Photographer: Jonny White (G20 April 1st) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

London G20 2009

Economic

G20 Solutions tend to focus on financial growth and security, figuring that if banks are sound then business can be funded and everything keeps rolling along happily. So money is poured into the financial sector in the form of stimulus payments. The second solution G20 focus on is removing impediments to big business, in particular global companies. For this, trade agreements and other mechanisms are used to “level the playing field”.

The problem with these solutions is they are predicated on the idea that if you look after the big end of town, wealth will trickle down to the rest of us. The problem is, this “trickle down” effect does not occur. It seems that what happens is that wages, conditions, and goods and services all level out to the lowest common denominator while the “big end of town” continues to get bigger.

In June, Oxfam Australia’s chief executive Helen Szoke said ”The Australia figures are quite staggering if you think that nine individuals have a net worth that is equivalent to the total 4.5 million people, or the bottom 20 cent of income workers – that’s pretty stark.” Her source was a Forbes and Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook study.

One of the reasons for the increasing gap between the rich and the poor is regressive tax rates. In the US in 1970 the income tax rate over $100,000 dollars was 70%. Now it’s 39.6% for income over $225,000. Another is the holding down of incomes since the GFC, which have lost value in real terms while the profits of the multinationals and the bankers have gone up. Source, the federal reserves own 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances.

Indeed even when the G20 make sounds as if to recognise these issues, nothing happens.  In 2011, at the request of the G20 The Gates Foundation produced a report entitled G20 Report that recommended a financial transaction tax as a way to stem the flow of wealth from the poor to the rich.  The tax came to be known as the Robin Hood Tax.  The recommendation was not adopted.

It is not only personal income that contributes to the gap between the rich and poor.  Company profits are often able to escape taxation altogether, or be greatly minimised.  Again, the G20 recognised the need to address this issue, and called for the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting plan to address corruption and tax evasion.  The request was picked up and a plan developed by the OECD (see here: BEPS).  But as yet, G20 nations have failed to endorse the plan.  The Tax Justice Network have conducted ground breaking research into global tax evasion, revealing that 21 Trillion dollars (the entire GDP of the US is only $16 Trillion) is siphoned offshore before governments have a chance to tax it.   Many of the nations who host this offshore profit, have massive debts that cripple their ability to provide infrastructure and services to their people, yet their total debt is LESS than the offshore profits they are hosting.  But it’s not dodgy no name banks who are holding the profits on behalf of western corporations: it is the very international banks of the G20.  And these banks are paying off the corrupt leadership of these debt ridden nations, or paying the public purse a pittance and threatening to go elsewhere if the host nation dares to tax them.

Even the IMF has criticised the lack of action on tax havens, as shown by the Tax Justice Network in the report IMF: tax havens cause poverty, particularly in developing countries:

The IMF report takes a swing or two at the OECD’s BEPS process. For instance, in a section on tax treaties which allocate taxing rights among countries, the IMF notes that not only are the OECD models (that are generally the basis for these treaties) skewed in favour of richer countries, as we and other have often remarked, but it also adds:
“At issue here are deeper notions as to the ‘fair’ international allocation of tax revenue and powers across countries (which current initiatives do not address).”

Which makes it all the more perplexing that the G20 nations have failed to endorse BEPS.

The G20 have recognised that the shift of wealth upwards is a threat to global economic growth. In 2009, the G20 adopted the ‘G20 Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth’  in which it required it’s members to “promote balanced and sustainable economic development in order to narrow development imbalances and reduce poverty”.  Yet they seem so beholden to the business lobby that they have forgotten this framework.

Climate

If we turn to climate we find a similar scenario. At the 2010 G20 Summit in Soul the closing document expressed a commitment to “achieving a successful, balanced result that includes the core issues of mitigation,transparency, finance, technology, adaptation, and forest preservation”.  Yet the G20 have achieved almost nothing on these fronts.  The G20 have failed to provide effective leadership in developing effective world wide carbon reduction policy.  In energy production, the G20 have failed to implement removal of fossil fuel subsidies despite reiteration of the need to do so at many of the G20 summits.  In an age where governments are asking their people, through mechanisms such as the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, to accept removal of barriers to trade such as local environmental laws, animal cruelty laws, food safety laws etc, they are then asking their people to accept fuel subsidies that favour the big emitters.  $528 billion world wide goes towards fossil fuels while $88 billion goes towards renewable energy.  On a proportional basis, per unit of energy, more subsidies go towards renewable energies, which on the surface makes it appear that renewable energy producers are better off.  however if this figure was reversed the uptake of renewable energies would occur much quicker and there would be a brake on fossil fuel use.  The benefit in carbon reduction would be immediate.  Of course on the end of this is a consumer of fuel paying more to get from A to B.  But the solution is not to bring everything down to the lowest common denominator.  Nor is it to heat the world’s climate in the process, because doing so will only cost the average person on the street more in the long run, while, under current G20 economic models, the captains of industry will continue to do better and better.

Representation

In a very real way this highlights the flaw in the whole modus operandi of the G20 and their neoliberal theories.  That the G20 are not working effectively towards lifting up the world’s populace economically, so that they can afford to make a real choice between using fossil fuels or an equally priced (and heavily subsidised – at first) renewable energy alternative, is a basic failure of democracy.

The G20 leaders are not listening to the people.  After the G20 summit, with all it’s feel good statements about climate, the worlds poor and so on, they go back home to their economic rationalist advisors and their lobby money and fail to act.  The G20 is a Festival of Fakery.  The only real things that come out of the G20 are “back room” agreements that centre around access to resources.  “We’ll open this market if you open that market”.  The talk of caring for the environment, building alternative energy solutions, equality and eliminating poverty is all forgotten when the talk gets down to the nitty gritty.

Not only is the G20 failing on democracy for it’s member nations people: it doesn’t represent all the people of the world.  The G20 nations cover 70% of the world’s people, and 90% of it’s wealth. The last 30% with only 10% of the wealth are not represented in any meaningful way in the G20 discussions.  All South American nations excepting Brazil and Argentina, most of Africa and South East Asia are not represented.

First Nations

The people of the world’s first nations are particularly under represented by the G20, primarily because their nations have been decimated by colonialism.  Indeed they are more often not even recognised as having sovereignty and it is expected that representation is covered by the nation under which they have been colonised.  What is not understood is that until sovereignty is recognised, first nations people are without land and without purpose.  They are adrift within the imperialist’s world.

Where sovereignty is recognised through appropriate treaties, first nations people are able to rebuild their unique culture, laws and language. First nations people usually have very different economic models compared to the G20 member states.  They have closer affinity with the land and when it is destroyed by mining or environmental degradation the connection to their culture is in danger of being lost.

The economic and cultural needs of first nations people around the world are not covered by the G20.  At most you can expect token participation. Before first nations people can have true justice the world needs to divest itself of colonialism: it has to decolonise.  First Nation sovereignty needs to be recognised.  Anything less amounts to assimilation, and assimilation is genocide.

So Where To From Here?

It’s fairly clear that the G20 process is not going to lead to a fairer cleaner safer world.  Even alternatives such as BRICS (Brazil Russia India China and South Africa) really only seek to provide the same economic rationalist approach in a way that more closely suits that particular subset of G20 nations.  What is needed is for the world’s people to first become aware, and second, stand up to the G20 process and say “not in my name”.  Like the Indignado movement in Spain, the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement and now the Hong Kong democracy movement, there needs to be mobilisation against the economic rationalism that is leading to the destruction of our planet and the economic slavery of billions.  We need to break down the current paradigm that says “growth is good” and establish a global community that seeks to represent all peoples, to put people before profit, and to work towards and for Sovereignty, Society and Sustainability.

The story of how this is done is will be written by history.  But it starts with YOU!

 

 

References:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Policy/G20-Report

http://www.oecd.org/ctp/beps.htm

http://www.taxjustice.net/2014/01/17/price-offshore-revisited/

http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/The_Price_of_Offshore_Revisited_Key_Issues_120722.pdf

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jul/21/offshore-wealth-global-economy-tax-havens

Media Release

“G20 is austerity summit” claims protest organiser

 

BrisCAN spokesperson, Adrian Skerritt said: “The G20 meeting will disrupt the lives of Brisbane residents from November 8 to November 16. But it won’t end there. G20 policies will continue to disrupt our lives long after the meeting is over.”

The G20 forum is committed to shifting wealth from the majority of citizens to the incredibly rich. They will do globally what Newman and Abbott are doing locally – sell public assets, outsource and cuts to social services.”

“The G20 is the Austerity Summit” claimed Mr Skerritt.

“What they can’t achieve through their budgets and trade deals they will attempt to resolve through war. Look at Obama and Abbott’s new war in Iraq and Putin’s use of military force in the Ukraine.”

The rally and march on November 15 will condemn G20 policies that create poverty and inequality. The march will also champion the values that should drive economic and political decisions – justice, sustainability, indigenous sovereignty and democracy.

“BrisCAN is demanding a world with an economy that works for people and the planet, a world safe from the ravages of climate change and war, a world with good jobs, clean air and water and healthy communities” said Mr Skerritt.

The rally will assemble at 11am November 15 2014 at Emma Miller Place (Roma St) and subsequently march past the G20 summit to Musgrave Park.

For detail about BrisCAN-G20 visit briscan.net.au or www.facebook.com/briscan.g20.
For further comment contact media spokesperson Adrian Skerritt on 0400 307 892.

One of the myths promulgated by the many public commentators, and latched on to by many Australians who have no direct experience of Muslim cultural life in Australia, is the idea that Muslims aren’t standing up and rejecting Extremists. This myth is blatantly inaccurate, with many Islamic religious and community leaders openly condemning ISIS and other extremist groups.

Part of the reason the myth persists is that news stories that show Muslim leaders condemning extremists rarely make it past the hysteria surrounding reporting of ISIS and the potential for local terrorism.

You only have to have an open mind and dig just a little below the surface to find that Muslim leaders are indeed condemning extremism, and without reservation.

This open letter to ISIS, signed by over one hundred of the worlds leading Muslim scholars, lays out in no uncertain terms how the actions by ISIS do not represent Islam.  The letter lists the main Islamic laws that ISIS has failed to uphold, then addresses Al Baghdadi, the ISIS leader, directly.  It lists 24 “essentials”; areas of Islamic custom which ISIS has not respected.  The breaches include slavery, the killing of innocents, the killing of emissaries, (journalists), the harming of non-believers (forbidden in 90% of Islamic interpretations), destruction of graves, and others.  Also rejected by the letter is the right of ISIS to declare a Jihad.
The letter concludes:

Islam is mercy and its attributes are merciful. The Prophet, who was sent as a mercy for all the worlds, summarized a Muslim’s dealings with others by saying: ‘He who shows no mercy, will not be shown mercy’; and: ‘Have mercy and you will be shown mercy.’ But, as can be seen from everything mentioned, you have misinterpreted Islam into a religion of harshness, brutality, torture and murder. As elucidated, this is a great wrong and an offence to Islam, to Muslims and to the entire world.

Not only are worldwide Muslim scholars denouncing ISIS and extremism.  Pushed to the back pages, likely due to it’s un-newsworthy nature, are statements by Islamic leaders across Australia.  Just a few stories are listed below:

And further condemnations of ISIS from around the world

These stories aren’t hard to find.

Yazidi Refugees

Yazidi refugees from Islamic State receiving support from the International Rescue Committee

The Keep QLD Nuclear Free network hosted a conference today to welcome Naoto Kan to Brisbane and to ask Mr Kan about his position on nuclear power. Mr Kan was Prime Minister of Japan during the Fukushima Nuclear disaster.

Mr Kan spoke of the failure of TEPCO and authorities to contain the disaster and of the affects on the prefecture of Fukushima. He described the Fukushima disaster as without precedent and without any technology yet capable of cleaning up the site. The cores of several reactors continue to melt down without any real ideas on how to stop the process, and top soil removed from the site will have to be stored for thousands of years.

When asked about his position on Nuclear power now compared to before the disaster, Mr Kan said his view had changed 180 degrees. As of today, no nuclear power plants are operating in Japan, having been mothballed while a decision is made about how or if the plants can be operated safely.

Earlier this week Mr Kan visited northern Australian Indigenous communities to talk with Elders about the issues of Nuclear power and nuclear mining.

Below are photos from the conference:

Naoto Kan Brisbane (1)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (2)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (5)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (6)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (8)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (10)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (11)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (12)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (14)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (15)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (16)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (18)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (19)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (20)

Naoto Kan Brisbane (21)

Supporters frustrated and angry with the government’s handling of the Manus Island detention centre rallied in Brisbane today.  Over 300 protesters gathered at King George Square to hear speeches, followed by a march through the city centre.

Indigenous elder and community leader Sam Watson offered a welcome to country, and also spoke of the sense of solidarity the Indigenous community feels with asylum seekers due to their common dispossession from home lands.  Labour and Greens politicians spoke, condemning the inaction and secrecy of the government regarding the recent violence at Manus Island. Refugee activists and a Manus Island employee also spoke at the rally.  Speaker Tim Arnot condemned Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison for failing to acknowledge  murdered detainee Reza Berati by name, and called for a minute silence.

There was some negotiation with police who were unwilling to let a march go ahead due to the required paperwork not having been filed in time.  It is this reporters understanding that the Peaceful Assembly act requires 5 working days notice only to ensure that an assembly can not be stopped without a court order from police, but that an impromptu assembly is still legal and that it is within police powers to allow the assembly to proceed unless there is good reason not to (public safety etc).

In the end, protesters decided they were going to march anyway, and police acquiesced.

Photos and Videos follow below:

Media Release from Mark Gillespie Refugee Action Collective

MEDIA RELEASE

POLICE AND LOCALS RUN AMOK ON MANUS ISLAND: SCORES INJURED; FEARS FOR
THE LIVES OF ASYLUM SEEKERS

Scores of asylum seekers have been injured, some seriously as gangs of
armed PNG police and locals go from compound to compound attacking any
asylum seekers they can find.

Asylum seekers were left defenceless when all staff and G4S guards
were evacuated from the detention centre. Tension with groups of
locals had been building throughout the day. G4S had already withdrawn
from Mike compound late Monday afternoon.

The attacks started late Monday night after the power was cut to the
detention centre. PNG police and locals then had the run of the
detention centre.

Locals are armed with machetes, pipes, sticks and stones – have bashed
and cut asylum seekers. One asylum seeker has been thrown from the
second floor of a building; others have suffered machete cuts. There
is one report that a man has been left with his eye hanging from its
socket after a bashing.

Asylum seekers fled from their compounds into the dark in a desperate
attempt to flee from their attackers. A call from Mustafa in Mike
compound around 11pm said that there were only five or six people left
in his compound and they were now fleeing to try and find safety.
People had fled all the other compounds. Mustafa said that he was
covered in his own blood from cuts to the head, hand and arms. He
estimated at least 50 people in Mike compound alone had been injured.

One of the last of the staff to be taken out of the detention centre
around midnight Monday night said it will be a miracle if no-one is
killed.

Gunshots can be heard in the background of calls coming from the
detention centre.

“The blood spilled inside the Manus detention centre is on the
Immigration Minister’s hands. Manus Island has always been a disaster
waiting to happen,” said Ian Rintoul, spokesperson for the Refugee
Action Coalition.

“Scott Morrison deliberately played down the seriousness of the
situation and the danger that asylum seekers faced. It seems clear now
that the injured asylum seekers were deliberately treated inside the
detention centre to hide the scale and seriousness of the injuries
suffered on Sunday night.

“It must be clear now that asylum seekers cannot live safely on Manus
Island. They should never have been taken there. Asylum seekers must
be brought to Australia.”

For more information contact Ian Rintoul 0417 275 713

The High Court of Australia has unanimously ruled that the federal Marriage Act 1961 overrides the recent passing of the Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013 in the ACT. Consequently the ACT law has been repealed. The marriages of 30 people who were married under the act no longer have legal standing.

In its judgement the High Court maintained that the federal government’s right to pass law on marriage is protected under the constitution. Section 51 of the Constitution grants power of marriage and divorce to the federal government (s51 xxi and s51 xxii). Since federal Act explicitly forbids the recognition of gay marriage, the state Act has no validity.

The Marriage Amendment Act of 2004 (an amendment of the federal Marriage Act), states that:

“Marriage means the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life. Certain unions are not marriages. A union solemnised in a foreign country between: (a) a man and another man; or (b) a woman and another woman; must not be recognised as a marriage in Australia

The High Court’s summary judgement states:

“The Court held that the object of the ACT Act is to provide for marriage equality for same sex couples and not for some form of legally recognised relationship which is relevantly different from the relationship of marriage which federal law provides for and recognises,”

“Accordingly, the ACT Act cannot operate concurrently with the federal Act.”

The finding puts the onus for marriage reform back onto the federal government. Gay marriage advocates will need to work harder to bring about a federal bill that overturns the common law definition of marriage on which the 2004 amendments were based.

ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has no regrets about pursuing marriage equality in the state. She said the spotlight on Gay Marriage would “continued to push the debate forward”.

Gay Marriage SF

Marriage Ceremony in San Francisco, shortly after Gay Marriage laws were passed in California

1000 motorbikes burbled into Brisbane CBD today to give Premier Newman pause over the recent ‘bikie’ legislation.  Another 4000 or so people joined the riders in front of state parliament to let it be known that Queenslanders do not support the VLAD act and other incursions into rights of association.

Police set aside areas on Alice Street for motorbike parking, but these areas quickly overflowed and police were run ragged ensuring bikers were able to park safely.

The rally was positioned as non-partisan, though this didn’t stop organiser Gabriel Buckley of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from using the opportunity to remind people of his nomination for the seat of Redcliffe. The former seat of disgraced LNP politician Scott Driscoll, Redcliffe will be contested in a by-election in February.

Gabriel Buckley runs on a Libertarian platform.

Along with the announcement about Buckley’s candidacy, and presence of the flag of the LDP, the rally also drew speaker David Leyonhjelm, NSW Senator-elect.  Leyonhjelm spoke about how the VLAD laws and associated legislation creates a “moral panic” in the public mind about motorbike riders.  Leyonhjelm finished his talk by saying:

“And they wonder why nobody comes to the aid of police when they are in trouble.

“I’m never going to help someone who thinks it’s ok to pull me up, search me and threaten me with jail if I don’t answer their questions merely because  am riding my motorcycle in company with a couple of other people.  If that’s what they think, they can lie on the side of the road and bleed to death.”

While the crowd had generally been positive about the talk, at this point cheering was more subdued as people tried to decide if it was appropriate to applause such a statement.

Other speakers were passionate and rousing but stopped short of wishing death on police.

Speakers included amongst others Queensland Council for Civil Liberties spokesman Michael Cope, and Electrical Trades Union spokesman Peter Simpson, who both spoke about how the legislation was not solely directed at outlaw bike clubs and how the laws will impact on civil rights.  The wife of prisoner Kevin, an ex-bikie and model prisoner now on 23 hour lockdown, spoke about her husband’s situation. Anonymous also fielded a speaker, and were present in force in the crowd.

Being the biggest rally seen at parliament house in recent times, bigger even than the very successful Rally for Rights held on the 19th of November, it is fair to say that Queensland politicians may be starting to wonder if they have woken a sleeping dragon.

Freedom Ride

Freedom Ride

Freedom Ride

Freedom Ride

Freedom Ride

Freedom Ride

Freedom Ride

Freedom Ride

Freedom Ride

December 1, 2013

Media Release

G20 Dissenters form Action Network

As Australia assumes the G20 presidency prior to the summit in November next year, concerned community members announce the formation of the Brisbane Community Action Network G20 (BrisCAN-G20).

The network has formed to facilitate community responses and raise the profile of dissent to the G20 summit. BrisCAN-G20 will foster collaborations between community groups, support community action and provide commentary and critique of the G20 and Australia’s role in it.

The network has developed out of shared concerns about the G20’s perpetuation of an abusive economic system. The Group of 20 summit outcomes privilege the wealthy over the majority, have disregard for the environment and human rights, and lack transparency and public participation. Furthermore, The Group of 20 is involved in the erosion of civil liberties as a mechanism of control and fails to provide meaningful, sustainable and just community focused solutions to global crises and conflict.

Kim Stewart from Friends of the Earth Brisbane said “While the coming together of nations could be an opportunity to promote peace, social justice and ecological sustainability, the G20 is perpetuating financial and economic system that is failing the majority of the world and destroying the planet.”

Benjamin Pennings from Generation Alpha said “It is time for Australia and the G20 to re-think our economic system and make decisions that protect the earth – our shared habitat – and deliver a just and sustainable future for our children. The G20 do not act for global good. They should not be making decisions for us.”

For more information on BrisCAN-G20 or media comment please contact:

Kim Stewart, Friends of the Earth Brisbane – 0413 397 839
Benjamin Pennings, Generation Alpha – 0418 164 014.

MEDIA RELEASE * MEDIA RELEASE * MEDIA RELEASE * MEDIA RELEASE * MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release, 30 November 2013

Citizens network forms to fight civil liberties “crackdown”

A packed meeting of more than 70 concerned citizens and representatives from community organisations founded a new campaigning organisation at Brisbane’s Electrical Trades Union hall on Wednesday night, responding to what organisers called “an unprecedented crackdown on civil liberties in Queensland”.

The Queensland Civil Liberties Network was born amid cheers from meeting participants who set about planning a series of protest actions over coming months, including a rally and march to fall on Parliament’s first sitting day, February 11 2014.

Brisbane alternative media publisher Max Riethmuller said the Newman government had created a climate in which people now feared gathering in public.

“I have already seen people choose not to attend a protest out of fear of the VLAD act,” Mr Riethmuller said.

“The slow usurping of rights in this state has potential to strip us of very important basic rights,” he said.

Mr Riethmuller said that by positioning this legislation as being about ‘bikies’ or ‘parties’ the government was engaging in “subterfuge”.

The meeting also endorsed the actions of the Queensland Council of Unions, Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy and other organisations in relation to the UN Human Rights Day on 10th of December, and the upcoming Anti-VLAD Freedom Ride on December 1st.

“The Queensland government is contravening various articles of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly in regard to the right to free speech and the right to freedom of association,” said Mr Riethmuller

Meeting organiser Ewan Saunders attacked the recent “Out-of-control Parties” legislation as “absurd”.

“Next will it be people only inviting 11 people to their backyard BBQ’s to avoid the chance of being thrown in jail for a year?” Mr Saunders asked.

“When ordinary law abiding people have to closely watch their movements to avoid getting in trouble with the law, we are basically living in a police state,” he said.

“My hope is that this network can help build effective and broad-based opposition to these laws.”

For media comment, contact:

Ewan Saunders: 0401 234 610
Max Riethmuller: 0415 200 577

Visit the campaign Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/civillibertiesqld