Bad Ischler Rundschau February 2006

Globalisation / Platform for a world in balance: The "Global Marshall Plan"

Photo: Jean Promberger

BAD ISCHL / "Why is everything on this earth the way we don't want it? Stupidity could be responsible, constraints of the system, or forces, "that want it exactly that way", thinks Franz Rademacher, academic (Club of Rome) and mastermind of the Global Marshall Plan.

Globalisation and progress

It is indisputable that technical progress can solve (nearly) all problems, however it is at the price of new problems being made in the word, says Rademacher. Globalisation is - this is also undisputed - a consequence of technical progress; but one acts, as if everything is absolutely fine.

The whole thing could even work, allowing a "world in balance" to be realised according to economic-social principles. For "Do we need new answers to globalisation?" was also the question being asked at a discussion for which the Rotary Club Bad Ischl and the Economic Chamber had gathered Economic Chamber vice president, Ulrike Rabmer-Koller, Salzburg's former District Administrator, Wolfgang Eisl, and the world musician Hubert von Goisern on the panel.

It's just as impossible for there can be a new world economy miracle without justice as without lasting development, overcoming poverty and protection of the environment, the Global Marshall Plan backs political desire for transformation in the centre of society.

The "super rich" still reign

Rademacher knows that money is also an important factor of course, as: "the power is where the money is generated" and today that is in a few hundred super rich families on this earth.

Their interest in fundamental changes ("and those are more necessary than ever") is of course not particularly pronounced. But as great as the power of money may be, there are boundaries for it too. And profound improvements would have to take place in the mind anyway: through understanding. Referring not least to the handling of other cultures and ways of life, Rademacher addresses the conflicts with the Islamic world: "there is not a deficit of democracy in this world because there is no democracy in any Arab country, but rather because 100 million people in America vote for a president, with whom six and a half billion people then have to live with".

So long as a a small minority can feel themselves to be "winners" and celebrate that with the corresponding condescension, "it can't be astonishing, if one gets to do it with terror", says Rademacher, calling for understanding for the "losers", whose chances are smaller from the start and are "then insulted and humiliated simply because they find stability with and in their faith".

Josef H. Handlechner

OÖN 9th February 2006

BAD ISCHL. A top class discussion forum in Bad Ischl under the leadership of OÖN editor-in-chief, Gerald Mandlbauer, looks at the theses of Franz Rademacher.

Can a global Marshall plan control globalisation, and is it even possible for a set of worldwide eco-social rules to be realised? This question was discussed on Tuesday at a top class discussion forum in Bad Ischl under the leadership of OÖN editor in chief, Gerald Mandlbauer. Aside from Franz Rademacher from the Global Marshall Plan initiatives, on the panel sat Salzburg's former District Administrator Wolfgang Eisl (ret.), Ulrike Rabmer-Koller, vice president of the Upper Austrian Economic Chamber, as well as the unconventional thinker and world musician Hubert von Goisern.

Development as an opportunity

Ulrike Rabmer Koller cautioned against only demonising globalisation. "It is a development with which we must live, whether it suits us or not", said the from so die building contractor from Altenberg. "It is important to make the best of globalisation, and to see it not as a menace, but rather as an opportunity."

While Wolfgang Eisl warned that the monetary aid from the Global Marshall Plans could trickle away in corrupt regimes, Hubert von Goisern told of his personal experiences in the Third World. "The people there know much too little about us and we know much too little about them," said the Goiserer musician. "I try to contribute my part towards a meeting in that I give concerts in Africa and Asia. The meetings were not always simple and were often full of conflict. But for me they were also unforgettable."

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OÖN 2nd February 2006

BAD ISCHL. How can we counteract the negative effects of globalisation? A top class discussion in Bad Ischl, to which the OÖN invite all next Tuesday tries to find the answers.

The world is growing together and turning out at the same time out of equilibrium. Mass unemployment, obsolescence of the industrialised societies, north-south divides, terror, hunger, wars and other symptoms show that the world is in crisis.

Together with the Economic Chamber and the Rotary Club Bad Ischl, the OÖN are therefore inviting all on Tuesday, 7th February at 19.30 hrs to a high class discussion in the Kongress- and Theaterhaus Bad Ischl. Title of the event: "Do we need new answers to globalisation?"

The most prominent participant is Franz Rademacher. The German academic is a member of the Club of Rome and advocates the realisation of a global Marshall Plan - a worldwide framework of order, which should stem the negative effects of globalisation.

Hubert von Goisern not just the local matador from the Salzkammergut in the discussion, but an also expert too. His world music takes from the cultures of many continents, his public statements about global injustices have distinguished him as an artist and free thinker with depth.

The two participants Wolfgang Eisl and Ulrike Rabmer Koller are authorities in all things economic. Eisl was District Administrator in Salzburg for many years, Rabmer-Koller is a successful in Altenberg near Linz and Vice President of the Upper Austrian Economic Chamber. The high class discussion will be led by OÖN editor-in-chief Gerald Mandlbauer.

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