2021 CGS Conference: Paths to a World Federation

Event Description

How does humanity get from many sovereign states to a lawful common order? That question ran through the 2021 Citizens for Global Solutions Conference, held online as the COP26 climate summit met in Glasgow. The conference, from 11 to 13 November 2021, compared four routes to that order: transforming the United Nations, integrating the regions, uniting the democracies and writing a world constitution. Five speakers from five countries each explained the origin, evolution and current strategy of one path.

Younger leaders from three continents talked about reaching their generation, CGS presented its theory of change, and breakout groups asked how the paths might fit together. The awards included the Global Citizen Award to Martin Sheen. The featured recording above is Glen T. Martin on creating a world constitution; every recorded session is listed below.

See the upcoming CGS events and what CGS runs for young people.

Thursday 11 November

• Welcome to the 2021 CGS Conference Donna Park, Board Chair

  Donna Park opened the conference, the second large CGS gathering on Zoom and the first live-streamed on YouTube, with the vision and mission set against COP26 and the pandemic, and introduced Bob Flax as master of ceremonies.

• Annual Report Bob Flax, Executive Director

  Flax toured the public education work that makes up the first stage of the theory of change: the website redesign, newsletter and journal, op-eds, speakers, Model UN Plus, World Citizen Clubs and the book club, plus planned leadership training.

• Overview of Paths to a World Federation Bob Flax

  Flax used a picture of a mountain with four paths to introduce the five speakers, and noted that the paths may not be mutually exclusive.

• Creating a World Constitution Glen T. Martin

  Martin described how the Earth Constitution was drafted between 1968 and 1991, its parliament and agencies, and the plan for electoral districts, secure online voting and a virtual world parliament, and answered questions on awareness, referendums and voting methods.

Friday 12 November

• Uniting the Democracies Chris Hamer

  Hamer described a proposed world security community of democratic nations, built step by step like the European Union with a parliamentary assembly and a court, and answered questions on how democracy is defined and whether it would provoke a new cold war.

• Integrating the Regions Fernando Iglesias

  Iglesias argued that European integration began as conflict prevention, and proposed a Latin American and Caribbean criminal court against organized crime as the same kind of first step for his region.

Saturday 13 November

• International Panel of Young Activists Eston McKeague (United States), Andrea Bergman (Canada), Amy Oloo (Kenya)

  Three young leaders from three continents described how they came to the movement and how to reach their peers, through Model UN and its reform versions, volunteering, social media and the Young World Federalists, and argued for plain language over movement jargon.

• UN Charter Review Shahr-Yar Sharei

  Sharei traced the San Francisco promise in Article 109 of the UN Charter and argued that a review conference promised for 1955 was never held, then led a workshop on whether calling one would help or hurt the other paths.

• The United Nations Parliamentary Assembly Andreas Bummel

  Bummel traced the idea of a UN parliamentary assembly, argued it could be created by a General Assembly majority under Article 22 and help prepare charter reform, and answered questions on U.S. support, how members would be chosen and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

• Theory of Change Bob Flax

  Flax explained what a theory of change is and walked through the CGS roadmap from public education to political change to global transformation, asking for feedback, including a suggestion to separate citizen-drafted and government-convened constitutions.

• An Integrative Path to World Federation

  Six breakout groups reported on how the paths might work together, with ideas from a famous spokesperson and a membership drive to a letter campaign for a UN parliamentary assembly, and one group reporting more walls than doors.

• Awards to Shirley Davis and Tom Hastings

  Shirley (Lee) Davis received the lifetime achievement award for more than 30 years of work, Tom Hastings the Distinguished Service Award for board service and technical help.

• Global Citizen Award Martin Sheen

  Martin Sheen spoke with Arthur Kanegis and Tad Daley about the film The World Is My Country, a possible series, and young climate activists, and recalled an Outer Limits episode in which astronauts wore a United Earth patch.

• Post-Film Discussion: The World Is My Country Arthur Kanegis

  Arthur Kanegis led a discussion after the film about Garry Davis’s call for a people’s assembly, how to fund broadcasts of the film, and ideas for bioregional and space governance.

Other CGS conferences with recordings: 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2019 · 2020 · 2021 · 2022.