Accusing BRICS TNCs of being equally brutal, People's Forum to hold global meet ahead of BRICS Goa summit

By Our Representative
In a major effort to influence international opinion ahead of the eighth BRICS summit, to be held in Goa on October 15-16, well-known Indian and foreign civil rights organizations have come together for an international convention in the state on October 13-14, accusing BRICS of working for merely promoting its own transnational corporations (TNCs), exploiting the poor.
Acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, BRICS summit is taking place following the Hangzhou G20 and the Venezuela Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summits, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving the latter a miss.
While the issues likely to be discussed at the summit include sluggish global economic growth, the breakdown of the Doha trade round at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the emergence of bilateral and regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), as for India regional cooperation in South Asia is likely to weigh heavily.
The People's Forum of BRICS, formed to hold the global convention ahead of the BRICS summit, will meet at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Alto Porvorim, Goa, with as many as 35 Indian and 12 civil rights bodies endorsing it.
Those from India include National Alliance of People's Movements, All-India People’s Science Network, All India Secular Forum, Centre for Finance Accountability, Citizens for Peace and Justice, Delhi Science Forum, Delhi Solidarity Group, Indian Social Action Forum, National Fishworkers Forum, South Asia Dialogues for Ecological Democracy, and Toxics Watch Alliance.
International endorsements consist of Beyond Copenhagen Collective, Angikar Bangladesh Foundation, Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, Campaign for Climate Justice (Nepal), International Network of Catholic Social Justice Organisations, Globalisation Monitor (China), NGO Forum on ADB, and Brazilian Network for People´s Integration.
In a statement, the People's Forum of BRICS has said, it will attempt to “raise critical voices from below on social, ecological, political and economic concerns that are often ignored at big summits such as BRICS.”
Taking objection to developments following the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), such as the China-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA),the statement says, the agenda of all of it is no different from “the hegemony of western dominated institutions such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).”
“For example”, the statement says, “During a balance of payment crisis, the CRA forces a borrowing country to go to the IMF for a neoliberal structural adjustment programme after getting just 30% of its quota in CRA loans.”
The statement underlines, “BRICS’ transnational corporations (TNCs) that extract valuable resources from the world’s poorest regions are reported to be just as brutal in accumulating capital as northern TNCs. The BRICS’ record at the WTO, FTAs and at the UN climate negotiations has also been one of strategic accommodation with the global North.”
Pointing out that BRICS' focus is on “adherence to a largely neo-liberal development model and an export-led growth trajectory based on cheap labour, rising inequality, financial speculation and multinational corporate exploitation”, the statement says, it has “little consideration for social and ecological costs” involved in all this.
Accusing BRICS countries of trampling civil rights, the statement says, in India, any protests in India are dubbed “anti-national”, in Brazil, the country's democratically elected President Dilma Rousseff was ousted through a constitutional coup, in South Africa the neo-liberal policies have an unemployment rate of 40%, Russia is pushing an authoritarian capitalist model, China's capitalism is resulting in dispossession and pauperisation of the disempowered.

Comments

Modi win may force Pak to put Kashmir on backburner, resume trade ties with India

By Salman Rafi Sheikh* When Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term in India with a landslide victory in 2019, his government acted swiftly. Just months after the election, the Modi government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution of India. In doing so, it stripped the special constitutional status conferred on Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, and downgraded its status from a state with its own elected assembly to a union territory administered by the central government in Delhi.

Tyre cartel's monopoly: Farmers' groups seek legal fight for better price for raw rubber

By Our Representative The All India Kisan Sabha and the Kerala Karshaka Sangham that represents the largest rubber producing state of Kerala along with rubber farmers have sought intervention against the monopoly tyre companies that have formed a cartel against the interests of consumers and farmers. Vijoo Krishnan, AIKS General Secretary, Valsan Panoli, Kerala Karshaka Sangham General Secretary, and four farmers representing different rubber growing regions of Kerala have filed an intervention application in the Supreme Court.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Urban Naxal to Amit Shah, AAP Bharuch candidate tops ADR's Gujarat criminal cases list

By Rajiv Shah Refusing to go beyond the data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on the Lok Sabha candidates’ own declarations of their criminal record, educational qualification and assets, the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), a top-notch advocacy group, has declared Aam Aadmi Party candidate Chaitar Vasava, 35, having the highest number of criminal cases of all those fighting the electoral battle on 26 seats in Gujarat.

As inequality afflicts voters, Ambanis seem 'happily honest' flexing economic power

By Sonali Kolhatkar* There are several exercises in extremes playing out in India right now. Nearly a billion people are voting in elections that will last into early June, braving record-high temperatures to cast ballots. Against this backdrop, Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani , is throwing what will likely be the world’s most expensive wedding for his youngest son.

Climate crisis: Modi-led BJP 'refraining from phasing out coal production, emissions'

By Our Representative Civil society groups have released a charter of demands for securing climate justice and moving towards a just transition, demanding review and reframing of India’s Climate Action Policy Framework. The charter says that while the daily summer temperature in the country has already begin to roar sky high, millions of people in India are heading to the booths to cast their vote in this scorching heat. The everyday impacts of extreme weather events, a result of the climate crisis, has become alarmingly threatening.

Congress manifesto: Delving deep into core concepts related to equity, social justice?

By Prof RR Prasad* The deafening current clamor on one of the agenda items of the 2024 Congress Party Election Manifesto has made common people to ponder whether ideologies like social justice and equity could become conundrum and contentious manifestations of some organization's vision and mission.

RSS 'never supported' reservation, Golwalkar didn't think casteism hindered Hindu unity

By Shamsul Islam* RSS which claims to be the biggest organization of Hindus in the world is, in fact, a unique organization which trains its cadres in manufacturing and spreading lies in the pure Goebbelsian tradition. It functions as a gurukul; a high Caste learning institution for Hindu high castes where students also graduate in practicing what George Orwell termed ‘doublespeak’ and thus RSS has rightly been described as an “organization that thrives on political doublespeak”. [Edit, ‘Sangh’s triple-speak’, "The Times of India", 26 August 2002]. It is through lies that poison is spread against lower castes, minorities and all those who stand for multi-culturalism.

Magnetic, stunning, Protima Bedi 'exposed' malice of sexual repression in society

By Harsh Thakor* Protima Bedi was born to a baniya businessman and a Bengali mother as Protima Gupta in Delhi in 1949. Her father was a small-time trader, who was thrown out of his family for marrying a dark Bengali women. The theme of her early life was to rebel against traditional bondage. It was extraordinary how Protima underwent a metamorphosis from a conventional convent-educated girl into a freak. On October 12th was her 75th birthday; earlier this year, on August 18th it was her 25th death anniversary.

At developing nations' expense? US subsidies 'promoting' unfair trade practices

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The Secretary of the US Department of the Treasury, Janet L Yellen visited the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from April 3rd to April 9th, 2024, for bilateral meetings aimed at strengthening healthy economic relationships and engaging in other diplomatic discussions. During her visit, Yellen expressed concerns about Chinese state subsidies, stating in a press conference that they "pose significant risks to workers and businesses not only in the United States but also globally."

Search This Blog