Shaping
Globalization:
Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding
— About the Cover —
In the wake of the Battle of Seattle, proponents of elite globalization have described global civil society as a "bee swarm" with so many heads that it is "impossible to decapitate." Further they observe that this swarm can "sting a victim to death." This description, born out of alarm and concern, only describes one aspect of the bee.
In nature, the bee has two tasks. It has a sting to defend itself from its enemies. But the bee is also a pollinator, allowing new plant life and growth to flourish. With this brief background, we are now ready to live into the symbolism of the cover, including the prominent role of the bee.
In the cover, a bee hovers above planet Earth. It has a sting and this sting works upon the waters of the Earth. Where this sting is active, three overlapping circles emerge from the depths of the ocean and start to cascade from this point outwards to the wider spaces of the planet.
This bee is global civil society. Just as the bee has two functions in nature, global civil society has two world-shaping tasks.
The first task of global civil society is to defend culture against the totalitarian tendencies of many state and market institutions. The bee sting represents this first task of mobilizing cultural power to defend the integrity of culture. The second task is the more creative one of shaping a better world through the use of a different kind of cultural power. This is represented in the three overlapping circles that emerge from the point of the bee sting. The sting takes place in water because water is the universal symbol of life. Under appropriate conditions, the "sting" of civil society results in a new form of social life. This is the new social life of threefolding, pregnant with new possibilities for the future of the world.
In the stage of the "sting," global civil society ensures the emergence of de facto threefolding, where three global powers—civil society, government and business, contend for the future of the world. In the second task, civil society as a fructifying bee, plays a vital role in the critical yet harmonious conscious threefolding interaction of civil society, government and business towards comprehensive sustainable development.
The cover further depicts how a brighter world is slowly superceding a darker world. This darker world symbolizes an earth darkened by the blight of elite globalization. The brighter world represents the new world where the three key institutions of society truly cooperate and harness their different talents, resources, and different forms of power to inaugurate a new world.
Whenever and wherever the bee is active, the possibility emerges to advance, through threefolding, a civilization based on the highest human aspirations.
