The Formation, Rationale, Focus and Protocol for the Global Councils

Since its Inauguration in l998 the World Commission (WC) has taken as one of its highest priorities the importance of forming powerful networks, partnerships and collaborations in the interest of fostering growing circles and forces for creative transformation on a planetary scale. Over the past five years the Commissioners have sought to implement this stratagem in seeking to fulfil our vision and mission of working to bring forth a more peaceful, just and humane world.

The Commission has come to realize increasingly that it is vital now to engage in deep systematic networking to help convene, harness and augment further conscious collaboration. We realize that there is already an awesome and growing range of initiatives already proceeding in more localized and scattered ways which are directly aligned with the mission and vision of the Commission. Indeed, it is now clearer than ever that such concerted networking is a moral imperative if the Commission is to have a real impact for mass change in the 21st Century.

Here the Commission subscribes to the principle that such deep networking – making truly significant collaborative connections – produces mutual enhancement and synergy in which all participants are augmented and an exponentially greater force for creative change is thereby produced. Furthermore, in our ongoing deliberations and retreats over the past three years the Commissioners have identified a number of fundamental areas of concern which have emerged as pressing priorities in fulfilling our collective mission.

We realize that in addition to the remarkable range of initiatives in which our distinguished Commissioners are already involved, there is a vast and growing range of creative individuals and organizations that are already directly aligned with our mission and vision. So the Commission sees it as an obvious next step to seek to identify and convene such individuals and initiatives in a range of "Global Councils" as a powerful and natural way to forge effective strategic partnerships in common cause.

In this spirit the Commission is now actively developing the following Global Councils as a powerful way to carry forth our mission on a planetary scale. These Councils may be seen as "Sub–Commissions" – as direct extensions and outreach of the Commission into diverse primary aspects of planetary cultural life. As such each Council will have direct participation of Commissioners who will report directly to the World Commission and keep the Commission as a whole fully informed about developments.

The Commissioners have made initial nominations to the various Councils, and as these Councils are formed it is expected that the members of each Council will begin exploratory dialogues to decide on how best to proceed. It is to be expected that each Council will develop and unfold in its own way and come up with creative and innovative ideas of how to be most effective as a Council.

The Commissioners realize of course that there is already a tremendous virtue and advance in the mere fact of the formation of such a Council and of convening diverse leaders together in dialogue who may not have been hitherto directly in collaboration, nor working in concert with the World Commission.

As a matter of Protocol, the Commission would naturally want to review and approve any proposed project or initiative that may be undertaken by a given Council in the name of the ((World Commission)). And the Commission would have a direct and decisive voice in ensuring that each Council attains and maintains the highest standards of moral and professional integrity appropriate to the our Commission.

Although there are no funds at this point to subsidize these Councils, it is hoped and expected that the timeliness and power of this initiative will attract significant funding. This of course would open all sorts of exciting creative possibilities for future separate and plenary meetings of the Councils with the ((World Commission)) as this initiative takes root and evolves. So in this spirit here are the initially proposed names and provisional nominees of the Councils:

1) Global Council on Indigenous Wisdom & Wellbeing: Leroy Little Bear, Angaangaq Lybert, Woody Vaspra, Diane Longboat, George Amiotte, Chief Jake Swamp, Judy Swamp, Vickie Downey, Joseph Rael, Nancy Maryboy, Leon Secatero

2) Global Council on Education in the 21st Century: Jane Goodall, David Scott, Helga Breuninger, Riane Eisler, Sunita Gandhi, Dee Dickinson, Fred Mednick, Usha Ballamore, Manish Jain

3) Global Council on Peace & Conflict Resolution: Desmond Tutu, Arun Gandhi, John & Susan Marks, Rabbi Michael Lerner, Elie Wiesel, Rama Vernon

4) Global Council on Spirituality & Deep Ecology: Mary Evelyn Tucker, John Grimm, Brian Swimme, Duane Elgin, Wangari Maathai, Thomas Berry, Rupert Sheldrake, Jean Houston, Diane Williams

5) Global Council on Spiritual Politics & Global Citizenship: Al Gore, Dennis Kuccinich, Marianne Williamson, Deepak Chopra, Cornel West, Robert Thurman, Tu Weiming, Barbara Bernstein

6) Global Council on Personal & Planetary Security: Jonathan Granoff, Mikhail Gorbachev, Douglas Roche, James George

7) Global Council on Planetary Ethics and Values: Steven Rockefeller, Ervin Laszlo, Vaslav Havel, Mary Robinson, Bette Williams, Oscar Arias Sanchez, Hafsat Abiola, Hans Kung, Diane Williams

8) Global Council on Conscious Economies, Corporate Responsiblity and Economic Justice: William Wallin (CAUX Round Table), David Korten, Thom Hartmann, John Dalla Costa, Christopher Laszlo, Rama Mani, Theo Cosmora

9) Global Council on Interfaith Dialogue & Inter–religious Relations: Karan Singh, James Parks Morton, William Vendley, Jim Kenney, Houston Smith, Suheil Bushuri, Diane Eke

10) Global Council on Planetary Sustainable Futures: Sesh Velamoor, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Don Beck

11) Global Council on Integral Medicine & Planetary Health: John Kabat–Zinn, Daniel Coleman, Andrew Weil, Larry Dossey, Rachel N. Remen, Lewis Mehl–Madrona

12) Global Council on Frontier Science & Sustainable Technologies: John Hagelin, Yasuhito Kimura, Elisabet Sahtouris, Mark Cummings, Fritjof Capra, Fred Alan Wolf, Peter Russell, Beverly Rubik, Peter Russell

13) Global Council on Islam & The West: Dr. Seyyed Nasr, Dr. Riffat Hassan, Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed, Dr. Michael Sells, Prince Hassan of Jordan, Queen Noor of Jordan, Dr. Omid Safi, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer

14) Global Council on the Welfare of Youth and Emergence of Youth Leadership: Dr. Nina Meyerhof, Valentin Vollmer, Juliana Hepp, Dr. Helga Breuninger

15) Global Council on the Welfare, Wisdom & Empowerment of Women: Riffat Hasan, Audrey Kitagawa, Hafsat Abiola, Wangari Maathai, Diane Williams

16) Global Council on Mindful Media: Gill Wright, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Hazel Henderson, Thom Hartman, Marcus Morrell, Sandra Hay, Ashok Gangadean, Kit Thomas

17) Global Council on Awakening Arts & Entertainment: Bono, Peter Gabriel, Steven Speilberg, Kit Thomas, Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Stephen Simon, Robert Redford



Ashok Gangadean
Co–Convenor of the World Commission on Global Consciousness & Spirituality
Founder–Director of the Global Dialogue Institute

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