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"Kittens on the Keys" (September 2006 Article
for Music Clubs Magazine) |
The UN Charter calls for it to
establish links to civil society worldwide through the establishment of a
DPI/NGO arm (Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental
Organizations). There were over 1600 as of the year 2000. The National
Federation of Music Clubs was accredited by the UN as an NGO in 1949. The
NFMC is a United States Congressionally chartered organization under its
Title 36/Subtitle II/Part B/Chapter 1515. This charter may be searched on
the Internet following the stream
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/36/stIIpBch1515.html
All interested parties are urged to do so. It gives the following
subsections to Chapter 1515: (1) Definition; (2) Organization; (3) Purposes;
(4) Membership; (5) Governing Body; (6) Powers; (7) Restrictions; (8) Duty
to maintain corporate and tax-exempt status; (9) Records and inspection;
(10) Service of process; (11) Liability for acts of officers and agents;
(12) Annual report.
The NFMC provides this outline
as an NGO:
Goals
1. To analyze and interpret to
the NFMC membership the aims and works of the UN.
2. As an organization included
in the Official Roster of the UN, to reaffirm music as a universal language
and to enhance the musical path of mutual understanding through cultural
enrichment at all levels, amateur or professional.
3. To continue to observe and
to cooperate for the survival of music in all its multiple noteworthy
facets, whenever the opportunity arises.
Methods
1. Attend and study the
content of briefings and conferences at the UN HQ in NYC, particularly those
projects devoted to education
and culture - topics that the Congress of the US has chartered NFMC to
represent in our nation.
2. Relay to the NFMC pertinent
information from the UN.
Anyone with an email address
can have correspondence from the UN to the NFMC Representative forwarded by
submitting their address to him at
arobertjohnson@nyphilomusica.org . An "address book" for
the purpose will be maintained and UN correspondence automatically forwarded
to it. We have a membership of 200,000. Of that number, how close are we
likely to come in enlisting this membership in developing links to the UN
from their community? Bear in mind that for many NGOs, there is no Internet.
Travel to NYC is prohibitive from distant places on the planet. We are not
only occupying a place of honor by being accredited at the UN, but have an
obligation to work with it in pursuit of its goals - a peaceful planet,
mindful of its vulnerability to misinformation and/or no information. We can
help. The UN Charter and our own Charter are there to affirm the role.
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United
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