November 19 - 20, 2004 Padua, Italy World Social Forum Preparatory Meeting. Tavola della Pace (Peace Roundtable) is hosting an international seminar on the Future of the UN and other International Institutions in preparation for the Fifth World Social Forum. The Padua discussion aims to define a common strategy and launch together in Porto Alegre, Brazil with interested networks and individuals a world campaign to democratize and strengthen the UN. <www.peacepoint.org>

December 10, 2004 New York, New York Weighted Voting Luncheon for UN Missions. The Center for UN Reform Education and the Center for War/Peace Studies are jointly presenting a buffet conference on introducing weighted voting in the General Assembly and the Security Council. They have sent invitations to all the UN permanent delegations in New York. <www.centerforunreform.org>

January 25 &SHY; 30, 2005 Porto Alegre, Brazil Fifth World Social Forum Track 11: "Towards Construction of an International Democratic Order and People's Integration." The WSF is acknowledged as the most significant gathering space for proponents of the "other world that is possible." Over 100,000 will attend countless workshops and several large scale political assemblies.

Track 11 features meetings to align various campaigns to improve the UN and develop strategy plans for implementation. The Coalition for a World Parliament and Global Democracy will also present their plans for organizing an annual World Democracy Forum. World Social Forum: <www.worldsocialforum.org> Coalition for a World Parliament and Global Democracy: <www.world-democracy.org> E-Forum on the Creation of a World Parliament and the Architecture of Global Governance: <www.wp21.org>

March, 2005 - Los Angeles and San Francisco, California UN Foundation Global Dialogues. A delegation from the San Francisco Peoples Assembly met in September during the UNDPI NGO Conference with Jeff Laurenti at the United Nations Foundation in New York. The UN Foundation is providing the Secretariat for the UN Secretary-General's High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change, due to report out in December. <www.un-globalsecurity.org>

Mr. Laurenti asked the San Francisco group to submit a proposal for them to coordinate and help stage major policy discussion events in Los Angeles and San Francisco this March. The Secretary-General (S-G) sincerely wants evolution. Some possible UN transformations could happen soon. Gillian Sorensen, who handled the UN's 50th Anniversary celebrations in San Francisco for the S-G's office, now works for the UN Foundation. <www.unfoundation.org>

The UN Foundation, the Commonwealth Club, World Affairs Council, UNA, and other such local groups in Los Angeles and San Francisco could potentially organize this pair of dialogues. The conversations would highlight the recommendations coming from the S-G's High Level Panel.

One of our main intents would be to produce TV programs, edited shortly after the live events, for broadcast in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and potentially other major media markets. These tapings would serve as a first test for much more ambitious June telecasts to air around the world.

The March affairs can thus put in place a TV format, production team, public outreach scheme, and multiple funding sources. This trial run WOULD give us a chance to determine potential sponsoring organizations, PR and ad agencies, TV distribution channels (locally and beyond), main messages, and other key elements of the presentation process.

May 29 &SHY; June 1 Montreal, Canada Forum International Montreal (FIM) Global Democracy 2005: Civil Society Visions and Strategies. G05 will offer an opportunity for community based organizations to proactively proclaim their emerging role. They will address how to democratically regulate the global economy and institutionalize the participation of civil society in the evolution of global governance. In Barcelona, Nigel Martin, President of the FIM, expressed interest in David Lionel's idea of producing a daily TV show from the event to appear on CBC or Vision TV. Regulating the Global Economy; Global Security; Civil Society Participation; International Treaties and Law; Cultural Diversity. <www.g05.org> and <www.fimcivilsociety.org>

June 24 - 26 San Francisco, California UN Charter 60th Anniversary. The UN 60th celebrations can provide a context to announce and promote in the US a unified Campaign to Empower the United Nations. This event could be used to help us to improve linkages between all of the different initiatives happening globally and to develop specific strategies for achieving reforms. Strengthen, Democratize, and Reform the United Nations. Alternatives to War; Social Justice and Economic Development; Human Rights and Responsibilities; International Law; Democratizing the United Nations. <www.empowertheun.org>

Benton Musslewhite has suggested attaching to the UN 60 commemorations in San Francisco a working meeting on bringing about within five years a Charter Review Conference under Article 109 of the UN Charter. Benton is an international lawyer who has pursued such class action law suits as for victims of Bhopal and Agent Orange and made substantial money doing so. At the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, Musslewhite sponsored a major event, paid for a high end video by Danny Schechter about One World Now, Benton's organization, and later backed global activist Rashmi Mayur.

Musslewhite envisions a one-day Institute to kick-start the Article 109 process. He proposes to form an Executive Committee of renowned international humanitarians.

Benton has written a base text that David Lionel is preparing to condense into a 50 page booklet, entitled Article 109: Chartering a Democratic and Empowered United Nations. Lionel has also produced but not yet edited a one hour video with the same name.

September 7 - 9 Helsinki, Finland Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy. High level multi-stakeholder dialogues, sponsored by the governments of Finland and Tanzania, will bring three actors together for cooperation: business, non-governmental organizations, and governments. Key dialogues, ministerial meetings, round tables, public events, presentations of good practices, and virtual conferences encourage coalition building to promote the democratization of global governance. Three tracks: New Approaches to Global Problem Solving, Global Economics Agenda, and Human Security. <www.helsinkiprocess.fi>. Citizens Global Platform for the Helsinki Process: <www.globalplatform.fi>

Late September New York, New York Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) + 5. Heads of state will be coming to the UN for a major General Assembly meeting. The MDGs commit governments by 2015 to accomplish measurable improvements in the lives of the inhabitants of developing countries. Any commitment to be meaningful needs to spell out precisely who will do what by when, using which mechanism and what funding sources. The MDGs, as declared, answer the first three questions but not yet the last two. To meet its human needs, the world must now establish an implementing infrastructure for the MDGs and regularize financing of this humanitarian work.

We ought to call on the governments to draft and agree on an international treaty or convention specifying how the MDGs will be achieved, the amount of financing that is needed, and designating specific funding mechanisms. Several of our UN reform proposals could be put forward and implemented as a part of such an effort and treaty.
<www.millenniumcampaign.org>