Asian Peasant Group Hits Planned G20 Summit

BY BULATLAT

A coalition of Asian peasant groups has criticized the White House’s invitation to the Philippines to host the Group of Twenty (G20) economic summit on Nov. 15, 2008 supposedly to “discuss the current global economic and financial problems that are affecting the world.”

The G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the US, and the European Union.

“The leaders will review progress being made to address the current financial crisis, advance a common understanding of its causes, and in order to avoid a repetition, agree on a common set of principles for reform of the regulatory and institutional regimes for the world’s financial sectors,” said US Press Secretary Dana Paderino.

But peasants from the Asian Peasant Coalition, an activist group representing peasant organizations from nine Asian countries, have expressed doubt as to whether such venues can truly address issues related to the current financial crisis.

“The G-20 was primarily created to prevent the kind of crisis we are experiencing now,” said APC secretary-general Danilo Ramos. “How can mere discussions possibly help the international economy at present?”

“They want to strengthen the foundations of capitalism by discussing how they can further liberalize their economies and make them ‘competitive’ (in the) global market,” Ramos said. “But we all know that the neo-liberal policies that the US and other imperialist countries have espoused before and continue to espouse today have contributed to the ruin of the financial markets.”

“The financial crisis clearly exposes the weakness of capitalism and the truth that it is not a viable economic system,” Ramos said. “It is bound to fail due to its inherent contradictions – the crisis of overproduction and overaccumulation of capital in the hands of a few. Third world countries must therefore take a stand against the US and other imperialist nations for letting them dictate their economic policies with us. We must join hands and onward the struggle to assert for our national sovereignty and resist imperialist globalization!” (Bulatlat)

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