The term "global civil society" has become a catchphrase of our times. But efforts to define and interpret what global civil society actually is have led to ambiguity and dispute. This major work of scholarship and advocacy pierces through the generalizations and debates. It presents cogent examples of groups within civil society--from the Seattle and Genoa protesters to transnational grassroots movements, such as Slum/Shack Dwellers International--that are creatively meeting the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly interconnected world.

There is a general assumption that widows are elderly and are looked after by their children and grandchildren. But research undertaken during the past two decades by the United Nations and NGOs such as WRI has shown that many widows are young- in India for example 34% of rural widows are under 30 years old. Widows, whether, old or young, suffer a high level of social exclusion, discrimination and deprivation; in many cases their own adult children cast them out as being too great a burden.

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are instruments used by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enable developing countries to qualify for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The international financial institutions (IFIs) claim that developing countries and their national governments are primarily responsible for the design and implementation of the PRSPs, but evidence suggests this is largely superficial, says research from the University of Oxford’s Queen Elizabeth House which finds that local people, communities or organisations often have only minimal input. The research says civil society participants mostly consist of a mix of NGOs which are not necessarily representative either of society as a whole or of the poor in particular.

The Poverty and Economic Policy (PEP) Research Network of the African Economic Researchers Consortium (AERC), brings together and provides support to developing country researchers working to reduce poverty. This call for research proposals concerns the Poverty Monitoring, Measurement and Analysis (PMMA) and Modeling and Policy Impact Analysis (MPIA) networks and targets researchers residing in developing countries. Both networks offer financial ($CAN 20,000 research grants), technical and scientific support to member researchers.

NGOs representing African descendants are demanding that United Nations documents referring to discrimination make explicit reference to anti-Black racism. The refusal of states and institutions to specifically name anti-Black racism serves to perpetuate the exclusion, marginalisation and oppression of people of African descent, according to the five groups and coalitions that signed a petition calling for this recognition.

The Global Commission on International Migration (GCIM) invites contributions to a series of research papers titled ‘Global Migration Perspectives’, edited by Dr Jeff Crisp and Dr Colleen Thouez. The purpose of the series is to contribute to the current discourse on global migration issues, and to assist the Commission in formulating policy options and proposals for its final report, which will be submitted to the UN Secretary-General in mid-2005. Preference will be given to papers that provide creative and policy-relevant perspectives on global migration issues. A fee will be paid for all papers that are accepted for publication.

"I was my mistress's slave - that was my identity," says Assibit, 50, who ran away from her master in June of this year. After walking 30 kilometres to the nearest village, she was taken by locals to the Timidria office in Abalak. Assibit was born into slavery - as was her mother, her husband and her five children. The government says it is trying to clamp down on slavery - and has introduced laws so that slave owners can be punished - but still there are estimated to be tens of thousands of people in Niger in bonded labour.

The outcome of the US presidential election is a shock to many people outside of the US who have been hoping against hope that Americans will do the world a favour with their votes and get rid of George Bush. Even the much predicted repeat of the disputed outcome of the last presidential election, which Bush controversially won, not by popular vote but through electoral machinations in the state of Florida (in which his brother Jeb was and still is Governor) and the connivance of the Supreme Court did not materialize in the end. Bush this time has won with a clear popular majority.

Winning by a whiff in 2000 did not stop him from behaving as though he had won an overwhelming mandate not just inside America but also to govern the whole world. He has divided his country and polarized the world. Indeed George Bush has succeeded in making America the number one bogey nation of the world with his reckless approach to international peace and security.

If the rest of the world had a vote in the US elections there is no doubt that Bush would have been booted out. If the views of the rest of the world mattered to Americans there would not have been a cliffhanger and it would have been a thorough defeat for the Bushman.

The fact that this is not so shows a number of things. One, Americans are as bitterly divided today as they were four years ago. Two, at the end of the day they (or at least a majority of them, no matter how small) do not care about what the rest of the world thinks. The attitude is one of take it or leave it. Three, opinion polls in America despite all the much-vaunted technology are as voodooist as in any developing country. All the exit polls indicated a Kerry victory but the actual declared results tell a different story. The same happened four years ago. Same mistakes twice should discredit the trade. Either American voters are incredible mass liars or the pollsters are fraudulent or both. Four, all the fears, allegations and counter allegations about the electoral process should humble Americans and all westerners who are quick to judge other peoples that democracy, even in the allegedly most developed country, is still a work in progress.

Now that Bush has been re-elected president the implications should be clear for Americans and the rest of the world. First, he will see the result as a legitimation for his domestic and foreign relations despite all the bitterness that they have caused. If Bush could wreak such havoc with a stolen victory what would he now do with a less controversial one?

Second, If Americans do not care about the views, interests and opinions of the rest of the world, why on earth should any other people or country care about America's views? A world in which every country does as it pleases is a recipe for global chaos. America has every right to decide who and how it is governed but it must respect that right to self-determination in other countries too. For instance if Zimbabweans want Mugabe or Venezuelans want Chavez and Cubans still want their long term president, Castro, why should the US government give itself the right to proclaim or orchestrate regime changes in these and other countries whose leaders it does not like? This also means that if some countries' voters desire theocratic leaders whether of the Islamist or any other religious inclination it will be their right to do so. After all Bush fought on a Christian fundamentalist neo-conservative agenda and his last four years in office has tested the notion of America being a secular state to extreme limits. If that is democratic in America why should it be less so for other peoples?

Third, victory twice over candidates who are definitely intellectually superior to him and more nuanced about the world is yet another demonstration that the standard of both national and global political leadership is in free fall. Bush’s victory could mean only charlatans, dimwits, liars, duplicitous and cruel politicians need aspire for success. This is a publicly Christian president who will even change the American constitution to protect the foetus and unborn children yet has no qualms killing women, children and innocent men in Iraq by the thousands!

Four, the received wisdom in Western election studies is that the voters are so enlightened that they will vote for their economic interests but Bush victory has stood this on its head. His father lost when the economy was not doing badly and he has won with a wobbly economic record whose limited recovery has been jobless. All his life personal failures have never stopped him from political victory. Five, Bush re-election may help reinforce a popular prejudice among non-Americans that Americans are one of (if not the most) ignorant peoples in the whole planet. Otherwise how does one account for the appeal of Bush?

However, America's selective disinterest in global opinion did not diminish the interest of the rest of the world in America's elections. I was particularly happy that observers from around the world, including a few Africans, were there to monitor the elections.

The reaction of the Americans was predictably hostile, believing that their democracy is beyond outside scrutiny. Yet US foundations, government, academics, NGOs and other election tourists from other parts of the West are now institutionalised accessories for any elections in Africa, Latin America, and other poor parts of the world. If they could observe us why can’t we observe them too? Why is what is good for the goose not good for the gander?

Finally, Kerry's running motto for the election was to exhort Americans not to vote for their fears but vote for hope in a new beginning. It is clear that fear has won and the nightmare from it will not be limited to the shores of the USA in the next four years. But one thing is certain - the world will survive Bush.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to

Timidria, an organisation that has spearheaded Niger's anti-slavery movement, is being presented with the 2004 Anti-Slavery Award from Anti-Slavery International. Slavery is an integral part of Niger society. Thousands of people are born into a slave class and are forced to work without freedom or pay throughout their lives. The true scale of slavery across the country only became clear last year, following Timidria's research -- the first national study of slavery to be carried out.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria faces a "critical year" in 2005 because of funding shortfalls, and it might not be able to award new grants, Executive Director Richard Feachem said in an interview last Thursday while attending an international pharmaceutical industry meeting in Spain, Reuters reports. In order to carry out its work for 2005, the Global Fund needs at least $2.5 billion in funding, but it has secured only $1.6 billion from donors, according to Reuters.

"Progress For Children addresses the child survival Millennium Development Goal, graphically depicting the world's advances in the lead up to 2015. It states that despite global gains in child survival since 1990, significant discrepancies remain within and across countries and regions and 11 million children still die needlessly each year. By ensuring access to basic services and continued use of simple, cost-effective interventions, these deaths can be averted and the goal of a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality from 1990 to 2015 achieved."

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Washington earlier this month witnessed the members' rejection of two big ideas - debt cancellation and institutional democratisation. No surprise. However, important financial developments are now unfolding, reflective of Washington's geopolitical imperatives in Iraq. Bank and IMF activity there was relegitimised at the annual meeting, but in a contradictory and untenable manner...Hypocrisy on debt relief - Iraq gets waves, Africa only trickles - worries not only excellent groups like Jubilee South and the 50 Years is Enough network, who insist on 100% cancellation. In early October even Malawi's neoliberal finance minister Goodal Gondwe complained of double standards during the IMF/Bank meetings: 'What I am afraid of is that putting Nigeria together with Iraq we may emphasize for sentimental reasons that are currently in the air politically, that talking about Iraq could be at the expense of Nigeria.'
Patrick Bond

Thirty Ministers of Education and of International Co-operation, heads of development agencies and civil society representatives will attend the fourth meeting of the High-Level Group on Education for All from 8-10 November. They will debate on gender parity, teachers’ working conditions, progress towards Education for All and aid to education. The High-Level Group serves as a lever for political commitment. Its role is to deliberate on policy responses to accelerate progress towards EFA, strengthen partnerships, identify priorities and highlight the resources to be mobilized.

Eye to Eye is a conference bringing people together from all over the world who are concerned with cultural relations. It is the first event of its kind and will begin to seed a global constituency of people who see an understanding of cultures –the way they work, interact and communicate – as vital to all our futures. Eye to Eye will help you travel from your world and into a new, worldwide network, formed of people who, like you, see cultural relations as a key to the future.

Children who live and work on the streets are vulnerable to human rights violations in the juvenile justice system and are less likely to be able to defend themselves from abuse once they are within the system, says a report from the Consortium for Street Children. The publication aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the causes and consequences of street children's involvement in criminal justice systems in a wide range of countries. The document includes descriptions of the treatment children receive at different stages of the criminal justice system. It also provides a framework of overarching concepts and recommended approaches to reform, an introduction to international human rights standards and guidelines on how to use them, and practical examples of projects and approaches from around the world.

New York, 18 October, 1004. The Secretary-General notes with concern that key deadlines of the Accra III Agreement, for the adoption of legislative reforms, the revision of Article 35 of the Constitution on eligibility to the Presidency and the commencement of the disarmament process, have not been met. He has taken note of President Laurent Gbagbo's address to the nation on 12 October 2004, and shares his views that the political crisis should be resolved without further delay. To this end, the Secretary-General urges the political forces in Côte d'Ivoire to ensure the full and unconditional implementation of the Linas-Marcoussis and Accra III Agreements, including constitutional reform and disarmament. The Secretary-General recalls that the Accra III Agreement envisaged the timely adoption of all legal reforms, including the revision of Article 35 of the Constitution on eligibility to the Presidency. In this context, he urges adoption of all legislative reforms without delay, and also appeals to all armed elements, including militias, to commence disarmament at the earliest. The Secretary-General welcomes the President's condemnation of all acts of violence against the United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) and the French forces, which should be unconditionally enforced by all authorities concerned.

Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria - which has some 17.5 million Anglicans - angrily blasted a report, saying that it was "patronising" and said the world communion could split. The report was ordered by the church's leaders after the ordination by a US church of a gay bishop. It said that both sides of the debate should seek reconciliation and that the US diocese should apologise for making Gene Robinson a bishop. But Archbishop Akinola said this did not go far enough and wanted those who are "promoting sexual sins" to be rebuked.

France and Spain called for a rethink on Monday on radical German-Italian plans to set up a European Union transit camp in North Africa for refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Their objections came at the end of a two-day summit in Florence held by interior ministers from the big five EU countries. Britain first raised the idea of an EU-funded transit camp where asylum-seekers could be processed before they reached the border of the EU in order to try to combat illegal trafficking that has seen thousands drown in the Mediterranean.

Better late - then never. A couple days after our official start at UPEACE (University for Peace), we noticed another colorful shirt and a new face of a tall strong man. As for many other African students the trip to UPEACE, was anything but easy. Sam's journey included five stopovers, two countries in Africa, two in Europe and one in Venezuela before finally arriving in Costa Rica. Yes, many of us take the one-day trip and many other things for granted. Nevertheless, Sam luckily made it.

Civil society organisations have historically played a crucial role in tackling issues of transparency, legitimacy and accountability within governments and businesses, with many positive results says Kumi Naidoo, CEO of CIVICUS. Some government leaders have suggested that, since they have been elected, only they should be able to develop and implement public policy. They argue that civil society organizations can never have the legitimacy of democratically elected representatives. Most governments and intergovernmental bodies embrace the role of citizen groups who seek to provide support, services and direct programmes of relief and assistance to communities and individuals in need.