WORLD ON FIRE – BOMBEROS, ADELANTE!

“cienfuegos” ekke weis,
Vienna, AUSTRIA, July 15, 2008
a7316182@unet.univie.ac.at

Friends, compañeras y compañeros,

This is the first of several regular and more extensive blogs in which I will try and briefly elaborate on current affairs and issues which are at the core of the agenda of the World Social Forum (i). I will assume that every reader of the WSF BLOG follows “current affairs” on the global news channels and in the standard international media (tv, print, www – CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC World, Bloomberg et al.). Therefore, we will not preoccupy ourselves here with rehearsing “headline news” but, instead, concentrate on the substance of the issues behind (ii).

Still, I think it makes sense to recall a few of the most recent “highlights” making “Your World Today”, such as

(1) The unforgettable moment on WED, July 09, 2008, on the occasion of this year´s G8 summit in Hokkaido, Japan, when many a tear was shed by us people around the world - man & woman kind: The moment when the great chiefs of the G8 planted a couple of trees in joint & earnest manifestation of their understanding that it is important to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in order to do something against climate change (iii) ... We know the Importance of Being Earnest.
(2) The no less memorable failure of the G8 summit, once again, to establish a binding consensus among the G8 AND the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) about a “roadmap” for international cooperation to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, support the transition towards sustainable development, and reduce world poverty (iv).
(3) The production of biofuels and rising food prices are "threatening to plunge more than 100 million people on every continent into hunger" (Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations' World Food Program). Food riots and protests against rising prices of basic goods required for sustenance have been exploding in countries around the world (Egypt, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Haiti, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia)(v).
(3) The fact that none of the African political leaders found words of reprieve against Mr. Mugabe´s remarkable statements concerning his handling of the recent “democratic election” in Zimbabwe –independent of his well-founded accusations against the frequent attempts of the U.S. & Britain to “highjack” the UN Security Council and advance their own “foreign policy” stakes.
(4) The remarkable cooling of relations between Mr. George W. Bush and the Russian president – to the extent that Mr. Bush doubts whether the Russian president can still be considered “a member of the G8 party”. These doubts surfaced the day after “Madam Secretary” Mz. Condoleeza Rice and the Czech foreign affairs minister had signed the treaty for a U.S. radar system to be installed in Czechoslovakia – an installation that is supposed to complement the U.S.-NATO missile shield against long-distance missiles expected to be incoming, of course, from the usual suspects among the axis of evil ... The Russians were, “not amused”, and will retaliate by stepping up spending on defence & weapons upgrading.
(5) Israel and the U.S. are flying reconnaissance sorties over the Mediterranean and Iraq in preparing for what has come to be christened, as before, a potential “preventive first strike” against Iran. While everyone argues that this is a scenario of madmen, everyone agrees that – given the actual state of preparations – it cannot be ruled out a priori (vi): The probability of such an attack between now and January 20 (inauguration of the new President of the U.S.) is currently judged to exceed 50%.

Add in other salient information about the current State of the World (www.worldwatch.org)(vii), the global economy, and us, the people,, and it is plain to see where we stand, back against the wall. The world is on fire.

At the very same time, it is plain to see (e.g., from international coverage of this week´s “Mediterranean Summit” in France) that “standard” closed inter-governmental cuddling is passé – another living proof that the agenda carried by the World Social Forum has “come home to roost”: De facto, we have hit the front pages of the standard media around the globe. The powers that be have had to realize that they are on a crash course, and that there will be NO WAY OUT of the current global crisis WITHOUT the global CIVIL SOCIETY AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS. Still there is, for the time being, very little actual commitment to go ahead and actively integrate the Civil Society into global (regional, national, and local) decision making – hanging around, complaining, and waiting for better time so come will not be enough. What can we do, and WHAT IS TO BE DONE apart from what all member organizations of the WSF are doing already?

I have repeatedly argued for ANOTHER GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION – so far with no response. Therefore, let me end this Blog with another rallying cry for global and joint action to urge, and publicly DEMAND, the inclusion of the World Social Forum and its member organizations, into this very process!

Gracias a todos y hasta siempre,
“cienfuegos” ek

(i) It is important to keep in mind that, in whatever I am doing, I do NOT have any MANDATE from the WSF, any of its Board members, or from any member organization of the WSF. Whatever I write here is my sole responsibility.

(ii)Previous readers of my blogs will know that (after our Global Day of Action on January 26, 2008) I have become one of the active members of the WSF Global Reporting Team. I am a well-rounded international economist with a solid background in ecology, economic & social history, (sustainable) development, globalization studies, and the history of ideas. Since we will cover extensive ground in the blogs to come, it is only fair to provide a full set of references for anyone interested in the material and in relevant background documents.
Finally, let me recall what Wolfgang Pohrt remarked in his Preface to his seminal 1976 tract on The Theory of Use-Value: “The readiness to do what needs to be done, here, and now – irrespective of whether one is entitled or empowered to do so, by whichever organization – is the single most important preliminary condition for the revolution which is at stake.” I promise I will do my best, hasta siempre. Comments, questions, and critical remarks are more than welcome!

(iii) See the already legendary Stern Review by Sir Nicholas Stern on The Economics of Climate Change, downloadable from http://www.occ.gov.uk/activities/stern.htm. For the most pronounced critique on behalf of mainstream economists, check the recent papers of William D. Nordhaus under http://nordhaus.econ.yale.edu/

(iv) A few months ago, Jeffrey D. Sachs came out with his latest book on Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (Allen Lane/Penguin) - a definite, up-to-date must-read on our topic. Sachs is Director of the Earth Institute & Quetelet Professor for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, New York. And Special adviser to United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals – he became notorious for his work as adviser to the Bolivian government during the Latin American Debt Crisis of the 1980s: In 1987, Bolivia faced a “classic” balance of payments crisis cum hyper-inflation, and the IMF demanded the usual “appropriate measures” to “stabilize” the economy. By 1991, Sachs became adviser to the Polish government to engineer Poland´s “Transition to a Market Economy”, based on his Bolivian credentials and endowed with the blessings of the IMF. Since then, he has publicly distanced himself from his former devotion to a regime of “free and unfettered markets” and apologized – living proof and example for the fact that even hard-core mainstream economists are capable of learning from history (yes, everyone knows that free-marketeers have a hard time with history, ecology, complex evolving systems, and the like ...)

(v) http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04/22/food.biofuels/index.html

(vi)See Seymour Hersh´s recent contribution, “Preparing the Battlefield”, in The New Yorker, http://www.newyorker.com

(vii) Apart from the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org)and the International Forum on Globalization (www.ifg.org), also check the Transnational Institute (www.ifg.org) and the numerous other partners of the WSF for recent comments on the crisis and the G8. The Copenhagen Consensus (Director: Bjørn Lomborg, “Sceptical Environmentalist”) has published the recent papers of its 2008 Conference, (www.copenhagenconsensus.com/Default.aspx?ID=788).