Global Co-operation for
a Better World

Global Cooperation for a Better World (GCBW), a follow-up to Million Minutes of Peace, was launched from the United Nations in New York and the Houses of Parliament in London in 1988. As an international Peace Messenger Initiative, GCBW had the support of more than 400 companies worldwide and involved tens of thousands of people. Essentially, GCBW elicted from people, in words or pictures, responses to the question: “What is your vision of a better world?” In answering that question, people were asked to observe one “Golden Rule,” and that was to couch their responses in positive terms only. By 1990, the visions, hopes, and aspirations of a sweeping cross-section of individuals from more than 120 countries had been collected. From those, The Global Vision Statement was produced by a team of project coordinators from all regions of the world. The Global Vision Statement synthesizes all the material collected during the GCBW project and reflects the contributions of people the world over.

As a way of reporting on GCBW, Visions of a Better World, a Peace Messenger publication, was published. Visions of a Better World features some of the vast outpouring of color and creativity produced by the GCBW project. And yet, as the book’s introduction indicates, “Despite the uniqueness of personal visions and statements, there is a commonality of ideals and values that makes for an amazing unity cutting across all boundaries of nationality, race and creed.”