It Will Take More than the G-20 to Move from Crisis to Sustainability

A New Economy is Possible
It Will Take More than the G-20 to Move from Crisis to Sustainability

As the G-20 gathers in Pittsburgh September  24-25, thousands of representatives of grassroots organizations, unions, student and faith-based groups from across the nation and the world will also be converging to express dissent against the G-20s failed policies, and to strengthen the growing international movement for a sustainable new economy.

GGJ is proud to be part of this convergence.  We see it as one of many movement-building gatherings centering grassroots activists in the debate around global economic change, and a milestone on the road to international participation in the US Social Fo rum in Detroit June 2010. 

The need for a new economy is more urgent then ever.  While Obama has declared that the economic downturn has stabilized in the US, the reality is that without significant structural changes to the current economy, working and poor people will continue to struggle with less.

“Here in Pennsylvania, a recent study by Keystone Institute showed that income declined for 95% of people in Pennsylvania while the top .01% saw their income double between 2001 and 2008,” says Robin Alexander, Director of International Relations for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), and a member of GGJ’s Globalization and Migration working group. “This is not the kind of world we want to live in.  We can create a world that provides decent jobs, health care and government services while protecting the environment for all people all over the world."

The World Bank has projected that 89 million people will slide into dire poverty by the end of 2010.  This together with the rising U.S. unemployment rate, the specter of 59 million jobs to be lost worldwide, and spiraling global environmental degradation indicate that the time is now to make big changes to business as usual.  In this current economic crisis, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930’s, it will take a global town hall, not an exclusive negotiating table to create solutions that work. 

GGJ calls on people across the country to participate in activities by following GGJ’s activity online at www.ggjalliance.org andwww.pittsburghunited.org/g20; and by taking part in solidarity actions at home:  http://www.jwjblog.org/2009/09/week-of-action-to-demand-a-real-economic-recovery-for-working-people/

The problems that caused the economic crisis are much bigger than a few predatory banks and greedy CEOs.  The people are going to have to demand that the G-20 move from tinkering with a broken financial system to transforming the global economy to one based on these principles, among others:

1. Prioritize the voices and rights of the communities most affected by failed economic policies over the interests of investors
2. Channel resources towards protecting human rights, not shielding wealth
3. Rollback privatization of social services, unequal trade policies, and structural adjustment requirements that increase poverty in the Global South and among poor and working communities in the North. 
4. Increase public sector investment in infrastructure and services
5. Respect the sovereignty and autonomous decision-making powers of countries from the Global South
6. Comply with international labor standards
7. Phase out fossil fuel, transition out of a consumer culture dependent on throwaway products, and abandon policies that commodify ecological preservation and rights

For more information please visit www.ggjalliance.org www.pittsburghunited.org/g20http://www.jwjblog.org/2009/09/week-of-action-to-demand-a-real-economic-recovery-for-working-people/http://www.jwj.org/recovery/09_sept_grid.html