Source: Common Dreams
The British Labour Party’s International Social Forum at SOAS last weekend explored many of the same issues as ourEconomy’s new ‘Decolonising the economy’ series. It brought together an impressive line-up of speakers – including Jayati Ghosh, Gyekye Tanoh, Ann Pettifor and Yanis Varoufakis – with a wide-ranging group of delegates around panels on the climate crisis, global finance, migration and trade. The question on the table was one that couldn’t be more timely, given the intersecting crises of global inequality and ecological collapse: ‘What would a new internationalism look like?’
The forum marked the launch of a 12-month programme to answer that question and develop an agenda to transform our economic structures to serve people and planet. Here I will attempt to bring together several strands of thought that were pursued and sketch and first outline of what that agenda might look like. I hope the participants will forgive any bungling of their arguments or the tangents that they inspired me to follow. One last disclaimer – the ideas presented here are not Labour policy and may never be – they are only examples the kinds of thinking taking place at the forum.