Amsterdam, 30 January – As corporate CEOs and heads of states gather in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, an international panel of experts on political economy and a wide spectrum of civil society organizations gathered on Friday in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to make heads out of the current global economic crisis and pointed to concrete and radical measures for building an alternative financial and economic system that works for the poor majority and the environment.

As corporate CEOs and heads of states gather in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, an international panel of experts on political economy and a wide spectrum of civil society organizations gathered on Friday in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to make heads out of the current global economic crisis and pointed to concrete and radical measures for building an alternative financial and economic system that works for the poor majority and the environment.

The international forum, “Global Financial and Economic Crisis: Roots and Consequences”, struck clearly against the “neoliberal” language of the WEF, blaming private profit and “free market” not only for the present global economic and financial crisis but also for the deadly food crisis in the Third World, the energy crisis and the global climate crisis confronting the people of the world.

Summarizing the sentiments and aspirations of the forum participants, a common statement declared that radical changes in the political, social and economic systems have to be implemented, resulting in “priority given to the common good as opposed to private profit, environmental sustainability as opposed to the plunder of the world's resources, empowerment of the people as opposed to the monopoly of power by the few, and equality in the relations between nations.”

Sharing the podium in the Amsterdam forum were Ellen Hodgson Brown, J.D. and Prof. William K. Tabb of the US, Prof. Jose Maria Sison of the Philippines, and Prof. Dr. Arnold Heertje of the Netherlands. Among those who participated in the forum were Dutch university students and representatives of civil society organizations such as IBON Europe, RESIST WTO, Both Ends, Peoples' Artists Network and the Centre D'appui aux Philippines (Canada).

Ellen Hodgson Brown, J.D. has done extensive research about cartels in the US pharmaceutical industry and about the US Federal Reserve and what she terms “the money trust”. In her paper prepared for the forum, “The Global Financial Meltdown: Causes and Cures”, Brown asserted that the banking system itself is the cause of the global financial crisis. “The banking system is collapsing because it can no longer cover up the shell game it has played for three centuries with other people's money.”

Brown criticized the bail out of the private banking system, saying that “there is a better solution than throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at the banks”. A more effective alternative, she said, is to simply create another credit system composed of a network of public banks which could “extend credit at low interest rates to consumers and at very low interest to local governments, drastically reducing the cost of public projects.”

Speaking on the “Economic, Social and Political Consequences of the Current Financial Crisis in the Capitalist Countries”, Prof. William K. Tabb emphasized that the situation is bad and getting worse. Among other indicators, he pointed out that the US stock market fell by 38% in 2008, but this was even less than the losses for the rest of the world's major stock markets where indices fell by 46%. “In Iceland,” Prof. Tabb said, “the stock market lost 90% of its value in 2008.”

“The present situation is the culmination of decades of neolibelarism, corporate globalization and financialization between 1995 and 2007,” Prof. Tabb continued, “that reduced the share of income going to workers' wages but increased the share going to profits in three quarters of the world's nations.”

Prof. Tabb, who teaches economics in the City University of New York and who has written extensively on corporate globalization and social justice, observed that “it is becoming clear to larger numbers of people globally that markets, the law, and the state are not neutral but serve those with the most influence and not the majority... Everywhere in Europe we are seeing the rise of an alternative politics of democratic socialism and of local participatory democracy in the growth of social movements.”

Citing as examples the increased parliamentary clout of the Socialistische Partij (Socialist Party) in the Netherlands and Die Linke (The Left) party in Germany, Prof. Tabb said that “socialist parties are growing, new ones are being formed, and anti-capitalism (political) programs are gaining adherents... This very deep financial crisis we are experiencing may be a turning point in broad economic, social and political direction.”

Prof. Jose Maria Sison, speaking on “What the people can and must do about the financial and economic crisis”, clarified how the current grave crisis came about and how the poorest people of the world have been exploited and oppressed. He also pointed out “what the people can and must do, in terms of educating themselves, organizing and mobilizing themselves to bring about the necessary social change for the better.”

Prof. Sison, a political refugee residing in the Netherlands, is the chairperson of the International League of Peoples' Struggle, a worldwide network of civil society organizations opposed to monopoly capitalism and “neoliberal globalization”. He was founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 and currently the Chief Political Consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in peace negotiations with the Manila government.

Reflecting on the impact of the global economic crisis on the world's poorest peoples, Prof. Sison asserted that, “the broad masses of the people suffer from the crisis in terms of reduced employment and income, the deterioration of their living conditions and intensification of exploitation and oppression. The crisis has resulted in widespread social discontent and unrest... But there is ample ground and ample time for the working class, the mass organizations and the broad masses to strengthen themselves against the onslaughts of monopoly capitalism, and carry out social movements for basic social reforms in all countries and to wage revolutionary struggles in an ever increasing number of countries.”

The discussions and debates during the forum brought up concrete proposals to confront the global crisis in the immediate and long terms. These included holding the finance and corporate officials of major capitalist countries accountable for causing one of the worst economic disasters in history; creating jobs through expanded public works, alternative green energy projects and social services; wage increases for the industrial workers and a larger share of the agricultural produce for the peasants and farm workers; increased public spending on rural infrastructure that directly improve peoples' livelihood; and drastic reduction in military spending and elimination of bureaucratic corruption.

The panelists and forum participants made a consensus of holding similar public meetings around the world to educate more working people about the root causes of the global financial crisis and what the people can do to confront the crisis.