[Marxism] Analysis of the G20 Summit

["Michael Friedman" <mikedf@xxxxxxxx>]

>>>This is much better IMHO (from a newsletter for investors):

>G20: US$ Funeral, US Failed Debtor
>from the latest Hat Trick Letter by Jim Willie
><http://www.goldenjackass.com/>. Extract:
>"... Why is the G20 Meeting a turning point? First of all because the
US$-based global financial structure is broken. In plain words, the
USDollar is totally broken as the global reserve currency, fully
>discredited, and the anchor dragging down the national banking systems in
scores of countries."

>The only thing that has changed is that China is now in the club and the
US will reconstitute its hegemony (I hate that word) by bringing this
group together to rebuild global capitalism.  There is no challenge to
the US dollar and there will not be for sometime.  Why must the left read
everything as the end of capitalism, or US empire, or neoliberalism...
Without a working class to force the change, we will get more of the
same, if not a heightened neoliberalism.

>Read the report from the G-20 summit I sighted and tell me what exactly
has changed?  Anyone? Anything?

------
.... and here's Tony Benn, interviewed on Democracy Now this morning, on
the G20:

------
AMY GOODMAN: The G20 summit opened in London today amidst widespread
protests in the streets. British Prime Minister opened the talks declaring
there was a ?high degree of consensus? on a recovery plan for the ailing
global economy. World leaders are expected to impose new financial rules
and come up with more funds for the IMF.

Meanwhile, police in London are bracing for more protests a day after
thousands of demonstrators jammed the streets of London?s financial
district. Most of the demonstrators were peaceful, but some skirmishes
broke out as police tried to keep thousands in containment pens
surrounding the Bank of England. A number of protesters smashed their way
into the Royal Bank of Scotland and wrote ?thieves? on the side of the
walls of the bank. Demonstrators raised effigies of the Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse, representing war, climate chaos, financial crimes and
homelessness. A small number of protesters played a giant game of
Monopoly, armed with huge crates of fake money.

One man involved with the protests died after collapsing in the street.
Police said he was found unconscious near the Bank of England and was
rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Up to eighty-eight people were arrested Wednesday with police mounting one
of Britain?s biggest security operations in years. Security is at the
ExCeL Centre, where the G20 talks are being held. It?s extremely tight,
with police turning away anyone within a half-mile radius who doesn?t have
accreditation.

We go right now to London to speak with the former British MP Tony Benn,
current president of the Stop the War Coalition. He spoke at a G20 protest
in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday.

Tony Benn, you were one of the longest reigning members of the British
Parliament. You served over half a century before you left and became
president of the Stop the War Coalition, yet yesterday you were outside in
the streets addressing the G20 protest. Why?

TONY BENN: Well, I?m an old man. I?ll be eighty-four tomorrow. And I have
never been busier. I?m doing seven or eight public meetings all over the
country every week.

And yesterday we had a huge demonstration in Trafalgar Square. We marched
from the American embassy, where I gave a letter to President Barack
Obama, welcoming him in London and pointing we had three big anxieties.
One was the continuation of the war in Afghanistan, and secondly, the
obvious crisis in relations between Israel and Palestine, because the
Israeli?new Israeli government says they are not in favor of a Palestinian
state, and also expressing our anxiety about nuclear weapons, where some
progressive moves have been made.

But it was an amazing day, the last two days in London. Because of the G20
summit, we had an audience worldwide for what we were saying. And I have
never in my long life known a time when public opinion was so divided from
government opinion. And I think that?s happening not only in London, but
all over the world.

AMY GOODMAN: Explain exactly what you mean by that.

TONY BENN: Well, I think what?s going on now is that the leaders of the
world are trying to recreate as best they can by subsidy, enormous
subsidies, the system that has let us down. And we are facing a very, very
serious crisis. And it?s not just an economic crisis; it is a political
crisis, a democratic crisis. I remember hearing from United States people
saying we want people to think about Main Street and not Wall Street, and
that?s a very vivid way of describing what people feel.

Mass unemployment; foreclosures of people on their homes, which is a
disgrace; money spent on war, which goes on and on?there?s a threat to
Iran now from the new Israeli government?and people say we are not
prepared to accept it. I don?t think these are protests, because a
protest, you say, ?I?ve lost the battle, and I don?t like it.? These are
demands. And all progress is really made when people make demands upon the
government. We will not accept war. We will not accept unemployment. And
so, that?s the situation we?re in now.

Gordon Brown talks about a global structure to deal with a global crisis.
Well, fine, but who will control the global crisis?the global structure?
Will it be democratic, or will it be run by the banks and the
multinational corporations? And so, we?ve got a huge new perspective
opening up, and I think it is a big democratic demand that is being made.


[...]





-- 
Michael Friedman
Ph.D. in Biology
City University of New York

Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics
American Museum of Natural History
79th Street and Central Park West
New York, NY 10024
Office: 212-313-8721
Cell: 718-812-4246
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