Innovative financial resources that cannot be postponed

On various occasions (Blog 28.05.10; actions on the UBUNTU Forum in September, 2008, February-March...) I have written about the advisability of seeking innovative mechanisms for obtaining more funds to devote especially to sustainable development, reducing the impact of natural or man-made disasters, etc.

This can no longer be postponed, because everything is in the hands of the marketplace, of harsh and abusive speculation on the part of the “rescued”, to the point of vacating all political action and measures previously adopted to achieve social objectives.

It is time for alternative mechanisms, for “other” sources of financing. Let’s not let another day pass. Let’s support this in every possible way, in cyberspace, and especially through the Meeting of the Working Group on International Financial Transactions and Development held in Paris on September 1^st.

Who regulates the regulators?

This was a question posed by Robert Kuttner in the June 19-20, 2010 issue of the International Herald Tribune.

Why weren’t the rules established by the U.S. Minerals Management Service strictly followed, which would have prevented the tragic oil spill that is devastating the waters and coastlines of the Gulf of Mexico?

Because the petroleum mining companies continued to be granted licenses “due to intense pressure from the industry and its political allies in Washington”, said Kuttner. He added, “U.S. government supervision was particularly lax and corrupt under Vice President Dick Cheney, former executive director of Halliburton... And the Obama administration has not reestablished more efficient monitoring ".

The same has occurred on the “financial front". The rating agencies haven’t been prevented from unduly issuing triple-A credit scores. These regulatory defects continued throughout the Clinton and Bush administrations.

And despite the ongoing claims of unyielding globalizers, there has been no self-regulation in the marketplace.

"Oil companies seek short-term profits and don’t invest in safety as they should".

Regulation requires honest and competent regulators. Only the political will, duly supported by the appropriate civil society organizations will be able to counteract the colossal strength of large enterprises.

Leadership. Political power. And demanding citizens. It is surprising that in the same issue of that newspaper Obama is criticized for “having pushed the limits of his executive authority” in his treatment of British Petroleum, being “determined”, in the words of the President, “to do what the citizens can’t and the companies won’t”.

The political crisis is much more dangerous than the financial crisis.

Let’s wholeheartedly support those who have sufficient “determination” to once and for all change an economic system that has generated so much inequality. Let’s support the progressive transition toward a knowledge-based economy to enable global sustainable development.

To do so requires political leadership. And “honest and competent” regulators ".

First, Life

Who are those who for ulterior motives dare to criticize the procedures used to free the Spanish aid workers held captive so long in the Sahel in the murderous hands of Al Qaeda’s professional kidnappers?

This will fly back in their faces like a huge boomerang, because everyone will assume that they would have had no qualms about paying any ransom necessary if the aid workers had been their own children. First, life.

Yes: first, life. But immediately thereafter, concerted action and all of the necessary investments, not only to dismantle the refuges from which the kidnappers operate but, above all, to improve the standards of living in the countries in which they conduct these criminal activities. Once again: we can’t invest 3,000 million dollars daily in weapons and military expenditures, when the solution lies in sustainable global development, ceasing to exploit those countries’ resources in oil, gas, aluminum, gold, diamond, coltan… . Overcoming the resistance of the huge war industry conglomerates, it is urgent that we provide all of the means necessary to improve living conditions for all of the inhabitants of the earth, as their equal human dignity demands, so that they will be able to stand firm against those who offer them other compensations in the quagmire of their misery.

Together with this radical international change in the means adopted to counteract and totally annihilate terrorism, it is also necessary for private and public organizations to respect established security measures (remember that the Alakrana was fishing in a non-authorized zone and that, with the best of intentions, some NGOs conduct activities in areas that are also discouraged for security reasons).

First, life. It is priceless. But immediately thereafter, all of the measures, which thanks to the social progress achieved will make actions that warrant unanimous rejection impossible. Yes, unanimous. If we want to understand why, look at the eyes of the mothers of the rescued aid workers. That’s where you will find all of the reasons.

An increased role must be given coordinated international action, with a renewed and adequately endowed United Nations. The era of the G-8 and G-20 is over, leaving an intolerable situation behind.