The G20 meets in Cannes this week with a second chance to get it right and produce the leadership to move the world away from the economic and social abyss. After the financial crisis broke in 2008, there was a flurry of coordinated activity but since then the G20 has been all but paralyzed. Positive action is required as the fires of protest blaze across the world.
France, the motherland of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, would be a fitting place for the G20 leadership to launch a new social contract in response to the growing unrest. The financial crisis has revealed that the social order created in the post-war social contract has been systematically torn to pieces by the business and political elites and their think tank cohorts. It's not only in France where the principles of Liberté, Fraternité, Egalité have been stripped away and replaced by Individualté, Inegalité and the illusion of financial wealth.
The crunch question is whether the G20 can deliver economic answers to avoid a deepening crisis and help turn the tide for the 200 million unemployed. The G20 should not underestimate the significance of the new resistance movements. On the face of it, these "occupations" across the world may not have a lot in common and the reasons for protesting appear disparate even amongst each demonstration group. What they do show is that a growing cross-section of people has run out of patience with the global governing order. They are not buying in to the austerity sell-out and they want action on jobs. The people have rumbled that the financial sector, aided and abetted by government, has duped them with a mantra of deregulation and "the market knows best" and that all but a few of those responsible have not only gone unpunished but prospered while they pick up the tab. They watch bankers fight tooth and nail to prevent change to a more equitable system while picking off opportunities to make easy money at the expense of the people caught up in the crisis.
That is why the "Occupy" demonstrations are springing up like wildfires and will not be put out until real progress has been made on creating jobs and giving people back their dignity and a belief in the future. There is a strong correlation between the protests and the unprecedented levels of youth unemployment. Their protest is not futile. It can eventually lead to positive change and a renegotiation of the social contract. In the UK during the Depression in October 1932, 2,500 workers from all over the country marched on London and presented a petition to the government protesting cuts to unemployment benefit. Four years later, the Jarrow marchers from Northeast England, representing thousands more workers, followed. These protests supported by the unions appeared to have failed and the marchers returned home empty-handed but their actions triggered new legislation which gave at least some limited protection to workers and support to the unemployed. Enough, according to George Orwell, to prevent widespread unrest or support for extremists parties as happened in Germany.
The protests raised public awareness and made the government re-evaluate the legitimate expectations of the people and sowed the seeds for the welfare state in the UK. At the beginning of the Great Depression, trade union membership had been at a low but it steadily rose in the 30s and continued to rise until the 70s. It was then that the post-war social contract began to breakdown. History is likely to repeat itself with unions strengthening in response to the crisis as workers demand a new, fairer deal.
Some observers have suggested that we are heading toward a Depression. Eighty years ago in the United States, the Tin Pan Alley classic, "Buddy, Have You Got a Dime?", was the crisis music of its time. Today the dollars have gone to the investment bankers who got off scot free, and there are no dimes for the 99 percent. What song we will be singing may be decided partly by events in Cannes next week. If the G20 wants to take this second chance, they should concentrate on ensuring that the widening gap between the poor and the rich is redressed. Tax havens which fuel inequalities need to be closed; and a financial transactions tax introduced. Everyone must pay their fair share. Multi-billion dollar bail-outs are not the only answer. Giving people back their dignity and respect is free and this should be part of the new bargain between the state and the people. The G20 has the opportunity to start a new social contract that would go some way to answering the universal demand of the protestors.
Philip Jennings, General Secretary, UNI Global Union will take part in the Labour20 (L20) where labour leaders will meet with President Sarkozy at the Elysée Palace, Paris on Wednesday 2 November ahead of the G20