Development Dossier
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Commitment to ValuesExcellencies, we have endeavoured to draw your consciousness to the basic values we share by appealing to your wisdom and your compassion. Without social development, speaking about moral values is hollow. How can we speak about dignity, while children starve? Without moral, ethical and spiritual values true social development cannot occur. Thus, we must speak of love, compassion and human dignity. It is not just the mandate of political entities ‑ member states ‑ but the very mandate of conscience, the mandate of the heart, the mandate of humanity, the mandate of compassion that brings us here. Let us take a motto "Individuals, peoples and states should treat others as they would have others treat them, and should avoid treating others as they would have others avoid treating them." Underlying the exalted principle is the unity we feel as part of one human family. Is it not obvious that patience, justice, non‑violence, forgiveness, harmony, compassion, loving kindness, faith, hope, enthusiasm, trust and caring for the dignity in each individual bring us into unity and harmony, not only with each other, but with the very core of our inner being? We have assembled here at a very historic moment in time. We have assembled here to set forth the foundation for the coming millennium. Remember, only that structure can withstand the test of time, which is built on a strong foundation. There are two types of conferences which we shall symbolise. Envision a beautiful lake which is absolutely still. When a big stone is thrown into a still lake, there is a huge splash, big waves occur and the water is still again in a little while. Then there is the other type, a small stone is carefully thrown into the center of the still lake, it creates a ripple, and slowly but surely the ripple reaches the embankment. Let us endeavour to be a part of this summit that creates this ripple. Remember, you are the representatives of the people who have empowered you. These billions of people look up to you to set forth the vision for our common future. We salute your commitment to the cause of humanity. Do not go back without making a conscious commitment at this forum which shall truly be in the service of humanity. We urge you. We implore you. We beg you. Bring this forum a gift. Do not go away from this forum without making this solemn pledge. Bring to this forum a Gift of Affirmation, and when you bring this gift, first reflect for a moment, and "Separate that from yourself that separates you from your fellow beings." P. N. Jain (Bawa) International Mahavir Mission, 65 Mud Pond Road, Blairstown, NJ 07825, USA Tel: +1-202/362 9793 The Values Caucus 431 East 57th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022,USA Tel: 212/750‑2773; Fax: 1-212/750‑2774 Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO) We've made it to the Summit. Men and women, governments, NGOs and the United Nations, are today joined together in a historic remembrance and common celebration on International Women's Day. For women in the struggle for equality, there are many paths to the mountain top. It is a climb by all of society of monumental scale ‑‑ perhaps akin to struggle to end slavery. ‑‑Never underestimate the importance of what we do here today in changing the course of history. Our struggle is about resisting the slide into a morass of anarchy, violence, intolerance, inequality and injustice. Our struggle is about reversing the trends of social, economic, political and ecological crisis. Our struggle is about creating sustainable lives, and attainable dreams. Our struggle is about creating violence‑free families. And then, violence‑free streets. Then, violence‑free borders. In that order.
We call for changing budget priorities to transfer funds from the military to clothe, feed and house and meet the real needs of women and children. ‑‑ It is a 20‑20 vision that should not wait for hindsight to prove it right. We call for building communities, not markets alone. We are all in a dangerous and fragile transition to an integrated, global market economy dominated by resourcism ‑‑ an ethic based on exploiting the planet's natural and human wealth for uncontrolled growth‑‑of more and more and more. Without limits.We must have the boldness to restructure the global institutions that have the power to shape our lives. Let's see how it might operate in the exercise of power and decision‑making by the Heads of State gathering here. Some have already announced initiatives; others are expected to follow. We have a perfect opportunity to announce a dramatic initiative to begin implementing this Summit agenda. There are two open spots in the global governance cabinet ‑‑the World Bank and the World Trade Organization‑‑ that are just begging for fresh leadership. Hasn't the Summit made it perfectly clear that who ever has his or her hand on the global rudder of these institutions will radically effect, if not determine, the level, type and scale of social development? And do I dare to ask if there's a gender‑balanced short list or if any women at all were considered for these positions in the global economic royalty? Who's watching this process? Who's watching the decisions that get made here? Of one thing I am certain. The women's movement has put women in movement everywhere. And women will be watching. We will continue to demand accountability and transparency. In the World Bank and World Trade Organization, the IMF and the UN in the global public sector as well as the global private sector ‑‑transnational corporations and financial institutions. We will insist upon Codes of Conduct to regulate the behavior of these so‑called "faceless" corporate bodies that consider only financial gain, not human pain. As we speak of initiatives, let us pledge that this Summit will be remembered as the high‑water mark on the decades of greed. That from this day forward, we will act to reclaim our communities and reign in renegade financial systems and markets. That we will be courageous enough to stop the tidal waves of paper entrepreneurialism and speculative capital transactions. That we will seek to stabilize this system and seriously implement the Tobin tax idea. Let us pledge today to end financial apartheid, particularly the financial apartheid of Africa and the least developed countries. Let us end the "redlining" of foreign investment and technology transfers and end the charade of debt discussions. Does anyone seriously think that the African people, particularly its women and children, owe the Northern countries or the IMF and World Bank any more? Have they not paid for centuries? The women's caucus has called for historical accounting to be used in calculating the debt to take into account the social and environmental plundering of their continent.
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