[DEBATE] : (Fwd) New Internationalist v G20

[Patrick Bond]

It’s our economy, stupid!

Posted by Vanessa Baird on Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It's our economy, stupid!

by Vanessa Baird

One of the most surprising things about the current crisis is that more 
people haven't taken to the streets in protest. The greed, 
irresponsibility and sheer cynicism of the 'experts' who promoted casino 
capitalism is enough to make anyone's blood boil - especially if you're 
in line to lose your job or home.

But protest is mounting. A wide range of civil society groups - 
including trade unions, international development agencies, anti-poverty 
campaigners and environmental organizations - are getting together to 
organize a mass demonstration in London on Saturday 28 March. Their 
objective: an economy that puts people before profit, need before greed.

The demo has been planned to roughly coincide with the summit of the G20 
- the world's 20 biggest economies - who are meeting in London on 2 
April. The economic big players are tasked to discuss action to tackle 
the global financial crisis. Left to its own devices the G20 is likely 
to cling to the free-market dogma that has led us into this mess. Their 
resolutions will, at best, patch up a fundamentally flawed and deeply 
unequal system that has kept wages low, fostered rampant debt, cost 
millions their livelihoods and despoiled the world's natural environment.

The civil society groups are pressing for a more equal division of 
global wealth and power, for decent sustainable jobs, and a form of 
economic development that protects and restores the environment and 
tackles rising carbon emissions.

Apart from producing a special issue on this theme, New Internationalist 
is involved in the mobilization. For more details, including time and 
location of actions, watch this space. You may also want to have a look 
at The Paris Declaration (below), the result of two day meeting of civil 
society groups from across Europe who met on 10 and 11 January.

The Paris Declaration

We won't pay for your crises - it is time for change!

More than 150 representatives of trade unions, farmers' movements, 
global justice groups, environmental groups, development groups, 
migrants' groups, faith-based groups, women's groups, the have-not 
movements, student and youth groups, and anti-poverty groups from all 
over Europe gathered on the 10th and 11th of January 2009 in Paris to 
analyse collectively the current crises, to develop joint strategies and 
to discuss joint demands and alternatives in response to these crises.



As the financial and the economic crises intensify, millions of women 
and men are losing their jobs, houses and livelihoods. Tens of millions 
more are forecast to join the 1.4 billion people already living in 
extreme poverty. The crises worsen the social, ecological, cultural and 
political situation of the majority of people on our planet.



Despite the evident and foreseeable failure of the current economic 
model, world leaders are responding by trying to preserve the system 
that is responsible for the crises. Governments have been quick to bail 
out bankers, corporate share holders and their financial backers with 
hundreds of billions in public money. To solve the problem, they put 
into place bankers and heads of corporations: the same actors that 
created the crises. The workers, the jobless, the poor - all those 
affected have received no help in their daily struggle to make ends 
meet, and to cap it all, they are now supposed to pay the bill.



Governments´ proposals to deal with the unfolding economic crisis do not 
address the other dimensions of the crisis we face today - global 
justice, food, climate and energy - and with it the need to transform 
the economic system towards one that allows us to satisfy the basic 
needs of all people, to implement all human rights and to restore and 
preserve the ecological basis of life on our planet.



It is time for change!

We can build a system that works for people and the environment, a 
system to serve the needs of the many, a system based on the principles 
of public benefit, global equity, justice, environmental sustainability 
and democratic control.

As a first step, immediate measures must be implemented to address the 
social impacts on people, whilst supporting the ecological conversion of 
the economy.



We call upon all social movements in Europe to engage in a process of 
change. To start with, we call upon movements

- to engage in the mass mobilisation for the central demonstration in 
London on the 28th of March 2009 ahead of the G20 meeting, or to take to 
the streets in their own countries that same day to make their voices 
heard. 20 governments cannot decide on the future of the global 
financial system and economy.

- to undertake a day of action in the week of the G20 meeting, 
preferably on the 1st of April (Financial Fools’ Day) all across the 
world, exposing unaccountable financial power and promoting democratic 
control of finance.



This meeting is a further step in a long-term process of building spaces 
for European networks to meet. Recognising and drawing on previous and 
future mobilisations of social movements and civil society organizations 
in Europe and all over the world, it builds on ongoing efforts developed 
at the European Social Forum and elsewhere, aimed at realising a 
democratic and socially and environmentally sustainable Europe. We 
commit to intensify cooperation and communication among our networks and 
organisations with the aim of building capacity for sustained 
mobilisation and the development of joint alternatives. We are committed 
to supporting and encouraging all people to have their voices heard in 
reshaping their societies.



We will meet again on the 18th and 19th of April 2009 in Frankfurt am 
Main, Germany, in order to develop the next steps of mobilisation and 
strategies towards change. We call upon all social movements and social 
organisations to join this process.