I saw this on another list and decided to pass it on to you.
In solidarity, Jerry
http://blog.newint.org/editors/2008/12/03/finance%20for%20development/
No we can’t
Posted by David Ransom on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 Comment on this post
The UN Finance for Development conference in Doha has come and gone in
a puff of hot air, unreported by the corporate media.
The same irresponsible people who presided over the credit crunch, the
financial meltdown, the grotesque inequities of human welfare and the
prospect of an immanent climate catastrophe have sat on their hands -
yet again.
So here is a short but sharp list of what is urgent and vital but will
not be done - even to achieve the meager goal of halving world poverty
by 2015:
NO immediate and unconditional write-off of the Global South's 'odious'
financial debts to the North
NO recognition of the Global North's historic environmental debt to the
South
NO action to close down tax havens
NO move towards 'innovative' sources of finance, such as a 'Tobin Tax'
on currency speculation
All that's suggested is that the UN should convene another conference at
some unspecified date - even if the 'modalities' have to be agreed by
March 2009.
In principle, this could be a small step forward. The UN is the only
halfway representative world body we have. If such a conference were to
set about replacing the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and
the World Trade Organization, which have fouled up so spectacularly,
that would be another step forward.
In practice, however, our feckless 'world leaders' are most likely to do
what comes most naturally to them, and simply fail to turn up.
To get some idea of how dreadful all this looks from the Global South,
take a look at Jubilee South. Or, if you live within striking distance
of London and are in search of positive inspiration, come to our Clean
Start gathering on 15 December.
***
A shameless betrayal
Posted by David Ransom on Monday, December 1, 2008 Comment on this post
Just a few weeks ago there was gridlock in Washington DC as rival
motorcades bearing the world’s self-styled potentates barged their way
to a snap 'G20' meeting on the economic crisis.
Right now in Doha, Qatar, there's a 'G192' (all the members of the
United Nations) conference on Finance for Development where heads of
state have been ostentatiously ducked - even the bosses of the World
Bank and IMF haven't bothered to show up.
At the first, amid media hype, governments brandished trillions of
dollars of public money at a private financial system that had just
blown itself up in a cloud of candyfloss wealth and grotesque
self-enrichment.
At the second, amid media silence, minor officials are struggling with
their own impotence in the face of social and environmental collapse,
oblivious to the solemn promises made by all the world's governments at
the turn of the millennium to cut world poverty in half by 2015.
Tomorrow we discover what the official outcome of the conference is to
be. But today we know already how ill-served by our governments we truly
are. If it doesn't, then it surely should go down as one of the most
brazen and shameless betrayals of the new millennium so far.
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Received on Thu Dec 4 06:24:30 2008
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