UN Social Summit: bridging grassroots idealism with global realities

Today’s host, Mary Jane, has just returned from the United Nations World Social Summit in Doha. She brings fresh insights from global leaders, grassroots activists, and civil society voices working to end poverty, promote inclusion, and build peace. This meetup is a chance to continue that dialogue together — exploring how we can bridge the gap between aspirations and the realities our world faces.

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United Nations World Social Summit Follow Up: how do we bridge the gap between grassroots/idealism and the harsh realities our world faces?

I just attended the 2nd United Nations World Forum on Social Development in Doha, Qatar, the first reconvening since the original forum in 1995 in Copenhagen. The original forum came when the world was experiencing a peace dividend with the fall of the Soviet Union, and set her sights on improving the world’s prosperity. This vision was crystallized further with the Millenium Development Goals in 2000 to be achieved by 2015, and then the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set in 2015 to be achieved by 2030. This forum was one of several (including COP happening in Brazil right now) that are reviewing global progress towards shared goals culminating in the G20 in South Africa November 22. More than 40 Heads of State and Government, over 230 ministers and senior officials, and nearly 14,000 attendees took part in the Summit. It included a convening of the UN General Assembly, along with a parallel civil society forum in which I participated.

The core themes of the conference were: ending poverty, promoting full employment and promoting social inclusion.

When I went to Doha, I met all of these people earnestly trying to make the world a better place, exemplified by 250 workshops, gatherings and programs.

• I met Apurnum, who founded a Peace Education program in Denmark’s schools that is disseminating around the world;
• I met Nathalie, who wants to write a new global peace charter because the original one she feels was rooted in Bretton Woods which is inherently flawed by favoring Harry Dexter White’s approach over a Keynesian approach to global finance.
• I met a Sudanese woman who was part of the Civilian transitional government in Sudan that was eventually undermined by two segments of the military fighting for power.

And I heard the leaders of many countries speak, making proclamations outlining how they are addressing poverty, economic development and inclusion, as well as adopting the Doha Political Declaration.

• “The President of the UN General Assembly Annalena Baerbock said the Summit marked a “deliberate shift” from identifying gaps to acting on proven solutions.”
• The representative from Honduras called for multilateralism that serves life rather than capital.
• The representative from Barbados said “the Caribbean must remain a zone of peace.”

And yet, amidst our commitments and grassroots projects, there are massive forces that work against these efforts - technologies, wars, government practices, cultural practices…..

I was reminded of this on the day after the conference ended, when I met migrants to Doha…

• from Myanmar (government targeting young people, left before finishing her degree in chemistry, serving food at a hotel);
• From Tunisia (economy collapsed, so couldn’t use a college degree in telecommunications engineering and got a job serving coffee in the Islamic Museum in Doha;

And of course at the macro level,

• we have 59 “state-based” conflicts, the most since WW2, with civilians experiencing the greatest harm and are only 15% towards our completion of the sustainable development goals.

So for this week, we are going to ask the question so many asked in Doha – how do we bridge the gap between our aspirations and reality, between the amazing work at the grassroots level, and large scale forces working in the opposite direction?
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With this background, let’s explore together:

How do we bridge the gap between the desires and grassroots actions of so many, and the macro realities that push our world in a harmful direction?

• Is it worth pursuing something good for the world even when the dominant cultures reflect a different reality?
• When we work at the grassroots level, as most of us do, how do we begin to affect strong countervailing domestic and global forces?
• Where do you see openings, possibilities?
• How might you like to contribute towards bridging this gap?
• Bonus: what is the value of multilateral spaces like the United Nations when the proclamations are often not implemented or honored?
• How can we help the words match the actions?