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Transforming Conversations That Matter Into Actions That Make A Difference

 
August 25, 1999


International leaders, innovators, youth activists, and community change-makers will be gathering at the Fifth Annual State of the World Forum, October 1-6, 1999 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. The 1999 Forum will carry out the tradition set forth at its 1995 launch by Mikhail Gorbachev. Oscar Arias Sanchez, Forum Co-Chair and Former President of Costa Rica, articulates: "The Forum is a unique and exciting phenomenon; the program has succeeded in bringing together people of different cultures, countries and ideologies. Out of tremendous diversity has emerged not only a clear vision of a more just and peaceful world, but also the type of action needed to realize this vision."

Notable and diverse speakers featured in this year’s 1999 conference include Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan; Marian Wright-Edelman, President, Children’s Defense Fund; Jose Ramos-Horta, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; Alfred Berkeley, President of NASDAQ; David Rockefeller Jr., Rockefeller & Co.; Alan Cranston, California Senator (1969-1993); Ambassador Donald Steinburg, Special Representative to the President; Gertrude Mongella, Secretary General, UN Third World Conference on Women; Jane Goodall, Primatologist; Deepak Chopra, Director for the Institute for Mind/Body Medicine; Hernando de Soto, Author, The Other Path; and Andrew Weil, Author, Spontaneous Healing. In addition to covening leaders of world renown, the Forum strives to bring important spiritual healers, community activists such as the Ashoka Fellows and the Goldman Prize Winners, tribal chiefs, artists and poets.

Conference highlights will include the Opening Plenary Session, "Creating a Culture of Peace," beginning with remarks by Queen Noor and Jose Ramos-Horta; "The Global Crisis of Spirit" at Grace Cathedral; "Capital Flows, Enterpreneurship, Technology and the Web" with Alfred Berkeley, President of NASDAQ; "The Soul of Money" with David Rockefeller Jr.; "The Earth Charter" with Maurice Strong, Secretary General for the UN Conference on the Environment; "Ethics at the Frontier of Science & Technology"; "21st Century Education" with Sunita Gandhi, Director of the Council for Global Education; "The Power of Women Waging Peace" with Gertrude Mongella; "Habitat for Humanity" with Millard Fuller; and "Coexistence & Community Building".

Over 80 young leaders ages 18-25 from 25 different countries will also join the Forum as part of the Emerging Leaders Program, representing the promise of the future. These youth include Hafsat Abiola, Founder of the Kudirat Institute and daughter of the late popularly-elected leader of Nigeria. Their participation will culminate in the Closing Plenary Session, "An Intergenerational Dialogue," facilitated by Jane Goodall and Nedra Carroll, mother and manager of recording artist Jewel.

The Forum encourages social responsibility and environmental sustainability in business. The Business Leadership Program will bring together participants from Asia, Europe and the U.S. This program focuses on biotechnology, the network economy, global currency markets, and philanthropy.

The Forum transforms dialogue into action. It serves as a global educational network of leaders representing academia, grass-roots organizations, business, government, and youth to analyze the most fundamental issues facing humanity in the 21st Century. These significant dialogues then serve as the foundation for Strategic Initiatives. Leaders emerge from the Forum with constructive plans that help communities to address these issues, including:
  • The Whole Child Initiative supported by Jane Goodall and Marian Wright-Edelman to work on healthy child development world-wide.
  • The formation of the a micro-credit bank, ‘Santa Fe de Guanajuato’, created and funded by local Mexican businessmen to provide loans for development.
  • The Coexistence Initiative which brought activists from 50 countries to Belfast to share experiences with government, grass-roots, community and youth leaders from the North and South of Ireland.
  • The Nuclear Weapons Elimination Initiative, headed by former Senator Alan Cranston.


General Lee Butler, Commander in Chief of U.S. Strategic Air Command from 1990-94, remarked: "The invitation to address the State of the World Forum in late 1996 was the catalyst that prompted me to make public my concerns regarding the continuing role of nuclear weapons as instruments of national security."

The Forum strives towards the future. Working in cooperation with the office of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the State of the World Forum will convene leaders of civic society concurrently with the gathering of heads of state during the UN Millennium Assembly in September, 2000.

Dr. James Garrison, President of the State of the World Forum, articulates the non-profit organization’s vision: "We bring people together from all around the world, we honor their voices, and we place the issues of politics, science, economics, culture and spirituality on an equal plane. And then within that context, we challenge people to engage in actions and strategic initiatives which are global in scope. We are working toward a world that works for everyone, a global civilization that is both sustainable and compassionate."

Special Events at the Forum include a press conference at San Francisco City Hall with Mayor Willie Brown on Friday, October 1 welcoming Her Majesty Queen Noor and other notable participants to announce "State of the World Forum Week." There will also be an event for the public at the Herbst Theater on Sunday, October 3 entitled "Creating a Culture of Peace for the 21st Century."