FNTG White Paper on Responses to the Global Economic Crisis 2010

Contents

I. INTRODUCTION

II. CASE STUDIES

Case Study #1: Bank Accountability

Case Study #2: Financial Speculation Taxes

Case Study #3: Commodities Speculation

Case Study #4: International Financial Institutions

Case Study #5: Building Grassroots Alternatives

III. FUNDING NEEDS

IV. FOR FURTHER READING

NOVEMBER 2010

Civil Society Responses

to the Global Financial and Economic Crisis

FNTG White Paper

Download Full Printable Version Here

I.  Introduction

During the first two years of the economic crisis, civil society groups have used various strategies to push for new policies aimed at preventing future crises and ensuring a more equitable and sustainable economic recovery.  In July 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law a financial reform package that represented some significant achievements. However, much more work needs to be done to:

• Ensure aggressive implementation of the new law.
• Prevent the new U.S. reforms from being undermined by a lack of regulation in other countries.
• Address “unfinished business” – key civil society demands the Dodd-Frank legislation did not deal with, including breaking up the “too big too fail” banks, adopting a financial speculation tax, and resolving the problem of commodity index funds that contribute to food and energy price volatility. 

The work on financial reform has taken place in the context of an extremely inequitable economic “recovery.”  The technical “experts” now say the U.S. recession officially ended in June 2009.  But while most banks have repaid their bailout money and corporate profits have rebounded, unemployment has continued to rise and the mortgage crisis persists for millions of families. New data show that in 2009 more than 40 million Americans were living in poverty, the largest number in the 51 years that poverty has been measured.  Massive protests have erupted in many European countries over severe budget cuts.  In developing countries, the ILO reports that over eight million new jobs are needed to return to pre-crisis levels.  Thus, while this paper focuses on longer-term goals, it should be noted that a great deal of civil society work understandably remains focused on emergency needs.

March 2009 - London, England

G20 protests target war machine and international bankers for creating the global economic crisis.  Photo courtesy of Pan-African News Wire File Photos.

This paper briefly describes five areas of work in response to the global economic and financial crisis.  The following criteria guided the selection of the case studies: 

• The work is collaborative,
• The work is bringing together diverse actors, ideally including community and grassroots organizers with NGO and academic specialists,
• The goals of the work are to promote change in the US and internationally,
• The work is tackling a systemic problem in the economy. 

Each of the case studies briefly describes who’s involved, strategies and key actions, and results so far.  The paper does not attempt to provide an exhaustive analysis of global civil society work in response to the crisis.  The focus is primarily on U.S. coalitions that view their work in a global context. 

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