13 billion is spent on is spent on basic
healthcare worldwide.  $12 billion is spent on perfume in Europe and the US
alone.
Contrary to its intent, Rio �f92 almost seems to have marked the end of a
building movement.  In the last ten years economic growth has been a global
focus, not maintaining resources or facilitating equitable globalization.
Today the vast amount of money spent in the world is spent on advertising
and luxuries for the richer nations. Overfishing threatens to wipe out the
major protein source for over a billion people in developing countries.  In
the last 20 years, 7 million hectares of rainforest have been lost in Latin
America and the Caribbean, while Asia and sub-Saharan Africa lost 4 million
hectares respectively.  At what gain?  Over half the wood and three-quarters
of the paper is used in industrial countries.  The Kyoto protocol, a
document that addresses countries�f effects on global climate change has yet
to be agreed to and signed, while in the last ten years our weather reports
have been setting all kinds of freakish records.   In 2002, this jam in Jo�f
burg is taking a look back and a wants to step up to bring attention back to
the idea of sustainable development.   Good idea.  But I think it needs some
PR.

0832 In a sleepy haze, I try to think of what I could suggest to Kofi Anan
and to the panel.  I decide I have three points:  first, stress the
importance of making the connections between violence and sustainability.
Second, try to get the panel to support the Earth Charter, and third,
emphasize the need for translation (education) of all this UN/conference
talk to the ground level? where the real action is going to come from.

0900   The train finally pulls into New York and I�fm outside and walking to
the UN Secretariat building.  The City is bustling.  Center of the world.
0920 I get my temporary UN pass from staff, put my bags through the security
check and suddenly I�fm in a sea of people from all over the world.  There
isn�ft much to tell me what country I am in, and I can hardly hear any
English.  Saris and turbans walk by, next to a troop of huge blond women and
men.

0925 We go downstairs to conference room 8.  I find my assigned seat around
the circular arrangement of desks.  I recognize two friends that I got to
know when I was on the Earth Charter Commission: Kamla Chowdhry from India
and Yolanda Kakabadse from Ecuador.  I am very happy they are here.  Kamla
is a very spiritual person who believes it is by examining our values and
beliefs that change will happen.  She wanted the theme of the WSSD to be
Gandhi�fs saying: �gMy life is my message.�h Yolanda is a scientist who is
always pushing for real action and purpose to our discussions.  We have been
conspiring to get this panel to endorse the Earth Charter.  It seems the
most progressive thing we decided we could achieve with this Panel.

0935   Haven�ft started yet.  Not everyone is here.  Yolanda and I inform
the members present of our proposal to support the Earth Charter.
1020    It�fs very late.  Most of us are here and the chair, Nitin Desai,
comes in to begin the meeting.   Desai is the Secretary General of the
Summit.  He is an Indian man who always introduces me as the twelve year old
from Rio.  (Hey, I�fm 22!)

1030    The Secretary General arrives on time.   Enter Anan.  The crowd
(twelve of us) hushes.  We rise to greet him, and he comes around and shakes
our hands.  He is about my height, has grey hair and a good handshake.  We
sit and Nitin Desai directs us as we go around in a circle and briefly state
our primary concerns.

1046    Kofi Anan speaks.  He has a quiet, low voice.  He speaks clearly and
eloquently.  He reads from notes (he must be a very prepared and organized
man).  He says everyone wants Johannesburg to be more than a list of good
intentions.  He proposes a report that lists ten main areas where
initiatives are needed (UN dialogues consist of many words like �greports�h
and �ginitiatives�h).  He acknowledges the need for partnerships between the
UN, NGOs and grassroots.  He asks us to focus on partnerships and
practicality.

1054   The Panel responds.
Kamla Chowdry speaks.  She says there is an intellectual understanding of
problems, but it doesn�ft seem to call us to action.  What is the missing
link?  Spiritual organization.  Not religious, but spiritual.  We need to
find the institutions that can tap into the hearts of people.  She says this
movement is a river, and if the river is going to flow, one bank must be
science, while the other must be spirituality.
I agree.  Higher values must be addressed for people to open their minds to
the idea that we are each responsible for the global situation.  Yolanda and
I follow up Kamla�fs statement by introducing the Earth Charter.  The
document is the most credible framework for governments, organizations and
individuals to accept as an ethical guideline.  Ernst von Weizsaecker from
Germany now speaks. He likes the idea of legally binding people to their
accountability.  He thinks it would be good if Jo�fburg was involved in rule
setting; it will be a theme for rejuvenating democracy.  He turns back to
Globalization.  He says there has been a great shift in focus from public to
private goods.  The focus is on economic efficiency and speed, which
penalizes slower economies and systems, including democratic and spiritual
systems.  Democracy takes time and addresses people.  If societies care too
much about people, they will lose out economically.  We must decide and
commit to the idea that democracy and sustainability are worth it.
Viktor Danilov-Danilyan addresses us through the Russian translators.  (He
has great eyebrows). What is globalization?  He asks.  We need a definition.
Globalization is the desire to exchange and to cancel borders.  For the sake
of economic flow, competition is valued above all else, and human tragedy
sometimes disappears on a global level.  The main danger of globalization is
to speak only of economics and the exchange of money.  He concludes he is in
support of the Earth Charter, and that the state of Tatarstan has endorsed
it.
Dr. Makhubu from Swaziland turns the conversation from our global musings to
her reality.  In her calm, soft voice she reminds us that we are going to
Johannesburg from totally different positions.  Our perceptions of the
global situation are totally different.  How can we discuss issues of
sustainability when issues of HIV have complicated the situation so much in
Africa?  How can we discuss sustainable development in places where there is
no development to speak of?  Science and technology are lagging behind in
Africa.  How will we discuss that?  It must be discussed.  This is the crux
of the issue-- how to level the playing field.
Geping Qu takes the floor (we put our little translator earphones on).  He
is a friendly professor from China.  He talks about the inseparability of
the environment and development, and of differentiated responsibility
conflicts of the North and South.  He wants to focus on eradication of
poverty, because without that sustainability is impossible.  These focuses
must be combined.  Now Yolanda explains how issues of environment and
sustainability are inextricably linked to issues of poverty, development and
international injustice.  She urges the Secretary General to stress these
links.  Yeah, Geping and Yolanda!  That was my point #1!

After these general statements, the Secretary General speaks.  I wonder how
he is going to use our discussion.  How can the UN incorporate so many
different concerns?
�gThank you�c I�fm glad these topics have come up.  I agree with you
regarding spirituality, partnership, governments and universities.  There is
a moral imperative for the sake of humanity to pay attention to neighbours.
There is a challenge of governance.  Who explains to the people?  Take
someone in Indonesia who went to work Friday, and comes to work on Monday to
find their employer is bankrupt.  They ask �ewhy?�f  Someone tells them that
someone in New York pushed a button and now there�fs no more money.  Does he
understand?  How can he understand?  This is an example of an effect of
globalization-- it is incomprehensible to the majority of people.  How can
we relate those people to this part of the world?
�gOn the question of science and HIV:  in Davos yesterday I reminded the
audience that between 1975 and 1997, 1233 drugs were created.  Only 13 of
them were for tropical diseases and only 4 made it to the market.  Why?
There is no market for the poor! We need to encourage pharmaceutical
companies to sell drugs close to cost, and the government must supplement
this.  HIV and development is linked.  It is taking away Africa�fs future.
The link between education and development is clear, so the link between
health and development must be clear as well.  We need a healthy, educated
workforce.
�gYes, there are three players?government, the private sector and civil
society.  We must focus on how to get them to work together.  At what point
does civil society get heard?  We must work to facilitate their involvement,
yet they are ahead of us [the UN]-- they can say and do more than we can.
We cannot control them, they don�ft want to be controlled, nor should they
be.  But in order to move forward we need to bring them to the table.�h
 Anan believes that his ten-point report addresses many of our issues.  He
sympathizes with our causes.  But he finally leaves us with the reminder
that the UN can only do so much, and that it is up to us, in the public
sphere, to make change happen.
We are still left with the question of accountability.  Who is responsible
for our shared future?  We all are.  The UN is a framework effort at
coordinating the inevitable shifts that our globalizing world needs.
Connections must be made between our own consumption and the consequences
that it has on people on the other side of the world.  After September 11th
we saw that people can be touched by the pain of others, and if the
correlations between our lifestyles and human suffering are made, perhaps we
might be willing to re-examine our values.  But that value shift is going to
be from the people, not from the UN.

1140    That is all the time the Secretary General can stay with us today.
He leaves the room with his entourage, leaving us to continue our
discussions, and our task to agree on a report of recommendations.
1300    We go for a work lunch in a private room in the dining floor of the
UN to have cocktails and a three-course meal with members of the political
bureau.  Wine and chocolate mousse cake.  I miss Jane Goodall who was here
last time?her whooping chimpanzee welcome to the table of distinguished
guests was very exciting.  Even without her the talk is interesting, full of
different points and good intentions.  Still I wonder what will come of it.
1430    We�fre back in debate downstairs.
1730    I am absolutely exhausted. By the end of the meeting I have to write
a brief summary of the Earth Charter for our �gshared values�h report, and
have been invited to three conferences-- PrepCom 4 in Jakarta, a student�fs
meeting organized by Geping Qu in China, and Johannesburg.   While excited
at the idea of traveling to these exotic places, I wonder whether I have
been sucked into the diplomacy and conference circuit of the UN.  All the
talk and reports must not be confused with action!  I remind myself that
most of the people panel members go home and work at the grassroots level.
I am always full of conflicting thoughts when I think about this process of
the United Nations.

1817 I�fm back on the train to New Haven.
2011  My cab pulls up to the steps of my house on Edgewood Avenue.  Just as
I get out the familiar homeless guy walks past me, and asks me for some
change.  I�fll bet anything he�fs never heard about the WSSD (wouldn�ft
care).  While I�fm glad UN forums exist and that they invite people like me,
I know that the real work comes down to this backyard level?community
projects and voices, the place and people that actually bear the effects of
globalization and destroyed environment.  And it�fs going to take more than
a day of meetings to do it.

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