Apr 11
Silencing the message or the messenger …. or both? Statement by former UNCTAD staff members
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Statement by former senior UNCTAD staff members including Secretary General Rubens Ricupero, Deputy Secretaries-General and Directors, regarding the pressure placed on UNCTAD and the G-77 by major developed countries in the preparations for UNCTAD XIII.
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Since its establishment almost 50 years ago at the instigation of developing countries UNCTAD has always been a thorn in the flesh of economic orthodoxy. Its analyses of global macro-economic issues from a development perspective have regularly provided an alternative view to that offered by the World Bank and the IMF controlled by the west. Now efforts are afoot to silence that voice…
The attack on UNCTAD is the latest manifestation of desperate attempts by the West to stamp out challenges to its intellectual and ideological hegemony and of the power of financial lobbies in New York, London and other Western capitals. The fact that UNCTAD has been proven right in many of its analyses is of no consequence to these governments, who remain either in a state of denial or engage in a concerted programme of deliberate obfuscation. The fallacy of self-regulating markets promoted by the neoliberal mantra has been thoroughly exposed by the global financial crises of 2008-2012, which has thrown millions into poverty, unemployment and homelessness and now threatens to drive several European countries into Third World status. Yet still these governments persist in failed policies and discredited thinking. I just hope that governments in the Global South stand firm behind UNCTAD and refuse to allow one of the last bastions of independent thought in the UN system to be emasculated.
Norman
Thanks for sending on Norman. If the statement has the effect of encouraging the BRICS then that would surely be one good way of demonstrating the BRICS’ commitment to “strengthening Unctad” . The research work that has been done on the financial system by Unctad has provided foundations for policy stances by the BRICS. They should thus have a strong interest in its continuance. If the BRICS do stand up in a determined way I think there would be a good chance of succeeding. And, perhaps the OECD group may be trying to see how far they can fly their kite!?
Havelock Brewster
Former Director of the Division for Primary Trade, UNCTAD
Former Special Research Adviser, UNCTAD