• Introduction
  
  

Introduction

Globalization is spreading its tentacles world wide, cutting across political, economic, social and cultural barriers. But there is a far from
adequate awareness of its deep impact on the values and lifestyles of peoples around the globe. In fact it is seldom that serious attempts are made to analyse new emerging values. In-depth discussions on ways and means of channelling the forces unleashed by globalization are rather an exception.

Convinced that the myriad and complex phenomenon of globalization has not been triggered by some super-natural power, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) and the global news agency IPS-Inter Press Service organised a one-day conference on May 15 at the FES headquarters in Bonn. It was backed by the UNFPA. Participants from Germany and abroad, including leading members of the IPS international staff from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe focused on Information and Communication for Global Governance - Population Policies, A Case Study.

It was by no means incidental that FES and IPS joined hands to organise the conference. The two organisations are partners in co-operation for nearly 35 years now. The FES has not only been providing financial support for short- and medium-term IPS projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. IPS also owes its German service to the FES which helped launch it in April 1981 and has since been providing financial grant as a sign of its continued support to IPS.

The FES-IPS partnership is also based on the common values and perceptions they share. This commonality encompasses the role of the media in shaping participatory, democratic and horizontal societal structures which are indispensable for sustainable development that abides by the norms of a civilisation based on universal declaration of human rights.

This brief report on the conference highlights some of the salient aspects that emerged from statements by keynote speakers and contributions from the floor. Our sincere thanks to the FES on behalf of IPS for the financial and organisational support both for the conference as well as for this report. We hope it will prove to be a useful reading to all those interested in global governance as a tool to harness some of the positive impulses released by globalization, for building a genuine One World, with also the mainstream media playing a central role in encouraging a public debate.

Bonn, November 1998
Ramesh Jaura

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