Another long week full of action. I look forward to a summer break but it doesn’t look like I will have one any time soon. some interesting pieces have come together to reinforce the wind which blows in our sails. The war in Iraq and subsequently the economic crisis have shaken the public trust in global governance – Pax Americana, international markets and multilateral organisations spreading from the EU to the UN – and has created room for action. Is the third sector up to the challenge?
If the political ideologies haven’t had much to say since the fall of the Soviet Union, then economics is the new arena of a global debate. The Pope has joined the debate recently, revitalizing it with some cutting edge statements in his last Encyclical Caritas in Veritate. In paragraph 46 -47 he called for change in the fundamentals of the economy and a need to match the economic goals with human and social ends. This is the ‘civil economy’ – quoting Stefano Zamagni, the Italian academic specialised in third sector studies.
Who expected the Pope to become the champion of the sector? I’ve already written to the Vatican to organise an ‘udienza’ with His Holiness and must revamp my membership to the Catholic Church!
That week I also went to the launch of the last book of Manuel Castells: the Communication Power. Castells is the worldwide acclaimed theorist of network society. His trilogy published at the end of the ’90s changed my vision of the world… together with Jeremy Rifkin.
Castells has always been very fond of civil society but this time he has provided 400 pages of evidence to show how inovation is emerging within civil society thanks to new technologies. Civil society is the counter-power to mass media and the other institutionalised powers – governments and corporations. I’ve just started reading it so don’t ask me any more questions – you will find it in my manifesto to take over Europe.
This was actually my proposal at the Summer School of Social Innovation which I ended my busy week attending. It’s the second year it has been held and this time was hosted by the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. I must remember my cheeky entry on the first summer school.
This is the case which reinforces Castells’ theory. Besides hunky Brazilians, Dutch lap dancer mummies and Porto-British pourchignas who populated the summer school, I can confirm that this is the best opportunity to develop your network and business. Such events are opportunties for learning, exchanging and building partnerships with innovative people who are non-mainstream but productive. such occasions are mushrooming and must not miss them: It’s the future.
Yet some politicians just don’t get this. The Italian goverment came out with a new bill that would revoke the charitable status of third sector organisations if they operate professionally!?! Cameroon, the leader of the British Conservative party (who are likely to be in government next year), attacked the the british NGO community with old fashion Bush jr-like remarks in a White Paper on international development. It is only when he realizes that international NGOs are what remains of the UK’s international reputation, will he change his mind. Perhaps we should all join the Vatican and turn it into our third sector state!
