Civic Virtue vs. ‘McWorld’

International conference outlines struggle between concern for common good and the ever-expanding global market

As countries around the world move pell-mell toward a single global market and social culture, private citizens must join together to insure that the poorest and weakest do not get left behind — and that democratic pluralism, tolerance, and compassion are not swept aside in the rush.

That was the message of many of the speakers at an international conference of non-profit leaders held here last month. The conference, which drew 500 people from 75 countries, was convened by Civicus, the self-styled “world alliance for citizen participation,” which seeks to increase the visibility, understanding, and support of private non-profit activities worldwide and to secure laws, policies, and regulations that enable those activities to flourish. Its meeting was held in the Hungarian capital, at the heart of a region that, since the fall of Communism nearly a decade ago, has witnessed the proliferation of thousands of private non-profit organizations.

“Civic initiative is slowly becoming a world power,” Arpad Goncz, Hungary’s president, told delegates at the opening session, which was held in his nation’s Parliament, a majestically ornate neo-Gothic building on the east bank of the Danube River. “A network is building from the grassroots — an organic power that comes from within, similar to natural evolution.”

With totalitarian regimes in decline, warned Benjamin Barber, a Rutgers University political scientist, there is a new “contest for the soul of the world.” That struggle, in its starkest terms, pits traditional civic virtues like democratic participation and concern for the common good against the inexorable expansion of the global marketplace, said Mr. Barber, whose new book is entitled Jihad Against McWorld.

The marketplace mesmerizes people, Mr. Barber said, with the seductive attractions of a global consumer culture that he calls McWorld — fast food, fast computers, fast music, and convergent tastes in everything from sneakers to soft drinks and from video games to cigarettes. In doing so, it overwhelms many cultural traditions that have developed over centuries, whether they be tea drinking in India, three-hour lunches in Spain, or religious devotion and political activism everywhere.

“Would it not be ironic,” asked Mr. Barber, “if at the very moment when Europe emerged from Soviet totalitarianism, and so many countries around the world are for the first time experimenting with civil society and democracy, a new form of invisible totalism emerged: the totalism of consumer markets, of 24-hour-a-day shopping, of space which is devoted only to commerce so there’s no space for civil association?”

Business leaders and politicians who seek to drastically reduce the role of government and who advocate market solutions to social problems endanger the survival of the very political environment that allows them to prosper, he observed.

“That’s the paradox of McWorld,” Mr. Barber said. “It cannot survive the conditions it inevitably tends to create unless it is checked and regulated by civic and democratic forces that it itself tends to destroy.” He added: “People who call for dismantling and privatizing the democratic state are calling for the death of civil society.”

Citizens’ organizations cannot hope to match large corporations in financial resources or organizational skills, Mr. Barber noted. “But civil society has one overwhelming advantage: It is literally constituted of, by, and for the people,” he said. “It is the power of us, and it can be as strong as we choose to make it.”

Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican novelist and political activist, listed a host of social problems that plague even the most highly developed countries: crime, drugs, homelessness, urban blight, and growing racist and anti-immigrant sentiment. “This is the inhuman face of market economics,” he said, against which grassroots groups must struggle daily.

But those groups are not without influence. “Small, flexible, and original, the organizations of the third sector help establish the public agenda by giving power back to the people,” said Mr. Fuentes. Those groups, he added, can help restore balance to what he sees as the increasing dichotomy between “the world of things and the world of beings.”

Other speakers rose in defense of globalization — and of the large corporations that are its chief flag bearers. “If not for globalization, the Soviet hegemony would not have ended and we would not be sitting here in Budapest today,” observed John Richardson, founding director of the European Foundation Center in Brussels.

Mr. Richardson recommended more humility on the part of foundations and civic associations and added, “We need to accept the fact that governments and corporations are made up of citizens who work and live in our societies,” most of whom want to “live long, live well, and be well thought of.” Because companies operate most efficiently in stable democracies, he said, most of them recognize the need to promote the development of citizen groups.

George Soros, the billionaire financier who has given many millions of dollars to foster what he calls “open societies” in countries of the former Soviet bloc, noted that global capitalism, despite its shortcomings, benefits the world in many ways, from the speed of its innovations to its promotion of the free exchange of ideas across borders.

“One needs to improve the capitalist system, not overthrow it,” Mr. Soros said. “But I do take issue with the laissez-faire position that the market will take care of everything.”

Private groups have a limited role to play in states with open and democratic governments, Mr. Soros added. “I don’t think civil society can cure the ills of capitalism,” he said. “Those are matters for the state and international organizations.”

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Nearly absent from the debate were representatives of multinational corporations themselves, few of whom were present at the conference — even though the assembly’s theme was “Engaging Our Partners.” Some members of the Civicus board noted that it has been difficult to persuade corporate executives to join their organization — and pointed out that sustained criticism of corporate globalism in several of the sessions does not make that task any easier.

Officials from some of the few corporations present — which included the American Express, Hitachi, Texaco, and Toyota Foundations, as well as Hewlett-Packard and Levi Strauss — confirmed that they were discouraged by what they perceived as an anti-corporate tone at several of the sessions.

Yet conference sessions on corporate giving were well attended, and many discussions focused on how non-profit groups themselves could diversify their incomes by marketing goods and services of their own.

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Add C.S.O. to the growing lexicon of non-profit acronyms. Civicus has adopted the term “civil society organization” to describe the goulash of non-profit and non-governmental organizations, associations, foundations, schools, unions, news organizations, and other institutions that help to build democracy, promote pluralism, fight poverty, and fill other roles that complement those of government and private enterprise.

But some participants balked at using a term they considered to be poorly defined or superfluous. And several noted that the astonishing diversity of legal, tax, and social environments from one country to another makes even more common terms like non-profit organization or philanthropic sector somewhat misleading.

Still others contended that “civil society” also encompasses government and business workers when they seek to promote democratic tolerance and citizen participation. Said Mona Zulficar, an international corporate lawyer from Cairo: “Civil society is that better part of us, that inner capacity to give without seeking any gain.”

Several participants wondered whether “civil society organizations” encompassed racist or hate groups.

“Civil society in this part of Europe is dominated by movements, groups, and projects which don’t subscribe to human rights or liberty or democracy,” said Dimitrina Petrova, a Bulgarian who directs the European Roma Rights Center, which seeks to protect the rights of Roma, or gypsies. “The skinheads who attack Roma are part of civil society.”

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As Civicus seeks to become an influential player on the world stage, representing the voices of citizen groups in councils of the World Bank, United Nations, and other international bodies, there are signs of growing receptivity to its overtures.

The chairman of Civicus, Rajesh Tandon, has testified before the United Nations Development Programme, for example. And here in Budapest, a former U.N. Secretary General contended that the time has come for citizens to play a much more prominent role in international-agency deliberations.

“An international system based solely on relations between governments is no longer adequate,” said Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru, who headed the United Nations from 1982 to 1991.

Non-governmental organizations and other representatives of citizens and grassroots groups must also participate in its deliberations, he said.

One step in that direction, Mr. Perez de Cuellar noted, would be a U.N. General Assembly elected directly by people from all regions of the world. “It is time to restore a respect for the citizen in international organizations, just as it is being restored in nations all over the world,” he said.

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Civicus has nearly tripled its membership since 1994, to about 380 organizations and individuals, and raises $1.2-million a year to support its activities. It is therefore a much more stable organization than it was during its first world assembly in Mexico City two years ago, said knowledgeable observers. But the task of trying to forge consensus among members from scores of countries with a diversity of languages, cultures, and religions continues to present challenges for the organization.

One example at the conference was a dispute over the politically sensitive question of whether one of the informal caucuses by which Civicus organizes activities on a regional basis should be named for the Middle East — the geographic region in question — or for the Arab participants who constitute the majority of its members. Israeli participants, who preferred a geographic designation, walked out of one session over the issue. But after an evening of high tension, the matter was resolved when the Civicus board opted for the Arab region designation while also reasserting its commitment that Civicus be an inclusive organization. It also agreed to invite an Israeli to join the board, which already has three Arab members.

“We need to accommodate political reality, but tolerance, inclusiveness, and partnership are very important for Civicus,” said its executive director, Miklos Marschall.

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Mr. Marschall, who has gained much experience in negotiating through such political mine fields, has announced that he will step down next year to return to Hungary, where he had been deputy mayor of Budapest before agreeing four years ago to help establish Civicus.

“When I joined Civicus it was a concept; now it is a reality,” Mr. Marschall said in an interview. “This initial phase of the organization has been completed, and I think it is healthy for the organization to have new leadership for the next phase of its work.” Mr. Marschall’s term ends in April, but he has agreed to stay on until a successor has been named. That person will help prepare for the next Civicus global assembly, set for Manila, Philippines, in 1999.

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To the recurrent question of how citizen participation could be nurtured worldwide and how individual organizations could be strengthened, several conference speakers directed participants to four new Civicus publications that were showcased at the conference. The books are:

* Building Civil Society Worldwide: Strategies for Successful Communications. The 87-page paperback presents 23 case studies showing how organizations in several countries are publicizing their activities to win support.

* Legal Principles for Citizen Participation: Toward a Legal Framework for Civil Society Organizations. The 31-page paperback outlines the importance of laws governing citizen participation, including regulation, tax exemptions, and accountability.

* The New Civic Atlas: Profiles of Civil Society in 60 Countries. The 167-page paperback presents short descriptions of voluntary activities in 60 countries, including their size and scope, legal and tax environment, and base of support.

* Sustaining Civil Society: Strategies for Resource Mobilization. The 373-page paperback lists a dozen ways organizations can build support, from earned income, foundation grants, and government contracts to debt conversion, microcredit, and socially oriented investors. Possibilities are illustrated through case studies.

Copies of all four publications are available from the Civicus Secretariat, 919 18th Street, Third Floor, Washington 20006; (202) 331-8518; the fax number is (202) 331-8774. The cost for each is $10 for members and $15 for non-members, except Sustaining Civil Society, which is $20 for members and $30 for non-members. (Postage and handling costs an additional $3 per copy to U.S. addresses, $7 to addresses elsewhere.)