He notes, “The clash of civilization is not a reality it is a project of some people. We address this by building bridges.. finding bridges to our common problems.”
“I am really impressed with the possibility to get global issues on the agenda, like global warming. Somehow there is a shift … I feel that people are not letting governments get away from it… the fact that there has been this tremendous turn around gives me hope that we are still in the game, that there is still hope,” he observes.

The importance that civil society is playing in building bridges can not go underestimated. “not letting governments get away from it” from their responsibility to govern justly, humanely and with global leadership is coming to the forefront with the shift in the global agenda. It may feel like rolling a boulder up a steep hill… but in some corners of the world it feels like gravity is finally working in the favour of global civic society.

Civic society is evolving in this era of globalization that exacerbates global inequality. More than ever civil society movements need leadership. Leadership that can traverse both the macro and micro levels of the new global stage. The old slogan think globally, but act locally is really being turned on its head.

Jim Collins in his book Good to Great and The Social Sectors, says, “True leadership only exists if people follow when they have the freedom not to. If people follow you because they have no choice, then you are not leading.”

One of the many challenges facing civic society leaders is to be able to lead within evolving structures of social movements, such as networks, coalitions and campaigns to name a few. When people “follow a leader when they have the freedom not to” social movements then become shaped by this “following” and in turn this becomes key in shaping the agenda of a social movement which strives to be representative, inclusive and participatory.