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Will capitalism survive climate change?

by Walden Bello
Originally published by Bangkok Post, 29 March 2008.

There is now a solid consensus in the scientific community that if the change in global mean temperature in the 21st century exceeds 2.4 degrees Celsius, changes in the planet's climate will be large-scale, irreversible and disastrous. Moreover, the window of opportunity for action that will make a difference is narrow _ that is, the next 10 to 15 years.

Throughout the North, however, there is strong resistance to changing the systems of consumption and production that have created the problem in the first place and a preference for ''techno-fixes,'' such as ''clean'' coal, carbon sequestration and storage, industrial-scale biofuels, and nuclear energy.

Issue Paper: Understanding the ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint

by Jenina Joy Chavez*
Published in the AFA and AsiaDHRRA Issue Paper. Vol. 3, No. 1. Quezon City, Philippines, February 2008.

2008-02-aseancharteraecblueprint-coverpage-250px Abstract

The ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint are two important documents that the 40-year old ASEAN recently signed in order to advance it vision of a "sharing and caring community". Because majority of the people of Southeast Asia are small-scale farmers who depend on agriculture for their existence, it is important to ask how the charter, the blueprint, as well as the various free trade agreements will impact on them.

This issue paper presents basic information on the ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint, including updates on ASEAN Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), as well as AFA's analysis and position on these topics.

Click here to download the issue paper from the Asian Farmers Association (AFA) website

*Jenina Joy Chavez is the Philippine Programme Coordinator of Focus on the Global South. She is one of AFA's resource persons in its regional consultations on ASEAN-related matters. Focus on the Global South and AFA/AsiaDHRRA are members of the Solidarity for Asian Peoples Advocacy (SAPA).

The Development Roundtable Series Website

Please visit www.focusweb.org/drts for more information on the DRTS, past and upcoming events, publications, and updates.

The Global Financial System in Crisis

by Walden Bello

Speech at the Seminar on "Dismantling Obstacles to Advancing Development Agenda and Accountability," People's Development Forum, Bahay ng Alumni, University of the Philippines, 25 March 2008.

I have been asked to address the issue of the international financial architecture that provides the context for aid flows.

My response is what architecture? In fact, we now stand on the brink of what former US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan last week characterized as possibly the worst economic crisis since the Second World War because of the lack of architecture or structure to govern global capital flows. The so-called subprime mortgage crisis that has resulted so far in losses of some $400 billion and threatens a chain reaction of collapsing financial institutions globally is the end product of a process of deregulation of financial markets that began during the Reagan-Thatcher era. This is the latest of some 100 financial crises in the last 30 years, according to the count of the Brookings Institution.