The failure of the IMF, World Bank and WTO to represent and further the interests of the developing world, through their one-size-fits-all approach, has lead to the collapse of trade negations, widespread criticism of their effectiveness, and bitter international protest. Many countries are rejecting the neoliberal ideologies of the ‘unholy trinity’ with intensifying calls for their reform or decommissioning.
The extreme neoliberal model has failed to produce economic growth, exacerbated inequality, and is transferring wealth away from the majority of
people and into the pockets of big corporations. It is time to support movements for justice, and to get involved, writes Deborah James.
The world
is about to get simultaneously bigger and smaller depending on the field
of human activity concerned. It won’t be a return to provincialism and
a hierarchical society, but this radical
re-ordering won’t be easy and may at times be violently
resisted, says Jason F. McLennan.
It is now critical for us to recognize that long-term energy and climate realities will impose
limits on the global movement of goods. Global trade will not disappear, but as it wanes and as supply chains
shorten, the importance of regional and local economies will increase, write Fred Curtis and David Ehrenfeld.
Following the World Trade Organisation's ministerial conference in Geneva from December 15th-17th, civil society groups question the legitimacy of the current global trading system and call for radically alternative policies to tackle unemployment, poverty and food insecurity.
The International Monetary Fund recently made an unexpected excess profit of $2.8 billion from the sale of its gold. If funnelled correctly, this windfall could provide much-needed resources to the new debt cancellation mechanism for countries recovering from disaster, says a paper by Jubilee USA.
Behind the currency wars and the worsening global economic crisis lies a largely unquestioned free trade model that, without radical reform, is a major obstacle to a sustainable recovery. International trade should be based on cooperation, not competition, argues Myriam vander Stichele.
The
West African cotton industry is blocked by a wall of free cash dished
out by the United States and European Union to their farmers, robbing 10 million West African farmers of $250m as price-fixing benefits rich countries over poor
nations. A report by the Fairtrade Foundation.
