ISPO: From Globalization to Sustainability - A New Global Policy for Social Justice

ISPO takes the view that global problems require global - and simultaneous - solutions. Without them, the world can only remain locked in its present vicious circle of competition, leaving its leaders unable even to talk meaningfully of cooperation because they lack both the will and a strategy for finding a way out. Moreover, since so many nations or governments are wedded to the idea of economic growth and free markets, why would they see the need for change in any case? Indeed, ISPO assumes that they do not see any such need. It is for this reason that ISPO has been established both to define the measures of SP and to secure its adoption by all nations of the world.

The concept of global simultaneous implementation - all nations acting together - is crucial. In a globally competitive context this now remains the only method through which the vicious circle of competition can be escaped and meaningful change can ensue. Whilst its achievement may seem highly ambitious, it nevertheless remains the only appropriate basis upon which a responsible and secure transition can be made from international competition to the cooperative, global implementation of measures to solve world problems. The vital concept of global simultaneous implementation eliminates any difference of policy between nations (although certain compensations and exemptions may be agreed to offset any unduly adverse effects on particular nations). It also eliminates any difference in the time of implementation. Therefore, any institution or corporation, transnational or otherwise, can and need take no steps to circumvent the eventual effects of implementation by attempting to relocate because no other country would offer them any advantage.

Global simultaneous implementation could be regarded as a logical extension to the methods being used in the EU to implement new policy, be it the single currency or other measures which are, as far as possible, being implemented simultaneously. It should not be inferred that ISPO supports European economic and political integration – it does not. It is purely the method of simultaneous implementation that we seek to highlight.

With global communications and economies as integrated as they are today, global simultaneous implementation is not only feasible, it is absolutely vital. Persuading all countries to adopt SP sounds like an incredibly tall order, and indeed it is. Such is the enormity of our world problems, however, that anything less will simply fail because, like individual corporations, no country or group of countries would ever be naïve enough to risk their economic competitiveness, jobs and votes, unless all other countries were in the same boat.

ISPO’s implementation strategy is based on a set of immutable principles which must be properly understood, for they are the bedrock upon which SP is founded. The ethos of SP is the acceptance of people, organisations and nations for what they are, without judgement, in the interests of the sustained future of the planet and in the interest of the common future and well-being of mankind. This should not imply that change is not required; on the contrary. It recognises that no state is perfect and, proceeding from this, that all states should strive, in their own way, towards open and truly democratic societies.
The principles governing SP’s adoption and implementation are:

Since implementation is to be simultaneous amongst all nations, it can only occur once adoption by all nations has been achieved. It is therefore clear that a gradual process of adoption or ‘adoption campaign’ must take place first: person by person, party by party and nation by nation. Be they an individual, an NGO, a political party or a government, everybody knows that in adopting SP, they risk little or nothing because implementation can only occur when all nations do likewise. In a competitive world, most policies are objected to on the grounds that their unilateral implementation will be detrimental, causing capital flight, job losses, etc. But if all nations implement the same measures together, those objections evaporate.

Any individual, any organisation, any political party or any government may adopt SP provided it is adopted in full. For political parties or governments of any kind, adoption is on the strict understanding that its measures are accepted in full and that they will start to implement them in a coordinated fashion as soon as universal adoption has been achieved. Adoption could therefore be described as an open ‘declaration of intent’ to implement its measures when all other nations do likewise. Unlike many other initiatives, appeals and charters calling for global change, SP is different in the crucial respect that it separates ‘adoption’ from ‘implementation’ and provides a secure basis upon which implementation can occur. This renders it capable of official adoption by political parties and governments. It therefore possesses the political and practical framework other initiatives lack and explains why, even when widely supported, those initiatives are rarely if ever put into practice

- SP is universally inclusive; it’s practical and political, and anyone can adopt it.

Since global simultaneous implementation refers to a point in time in the future at which all nations implement the same measures, this creates what could be described as a ‘future context’ of co-operation amongst nations - the new era of international global community. This ‘future context’ is clearly entirely different to the ‘current context’, as we have it today, which is one of competition amongst nations. Arising from this, policies that are unworkable and consequently undesirable in the current competitive context can, in a future context in which all cooperate, become entirely workable and desirable.

- SP transforms sterile into fertile; it provides the cooperative basis that allows necessary policies to be adopted.

Nations can still engage in an active policy of competing with one another whilst, at the same time, advocating cooperation in the form of their adoption of SP; these two policies can continue in parallel for as long as is necessary until all nations agree. However, the open adoption of SP by individuals, organisations, businesses, political parties and governments also crucially serves as a challenge to others who have not yet adopted. As the numbers adopting increase, so will the moral force of the challenge. In the context of our current world problems, such openness and challenge are surely just what the world needs.

- SP challenges everyone to adopt it. Anyone not adopting can have no good reason for refusing.

Whatever the current politics of a person, organisation or political party, if they consider the measures of SP as desirable in a future context in which all cooperate, that is sufficient for their adoption. Because it relates only to the future context of cooperation, SP becomes a non-party political issue in the current context of competition. This allows it to be adopted by any person, organisation or party of any political leaning. Instead of dividing people along party-political or other lines, SP therefore unites them behind a policy for which there is already widespread support; support which, until the advent of SP, had no means of effective, political expression.

- SP is not right, left or centre but a policy for the whole world. SP unites us instead of dividing us.

Since SP depends on the consensus of all nation states, no question of usurping state power arises. Furthermore, in addressing itself purely to global issues, SP can be considered as complementary to regional, national or local initiatives and not as an alternative to them. SP therefore allows us to come together to act in consensus on global issues whilst maintaining national and local diversity.

- Unity and diversity: SP allows us to “Act Globally, not just Locally!”

That SP is low, or no-risk when it comes to be implemented; that it is universally acceptable and that its adoption cannot validly be refused are all good reasons why it will succeed. But there is a further reason: because today pseudo-democracy means that, whatever party we vote for, and in whatever country we happen to be, the policies delivered remain substantially the same; whatever they may promise prior to elections, today’s political parties - including Green parties - cannot deviate from market and corporate demands as a result of financial markets' ability to quash any public policy they dislike by the threat of capital, corporations and jobs moving elsewhere. Democracy has thus been subverted in to pseudo-democracy in which political parties can offer no prospect of substantive reform. Instead of providing a mechanism through which our democratic rights can be expressed, political parties have therefore become substantially obsolete as a means of change. Because virtually all countries are part of the global economy, we are all subject to pseudo-democracy. It therefore simply no longer much matters which party we vote for, or whether we bother to vote at all.

As more and more people come to realise this, they will increasingly be prepared to vote for ANY party that adopts SP seeing it as the only way to restore genuine democracy, economic and environmental security and peace around the world. Furthermore, we must remember that in most countries it takes only a relatively small number of people to influence the ‘swing’ or ‘floating vote’. The target, therefore, is to get that ‘critical mass’ of people in each country to adopt SP. When political parties realise that a critical proportion of the electorate is prepared to vote for any party that adopts SP, they are going to find adoption rather difficult to resist.

The only options are the false hope that the resources of high technology serving the capitalist system might somehow find a solution for us, or the view that change will be forced upon us by global economic, social or environmental collapse. In the absence of SP, by far the most immediate form of collapse is likely to be social. As corporations consolidate and employ ever more sophisticated labour-saving technology in their battle to maintain competitiveness and increase profits, the result will be a recourse to far-right parties, the dire consequences of which have been witnessed before. We can wait for that collapse to happen, or we can try to prevent it by pursuing the alternative choice that SP represents. In the light of these obvious warning signs, it is vital each of us takes the appropriate action by provisionally adopting SP, thus signalling to politicians worldwide that, as more and more of us adopt SP, their future electoral success will increasingly depend on them adopting SP too. So please click on the link below now to register your provisional adoption of SP.