Counter-views on the global financial meltdown and on the food crisis

As the international financial crisis points to the collapse of laissez faire economics and discredits market fundamentalism, Africa and the global South should break free from failed neoliberal policies and the institutions that have promoted them and define their own paths to development, writes Demba Moussa Dembele, Director of the Forum for African Alternatives:

His article “The global financial crisis: Lessons and responses from Africa” for Pambazuka News is a good reality-check read to the Summit statement announcement by the G20 participants. (One really should step back from calling them leaders.)
However Demba Moussa himself needs to step back a bit and not hurl blanket condemnation at everyone who does not happen to be African. Even within the IMF and the World Bank there are “friends of Africa” I would argue. But more importantly, the global network of development, human rights and democracy NGOs, of which many Africans are important members, should not be shunned. And Demba risks overseeing that many of the ruling elites of African countries he calls upon to “reveres liberalization” are complicate in looting Africa’s wealth and hi-jacking its democracy.

Still, his article is an important counter -read to the G20 proclamation in which the above-mentioned culprits agree to “restore confidence in and repair the financial system” which is a the root of the crisis of the capitalist system.

For those MediaWatch readers who are looking for non-mainstream response to real-world problems such as the food crisis, here are some recent sites to which a visit is always worthwhile:
-"Food Rebellions: 7 Steps to Solving the Food Crisis"
-“Hunger Eclipsed At G-20 Summit”
- Message from the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Mr. Olivier De Schutter.

Also see the Oxfam briefing note
What Happened at the G20?, Oxfam Briefing Note, April 2009
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/economic_crisis/downloads/bn_what_happened_at_g20.pdf
(Glen Brigaldino)