People's movements

As the influence of multinational corporations over public policy continues unabated, the key challenge for those campaigning for social and environmental justice is how to redistribute political power back into the hands of ordinary people.

Can the sharing economy movement address the root causes of the world’s converging crises? Unless the sharing of resources is promoted in relation to human rights and concerns for equity, democracy, social justice and sustainability, then such claims are without substantiation – although there are many hopeful signs that the conversation is slowly moving in the right direction.

As the global financial crisis now enters its seventh year, it is time to start asking difficult questions about the right priorities for popular protest if we want to realise a truly united voice of the world’s people. There can be no revolution in a truly moral or global sense until the critical needs of the extreme poor are prioritised and upheld, which will require mass mobilisations in the streets like we have never seen before.

あなたと私は、私たちが世界の問題の原因だと非難するシステム自体を構成しています。私たちがクリスマスにイエスの名の下弱った地球からショッピング街で消費という略奪を行うとき、それはあからさまに実証されます。今年、キリストの誕生を祝うために自由と正義の旗の下で結束し、世界中の飢餓と貧困をなくすために平和的なデモンストレーションをするより他に良い方法があるでしょうか。

You and I constitute the very system that we blame for the world’s problems, which is starkly illustrated at Christmas when we rob our fragile earth on the high streets in the name of Jesus. What better way to celebrate the birth of Christ this year than to unite under the banner of freedom and justice, and peacefully demonstrate for an end to hunger and poverty across the world.

The following article is based on a talk given at the 11th international conference of the Globalisation for the Common Good (GCGI), held at the Cité Universitaire Internationale in Paris under the theme: "Imagining a Better World: An Intergenerational Dialogue for the Common Good to Inspire a Creative Leadership".