Global Democracy and Justice: Recent Episodes
Oded Gilad & Dena Freeman, One World: Movement for Global Democracy
Humanity needs a new political system. This lecture series explores the alternative vision of extending democracy from the national to the global level, where it could actually work far better. It describes the rational way to balance the power of the global corporations, deal seriously with global crises, and turn nice aspirations like ‘human rights’ to reality.
Hear about the history of this idea, answers to the doubts and misconceptions people have about it, and how it could come about. You can listen in any order you like, and also find the YouTube version for some helpful infographics and translated captions.
Join the ‘great convergence’ of NGOs and social movements coming together to call for global democracy! Learn about existing campaigns, and how to get involved and take action!
A parliament of humanity should be at the core of democratic global governance, the place where representatives of the world’s people can decide on global issues. Learn about the Campaign for a United Nations Parliament Assembly (UNPA), Citizens Assemblies, and global democracy.
When European empires fell the colonies seemed to get independence, but they actually became tied into a system of post-colonial domination. Real liberation will only come with global democracy.
What does it mean to be a global citizen? Imagine a world without borders, in which everyone has real human rights and a world passport, and there are democratic global elections and perhaps even a global welfare state.
What is the ‘domestic analogy’ in world politics? Learn how this idea could radically change the world order, moving from ‘international’ injustice, diplomacy and war to ‘global’ justice, democracy and peace.
Can planetary problems be solved with small-scale solutions? Can eco-communities lead to global justice? No! Hear why democratic federal world government is needed to stop climate change, reduce inequality and ensure human rights.
Think world federation is impossible? dangerous? utopian? Think again! This video answers all your doubts, while also discussing solidarity and diversity and explaining how Putin and Russian gas undermine national democracies.
From the Montreux Congress to the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and beyond, learn about the ideas and campaigns of WFM, the leading international organisation working towards peace, justice and world unity.
Learn about this leading Japanese scientist’s work through the Pugwash Conferences and the World Federalist Movement to persuade countries to renounce war, as Japan had done in its Article 9 of the Constitution.
Hear how the first President of Ghana sought to unite Africa in a Pan-African Federation, while his colleague Komla Agbeli Gbedemah worked for world federation through the World Movement for Federal World Government and the nascent United Nations.
Learn how this Brazilian activist struggled to turn the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) into a global body that would end world hunger. And how, like his colleague John Boyd Orr, he realised that only a supra-national world government could achieve that.
Hear how India’s first Prime Minister sought to unite the post-colonial world into a democratic, socialist world federation, or ‘One World’, to bring about peace, equality and justice.
Learn about Einstein’s views on international politics and his call for a world federation. Shocked by the use of atomic bomb in Hiroshima, he thought that a democratic world government was needed to oversee nuclear weapons and keep the peace.
Hear how a leading women’s rights campaigner and peace activist came to realise that a democratic world government with a world parliament and world constitution are needed to really ensure the rights of all women, minorities and stateless people.
What are the causes of the huge numbers of migrants and refugees today? Why did the USA build a wall and why is there ‘fortress Europe’? Wouldn’t it be better to have a world without borders? For that we need a democratic federal world government.
Why have poverty and inequality soared since the 1980s? In the international system it is impossible to close tax havens, stop transfer mis-pricing, and tax corporations. International development and the SDGs don’t reduce poverty. Learn how a democratic global government could bring more justice and equality.
What kind of ‘system change’ is needed to seriously cope with the climate crisis? To prevent the strong from polluting freely, we need nothing short of replacing the dysfunctional international system with a democratic federal framework for the world.
Learn about the problems with the current United Nations Human Rights system. Grasp why you cannot have global rights in an international system. Learn about campaigns for the International Criminal Court and a proposed World Court on Human Rights.
This episode shows how the current international system is like the South-African apartheid system on a much larger scale: it divides humanity to politically segregated polities, like the Bantustans, while the unity of the global market allows the world’s (mostly white) elite to exploit the rest. The alternative to this global apartheid is an inclusive global democracy.
Who governs the world, and how? Learn about international organisations like the United Nations, World Bank, G20. Find out about multi-stakeholder networks and how badly they dealt with COVID through COVAX. Grasp the problems of ISDS. See how undemocratic our world is!
Despite the beautiful message of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, the truth is that love and solidarity are really not sufficient for world peace. A Democratic government is a necessary condition for peace and justice, and it can and should be achieved globally.
The Anti-Globalisation Movement and the World Social Forum believed ‘another world is possible’ and wanted ‘globalization from below’. Right-wing populists want de-globalisation. Learn why democratic globalism is the best option.
Popular struggles in the 19th century led to national level democracies with more equality and justice. Imagine what a similar struggle on the global level could do in the 21st century.
Why talk about global democracy when even on the national level it’s failing? Shouldn’t we first build solidarity from below? How would we prevent the concentration of power?
Should a vision of global democracy be based on a model of a federation or a confederation? Learn about the great differences between the two, and why it’s world federalism that could better balance global diversity and unity.