The leadership development and implementation of comprehensive shifts in global strategies aimed at linking people toward improving and sustaining their common good is progressing---even though leaders of individual religions, countries and military powers attempt to slow down such bridging efforts.
For example, the United Nations has been ineffective in taking a stand on civil war within Syria or allowing for Palestine national recognition due to uncooperative nations blocking such moves. What is overriding such uncooperative national actions is the more powerful growth of social networks, that operate through the Internet, and do not recognize country borders.
The Wall Street Journal reports in its December 4, 2012 issue that the question of who should rule the Internet is being debated at a 12-day conference in Dubai. The conference is sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies.
The bid to change the rule book has unleashed fears of a grab for centralized control of the Internet by the U.N. The process has also come under criticism for its lack of transparency, with documents unpublished and proposals up for debate kept secret. Among the most vocal critics are U.S. Internet companies like Google Inc. "Only governments have a voice at the ITU," Google wrote on its Take Action website. "This includes governments that do not support a free and open Internet."
For example, a group of 17 Arab nations, including the United Arab Emirates, is proposing greater control by governments in regulating the Internet and transfer of data. The group is calling for all Internet users to be universally identified, but critics warn of greater monitoring of Internet traffic and censorship in many countries that already block what their citizens can view online.
"Governments all over the world are seeking to reclaim grip and control that has slipped from them into the hands of empowered individuals," said Marietje Schaake, a member of the European Parliament. "Some of the proposals made are considered threats to the open Internet, to net neutrality, or to free speech if adopted," she added.
Vision of the Evolution of Planet Earth
The interview below of Barbara Marx Hubbard by Michel Saloff-Coste discusses the history of her interest in integral leadership and its application to her work in future studies. She also discusses the forthcoming "Being 2012" taking place around the world on December 22, 2012.