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corporations in the twenty-first century, and it can benefit from the kind of strong integrated ethical vision that is being developed in the Earth Charter.* law". Some UN member states were wary of increased NGO par- ticipation in such avenues, Cardoso noted, but the proper response was to undermine those objections to "reduce distrust, demonstrate the effectiveness of collaboration and build consensus..."*"" The aim of the Panel is not to exclude NGOs from decision-making processes, but to formalise and entrench their presence within the UN system, giving them an enduring role in building effective structures of global governance. Peggy Dulany's participation on the Panel is unlikely to result in any deviation from this goal. aim of the Panel is not to exclude NGOs from decision-making The Earth Charter Initiative is no enterprise set up by an other- processes, but to formalise and entrench their presence within the wise obscure academic, but a joint effort involving Maurice Strong, UN system, giving them an enduring role in building effective the Chairman of the Earth Council, and former Soviet President structures of global governance. Peggy Dulany's participation on Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Green Cross International. the Panel is unlikely to result in any deviation from this goal. Funding for the Earth Charter Initiative has come from the RBF (of which Steven is Chairman), some UN agencies, and the David Rockefeller, Jr Netherlands government. More importantly, the Charter's authors The eldest of David Rockefeller's children, David Junior has also —_ hope for it to receive endorsement from the UN General Assembly, succeeded his father by taking up senior positions in a variety of | making it into a "soft law document"—much like the UN Universal foundations and policy-planning organisations. He isa trustee and —_ Declaration of Human Rights, which is a statement of intentions former Chairman of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Asian rather than a binding document. However, as Steven notes, "in the Cultural Council, an honorary trustee of the Brookings Institution, a _ history of international law, soft law tends to become hard law over member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a former time". With this in mind, a "hard law treaty", the Draft President of the Rockefeller Family Fund. International Covenant on Environment and He has also been involved in a number of Development, has been written in tandem environmental organisations, including as a with the Charter.* member of the Pew Oceans Commission, a The document in question is closer to the trustee of the National Park Foundation and visions of a purer world promoted by JDR3 founder of the Alaska Fund for the Future. While the commitment and Laurance—the musings of contented David Junior's main business role as been as of the current generation plutocrats intent on leaving a legacy of global Director and former Chairman of Rockefeller change rather than necessarily increasing their & Co., Inc. of Rockefellers to the personal wealth. According to Steven David Junior's take on the world is little Wilson—-Fosdick Rockefeller, besides calling for a "culture of nown, save for only a few snippets. Ina New World Order model peace" the Charter envisages a "just and speech on the relationship between business AoA sustainable socio-economic — order", and the arts in 1997, for example, he may seem limited, eradicating poverty, promoting "ecological observed that: "The Internet has fulfilled the the Rockefeller fortune, integrity", "human development in the fullest sense", but in a manner that is "consistent with the flourishing of Earth's ecological systems". The "New Beginning" that the Charter promotes at its conclusion is for all humanity to undergo a "change of heart and mind"—a message also underlined in the Preamble, with its call for the unanimous embrace of a "shared ethical vision" of "universal responsibility" by securing a pledge of commitment to the Charter's principles from those who endorse it.” rophecy of a global village. I do not elieve that big corporations can finesse their responsibility to define and support the particular communities in which they operate most actively." The answer to this dilemma, he opined, was "the arts because they simultaneously embrace the particular and the universal, [and] can best help us to grasp this "32 world full of tension and technology". directed through a plethora of foundations and organisations, ensures that the ideology has supporters even if they are not family. Steven Rockefeller "The only long-answer to the problem of terrorism is to build a global culture The ultimate objective of this Utopian of peace", wrote Professor Steven C. document is an Arcadia, a perfect world Rockefeller, one of Nelson's sons, on 29 September 2001.* made possible when we all think alike. Steven's prescriptions were perhaps unsurprising, given his role in formulating the Earth Charter, a document released in March = THE ROCKEFELLER NETWORK TODAY 2000 by the Earth Charter Commission. The purpose of the While the commitment of the current generation of Rockefellers Charter, according to Steven, who was Chairman of the Earth to the Wilson—Fosdick New World Order model may seem limited, Charter International Drafting Committee, is to "articulate the ethi- the Rockefeller fortune, directed through a plethora of foundations cal principles that should shape whatever institutions of global gov- and organisations, ensures that the ideology has supporters even if ernance the human community decides to develop".* Providing they are not family. Leading this effort are the Rockefeller overall guidance to those forces, particularly NGOs, which are tak- Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation and the less-well-known ing part in the steady erosion of national sovereignty and the under- Rockefeller Family Fund and Laurance Rockefeller Charitable mining of those democratic systems that exist through the construc- Trust. Each of these organisations promotes the globalist agenda, tion of more effective international institutions, seems to be a pri- some more obviously than others. mary objective. Pointing to the "growth of a new powerful interna- On its website, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund describes itself as a tional civil network that includes many influential nongovernmental "philanthropic organisation dedicated to improving the well-being organizations", Steven Rockefeller has argued: of all people in the transition to global interdependence". This is The emerging global civil society is in a position to exercise evident in the plethora of programs to which the RBF devotes significant influence on governments and international resources from its still-deep coffers. In 1997, for example, the then While the commitment of the current generation of Rockefellers to the Wilson-Fosdick New World Order model may seem limited, the Rockefeller fortune, directed through a plethora of foundations and organisations, ensures that the ideology has supporters even if they are not family. THE ROCKEFELLER NETWORK TODAY While the commitment of the current generation of Rockefellers to the Wilson—Fosdick New World Order model may seem limited, the Rockefeller fortune, directed through a plethora of foundations and organisations, ensures that the ideology has supporters even if they are not family. Leading this effort are the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation and the less-well-known Rockefeller Family Fund and Laurance Rockefeller Charitable Trust. Each of these organisations promotes the globalist agenda, some more obviously than others. On its website, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund describes itself as a "philanthropic organisation dedicated to improving the well-being of all people in the transition to global interdependence". This is evident in the plethora of programs to which the RBF devotes resources from its still-deep coffers. In 1997, for example, the then 34 = NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com FEBRUARY — MARCH 2004