STWR - Share The World's Resources

Despite international commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, a recent UN report revealed that poverty will not be halved in any sub-Saharan country by 2015, indicating yet another failure of the system of aid and stregthening the call for a more robust international strategy to secure economic justice for developing countries.

The consequences of an economy based upon the principles of selfish individualism and brute competitiveness have now been exported to almost every country of the world. A return to the human values beyond economic theory has never been such an intimidating but tremendous possibility.

Economic Sharing can mitigate the unsustainable aspects of the global economy, allowing essential resources to be distributed cooperatively under the democratic guidance of the global public and entirely for their benefit, thereby promoting peaceful international relations and rapidly relieving poverty.

Why, you might wonder, does Germany feel the need to barricade the G8 meeting, protecting it from the thousands of expected protestors? The answer lies in the deep unpopularity of G8 summits, writes Mohammed Mesbahi, since they are considered undemocratic by the majority world and protestors from the richest countries.

The pursuit of economic growth as a sole measure of national success is not, despite the dogmas of the World Bank, a foregone conclusion or an inevitable assumption. A paradigm shift in thinking is required if our obsession with outmoded orthodox economics is ever to be overcome.

Until the existing profit-driven system is replaced by a more cooperative, equitable framework, more doomsday reports, more fearful warnings of Armageddon, and further predictions of a polarised ‘new world order’ can be expected in the newspapers.

The latest overseas aid figures are no suprise to the developing world, writes Adam Parsons. Broken promises will continue to make newspaper headlines until the deeper contradictions and biases of the current economic approach are addressed.

Corporations are able to reinforce their influence over the global economy by spending vast sums of money affecting political decisions, and public opinion. This level and type of corporate activity is ultimately to the detriment of democracy, society and the environment.

The global economy needs to be reformed to ensure that nasic human needs are secured around the world, and the United Nations is currently the only international body through which such fundamental change can be facilitated.

Together, the IMF, World Bank and WTO form the backbone of the modern world economy. However, these institutions are not democratic or representative of the global community, particularly the majority world which still lives in poverty. As a result, international trade, finance and development policies are skewed to benefit the economically dominant countries that represent a small minority of the global population.