Fighting Finance from Below

[Joanne98]

by Sarah Anderson

At the onset of the Third World debt crisis in the 1980s, many economic justice activists were afraid to engage on the issue because they felt it was just too complicated. Then, in the 1990s, the hot issue was trade. And again, many people thought, "I'll never understand the World Trade Organization." But eventually, in both of these cases, large numbers of people bit the bullet and learned enough to have a voice in these debates. And they built strong movements for debt and trade justice that continue today.

Now the issue of the day is finance. And once again, many people are intimidated by the complexity of the issue. Without a doubt, we need more activist education around the world on the workings of financial markets. At the same time, it's remarkable to see how much progress has been made by global civil society groups since the crash of 2008.

In the United States, labor unions and consumer groups joined forces to make positive steps toward reining in Wall Street's worst excesses. Given the intense opposition of the industry lobby, it's no surprise that the bill enacted in July didn't go nearly far enough to transform the financial system to serve the needs of people and the planet. This was only round one of a longer fight. Some next steps will be to build international links to make sure the positive elements in the U.S. financial reforms are not undermined by a lack of regulation in other countries. Groups are also working across borders to tackle some issues not dealt with in the U.S. legislation. These include key civil society demands for a financial speculation tax and against commodity index funds.

Controlling Speculation
The financial speculation tax was high on the agenda at an International Peoples Conference held parallel to the G-20 summit a few weeks ago in Seoul, South Korea. Before the conference, activists had organized a global civil society statement in support of financial speculation taxes that was endorsed by 183 organizations from 42 countries. The proposal is to place a small levy on each trade of stocks, derivatives, currency, and other financial instruments as a way to generate revenues for jobs and other domestic and international needs. Such taxes could also discourage the short-term financial speculation that has little social value but poses high risks to the economy.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/11/23-6