G20 Leaders Summit, Brazil, November 18-19
Another Failed Attempt by Canada and U.S. to Rally Support for Ukraine Against Russia
Demonstration in Rio de
Janeiro, November 16, 2024, ahead of the G20 summit
The G20 Leaders' Summit took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from November 18 to 19 under the theme "Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet." Brazil has held the presidency of the G20 since the last Leaders' Summit in 2023 and this year's summit was hosted by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The presidency goes to South Africa for 2025.[1]
The discussions were based on three themes proposed by Brazil:
1) social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty;
2) energy transitions and the promotion of sustainable development in its economic, social, and environmental dimensions; and
3) reform of global governance institutions.
Following discussions and meetings over two days, the Rio de Janeiro Leaders' Declaration was issued containing 174 pledges made in 85 clauses focused around the three themes. John Kirton, director of the G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto notes that many of the commitments made at the Rio G20 Summit were weak and constituted restatements or pledges from previous Declarations with little in the form of concrete actions, except to convene more meetings on an issue. Kirton provided as an example, the "Rio Summit's signature achievement, which as intended, was the formal launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty. However, the leaders' declaration did not contain a commitment to end hunger for everyone by 2030, one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as Brazilian President Lula da Silva had repeatedly sought. Nor did the declaration contain any commitments from G20 members to contribute any funds to help meet the Global Alliance's goals or refer to any such funding pledges."
In Rio, U.S. President Joe Biden proposed a "solution" to assist poorer nations with their development as follows: "[W]e need to make sure the World Bank can continue its work in the most vulnerable countries. I'm proud to announce the United States is pledging $4 billion over the next three years to the World Bank's International Development Association. [...] In addition, we have to mobilize private capital at scale. I'm proud of my country's work in this fund, including mobilizing $60 billion through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment." The Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment is a project of the G7 countries pooling private and state capital for global infrastructure projects based on public-private partnerships (P3s).
Biden added: "It boils down to a simple proposition. For countries that are willing to make bold reforms and smart investments, we should do three things: mobilize more resources from the multilateral development banks; two, unlock low-cost private-sector financing; and three, commit [...] to flowing money into these countries rather than taking it out during their need -- their moments of need."
Since the start of the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine, the U.S. and its allies have sought to use the G20 as a venue to isolate Russia and increase military support for Ukraine. At the G20 in Rio, President Biden stated: "The United States strongly supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Everyone around this table, in my view, should as well. And, by the way, Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine led to the highest-record food crisis in all of history." However, these efforts failed. The Leaders' Declaration at the end of Summit on the "War in Ukraine" notes "[W]e highlight the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war with regard to global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth. We welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace, upholding all the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter for the promotion of peaceful, friendly, and good neighbourly relations among nations." There is not even a mention of Russia.
Prime Minister Trudeau criticized the Leaders' Declaration as "not strong enough for me" on the question of Ukraine. He issued his own statement on the G20 Leaders' Summit in which he reported that at the meeting "He condemned Russia's unjustifiable full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which marked 1,000 days on November 19, 2024, and reiterated Canada's steadfast support for the Ukrainian government and people."
In the context of the brutal U.S./Zionist genocide against the Palestinian people, the Leaders' Declaration notes: "Affirming the Palestinian right to self-determination, we reiterate our unwavering commitment to the vision of the two-State solution where Israel and a Palestinian State live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions."
Regarding the global economy and trade, the Leaders' Declaration asserts: "International trade is an important engine for inclusive economic growth, combating poverty and hunger and promoting sustainable development and the SDGs." The trade being talked about here is for a "rules-based, non-discriminatory, fair, open, inclusive, equitable, sustainable and transparent multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core. Ensuring a level playing field and fair competition consistent with WTO rules is essential to ensuring prosperity and fostering a favourable trade and investment environment for all."
It is precisely this neo-liberal framework for global trade, underpinned by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the WTO, and the P3 infrastructure projects financed by the G7's Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment that has led to the privatization of public assets and the exploitation of resources and labour, leading to the impoverishment of countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. The Declaration itself admits: "With only six years left to achieve the [SDGs] of the [United Nations'] 2030 Agenda, progress towards only 17 per cent of the SDGs is on track, nearly half are showing minimal or moderate progress, and progress on over one-third has stalled or even regressed."
Clearly so long as it is the G20 or any other neo-liberal economic bloc that is in charge of addressing the UN's SDGs for 2030, no real progress will be achieved.
What all this reveals is that the G20, since its founding in 1999, is not an organization that is going to address any of the development problems the world is facing. The G20 is part of the global system created by the financial oligarchs and multinationals who have taken over the leadership of the biggest economies of the world in order to pursue their own private interests at the expense of the well-being of the planet and of humanity.
The pledges made at each G20 Summit are aimed at disorienting the political movement of the world's peoples from their own empowerment in their own countries. These pledges are aimed at keeping the world's people from taking their respective economies, including Canada's, in a new pro-social direction that would ensure that the rights of the workers, youth, women and all members of society by virtue of being human are guaranteed. This will be the foundation of a new global order where the people of each country can establish relations based on peace, social solidarity, non-interference in each other's internal affairs and trade for mutual benefit.
This alternative for which the peoples are fighting was evident in the mass actions of protestors at the G20 Rio Summit who put their demands and claims front and centre. They called for immediate action on climate change by holding the rich countries who have caused the climate crisis to account; an end to platitudes and instead real action to end global poverty and hunger; and immediate action to end the U.S./Zionist genocide against the Palestinian people and war against Lebanon. The demonstrations called for the government of Brazil to cut all ties with Israel.
Note
1. The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States) and two regional bodies: the European Union and the African Union (as of 2023). The G20 members represent around 85 per cent of global GDP, over 75 per cent of global trade, and about two-thirds of the world's population.
(With Files from the G20 Rio, G20 Research Group, CBC, U.S. White House. Photo: midianinja)
This article was published in
Volume 54
Number 11 - November 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/M5401118.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca