Livelihoods v Lives

April 2, 2009 in G20 by Mentalacrobatics | 3 comments

Douglas Alexander, UK's Secretary of State for International Development is interviewed by G20Voice bloggers James Simmonds and Simon Berry. Picture by Daudi WereDouglas Alexander the UK government’s Secretary of State for International Development – a cabinet level position – has one of the hardest jobs at the London Summit as it falls on his shoulders to persuade us that this Summit intends to tackle the concerns of the people and countries who have been deemed not important enough to be represented here directly.

Alexander did this in his press briefing by throwing numbers around, for example:

  • This summit is the 1st time ever that global leaders have come together to forumlate a global plan to economic recovery.
  • 90 million people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty in the next two years
  • 70% of global economic growth has been in emerging markets
  • a World Bank Rapid Response Social Fund to stimulate trade needs USD 30 billion and the UK has pledged GBP 200 million towards it
  • The USD 250 billion that the IMF has at its disposal is not enough
  • 90% of global trade requires either credit or insurance – in many cases both

Alexander is in the unenviable position in that many UK citizens feel that their government has lost focus on what should be its key mandate, domestic issues and tackling hardship at home in the UK in order to play big on the world stage tackling global problems.

To make Alexander’s position even more challenging when you consider that many of the initiatives this summit promotes, while helping some countries in desperate need of help, hurt others in the same position. Cheryl Contee who writes as Jill Tubman for the award-winning and top-ranked black political blog JackAndJillPolitics.com which she founded in 2006, and I came face to face with a such a scenario on Wednesday during the World Have Your Say phone in programme on BBC World Service. Asked to comment on the G20’s proposed initiative to close down tax havens both Cheryl and I spoke strongly in favour of the policy. Coming from Kenya where our former president the dictator Daniel arap Moi together with his cronies and family looted Kenya for over 20 years stashing away billions in these tax havens, my position is not that surprising. One caller from a tax haven, The Bahamas, emailed the BBC show to disagree stating that many people in the Bahamas relied on the tax haven financial system for their livelihood.

How would you balance all these competing interests as the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development has too?

Alexander’s response during the press briefing when remarking on the UK, but this could be equally applied to the caller in The Bahamas, was to remind us that yes in some places livelihoods would be lost however in other places lives would be lost and saving lives take priority over saving livelihoods.

Tags: , , , , ,

  1. Darius Stone’s avatar

    Darius Stone on April 9, 2009 at 6:19 pm

    Douglas Alexander has the job everyone loves to hate in the cabinet.

    The British tax payer is in the same position as most other tax payers in developed countries in that they will soon fully expect their governments to focus and prioritize on matters at home before saving the world….all the talk about avoiding protectionism so far is rhetoric that still can’t be backed up mainly because the economy is still in intensive care.

    Most of the money and initiatives announced at the G20 summit are a smoke screen for the simple reason that a huge proportion of it is not new money…and the extension of lending rights to the IMF is a euphemism for printing money at a global scale. The UK and US are already doing it now anyway.

    Chasing tax havens at this point in time is a red herring. They’ve had years to do it and need to be seen to be doing something now. The crux of this matter is that people don’t trust each other enough to lend money to each other and it really doesn’t matter what the politicians say, until the credit pipelines are defrosted and money starts flowing, the economy is going to stay in intensive care.

    What would have been more useful is for the g20 leaders to wrap up the Doha round of World trade talks once and for all and show the developing world they are actually serious.

    Mandating the IMF to drive these proposed changes is just crazy. Significant reforms are needed to change the culture of the Brettenwood institutions and shift its power base. The IMF and the World Bank have a major problem in being part of the solution. Their make up and structure were never designed with the developing world’s interests at heart – but clearly, they’ll argue otherwise. The evidence of their failure is here today for everyone to see.

  2. andruid’s avatar

    andruid on April 25, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    Excuse me for asking, but if the nations under Alexander’s watch deserve to have their point of view put across why then did they not have their own direct representation at the conference. It was all very well that NEPAD was there as an avenue for Africans to put in their direct input, but Aolexander’s definition ssounds ominously like the sort you would expect to justify those missionaries who would represent ‘native’ affairs in the long dead colonial governments.