Call for a World Parliament reinforced at second Global Week of Action
Citizens in over forty locations around the world celebrate second Global Week of Action for a World Parliament
Between 17 and 26 October, the call for the establishment of a democratically elected global parliament took center stage again at events and actions around the world held on the occasion of the second Global Week of Action for a World Parliament. The week of action’s announcement declares that people across
the world feel to be voiceless in global decision-making. It says that “world’s citizens have little influence on decisions taken at institutions such as the UN, the IMF, the WTO, the World Bank, the G20 or the G8.” Further it states that the governments represented in these bodies are “often being influenced heavily by the lobbyists of global corporations.” An elected world parliament, by contrast, “would be an instrument to find and implement solutions that are democratic, accountable and serve the best interest of humanity.”
To underpin this message, citizens came together in over forty locations around the world and displayed banners with the week's slogan “World Parliament Now!”. Panel discussions on the subject were held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Berlin, Germany, Rajkot, India, Verona, Italy, Kigali, Rwanda, and Gothenburg, Sweden. At the event in Berlin, the global coordinator of the international campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly, Andreas Bummel, said that it was high time to recognize that “global governance isn't working”. “It is not working because it is not delivering the results quickly enough that ensure a decent life for every human being and for a transition to a sustainable global civilization. At the same time, the system is deeply undemocratic. Both of these problems are interlinked,” he stated.
“It has been a successful action week with significant events and powerful photos from around the world. Step by step our message is gaining ground. And next year even more people will join us in our call for global democracy and universal peace and justice,” the week's coordinator Petter Ölmunger concluded.
More information
Global Week of Action for a World Parliament
Top image: Participants of the event in Gothenburg, Sweden.