Critical Times

The G20 is an informal meeting of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America plus the European Union Council presidency and the European Central Bank.

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the President of the World Bank, plus the chairs of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank, also participate in G20 meetings.

• The G20 started in 1999.

• Its role includes overseeing the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, known as the Bretton Woods Institutions.

• In 2006, the G20’s agenda includes further neo-liberal ‘reform’ for these institutions.

• The G20 and the Bretton Woods organisations are heavily influenced by corporate and business lobby groups, and as such, they represent these interests above all else.

• The power that they have is undemocratic.

• The World Bank and the IMF encourage “Free Trade Zones” or “Export Processing Zones” where a country’s tax and labour laws are suspended or drastically altered to attract foreign corporations. This creates an environment in which corporations are able to generate massive profits by exploiting the environment and the workers in such countries. The suffering and devastation caused in these countries is appalling, but the reach of these organisations is not limited to poorer nations.

• In many cases the IMF will force its policies on smaller nations by holding back desperately needed loans and funds from poorer nations unless the policies are introduced.

What does the G20 mean to ordinary Australians?

Every year, the IMF produces a lengthy report into the Australian economy, including recommendations on future neo-liberal reforms.

Previous IMF reports have recommended:
• the unpopular IR reforms,
• welfare reforms,
• cutting the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, and
• limiting the DSP.
Even though none of these changes are in the interests of the Australian people, all have been enacted.

The Howard Government’s Finance Minister, Senator Nick Minchin, recently spoke about the Industrial Relations reforms, in a speech to the H.R. Nicholls Society.

He said: “Poll after poll demonstrated that the Australian people don’t agree at all with anything we’re doing on this — we have minority support for what we’re doing… The fact is the great majority of Australians do not support what we are doing on industrial relations, they violently disagree.”

Despite this unpopularity, he suggested, “There is still a long way to go,” and told his audience that there would soon be a second round of reforms. Given the Government’s understanding that these reforms are clearly contrary to the wishes of the Australian people, we must wonder whose interests they are actually representing.

Who will be protesting?

A wide variety of groups disagree with the approaches of the neo-conservatives. This includes mainstream organisations like Make Poverty History, which protested at the G8 events last year, non-government organisations like Oxfam, alternative political groups, religious groups and individuals like you.

What are we protesting for?

A noticeable quality of the global justice movement has been the apparently disparate, even contradictory, views of the various groups involved. What these various groups have in common, however, is that they all see the negative impacts of the rise to power of global corporate capitalism, and the ideologues who advance its interests. The protests call for a ceasing of arbitrary and undemocratic power by the neo-conservatives. This is the common ground among the disparate groups.

What will the protests be like?

Exactly what form the protests take is entirely up to the participants. Some may choose to blockade, others might prefer to run other peaceful activities to coincide with the meeting. No-one will be coerced into doing anything. Protest is a free action, and it is entirely up to the individual how they conduct themselves.

But why should I get involved?

Aristotle regarded participation in politics and ethics as the highest form of human activity.

• History teaches us that inaction in the face of injustice has disastrous results. Throughout history, when power and wealth has been unfairly controlled and abused by a privileged few, ordinary people have resisted. Without this kind of resistance, the unfairness continues unabated.

• As citizens, we have no say in what is decided at the meetings of these groups. Our working conditions, our security, and the environment are routinely sacrificed in order to facilitate corporate profit. Our democratically elected officials have no choice but to comply. This is, in effect, an undemocratic global capitalist dictatorship, and the G20 is an integral component of it.

• The damage that is being caused to our precious environment and to millions of peoples’ lives throughout the world is enormous. The upcoming meeting of the G20 presents an opportunity for ordinary people not only to assert their own rights, but the rights of people everywhere, and a determination to protect and defend our environment and standard of living.

• It is the greatest issue of our time. This event represents a chance to have your say. The G20 plays a central role in a system which perpetrates injustice the world over, and we have a chance, as well as an obligation, to show that we will not be subservient.

We say: Global corporate capitalism is a ruthless system — a system that has scant regard for the interests of humans. It has coopted and corrupted our political leadership, along with the leadership of many other nations. Our actions should be seen as a vote of no confidence in this leadership, an act of defiance and resistance, and a demand that our democracy return to valuing the interests of humans and the environments above all else.

Join us in November in a diverse range of political actions with the aim of immunising the world against the G20.

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