Source: IFIs Latin American Monitor / Mon Jan 25 2010
By the end of 2009, it seemed necessary to take stock of the political and economic situation and of the different processes in which civil society has been actively involved, in order to provide input for debate and coordinate efforts for the construction of a new economic and financial model. For this purpose, a seminar-workshop was carried out on December 10 and 11 2009, within the framework of the MERCOSUR Summit of Presidents held in Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 8.
Representatives of over 40 Latin American social organisations gathered in Montevideo in order to discuss and propose alternatives to the current financial system. Following the outburst of the economic and financial crisis in 2008, discussions and proposals started to proliferate in governmental and inter-governmental spaces and social organisations at international level, thus becoming necessary to bring them to this regional space, in order to build and strengthen political advocacy strategies in the face of alternatives, taking into account the current political and economic situation and the different sub-regions. Read more…
Eventos, News
Alma Espino, Álvaro Padrón, Andean Coordinator of Indigenous Organisations, BNDES, CEDHA, Central Trade Union Coordinator of the Southern Cone, Confederation of Argentine Workers, Fernando Gambera, FESUR, Financial crisis, Graciela Rodríguez, Héctor Moncayo, Héctor Mondragón, Hemispheric Social Alliance, ILSA, International Gender and Trade Network, Jana Silverman, Javier Gómez of CEDLA, Juan González, Karen Lang, Latindadd, Luis Sirumbal, MERCOSUR, Norma Aguilar, OWINFS, Pedro Páez, PIT-CNT, Raúl Zibechi, Rebrip, Redes-Amigos de la Tierra, Ricardo Jacques, Roberto Bissio, Rómulo Torres, Sebastián Valdomir, social watch, Technical Commission of the Bank of the South, Víctor Ricco
First published on Z Net
November 20, 2009 By Noam Chomsky and Diane Krauthamer
This interview was conducted on Oct. 9, 2009, at Professor Noam Chomsky’s office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.
DK: I would like to start this interview with a discussion of the economic crisis and how workers can deal with the issues which we face. In your recent piece titled “Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours,” which was published in the Boston Review, you state that the “the financial crisis will presumably be patched up somehow, while leaving the institutions that created it pretty much in place.” Following on that, there has been a recent upsurge of militant industrial action in workplaces, primarily throughout Europe, and also in North America. As you know, the Republic Windows and Doors Factory in Chicago was the first factory occupation in the U.S. since the 1930s.
NC: No, not quite, because the 1979 strike against U.S. Steel in Youngstown, Ohio was an occupation—and actually, that’s a model that really should be pursued now. They went on from striking to trying to have the workforce and the communities take over the abandoned factories that U.S. Steel was dismantling. The legal effort that followed was led by the radical labor lawyer Staughton Lynd. They didn’t win in the courts, but they could have won, and they would have had enough support. It could have meant a lot. Read more…
News
Financial crisis, Noam Chomsky, workers
By Schechter, Danny
Source: Z Net
Johannesburg: There was lots of skepticism when I came to South Africa two years ago to show my film IN DEBT WE TRUST. While my critique of consumer debt resonated, the film’s forecast of a financial crisis didn’t. Their economy seemed to be doing well and it was hard to tell a society that tends to look inward that they would be affected by a financial crisis in America, l0,000 miles away.
Most believed it would pass them by.
It hasn’t. A year ago, the International Monetary fund warned that 200,000 people would be affected. People living on $2 a day might end up surviving on $1 or not surviving at all. These victims around the world are mostly not part of the US debate or our media coverage. The faces and stories of these victims are as conspicuous by their absence as have been stories of the one million families that had their homes foreclosed upon in the last quarter. Read more…
News
Danny Schechter, Financial crisis, South Africa
By Natalia Cardona, Social Watch Advocacy Coordinator
Poverty and its exacerbation by way of the financial crisis is a problem for those living in the margins of misery or the “bottom billion” as well as a global challenge that permeates entire sectors of society, in both developed and developing countries, and needs immediate action and attention from all governments concluded experts at the launch of the annual Social Watch report on September 25, 2009 in New York during the high level segment of the United Nations General Assembly. The event organized by Social Watch, to launch its report entitled People First, drew the attention of United Nations Representatives, academics, local poverty and gender equity activists and the media. The affair was followed by a lively discussion about the effects of the crisis at the global level. Read more…
News
Financial crisis, Natalia Cardona, People First, Social Watch 2009 report
Statement of the WOMEN’S WORKING GROUP ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT for the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, September 2009
The current G20 meeting in Pittsburgh takes place a year after the outbreak of the worst financial crisis in recent history. That moment left us astonished as we watched powerful governments and the International Financial Institutions scramble to plug a hemorrhaging financial bubble burst in the system of the global market but the crisis quickly spread as a global contagion and soon entire economies were placed at risk. Everywhere the crisis led to destabilizing impacts on the real economy threatening the livelihoods of men and women. Read more…
News, Statements
Financial crisis, G20 Summit Pittsburgh, gender equality, WOMEN’S WORKING GROUP ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT
From UN News Centre
10 September 2009 - A high-level United Nations commission on the world financial crisis today called for a new global reserve system that does not rely on a single currency like the dollar, a new global credit facility to complement the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a new global coordination council that would be more inclusive than the current G20 bloc of countries. Read more…
News
"Stiglitz Commission", "United Nations", Financial crisis
By Natalia Cardona-Advocacy Coordinator Social Watch
From August 18-20, 2009 I was hosted by the Third World Network and the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) -a Social Watch member-at a conference focused on the effects of the global financial crisis on Asian developing countries and the policy responses governments had undertaken as well as lessons in the region. The conference was well attended with more than 60 participants including economists, central bank representatives, government officials, UN representatives and civil society organizations. The information obtained was invaluable and much care was taken to provide everyone with the details behind each policy, lessons and responses as well as the effects of the crisis. Read more…
News
Financial crisis
Por Roberto Bissio, Social Watch
El G20, oscuro mecanismo de reunión de ministros de finanzas de un grupo de países, ha realizado varias cumbres ultimamente: Washington (noviembre), Londres (abril), y ahora se anuncia una nueva reunión en Pittsburgh (setiembre).
El Grupo de los 20 genera un gran cambio, y hay mucha gente que dice, incluyendo el presidente Lula que el g7 o el g8 son irrelevantes. Todos ellos salvo Rusia, son países que están endeudados a niveles cercanos al 200% de su producto bruto, unos más otros menos, ahora esos países se juntan con los acreedores, China, Brasil y otros países sistémicamente importantes. La definición de cuáles son los países sistémicamente importantes es una definición puramente política, por ejemplo Argentina está en ese grupo. Incluso para la reunión de Londres se invitó a España y Holanda que no estaban en la lista de la reunión de Washington, fuera por presiones políticas o para equilibrar la presencia europea, que es abrumadora en términos de representación, pero por las razones que sea la definición es una construcción política. Esta construcción desde el punto de vista de la legislación internacional, es un grupo de amigos -no tiene personería jurídica - no tiene secretariado, no tiene capacidad para tomar decisiones, sino lo más que puede hacer es formular recomendaciones. Read more…
News
"Stiglitz Commission", "United Nations", Derechos humanos, Financial crisis, Human Rights
[Más abajo en español]
By Jana Silverman, Social Watch
NEW YORK - June 24, 2009 - Today, in an open dialogue with representatives of civil society, Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, Chair of the Commission of Experts of the President of the UN General Assembly on Reform of the International Monetary and Financial System, detailed many of the recommendations proposed by that Commission and in particular called for a “new intellectual framework” which can lay the basis for a new global financial architecture.
Read more…
News
"Stiglitz Commission", "United Nations", Financial crisis
Public Forum
Towards a people-centered economy: Alternative responses to the crisis
Tuesday, June 23rd
7:30 PM
Brecht Forum
451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets)
New York City Read more…
Eventos
"United Nations", Financial crisis, G-20