Through a series of gatherings, the many actors already working to reform the UN are beginning to coalesce into an effective movement. The Citizens for a United Nations People's Assembly (formerly the San Francisco People's Assembly - SFPA) at their June 2004 Conference on UN Reform and Revitalization decided to formally launch a "Campaign to Empower the United Nations" during the UN 60th Charter Day commemorations there in June 2005.

With support from SFPA for Rob Wheeler and promised sponsorship by Benton Musslewhite of One World Now for David Lionel, Rob and David, two American world citizen activists, set forth to Europe in late September for three weeks of meetings. Since their return to the US, it has been becoming clear that whatever role the SFPA chooses to play, the overall global campaign has its own logic and life. It needs now enough self-awareness to fashion itself into an operation that can manifest results. Comparable recent success stories include the citizens' movements for an International Criminal Court, the landmine treaty, and debt relief.

The following project description should help the process of better organizing a Campaign to Empower the United Nations. The document outlines an overall strategy, reports on the outcomes of Rob Wheeler and David Lionel's recent European meetings, describes the sequence of significant UN Reform events scheduled through 2005, identifies a Top Twenty Transformations of the UN to promote, names likely co-sponsors and partners, discusses how to align the major social movements behind this specific sets of changes to the world system, and then imagines highly purposeful, participational, and televisable stagings of three of the upcoming happenings.

A tailor made setting to constitute such an ongoing joint Campaign to Empower the United Nations is the Nov. 19 - 20 "Reclaim Our UN" international seminar in Padua, Italy, hosted by Tavola della Pace (Peace Roundtable). Rob and David intend to start working on this venture cooperatively with participants there, especially the Ubuntu World Forum of Civil Society Networks. Federico Mayur, highly regarded former Director of UNESCO, spearheads Ubuntu's World Campaign for In-Depth Reform of the System of International Institutions. UBUNTU is an age-old African term for humaneness: caring, sharing, and being in harmony with all creation. Through several prestigious assemblages since 2000, Ubuntu has enrolled prominent NGOs from many nations in this undertaking. <www.reformcampaign.net>

The most active organizations in each field can orchestrate drives specific to their substantive issues. Several governments have signed on to support this movement and its events, notably Finland and Tanzania, sponsors of the related Helsinki Process.

PRIORITIZING A TOP TWENTY UN EMPOWERMENTS

A principal stratagem of the campaign is highlighting a manageable number of concrete and actionable UN Reforms. For the United Nations to institute any of these in the near future would make a significant difference in the world. Many such enhancements have a decent chance of approval relatively soon. A few may be more difficult to enact right now but enlarge the range of discussion.

At the urging of Ubuntu and others, the Fifth World Social Forum (WSF), January 25 -30, 2005, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, has added a Track 11, called "Towards Construction of an International Democratic Order and People's Integration." The Padua seminar November 19 -20 intends to function as a preparatory meeting for the convergence at WSF. This looks like the best venue for many of the groups focusing on UN Reform to prioritize a list of proposals that most can join in backing. Our objective would be to agree on and draft a specific and detailed plan for institutionalizing each of these new or augmented UN functions.

The gathering can provide a context for bringing together a committed group of authoritative leaders who are ready to work cooperatively. We would identify potential funding sources, and chart a step by step route to substantiating action programs toward strengthening the UN.

The organizers for each issue area need to develop a working plan for implementation, a budget with financing to accomplish principal near term goals, and a plausible public outreach strategy. Forum attendees in Padua can form into a cadre of self-segmenting affinity groups. The idea is for folks to find like-minded friends who want to add their energies together around self-defined workshop organizers and campaign coordinators. Ubuntu and others uniting in an overall Campaign to Empower the United Nations could offer a facilitating framework to help these action teams succeed.

STRATEGIC STAGES

1) Identify good organizations, agencies, and governments with which to work, and who would be best suited to contact each of them.
2) Clarify for every coalition we approach how they serve their agenda by joining with us.
3) Agree on the specific areas of responsibility within the ongoing Campaign to Empower the United Nations of each organization or aggregate of individual activists.
4) Establish mechanisms for groups having trouble fulfilling their aims to signal their need for and to use enhanced support from the network.
5) Institute plans for the campaign to finance itself by finding and sustaining co-sponsors and backers.
6) Develop compelling messages advocating UN empowerment and find ways to deliver them in order to interest the mass public, encourage people's participation, and inform them how to contribute to the movement.
7) Assess periodically campaign content and outcomes to enhance what works and relieve blocks to progress.