I just edited the previous post, so ya know.

I amplified a couple of my comments, but mostly I just improved the divisions between my comments and theirs.

Carrying on:

6. The global divide between poverty and wealth has reached intolerable proportions

Try freedom

and the mounting pressure on natural resources

Try privatizing them.

makes the current model of globalisation unsustainable.

The model that works is no model. Give up trying to control the future.

Social inequality is worsening and undermining the stability of societies in more and more countries. And while the percentage of the world's population living in absolute poverty is declining, the number of people struggling to survive in such poverty has never been higher, as nearly three billion people now live on less than two dollars per day, most of them being women.

I'm back. I read the other day in In Defense of Global Capitalism that the definition of absolute poverty is living on one dollar or less per day. They're fudging the numbers.

At the same time, the benefits of expanding global trade and foreign direct investment remain mostly in the North. For hundreds of millions of workers, basic labour and social rights remain a distant dream and a privilege of those in wealthy nations. Most people in the world lack any form of social protection, while a small minority in many poorer countries enjoy enormous wealth.

That's because they, the wealthy minority, are the government. Bourgeois democracies have strong, well-off middle classes; socialist bureaucracies and hereditary aristocracies don't. Don't pretend you're offering something better.

The Socialist International therefore believes that a central challenge for our world today is to make it possible for developing countries to catch up, but without endangering the global ecological balance.

You can eat as long as you don't endanger a snail darter.

This must be the basis of a global program for sustainable development in three dimensions: economic, social and environmental.

"Wha-a-at...do-o-es...a...ye-ello-ow...li-i-ight...me-e-ean?" Rise up out of poverty slower. (Sorry, I forget what movie that line's from.)

7. For the Socialist International a comprehensive and balanced strategy for sustainable development must be based on a New Global Deal, which would require that:

developing countries improve their integration in the global economy,

Obey us.

build their national capacity in institutional, economic, technological and educational terms,

According to our dictates.

fight against poverty,

Isn't that supposed to be what it's all about? for everyone in politics? You don't have a monopoly on compassion for the poor, even though this phrase presumes to arrogate it to yourselves.

improve working conditions as well as the access of women to the labour market, and control major ecological imbalances.

Tell it to the Saudis.

developed countries open their markets to exports from developing countries,

That's call free trade. I wish we'd thought of it. If we don't soon, the commies'll take the issue from us.

encourage good investment in poorer parts of the World

Free (and later forgiven) loans.

to enhance more balanced development, strengthen cooperation and increase financial aid to developing countries and move toward sustainable consumption and production patterns in ways that preserve social cohesion.

Obey us. But don't get ahead of us. We're in charge here.

The Socialist International recognizes that positive elements for a new global agenda already partially exist in:



the Millennium Development goals adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000


the Monterrey Consensus that agreed in early 2002 a commitment to improve financial instruments for development


the Plan for Sustainable Development adopted at the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002


the Development Round of negotiations in international trade launched in Doha in 2001, with a commitment to focus more on developing countries.

We love you guys! Join us!

These positive elements should be fully supported. Nonetheless, efforts to fulfil the these commitments have been frustrated because:

development goals have been pushed aside with the argument that security concerns must be given priority

narrow self-interest continues to undermine the Doha Development Round, most recently in Cancun, where egoism

I wish.

and the drive to protect markets in developed countries, particularly for agriculture, led to a collapse of negotiations

All too true. The unions screwed you.

not enough progress has been made on changing the so-called Washington Consensus, and developing countries have not yet been given a powerful enough voice in the Bretton Woods institutions that remain unable to adequately respond to development challenges or manage financial crises and economic downturns.

Consensus is always a house of cards if it doesn't take place in an election or a legislative vote.

The Socialist International recognises that the obstacles to more balanced global economy and a more just world are more political than technical and therefore must be overcome through political efforts. The International therefore embraces a global agenda for sustainable development that includes the following ten points, all crucial for guaranteeing that globalisation works for all:

i) International trade as an engine for growth and employment must include unhindered access to markets in the developed world for exports from developing countries, especially agricultural and other labour-intensive products, also taking into account that most of farmers are women.

True, but are most farmers really women? I suppose most human beings are female.

ii) The current digital divide must

By fiat, force and/or magic.

be turned into international digital opportunities for all, men and women. Knowledge is becoming the main source of wealth, but can also be the main source of inequalities. Developing countries therefore must leapfrog into the digital economy and the North should help them by launching an inclusion plan for the developing world involving public-private partnerships and technological transfers.

Like I said, fiat, force and magic. Look, this can be done by charity, but charity is always sustainable: the geese lay golden eggs as they can. You can't cut them open to speed up the process.

iii) Turning sustainable development into growth opportunities, by fostering ongoing and undertaking new initiatives to promote environmentally sustainable development in agriculture, energy and transport, and tapping into the employment opportunities this would create.


iv) Adopting a fresh approach to development policies that would combine new trade opportunities, incentives for foreign investment, promoting entrepreneurship, building national productive capacity and social infrastructure and increasing accountability.

That's exactly what free trade and killing corporate welfare (including direct subsidies, grants of monopolies, high tariffs and other interventionist/protectionist measures) would get you.

In developing countries, the stabilisation policies should allow greater fiscal flexibility for investment and enhanced spending, particularly on education, health and social development. At the same time, debt relief must be accelerated and development aid expanded,

"Money for nothin' and your chicks for free."

as decided in the UN (0.7% of GNP), in connection with a concerted poverty reduction strategy.

Also known as Hocus Pocus. If you Big Government types had any idea how to reduce poverty, we'd see some evidence of it by now.

v) Instituting better regulation, accountability and supervision of financial systems to enhance the prospects for sustainable growth and development.

S__t. See previous note.

vi) Investing in people by raising educational levels and providing training for all and incorporating advanced teaching techniques to guarantee the most skilled work force possible. Information technologies should play a key role in improving the quality of education and creating new employment opportunities.

Kind of micromanaging aren't you?

vii) Providing adequate and efficient quality healthcare for all with special attention to women and women's reproductive rights which should be protected from any kind of intimidation. Access to life-saving and essential medicines must be a priority in order to combat contagious diseases worldwide.


viii) Fostering employability and a more skilled and versatile work force through active labour market policies that would include efforts against all forms of discrimination and providing greater assistance and training for the working poor to upgrade their skill levels. A safety net for social protection has proved to be crucial for people struggling to adapt to change. Specific strategies are needed for the informal economy. Better integration policies and better cooperation between host and origin countries are necessary to humanise migration flows.

Never relinquish centralized control, but always expand it.

ix) Tackling drug related crime and money laundering by strengthening international cooperation with shared responsibility, reducing both supply and demand, involving civil society in preventing and treating drug use and providing technological and trade support to alternative productions in poor countries.

...always expand itx)

Placing greater emphasis on the provision of global public services, especially with regard to sanitation, health care, child care facilities, education, employment promotion and environmental protection. The principle of public service cannot be sacrificed to the consecration of the market. Tax systems should also be adapted to promote better public services and a new global tax should be created to fund the global public goods.

That's what the Second Amendment is all about.

8. For the Socialist International, the following mandates represent a clear test of the political will to ensure a fairer and more just global economy and where the gender perspective should also be included.

The cancellation of the debt of the poorest countries, subject to minimum conditions of good governance and going further than the ineffective HIPC programme.

And don't forget that gender perspective.

The unilateral opening of markets in the developed world to exports from the poorest countries.

You said that before...wait! Unilateral?! Well, it worked for Britain in the nineteenth century.

The establishment of a Committee and a Fund against Hunger, within the United Nations System, as proposed by President Lula.

Gotta suck up to him!

A radical change of policy on agricultural subsidies in Europe, the United States and Japan, putting an end to this unacceptable distortion of markets that remains one of the principle obstacles to development in the South.

Absolutely! But it's not a socialist thing, it's a free market thing.

The abolition of offshore tax havens, which constitute not only a fiscal injustice but are also - through lack of regulation, transparency and accountability - a key factor in the financing and proliferation of terrorism, drug trafficking, trafficking in women and organised crime, and provide shelter for non-democratic regimes to escape from punishment for their corrupt behaviour.

No, no, no, no, no. Your taxes are too high, your regulations are too tight, and you've banned too many victimless activities for your police to deal with so they don't have the resources to catch true victimizers.

A substantial increase in public development assistance, which continues to fall unacceptably short of previously agreed targets. The support to the World Fund for Solidarity which was recently adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

I already said what I thought about the U. N.

A sustained international commitment to rectifying the great scandal of our time - the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa. That region is not only the principle victim of the adverse effects of globalisation, but it also remains excluded from the benefits, while being abandoned to war, poverty, hunger, debt and death.

Of course, nobody there could take responsibility. There are no responsible people there.

The NEPAD initiative begun by a number of African countries, which links development to respect for democracy and good governance, deserves much stronger support than it has received thus far.

That could be good. I'll have to check that out.

9. Critical to the prospects for worldwide sustainable development is a deep transformation of governance at all levels - international, regional, national and local - including:

Better governance through greater transparency and accountability and a higher quality of political decision-making and policy formulation, including stronger women participation. At least one third should be female politicians.

The latter hardly guarantees the former.

Enhanced participation of the various stakeholders of the civil society.

What did Bork say about the Tenth Amendment? It was a "mere tautology"? Would that it were so, in that case, but this portends ill. They mean "chosen" (not necessarily elected by the people) representatives of stakeholder collectives.

More extensive interaction between national and international levels of governance, particularly through the process of regional integration

None of those nasty national borders.

10. With regard to reform of governance at the global level, the Socialist International is deeply committed to working for:



The establishment of a UN Security Council on the Economy, Society and the Environment - in effect, a Council for Sustainable Development - that would coordinate sustainable development on a global scale,

A Cabrini Green in every locale! Don't step on the grass!

push forward effective responses to inequality

Down with the Technocrats!

and financial volatility and promote economic growth and job expansion. This Council, composed in much more representative terms than the current Security Council,

Down with the U.S.!

should be entitled to make the main choices regarding the coordination of the multilateral organisations in the financial, economic, social and environmental areas. This Council would hold meetings at different levels, including annual summits of heads of state and government together with the top managers of international agencies and organisations.


Reform of the Bretton Woods system and revision of the Washington consensus to include greater democratic control of international institutions, better representation of the developing world and rules of conditionality that take into account not only financial stability and market liberalisation, which should be applied more leniently, but also the economic and social needs of national populations. A world financial authority should have real supervisory and regulatory powers, enabling it to guarantee the transparency of financial markets through compliance with effective codes of conduct.

Ah, cut your taxes!

The strengthening of international environmental governance, building on existing institutions, the United Nations Environment Programme, and establishing a World Environment Organisation, WEO, to promote the implementation of existing agreements and treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol, draft new ones, formulate policy and compile reliable information on the actual state of the world's environment.

I didn't vote for the U. N. ambassador or anybody else in the State Department.

A greater role and stronger intervention capability for the International Labour Organisation.

Really?

A new equilibrium in the way economic, social and environmental issues are addressed by international institutions, rooted in a more democratic, transparent and balanced process. The WTO, the ILO and the new WEO should work together to ensure that trade is both free and fair, to reject new forms of protectionism, to preserve cultural identity and diversity and to enforce core labour standards and promote sustainable development policies worldwide.

"Enforce core labour standards"? Whose core labor standards? Core to whom and for what? as Ayn Rand might say.

11. The Socialist International views regional integration as a key instrument to promote sustainable development, combine social cohesion with competitiveness and shape a better architecture of international relations.

Who asked ya?

As the experience of the European Union indicates, regional integration cannot be limited simply to free trade.

Big government failed, so we need bigger big government.

It must integrate political, social, economic and environmental dimensions, so that open inter-regionalism can become a powerful tool for achieving better global governance. In this context, the SI fully supports the efforts to promote integration in Latin America in all the referred dimensions, also as an instrument to consolidate democracy and overcome conflict.

12. Humanity has reached a crossroads.

What else is new?

The present world order, marked by unilateralism,

Who? You mean us?

disrespect for human rights,

That ain't us.

social injustice and unequal development is reaching its limit.

So Marx said. His solution proved a chimera. Ours didn't. It's called: the free and natural growth of human knowledge.

Building a New World Order based on multilateralism, democracy, respect for human rights and sustainable development is therefore necessary and increasingly demanded by citizens of nations both women and men, throughout both the North and South. The Socialist International is committed to the enormous political work required to build a better world and calls on all progressive and democratic women and men to join in the effort through a truly global alliance.

Christ! I thought it'd never end.


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