Press Room
Students creating political history
(24.02.07)
- I have the feeling we are watching the future leaders of the world, says
professor of international law, Andrew Strauss, summing up the impression
of the international observers in Trondheim, Norway. The biggest experiment
ever on a World Parliament has just been carried out.
The experiment took place yesterday during the International Student Festival in Trondheim (ISFiT), the largest student conference in the world, hosted by The Norwegian University of Science and Technology. 450 students from about 130 countries took part in the experiment, voting over an international intervention in Darfur. They were divided into 18 constituencies, ending up with a final resolution.
– We are glad to be able to contribute to the theory about global governance by conducting such a ground scale experiment, comments the President of ISFiT, Martin Fredus Svarva. Emphasizing that ISFiT does not take a stand for or against such a world parliament, the President hopes the experiment might be a reference point for future discussions.
Norwegian students arranging the conference have been working hard planning the experiment, and the effort was truly appreciated. German professor and founder of an internet-based World Parliament Experiment (WPE), Mr Rasmus Tenbergen, pointed out that this is the first real WPE with participants from all over the world. – Today you made history, he claims excitedly.
ISFiT has been arranged every second year since the start in 1990. The conference of 2007 has the theme of globalization and is currently taking place in Trondheim of Norway. For more information see www.isfit.org or www.isfit.org/pressroom
– I have the feeling we are
watching the future leaders of the world, says professor of international
law, Andrew Strauss, summing up the impression of the international
observers in Trondheim, Norway.
– Today you made history, Mr Rasmus Tenbergen claims excitedly. The german
professor and founder of an internet-based World Parliament Experiment (WPE),
Mr Rasmus
Tenbergen, pointed out that this is the first real WPE with participants from
all over the world.
www.ntnu.no
“This is a dream come true”
For the first time in
history, the World Parliament Experiment was tested in a large scale. The
event took place in the Grand Hall. For Rasmus
Tenbergen,
founder of the WPE, it was a day he will never forget.
- This is very moving for me, Tenbergen says.
–
I’ve finally found it. “It” is the World Parliament Experiment
(WPE) in the Grand Hall, which was arranged Thursday. The participants of ISFiT
2007 gathered to form a global government, in order to make a resolution whether
or not the UN should conduct a humanitarian intervention in Darfur. The participants
were split up in 16 constituencies, such as Southern Africa, North America
and South East Asia. These constituencies then elected a representative, who
expressed the constituency’s views on the matter in two debates.
Tenbergen is the founder of WPE, and observed closely what happened during
the day.
- I think what we have seen today is that we do not need politicians in order
to achieve results, we can do this ourselves, he says.
In the Grand Hall, several international observers followed the experiment.
- I’m very impressed by ISFiT, says Andrew Strauss with a pleased smile.
- The organizers have done a wonderful job. Strauss, professor of international
law at Widener University School of Law, said he saw ”the future leaders
of the world” in action this day. - This day is about bringing ideas
and visions into reality, Strauss continues.
- It is rare to have a vision that you believe can change the world, but
it is even rarer to put that vision into action.
Sigrun Marie Moss, Head of WPE is relieved and happy that the practical part
of the day went as planned: It is really a challenge to organize something
this size, but it went very smoothly, she says.
– To get 450 participants to move around in the building and getting them
back according to schedule would be impossible without our fantastic functionaries.
Moss is also satisfied with the process that led to the final resolution, which
in the end turned out to be a complicated puzzle.
So, was the day perfect altogether?
- Well, of course there will always be room for improvement, Tenbergen says.
- Today we had a very tight schedule, and that puts restrictions on the experiment.
Strauss agreed, saying that in order to come up with good solutions on complex
matters like this one, more time is necessary.
Moss states that even though the practical sides went well, she has gotten
mixed reactions about the WPE ideology:
- Some thought that this was a great idea, and some did not like it at all.
However, this is exactly what we wanted, as ISFiT does not support WPE per
se. We wanted to test an alternative democratic system, and if we can get
a discussion started, that is great.
Tenbergen rounds it up:
- There are at least ten different suggestions on how a World Parliament
should be organized. This is one of them, and it is not a final answer. However,
the
most important thing is that we can get an alternative world order, where
every citizen’s voice is heard.
by Eivind Høibø
eivindhoibo [at] isfit.org
ISFiT participants given chance to shine
Given a chance to see if they have what it takes to become future world leaders,
the ISFiT participants did not hesitate to prove their worth in the debate
during the World Parliament Experiment.
A better venue for the participants to show their potential skills would be
hard to find. And the participants took the challenge head on, discussing the
difficult situation in Darfur with great insight and engagement. At least if
we are to believe Andrew Strauss who was very impressed with the discussions
in the panel.
– I must say that I thought the level of discussions was very high, he
said after the experiment was over.
One of the participants who got the chance to be world leader for a day was
Masa Avramovic from Serbia. She was Balkans representative in the first panel
debate. She told us it had been an exciting experience:
-It felt like a big responsibility sitting there facing 100 other nations.
You have responsibility on two levels; firstly for your own constituency and
secondly, even if you are small, you have a responsibility on the global level.
We followed the Balkan constituency through the day, and it was a lively group,
where many of them had personal experiences with UN interventions into their
own countries. Masa told us she felt a great responsibility towards her group
but that she tried to express the diverse meanings as best she could:
-It was important for me to represent my constituency in a good way. The discussions
within our group were a bit problematic since we had an unbalanced number of
people from the different countries. But I thought we managed to freely express
our opinions, and reach a consensus that everyone could agree on.
The consensus the Balkan group reached favoured international intervention
into Darfur for humanitarian reasons. Stressing the human suffering they agreed
something had to be done. At the same time however they stressed that the interventions
mandate was as a peace-keeper and with it there had to be diplomacy.
This view, as it turned out, was shared by many other constituencies as well.
In the panel sat representatives from all the 16 constituencies, and Masa told
us that despite the differences in opinion, the panel kept a good tone towards
each other:
-We supported each other up there, she told us. –And it was good to hear
the response from audience which was very friendly.
After lengthy discussions the panel voted with 13 votes favouring and 2 votes
against an intervention in Darfur. Masa said she and her group had learned
a lot during the day:
-This has been a very useful day since we have been able to discuss issues
on a concrete level. We get a lot of feedback through the discussions which
we can bring with us for later. We may be the leaders of tomorrow you know.
by Ola H. Ulmo
olaulmo [at] isfit.org