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Editorial
N. Perlas, 12 March 2005
From March 8-12, 2005, Munich City in Germay
was the setting of an unusual event. Thirteen recipients of the Right Livelihood
Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, gathered together to present
alternatives to elite globalization. A total of over a thousand people came to
engage the Alternative Nobel laureates on the future of the planet.
These laureates included Ibrahim Abouleish (Egypt), Hans-Peter Durr (Germany),
Johan Galtung (Norway), Stephen Gaskin (USA), Tapio Mattlar (Finland), Manfred
Max-Neef (Chile), Pat Mooney (Canada), Nicanor Perlas (Philippines), P.K.
Raveendran (India), Irina Sherbakova (Russia), Vandana Shiva (India) Sulak
Sivaraksa (Thailand) and Michael Succow (Germany), They were joined by Jakob von
Uexkull, founder of the Right Livelihood Award and President of the World Future
Council. RLA Awardee Bianca Jagger, human rights activist, had to cancel out at
the last minute due to the precarious condition of her mother.
The presentations and discussions ranged over a wide range of topics. These
included large scale sustainable and bio-dynamic agriculture in the deserts of
Egypt benefiting hundreds of thousands of people; the implications of the new
sciences including quantum mechanics for creating a new human civilization;
self-organized, globally sophisticated and innovative villages and communities
as the new social form of the 21st century; increasing effectiveness of
grassroots movements in governance; innovative approaches to conflict
resolution, barefoot economics of the poor and its macroeconomic impacts;
societal transformation and evolutionary spirituality as the next stage of
global civil society including social movements; individual courage and
creativity in the face of overwhelming challenges; regeneration of damaged
ecosystems; wide-range patents on life and ecological processes as a key
strategy of corporate control of the global economy; the role of love and
compassion in transforming the world; and technological singularity or
convergent technologies and the drastic re-organization of the global ecosystems
and the economy (see Related Editorial).
Overall one is left with a very powerful impression of the nature of the 21st
century. It is a century that has no precedent in world history in terms of the
nature, extent, and complexity of the challenges it faces. On the other hand, it
is also a time of unprecedented resistance, creativity, and innovation of
citizens and social movements outside the orbit of the state and corporations.
Humanity is facing the greatest challenges it has ever faced in its evolutionary
history. The Petroleum Age is coming to an end, promising to wreck havoc on the
economies and societies of the world. Global warming, including the unexpected
freezing of Europe and the USA, is coming much faster than anticipated. Over 450
products of nanotechnology have been commercialized without regulatory oversight
despite potential harm to humans and the environment. The first global empire in
world history, the US Empire, continues to manipulate and dominate global
developments. Patents on life threaten to unravel the genetic code of planetary
evolution with grim consequences for nature and humanity.
At the same time, millions around the planet are awakening their human and
societal potentials to a level and scale never achieved before in human history.
Theocracies, empires, and giant transnational corporations shaped the contours
of human history. But today, they no longer have a monopoly over the human
future. Individuals and social movements are now also playing significant roles
in practically all areas of human endeavors and are often doing a much better
job of advancing human progress than governments. Their social innovations are
found in agriculture, medicine, education, human rights, governance, new village
and community forms, leading edge science and arts, and many other areas.
Humanity clearly has a choice whether to plunge into the abyss of wars,
destruction and extinction or to emerge as a new human species, one that can
make potent spiritual capacities, visionary worldviews, love, compassion,
justice, and social service the hallmark of global civilization. This is the
creative tension of the 21st century. This is the tension that will mark either
the end of the human journey or the birth of a new planetary human species and
civilization.
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