Trashing designer flip flops in the name of world peace
at 12:00am on Thursday, 13th July 2006
So, today I made my way through the white tent of security that is the front door to the UN and proudly stepped into the centre of global politics. I was met by collages, photo exhibitions and quite famous sculptures and made my way up to the 38th floor of the UN building, and into Kofi Anan's Secretariat office.
I expected to snigger into my skinny latte at the aims and objectives of the Alliance of Civilisations - a new UN initiative that was launched without warning by Jose Luis Zapatero, Spain's PM in the aftermath of the Madrid bombing at a press conference with Tony Blair. Yes, the unit's aims are ambitious by anyone's standards. But the way they are going about working towards them is far more important.
The unit has just 12 months to set out its stall before finding out whether it will get funding and patronage from the new Secretary General (whoever that might be). If is does, it will work in quite a different way to most parts of the UN structure.
As the official I spoke to said, "We are pleased we are not one of the big UN bureaucracies, with all the excesses and problems they bring. We want to be far more responsive. We want to make sure that the work we do has real traction with the people who need it, not the politicians in New York. The big mistake that countries like the US and UK make is that they want to dictate the terms of reference for the discussion, and fail to recognise that the best ideas come from 'letting go' and engaging in real and meaningful dialogue."
I went from total sceptic to quite a fan. I was, in fact, totally won over. Yes, like all bits of the UN, their goals can be lofty and nebulous at times. But it really felt like they have learned the lessons of their colleagues at 1 UN Plaza and were thinking hard about new ways of working to reflect their new ambitions.
They were also pretty big fans of Demos by the end of the meeting. I see the beginnings of a beautiful new relationship blooming in sweaty and thundery New York... At least I hope so, given the fact that I trashed my Kurt Geiger flip flops in the rain storm on the way to the meeting....
I expected to snigger into my skinny latte at the aims and objectives of the Alliance of Civilisations - a new UN initiative that was launched without warning by Jose Luis Zapatero, Spain's PM in the aftermath of the Madrid bombing at a press conference with Tony Blair. Yes, the unit's aims are ambitious by anyone's standards. But the way they are going about working towards them is far more important.
The unit has just 12 months to set out its stall before finding out whether it will get funding and patronage from the new Secretary General (whoever that might be). If is does, it will work in quite a different way to most parts of the UN structure.
As the official I spoke to said, "We are pleased we are not one of the big UN bureaucracies, with all the excesses and problems they bring. We want to be far more responsive. We want to make sure that the work we do has real traction with the people who need it, not the politicians in New York. The big mistake that countries like the US and UK make is that they want to dictate the terms of reference for the discussion, and fail to recognise that the best ideas come from 'letting go' and engaging in real and meaningful dialogue."
I went from total sceptic to quite a fan. I was, in fact, totally won over. Yes, like all bits of the UN, their goals can be lofty and nebulous at times. But it really felt like they have learned the lessons of their colleagues at 1 UN Plaza and were thinking hard about new ways of working to reflect their new ambitions.
They were also pretty big fans of Demos by the end of the meeting. I see the beginnings of a beautiful new relationship blooming in sweaty and thundery New York... At least I hope so, given the fact that I trashed my Kurt Geiger flip flops in the rain storm on the way to the meeting....
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Comments
And as to the flip flop rebuff! I have two things to say to you. Firstly, they are not just any flip flops - they're Kurt Geiger flip flops. And secondly, this is New York! Anything goes, UN or not!...
But seriously, it's very interesting to hear the rhetoric of 'letting go' coming from an organisation like the AoC. Not only is a it a playful rhetoric but it's also a very creative way of thinking and politicians aren't usually very good at that. I have a fairly ageist theory about generational shifts (it's hard not to be ageist when thinking about that really) so I wondered how old the official you spoke to was?
The reason I ask is because, for some time, I have been wondering what the shape of the world will be like when the next generation of thinkers start to move into influential positions. Whether they'll get sucked into the conservatism and bureaucracy or whether all those years of networking and videogaming will make a difference. Open Source Democracy as Doug Rushkoff has written about for Demos.
Also, it's interesting that AoC doesn't work on a General Assembly or Ecosoc mandate, but on the "private" initiative of politicians. Maybe a sign of the "multi-multilateralism" that Frank Fukuyama calls for, or the competitive market for International Organizations that Prof. Ruth Wedgwood proposes (password required.)
I would guess that the official was in his 30s so your generational theory might be right! He also wasn't a UN lifer, so was not tarnished by years of fighting against the system. That might help, too!
No comment on the thong.