Organise to make capitalism history

After Live 8 and G8

Organise to make capitalism history

Fight for a socialist future

CWI on the demo in ScotlandA
QUARTER of a million marching in Edinburgh. 200,000 at Live 8 in Hyde
Park, London. One million in Philadelphia, USA and 2 billion watching
around the globe.

 The campaign to make poverty history has touched, moved and
mobilised millions. But this is only the beginning.

Christine Thomas

"Over to you" shouted Bob Geldof at the Live 8 concert,
directing his comments at the G8 politicians holed up in their five-star
hotel in Gleneagles, Scotland. But these are the same politicians who
are slashing jobs, privatising services and presiding over growing
poverty and inequality in their own countries.

It is the capitalist profit system, which they slavishly support,
that kills 1,200 people every hour of every day and puts one billion at
risk from poverty, war and famine worldwide.

We’ve marched and we’ve protested but we can’t put our faith in the
leaders of the richest countries in the world to end poverty.

"Won’t get fooled again" sang The Who in Hyde Park. We
shouldn’t be fooled into thinking that the crumbs of aid and debt relief
that the rich and powerful have thrown from their table at the poor in
Africa and elsewhere will go anywhere near alleviating the horrific
conditions which so many are forced to endure.

Bob Geldof has helped raise awareness about the scourge of world
poverty but he was completely off the mark when he described the G8 debt
deal as a "victory for millions". It represents a very small
drop in a very large ocean of misery and want created by capitalism.

In total the poorest countries owe around $2.5 trillion. Two thirds
of that is owed to private investors, a debt that will still hang like a
millstone round the necks of workers and poor in Africa, Asia and Latin
America – slowly strangling them.

Only 18 of the poorest countries in the world will initially benefit
from the small ‘relief’ on offer and only if their governments agree to
boost "private sector development" and eliminate
"impediments to private investment."

In other words, debt will still be used as a political tool by
capitalist governments and international institutions like the IMF and
World Bank to increase the profits of the multinational companies, 500
of which control 70% of world trade.

Just two companies control 75% of the global grain trade while three
corporations have cornered 80% of the market in cocoa. Wal-Mart, the
giant US supermarket has profits bigger than the economies of Mozambique
and Ghana combined.

As long as these companies maintain their vice-like grip over the
world economy, desperate poverty and inequality will continue to plague
the majority of humanity. They need to be taken into public ownership so
that we can democratically plan the production and distribution of goods
and resources on the basis of what is needed, not what is most
profitable, and in an environmentally sustainable way. It is an outrage
that millions starve to death while there is enough food produced to
feed the world.

Get organised

MANY OF the millions who have demonstrated, protested, signed
petitions, bought wrist bands and attended concerts will feel, like Bob
Geldof, that they have done their bit to end world poverty and now it is
up to the politicians to sort things out.

But the capitalist politicians will not change anything. We have to
organise to change things for ourselves, including the workers and poor
in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This is already beginning to happen. Just in the last few weeks
Bolivia has been brought to a standstill by workers, peasants and poor
people demanding the nationalisation of gas and oil and an end to
multinational companies bleeding them dry of their natural resources.
Millions of workers in South Africa have taken strike action against
unemployment and poverty.

For all those who want to end poverty throughout the world the next
step is to get organised and fight to make capitalism history and
socialism our future.