What Happened in Copenhagen?
By Bob Russell
Regular readers of Synapse know something of the three previous United Nations conferences -- Earth Summit '92, Human Rights '93 and Population & Development '94 -- from writings in past issues. The most recent UN conference was the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD), held March 6-12 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The basic issues were poverty, unemployment and social disintegration. There was a parallel NGO (Non-Government Organization) Forum, similar to the previous three UN conferences, held March 3-12. The governments met in the Bella Centre, a 10-minute ride by shuttle bus from the NGO Forum, held at Holmen -- the old Danish Naval base.
Like the other conferences, I worked at the Association for Progressive Communication's (APC) Communication Center conducting computer training and helping with user support. This was the 4th time APC has provided such a computer network for electronic communications. NordNet, an APC network member, coordinated the effort in Copenhagen. One of the differences from past conferences was that APC worked with the NGO Forum to provide a word processing center as well as electronic communications.
This computer network was the largest and most sophisticated setup that APC has provided at a UN conference. After solving a few early problems, the system worked great. The staff and volunteers from all over the planet, some for their first time and others veterans from previous APC setups, provided a valuable service to the NGOs.
Unfortunately I spent almost all of my time at the APC center and didn't attend any formal activities, workshops or meetings at either the NGO Forum or the official UN Summit. But being at the communication center did connect me with a lot of people and information. Published each day by Inter Press Service (IPS), Terra Viva -- The Independent Daily of the World Summit*, reported on both the NGO Forum and WSSD in some detail. There is no lack of information about these meetings; only a lack of dissemination of the information. What did you read from the corporate media about this important conference?
The meetings in Copenhagen discussed a primary issue concerning the relative health of our societies -- poverty. Many statistics were reported concerning the growing gap between the haves and the have notsfacts pointing out that women and children represent the majority of humanity in poverty. This is not just a problem in what we like to call the "Third World/Developing World/The South", but is becoming a global reality as multinational corporations shape their global markets for consumerism. Women are a building political force on the Planet bringing poverty and many other critical issues into the forefront. The next UN Conference, The Fourth World Conference on Women, will be an important event as we near the end of the millennium.
I don't know what will come of the official document finalized at the World Summit on Social Development. We have chosen to publish the Alternative Copenhagen Declaration from the NGO Forum because it is a document that addresses the critical economic changes that need to take place in order to narrow the gap between haves and have-nots and to begin to build a just and sustainable world. Check it out. There may be something that speaks to you.
* Copies of Terra Viva from the past 4 UN Conferences are available for reading at the Neahtawanta Center.
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