Talk:Citizens for Global Solutions
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[edit] Desired Information
This article gives only a superficial description of the organization, mostly historical and related to its former incarnation. It would be nice to have more recent information, particularly on the following topics:
- Global Solutions PAC and other election-related work
- Innovative outreach efforts, particularly the Flash and Virtual Poetry Slam contests
- Leadership, such as Board of Directors and senior staff
- Relations with other organizations on core issues (ICC, Environment, Peacekeeping, Stop Bolton, etc.)
Feel free to add to these.
[edit] Deletions
A large amount of info was deleted from the article without comment. I am restoring that info. The organization should not seek to suppress the info about its history. Ratification 00:52, 23 May 2005 (UTC)
Agreed. It appears to have been deleted again. The organization making edits to reflect only what it wants is a violation of the NPOV rule.
[edit] Student Federalists
Salvaged from Student Federalists:
- The Student Federalists was one organization, specifically aimed at students and youth, that promoted U.S. support for federal world government in the 1940s and 1950s. It later merged with other organizations to form the United World Federalists at a 1947 conference in Asheville, North Carolina, becoming that organization's youth division.
24.54.208.177 02:42, 22 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Criticism of CGS
Someone wrote:
- However, fair criticism can made that much of its advocacy program (as those of similar organizations) are less "grassroots" and more "astroturf" activism. Activists receive little if any training in civic engagement beyond pre-drafted letters or tips for lobbying national leaders. More members of the national leadership are drawn from inside-the-Beltway policy groups than citizens with local organizing or lobbying experience, and its leadership recruitment process heavily restricts the ability of local activists from being chosen. As with many such "membership" organizations in the past few decades, CGS has to date strongly trended toward professionalization and management of services as opposed to instilling democratic skills among its members and reflecting such in its programs and decision-making. (For more on this, see Theda Skocpol's article below.)
Is this true? What about Partners for Global Change program? Isn't that grassroots, since it consists of local groups of citizens who meet and do stuff like create oversized postcards and send them to Congress? 24.54.208.177 02:54, 22 November 2005 (UTC)
- Oversized postcards? Are you kidding me??? If this is what the Partners program does, no wonder the criticism was added. Is there no civic education efforts in CGS's programs? Do chapters not learn how to run local election campaigns on CGS's principles or teach members how to work with similar progressive groups to build diffuse political support with influential members of the community, i.e. editors, city councilors, business leaders? Does most of CGS's "support" come from anonymous, armchair activists using online activism ("astroturf") but with no grounding in the community ("grassroots") beyond the activists themselves?
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- Clarification: the CGS staff and leadership do not maintain this wikipedia page. As best we can tell, it is maintained by a long-time, very enthusiastic member. Secondly, our Partners engage in any number of civic engagement activities each year, from creating town hall meetings with local elected officials, to engaging in direct meetings with elected officials, to creating local coalitions in support of local action for the global environment. These partners groups and chapters elect a representative council called the Grassroots Leaders Council, whose chair serves on the organization's board. In addition, we have two active outreach programs that seek to work with existing local organizations and stakeholders to create collaborative, community-wide initiatives on U.S. foreign policy: the first seeks to engage local business, civic groups, the media and elected officials in a dialogue about how global issues affect the local community, and the second is building broad-based coalitions for local and global environemental sustainablity. The online activist program is only one of many ways we engage individuals and groups in creating the change they want to see in the world.
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- Ha! One would hope the staff of the organization is not maintaining this site, beyond correcting demonstratively false statements (as have appeared in some Wikipedia articles) That's the beauty of Wikipedia's NPOV policy and its anti-vandalism efforts. It is good to hear about what the organization is doing beyond online activism. Perhaps the staff could add a section in the article providing some analytics on these more substantial efforts vs. online activism.
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- A disclaimer: I used to be very involved myself, but haven't been for over a year. I don't know if the above commenter (apparently a staff person) was referring to me, or to Rad Racer, who apparently started the article and maintained it for the most part, or to the several non-identifiable IPs. (Me enthusiastic? Sure... Long-time? Not really.) I have also seen edits made by staff and leadership members. Same rule applies to all of us, false information should be corrected, but as I and others have suggested, historical and other material should not be removed without explaining why it's misleading. What is here is not to advance the organization, but to provide a fuller description of it overall. That being said, staff should keep an eye on it, because no one wants false information out there about CGS. It only hurts CGS and Wikipedia as well. Tfleming 17:32, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
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- Just an idea, looking over the history noted in the article: Perhap a staff person or another volunteer could write information about the Flash contest the organization has run. It is the most successful outreach, I understand, to young people in years. Just an idea... Tfleming 18:35, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
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- It's a pressure group, nothing more. --RaiderAspect 00:26, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
- Like a lot of NGOs, they send out action alerts to their members every month asking them to send letters to newspapers or officials on pertinent issues. Their Partners groups go see their local Congressmen, lobby legislative assistants, etc. 24.54.208.177 04:33, 13 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Copyright?
I just had a glance over the article and website, it seems a lot of the article is just a direct c/p from their website. --RaiderAspect 10:37, 22 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Material merged from other articles
Mt. Vernon Declaration was nominated for AFD, but had no consensus to delete. As such, it would be by default kept, but as an editor, I decided to merge it with this article instead. Johnleemk | Talk 12:17, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
- Same with Pittsburgh Youth Statement - see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Pittsburgh Youth Statement. Johnleemk | Talk 12:21, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Missing an Important Point
The most important thing that should be on this page, as it is accessed from the page of either of its two previous organizations, is why the name change? The name is very different from either of the two organizations or any of their predecessors, and so drastic a name change would seem as though the organization had something to hide (I'm not saying that it does). Even on the page of the organization it doesn't say. --Sobolewski 04:31, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
- Actually, there is on the organization's website an article documenting the name change that was published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy September 2, 2004. Here's the link: http://www.globalsolutions.org/press_room/news/news_chronofphil.html Tfleming 19:41, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
