G20 - London

The Put People First G20 Counter Conference was one of two alternative G20 conferences held simultaneously in London and St Andrews on November 7th 2009 to coincide with the G20 finance ministers meeting on 7th-8th November.
Over three plenary sessions we invited academics, activists, campaigners, unions and policy makers to debate alternative policies to promote jobs, justice and a safe climate.

1.02 billion people live on this earth in chronic hunger. If this shocks you, sign up at www.1billionhungry.org! FAO’s new online anti-hunger petition will send out a strong message to world leaders.But a new report launched ahead of the World Summit on Food Security starting early next week offers some hope. Thirty-one countries have noted success in halving the number of hungry by 2015 or are on track to meet this goal.

I was away attending the Second Global Forum on the Power of Peace, I mentioned at work today. ‘Power of peace… I thought it was spam,’ a colleague remarked referring to a mail she had got on the same.A similar thought was shared at the forum last week. People do mistrust ‘peace’ or ‘unity’ messages as bugs ready to spam their inbox. In a world ridden with conflicts of all nature, isn't it ironic the way our minds function?

November  7 2009 – Westminster Central Hall – London.

Jobs, Justice, Climate – Alternatives to the G20 – Book NOW!
In March, we marched in our tens of thousands to demand the G20 Put People First. Far from putting people first we’ve seen nothing but a tinkering around the margins followed by the return to business as usual.
On Nov 7, as the G20 returns to the UK, the agenda on the table nurses an already failed economic model back to life, whilst looking to sew up an international climate deal of unprecedented urgency.

While I took a respite, the world has been pretty active.Two rounds of global talks on economy recovery: the G8 summit at L’Aquila, Italy, pledging (mere?) $20 billion to boost food supplies (it’s a ‘moral obligation’ to help poor countries, says Obama); and the G20 Pittsburg summit in US last month where leaders met to follow up on their London pledges. (Check out the last five months’ action on the BBC pledge tracker).