WPE 2008 Minutes
Day 1, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8
Arrival of Participants
4pm: Opening Organization session, afterwards organization of accommodation
Greetings from Eveline Apissay, Cameroon, and Fabian Kyrieleis, WPE Speaker, general WP discussion, formation of working groups according to political interest: organization, human rights, sustainable development, racism.
First decisions:
New version of resolutions after discussion:
Proposed Resolution #1: Who are we?
We, the participants of WPE 2008 in Bonn/Germany and on the internet, declare ourselves members of a symbolic provisional World Parliament (WP) because we think that a real WP is necessary to solve global problems. We support the 10 theses on a World Parliament mentioned below.
Disclaimer: The acceptance of this statement is not a condition to participate in WPE 2008. We also invite participants who only want to be members of an academic experiment with no direct political message to the outside world. Participants can create a list of people who belong to the second group. Support of the WPE process does not necessarily mean support of the content of political decisions of WPE. We want to be humble and ambitious at the same time: humble enough to accept, that we only represent the people who gave us a mandate and not the rest of the world, and ambitious enough to claim that this process could get unlimitted legitimacy depending on the number of people supporting it.
1. The global democratic deficit is one of the main problems of international politics;
2. The creation of a World Parliament would be an important step on the way to apprehend global problem;
3. The four scenarios of Strauss (2005) to create a World Parliament (amendment of the UN Charter, a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly, elections organized by civil society, and an interstate treaty process) are all desirable;
4. Elections organized by civil society posses the best possibility of success;
5. This possibility of success can be additionally increased if the process starts with a provisional electronic parliament on the internet;
6. A provisional electronic World Parliament on the internet should give its electors the possibility to change many aspect (content, procedures, representatives) at any time, if there is enough support for a proposal based on “one person, one vote”, but that there should also be some basic rules which cannot be changed without a special procedure;
7. A provisional electronic World Parliament on the internet should give its electors the possibility to decide on how far they want to influence the decision-making process directly and in how far they want to delegate their vote to representatives;
8. A provisional electronic World Parliament on the internet should from the very beginning, even with little support, claim to be a model for a global institution, but it should be clear in every phase of the project that representation and legitimacy in a narrow sense can only be claimed for the participants of the project;
9. A provisional electronic World Parliament on the internet should, at a later time” when the WP will be settled already, even with little support, try to influence real political processes;
10. The campaign for the creation of a World Parliament depends to a large degree on the number of individual supporters. It should therefore put a main focus on this aspect.
(Taken from “Towards a World Parliament: A Summary of the Debate and a Proposal for an Electronic World Parliament on the Internet organized by Civil Society”, Paper presented to the First Virtual Congress of the Community of World Citizens, July 2006, by Rasmus Tenbergen)
Addendum:
Furthermore, we would like to stress that the issue on democracy needs further discussion, needs to be specified since one thesis defines “democratic deficit” as “one of the main problems of international politics”
Proposed Resolution #2: How do we decide?
The basic (democratic) idea of the decision-making in WPE 2008 is that every participant should be able to influence many aspect of it at any time (content, procedures, representatives) if there is a majority of the participants supporting it, but that there should also be some basic rules which cannot be changed without a special procedure.
We want to start with only a few rules so that participants can add rules if they seem to be necessary, these ground rules are:
1. Every participant has the right to present proposals on any aspect (content, procedures, representatives) at any time and the right that this proposal will be discussed soon after the presentation and implemented if there is a majority in favor.
2. Unless changed by the participants we will assume that all decisions regarding WPE 2008 made on the main website of the WPE (www.world-parliament.org) are valid.
3. At the first day of WPE 2008, a main facilitator and a group of assisting facilitators will be elected by the participants. This group and the WPE Executive Director will have the right to speakt at any time during WPE 2008 to organize the process. The facilitators will propose procedures and the agenda if they are not clear anyway.
4. A group of representatives will be elected by working groups of the participants on the first day of WPE 2008. The participants will decide at a given time whether only representatives or every participant is allowed to speak. They can switsch from one mode to another at any time.
Furthermore, we assume that the general decision-making process is as stated in the november Newsletter:
It is good to see that we have enough positive responses of people who can pay their own trip, but reading the interesting comments of people who need support makes us feel the necessity to organize the event in a way that even those who cannot come for financial reasonsare equally important as members of WPE 2008.
Therefore, we plan to organize the real life meeting WPE 2008 in a way that it interacts heavily with internet processes on our main website: www.world-parliament.org. The internet component should be at least as important as the real life meeting and be the main decision-making mechanism. We plan to do this in three phases:
Phase 1: Internet preparation phase
All members of WPE 2008 can propose anything related to WPE 2008: content, procedures, representatives etc., deadline for proposals is Sunday, February 10th, 8pm CET, but the whole time between now and then can be used. Internet members will vote one the proposals before the real life event and thereby heavily influence the character of WPE 2008.
Phase 2: Real life meeting in Germany
The real life meeting in Germany will take place from February 23rd –March 1st as described on: http://www.wiki-site.com/index.php/WPE_2008, we will try to create possibilities to connect those who cannot be there to the meeting via internet.
Phase 3: Final decision-making on the Internet
All internet members of WPE 2008 can review the results of the real life meeting, propose changes and have a final vote on: www.world-parliament.org until Sunday, March 16th, 8pm CET. This final vote will be the result of the WPE 2008 process and include both participants of the real life meeting and internet members who could not come this time. We hope that this will only be the start of a next event which continues the work done so far and will aso give our internet users the chance to meet in real life as soon as possible.
(accepted as proposed)
Proposed Resolution #3: Possible creative elements of the voting process
The participants of WPE 2008 are asked to consider possible creative elements of the voting process to include WPE members who wanted to come but could not make it for financial, visa or other reasons, for example:
- to give additional voting power to participants who represent other members in the WPE partnership program
- to give additional voting power to participants who collected support from the public through signatures in the WPE mandate program
- to give additional voting power to participants who collected support on the internet
(postponed, decision: the whole resolution needs changes, we do not agree on the proposals completely, that is why we will have discussion and proposals how to onclude those that are not present on the WPE in Bonn)
Evening: Talent show and cultural evening
Sudan discussion postponed, because guest speaker is sick, he will try to come later during the week, instead:
Start of climate change exercise
Discussion of organizational aspects and WPE philosphy
Feedback erxercise, results:
Proposals from the Feedback Exercise
Proposals to be voted on are numbered.
Role of Moderators
1. During discussions moderators shall impose strict time limits on spoken contributions and keep the discussion on track for the sake of efficiency.
For
2. At the end of the discussions moderators shall ensure that resolutions have been made.
For
3. At the end of the day moderators shall
a. Summarise the day’s resolutions
For
b. Set out the next day’s agenda. This will be voted upon and will be binding (where absolutely necessary changes may be made at the beginning of the next day).
For
Nature of Discussions
There are 2 types of discussion
- Content
1.1 resolutions on global issues
1.2 structure and decision-making processes of the WPE
1. Discussion on the structure and decision-making processes should… .
For
Against
2. Discussion on Global Issues (1.1) should proceed accordingly-
- Break up into groups
- Record what all the members know on the issue
- One group to have the responsibility of doing some basic research on the issue. They will share this with everyone else.
- Groups present their proposals and these are voted on all together
For
3. Discussion on WPE structure (1.2) should involve the establishment of project groups for the future and on going operation of WPE and time for this discussion should be included on the agenda insofar that it is not already there
For
Against
4. Personal organisation should ONLY be discussed during the breaks.
For
2008-02-26
Telephone call-in speech by Ernest Asiedu Odei, Ghana
Organization – Lisa Capiris, Australia. Discussion
Clarification on the amendments accepted to Resolution N 1 and Resolution N3
Opens space panel:
Boyan Tanev, Bulgaria – proposal Poverty and Development
Group work on proposals for open space discussions
Lunch
Presentations of proposals for open space by the groups
Voting and choosing 1 or 2 topics, result: topic sovereignty
Ice-breaking game
Michael Stenborg, Sweden – presenting past WPE decisions, the WPE internet mechanism and his project
Questions and discussions
Brainstorming and decision on “How to include those not present on WPE in Bonn?” postponed to a later time
Evening: Football tournament, winner: Team America/WPE Allstars, Captain: Rodolfo, Brazil, Team members: Achille, Stephane, Raimund, Firas, Taghi, Spale, Stefan, Adomas)
WPE Football Tournament
List of teams
1. Africa, Captain: Achille Bella, Cameroon
2. Asia, Captain: Cholpon Duisheeva, Kyrgyzstan
3. America, Captain: Rodolfo Queiroz, Brazil
4. Europe, Captain: Stephane Laurent, France
5. Australia, Captain : Lisa Capiris, Australia
6. Azerbaijan, Captain: Taghi Taghi-Zada, Azerbaijan
7. Bulgaria, Captian: Andrey Stoichev, Bulgaria
8. Germany/Olympia Bonn, Captain: Hans Linden, Germany
Group A
- America
- Australia
- Bulgaria
- Germany
Group B
- Africa
- Asia
- Europe
- Azerbaijan
Results (exact results to be confirmed)
Bulgaria-Germany 0:3
Africa-Asia 0.4
America-Australia 1:5
Azerbaijan-Europe 1:1
Bulgaria-America 0:3
Australia-Germany 0:2
Africa-Europe 7:2
Asia-Azerbaijan 3:0
Bulgaria-Australia 1:0
America-Germany 4:0
Africa-Azerbaijan 2:1
Asia-Europe 0:0
Semifinals
America-Africa 3:2
Germany-Asia 6:5 after extra time and penalty kicks
Final
America-Germany 3:1
2008-02-27
Climate Change Exercise
Discussion on main open space topic: Kosovo, working groups propse resolution text and amendments
Speech by Yogesh Kumar Saxena, India on his work for the WPE
Afterwards: Sightseeing, walk to river Rhine, former Federal Government area, History Museeum “Haus der Geschichte”, Rheinauen park, evening: cultural evening together with our hosts at the Christian Community in Bonn-Plittersdorf
Continuation Climate change Exercise
Negotiation Training
Speech by Milan Malej, Slovenia on different WP and WPE initiatives
Continuation discussion on Kosovo
Announcements of Candidates for WPE speaker
Basketball Tournament, Winner: Team United Nations (Spale, Adomas, Borko, Stephane) 31:30 (20:20) after extra time against Team Germany (Raimund, Filip, Firas, Stefan, Rasmus).
2008-02-29
Final part of Climate Change exercise, overall result over a few days: first 3 rounds with very bad result, many sanctions, a lot of value destruction, very limitted value creation, only very few countries with good developemnt, all others with either bad or extremely bad developement, globally: big desaster ecological catastrophy and economic break-down, afterwards: analysis based on negotiuatioon theory and other aspects and new start of the game, proposal by Filip Nohe, Germany: let us do it in a WP framework and with trading of emission rights, result: much better, good for most countries, only very bad for a few less developed countries because of non-compliance with treaty system of a few countries, example: Bulgaria.
“State of the WPE” address by Rasmus Tenbergen, WPE Executive Directior, followed by questions and answers
Discussion and decision on Kosovo resolution:
WPE will not make any judgement on final status of Kosovo (who has the exact text of the resolution?)
Campaign Speeches by candidates
Election of WPE 2008 speaker
Candidates: Judi Mionki, Kenya and Borko Milosevic, Serbia
Result: Borko elected in first round with absolute majority
Decision: Borko is authorized to nominate a deputy speaker
Borko nominates Judi as deputy speaker
Evening program: Cultural presentations from Azerbaijan
Guest speaker Andreas Bummel, Committee for a Democratic United Nations, on UN Parliament
Discussion
Organization of working groups: general organization, next real life meetings, internet, outreach, fundraising, strategy, technology, philosphy, PR, content, design, symbolic parliament, other aspects
Election of working group chairs
Merger of working groups to:
1 General Organization, including sub-groups:
- outreach, fundraising, strategy, philosophy, PR, other aspects
2 Internet, including sub-groups:
- technology, content, design, symbolic parliaments
3 Next real life meeting
Reports of working groups
Group 1 (presented by Taghi Taghi-Zada and Mehman Badaladze, Azerbaijan): general organization proposed the following organization structure for the work of the real life component of WPE:
Speaker is reponsible for:
A) Thematic working groups (see above)
B) Regional working groups
Regional working groups should be organized according to the following division of the world:
1. North America
2. Central America
3. South America
4. Australia and Oceania
5. North Africa
6. West and Central Africa
7. East and South Africa
8. Europe A (several other names were proposed, for example North)
9. Europe B (South?)
10. Former Soviet Countries (CIS)
11. Middle East
12. South and East Asia
13. Central and East Asia
Group 2 (presented by Firas Neshwati, Jordan and Judi Mionki, Kenya)
Recommendations:
1. Monthly chat sessions should be continued on every first Monday of the month, time should be changed from 1pm CET to 1pm GMT.
2. We should have guidelines for proposals.
3. There should be constant feedback from working groups.
4. We should establish symbolic model parliaments on the internet.
5. We should focus on mechanisms to make it work.
Group 3 (presented by Filip Nohe, Germany and Bukulu Haruna, Uganda)
Recommendations:
1. We should have the main real life WPE event each year and take part in a few larger events (World Social Forum, International Student Festival in Trondheim/Norway etc.)
2. The first days of a conference should be reserved only for information.
3. There should be a limit of participants 8for example 200) and an application procedure.
4. The travel costs of participants from countries whose cases are discussed should be supported.
5. WPE 2009 should be in the second half of the year so that we can do PR at ISFiT in Norway in February.
6. 5 possible locations were proposed with different pros and cons: Kenya, Bulgaria, Canada, Signapore, Jordan
Bukulu, Filip, Judi and Adomas expressed interest in becoming permanent members of this working group.
Minutes for all February days were presented and accepted, but further changes will be made.
Discussion and decision on resolution Nr.3, Rob Wheeler proposals and Sudan were delegated to a special working group.
Members of this working group were: Filip Nohe (partner of Rob Wheeler in the WPE partnership program), Didier Couernelle, Katja Tenbergen and Rasmus Tenbergen. The working group decided the following:
1. We thank all members who could not be presented at WPE 2008 but tried to participate, in particular Rob Wheeler, for their important initiatives. They should be part of the official documentation of WPE 2008.
2. We apologize to them that their contributions could not be discussed in enough detail during WPE 2008.
3. We think that their proposals were very good and helpful for the WPE development, as one example of many we want to mention Rob’s proposal on permanent votes on the WPE website.
4. We recommend that much more time is reserved next time for this important aspects of the WPE process (involvement of members who cannot be present).
The discussion on Sudan was postponed and it was recommended that it should be continued on the internet, for several reasons:
- our confirmed respresentative from the government of Sudan could not make it
- we decided that Kosovo was even more important at the moment as our main case study
- other speakers on Sudan could not make it on the same day so we asked them to talk about other topics on different days
The WPE rapporteur on Sudan, Daniela Stoycheva from Bulgaria, will present her report which is already written, on the internet.
The closing ceremony took place in the Cultural Center Rudolf-Steiner-Haus in Bonn with short speeches from Rasmus Tenbergen, Didier Cournelle, Judi Mionki and as the final part of WPE 2008 the “State of the World Address” by newly elected WPE 2008 Speaker Borko Milosevic from Serbia.
More detailed information will be published in a final report on WPE 2008 in spring 2008.
Bonn, 2008-03-03,
for the minute-taker team,
Rasmus Tenbergen