Originally published on the CGS blog on December 11, 2015.
Greetings from Washington, DC!
As the new Executive Director of Citizens for Global Solutions, I am very excited to be able to tell you about the opportunities opening up for us to advance our organization’s goals. With 22 years of affiliation with CGS, first as Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Chapter, then a stint as the national office Development Director followed by many years as a board member and chair, I felt it was time for me to make the commitment to help guide us into a very new environment for developing stronger institutions of global governance.
Now, follow along with me on this journey as we pass through the wilderness of our chaotic globe, come to new clearings in the forest where the light shines brightly and we renew our energies:
In the first clearing, we find two sparkling jewels nestled in the flowers and grasses, pick them up and discover Citizens for Global Solutions’ new vision and mission statements:
Vision: A democratically governed world. (How cool would that be?)
Mission: To build political will in the United States for international cooperation and democratic global institutions that establish peace, justice and sustainability under the rule of law. (We can do this! You have the power. We will help you.)
Feeling elated, we charge back into the forest, but then hear the footsteps of dark mega-forces heading our way and we wonder “Are we alone in this quest?” Just then another clearing appears and we leap forward to escape the dark forces and on a tree stump find a book entitled: “Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance.”
We regain hope that there are allies afoot when we see it is a report of the Commission on Global Security, Justice and Governance. We are not alone after all!
Indeed, Citizens for Global Solutions has forged a relationship with this Commission* in order to pursue some of our long-held goals, such as making the UN a more democratically-governed institution, strengthening UN Peacekeeping capabilities and many others. More details on our programmatic path forward will be coming out soon.
To see how the story of working our way through the wilderness ends, you’ll have join us on this exciting journey, as it is a work-in-progress and you are an essential part of our organization.
Will you help us create a global coalition in support of a 2020 World Conference on Global Institutions where these UN reform recommendations can gain formal acceptance and go into effect?
Will you help us build political will in the US to support establishment of a UN Parliamentary Network?
We can do this. Together.
Earl James
*Co-Chairs: Madeleine Albright (former US Secretary of State) and Ibrahim Gambari (former Nigerian Foreign Minister and UN Under-Secretary for General Political Affairs).
