Today’s FT
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Today’s Financial Times is loaded with a four page supplement on how the financial crisis is hitting African countries hardest, and a great opinion piece in the main paper from Bob Geldof about including developing nations in the new global economy.
William Wallis’s lead article in the supplement makes a powerful case for G20 taking urgent action to provide the resources developing countries need to weather this downturn, saying:
“Today many of sub-Saharan Africa’s 47 states are seeing their incomes evaporate, leaving holes in national budgets and foreign reserves as wide as the pits from which their resources have been extracted.
Without urgent measures to limit the damage, fragile recent development gains could be swept away, conflicts will reignite and more states will fail, warns Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s prime minister, who is representing Africa at today’s summit of the Group of 20 nations in London.”
Read the full supplement, or download the PDF – which will let you see ONE’s new advertisement in the paper.
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April 3, 2009 at 2:26 am
hope the people well notice this trageddy and also the government in the philippines well have there attentions to solve this hostage crisis before doing this election this coming 2010………
April 4, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I would like to comment in Obama’s words “We are protecting those who don’t always have a voice at the G-20, but who have suffered greatly in this crisis. The United States is ready to lead in this endeavor.”
Me, as a citizen of a Latin-American country, can say that the U.S., and the politicians of the (military) powerful countries have been using these labels, in this case would be “leadership”, to impose their rules in the poorest countries as the U.S. have been doing during decades with us, imposing our governments to their convenience – historically, the world most known are Chile, Panama, Nicaragua, Argentina – with the cost of thousands of lives. So, if somebody asks me if we as a Latin-American need U.S. leadership, my answer es, NO, we don’t need it, thanks, we can lead our selves.
Latin-America, as the other poor countries in the rest of the world, don’t need “First world” companies to come and put their factories in our countries to give more work to the poor (badly payed to keep them poor) and more goods to the rich. We need help to develop our own countries.
It looks like Mr. Obama is a person who wouldn’t follow these patterns, but as all of the U.S. presidents have done it he past, I have a big doubt he will change the path.
Regardless what was mentioned in last paragraph, I would say to Mr. Obama,
– We don’t want you “to lead” an “endeavor”, you are already leading a big, the most influential and military, the most powerful country in the world, we want real HELP with the change of your country’s local economic policies to stop swindling people from non-developed countries and their economies; we want action inside your country. We don’t want Mc.Donalds, Burger King, Nike, Levis, Chrysler, GMC, Shell, Texaco or IBM factories in our countries, neither charity, we need help to make OUR OWN Food, Shoes, clothes, local transportation, energy and technology for education, health and development for everybody in every remote place of our countries, and the money generated stay in the local countries (in the communities) and not in the already rich countries. We don’t want the focus of your economy in making money out of taking our goods and people’s hard work with low salaries for you to make new mobile phones, powerful cars or computers, fashionable clothing and more for your rich citizens, we want (to make it clear) help to make OUR OWN Food, Shoes, clothes, local transportation, energy and technology for education, health and development for everybody in every remote place of our countries, and the money generated stay in the local countries (in the communities) and not in the already rich countries.
Can the G20 do this?
I hope Mr. Obama’s answer is “Yes, we can”
April 5, 2009 at 4:18 pm
April 5, 2009 at 4:19 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks8uIqj6fVU