The Global Marshall Plan Initiative self-report as an integrative organizational platform for a "world in balance". Composed of a network of more than 5000 supporters from all levels of society, brought together from politics, economics and civil society, the Initiative is based on five core goals for fair globalization. Through its network-like character, it is organized through even hierarchies and without a center. Everyone is invited to actively participate and take action with their circles and the accompanying opportunities to implement a world in balance.
The goal of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative is to establish a framework compatible with sustainability for the global economy – a global Eco-Social Market Economy.
Origins
The idea of a Global Marshall Plan was first published in 1990 by U.S. politician, entrepreneur and environmentalist Al Gore in his book “Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit”. The choice of name deliberately recalls the historical Marshall Plan after the Second World War (officially: European Recovery Program), a symbol for hope, solidarity and peace.
The idea of a Global Marshall Plan was not new but had already been endorsed in the 1990s by personalities from a variety of sectors: Kofi Annan, Al Gore, Hans Küng, Susan George, Mikhail Gorbachev, His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, George Soros, Lutz Wicke, Georg Winter and many others (Global Contract). As early as the beginning of the 1990s an ecological Marshall Plan was established by prominent personalities such as journalist Franz Alt and German Green politician Joscka Fisher. Along with many others, they called for the establishment of an eco-social market economy, 100 billion DM put towards the environment every year and a kerosene tax.
As the world increasingly finds itself in a difficult, unsustainable situation as a result of rapid globalization, both in terms of environmental issues, poverty and unequal distribution, as well as the disproportionate cultural balance, on May 16, 2003 representatives from 16 civil society organizations revived the original idea for a global Marshall Plan as a movement for world peace, sustainability and justice, and at the Frankfurt airport, the Global Marshall Plan initiative was launched. Since the initiative should be organized as a network - i.e., locally and without hierarchies - the coordination of tasks and activities was assigned to different people and institutions: the coordination of content was taken up by Prof. Dr. Franz-Josef Radermacher as Head of FAW/n, politicians, and Josef Riegler, with particular importance on an EU level and the Eco-Social Forum Europe. The coordination, initiation and promotion of supporters’ activities internationally were assigned the Global Contract Foundation and Frithjof Finkbeiner. Due to the enormous positive response and the wide range of activities, this commission was soon transferred to the Global Marshall Plan Foundation.
The long-term goal of the initiative is to establish a global eco-social market economy and alter the current failing global framework to lead to long-lasting peace and sustainability. From the beginning, the founders set themselves the goal of developing the initiative as openly as possible and also of winning over the support of the economy. All actors and parts of the global society should find that in the Global Marshall Plan one-sided organization can constructively be prevented. The initiative aims to provide the greatest possible support to the world to ensure that the plan is continually developed in its substance, quality, implementation and coverage.
In a series of lectures in 2003–4, the initiative was refined further. Eventually the first report on the Global Marshall Plan Initiative (“Global Marshall Plan – A Planetary Contract for a global Eco-Social Market Economy) was compiled. It was published in September 2004.
Gradually, an increasing number of members from both the European Parliament and national parliaments started to support the initiative. This was soon followed by endorsements from civil society organizations, economic entities, and the first university. The initiative has garnered international acclaim, evolving into a network comprising over 5,000 individual supporters, organizations, various federal states, and communities.
Believing that change will come from the center of society, supporters raise awareness of the issues surrounding globalization and motivate those around them for the implementation of fair globalization. Lectures are an essential part of spreading the word. By raising awareness and informing, alliances are formed, and pressure is created from “bottom-up”. Those motivated are trained through multiplier training in Global Marshall Plan Academies.
Self-understanding The material prosperity of mankind has never before increased so dramatically. Nevertheless, poverty, deprivation, and the resulting illnesses are still widespread. The increasing overexploitation of nature, the waste of limited resources, and the expected catastrophic climate consequences linked to pollution will present mankind with its greatest challenge yet in the next 30 years.
The unsustainable consumption of developing countries, poverty and population growth are among the key problems. Many hundreds of millions of people do not benefit from the positive effects of ongoing globalization. this has further increased the income gap between rich industrial nations and the poorest developing countries. The spread of AIDS and looming population growth also accelerate this gap.
Any effort to overcome this unsustainable development will be four times more difficult in the future, or even impossible, if a fundamental turnaround is not set in place soon.
The Global Marshall Plan Initiative wants to strengthen these turnarounds. With the self-understanding of a network-style movement for a World in Balance, positively aligned powers from politics, economics, science and civil society are brought together in a wide-ranging alliance based on the key requirements of fair globalization. This relies on the simultaneous pursuit of “bottom-up” and “top-down” approach, thus raising awareness and increasing lobbying.
Through lectures, information events and publications, more people and groups are continually informed about the absolute necessity and the possibility of a global Eco-Social framework, so that political change comes from the center of society. At the same time, support for the Global Marshall Plan and a global Eco-Social Market Economy is acquired from national, European and international decision makers through a direct approach.
Goals The goal of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative is to make a substantial contribution to a global eco-social market economy. This eco-social Marshall Plan would include realistic perspectives:
to overcome the degrading poverty of half of mankind, which long has been identified as chief cause of the existing world problems to successfully establish global ecological and social standards for a sustainable development to overcome the deep cultural frustration and humiliation experienced by the majority of the world's civilization and at the same time to eliminate the explosive environment that generates international terrorism and endangers global security for a new economic miracle which specifically boosts the human potential of more than three billion people (which until now has been laying absolutely idle). This would ultimately bring use to the whole human race to create fair globalization and to accomplish human rights and human dignity for everyone.
According to the initiative, a Global Marshall Plan could also allow attractive new perspectives for many other problems caused by an unbalanced globalization. Possible impacts for example could be:
The wealth and therefore the wages would increase in developing countries, so that the wage pressure in the economies of traditional industrialized countries will drop. The increased demand on the world's market would also then contribute to a heightened job security in industrialized countries. An implementation of ecological goals would be far more realistic than is currently the case, since because poverty is, as the argument goes, one of the reasons for environmental damages in the poorest countries. Those who would fight for daily survival, will be hardly convinced of environmental protection. In most parts of the world the implementation of ecological goals can only be realistic when they are directly linked to active promotion of social and ecological development. The model of an open, peaceful, democratic, constitutional and educated civil society, which many see as best guarantee for a good and dynamic future perspective, would be brought forward by the eco-social Marshall Plan.
The goal of the Global Marshall Plan Initiative is to globally link appropriate order processes with competitive mechanisms to create value added systems by combining potential, resources and infrastructure with well planned, institutional solutions. A global eco-social market economy would therefore create the right balance between competitive economy, social solidarity and ecological sustainability.
The logic of the plan Central to the logic of a plan is the following basic principle, as introduced by the Global Marshall Plan Initiative:
Investments, coordinated market openings and co-financing provide the harmonization that results in social and ecological standards. A form of targeted global overcoming of poverty should therefore emerge that will release especially strong new economic stimuli for the regions concerned, as well as for the whole global economy. By combining new growth with clear ecological standards at the same time a strong environmental approach to economic activities should be encouraged.
According to initiative, the new economic, ecological and social perspectives would have a strong impulse for a peaceful global community, which in turn is important for a lasting and sustained growth of economy.
It is also assumed that the positive effects of a Global Marshall Plan would also consequently increase the pull-on governments, who so far have been averse to the eco-social movement. It would reinforce the pressure on these governments to give space for these developments, to reduce corruption and boost Good Governance. Good Governance signifies a well- working guidance and control system of a political social unit as a state or a community. The principles often include terms such as transparency, efficiency, participation, responsibility, constitutional state, democracy and justice often belong to the principles.
Especially important is that the Global Marshall Plan overcomes old clashes of interests and that it achieves broad support.
One of the surprising intermediate results of the present process is that it is supported by commercial and industrial enterprises and their federations as well as severe critics of the previous form of globalization and representatives from the “North” and “South”. Several well known representatives of all main political movements, all civil sectors and global acting networks of civil society argued vehemently for the initiative. The existing approaches and ideas of the initiative could open is a real prospect to bridge the wide social gap.
Key requirements for a world in balance Elements of the Global Marshall Plan, including the five interrelated building blocks of the plan, have already been mentioned in previous UN summits, European policy and demands from various NGOs and institutions. The five building blocks, which are continually adapted to the current challenges, form the starting point and at the same time the foundation of the initiative.
Further development and implementation of the UN Millennium Development Goals