G20 Summit and Counter Summit in Saint-Petersburg

MOSCOW, August 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

On the 3-4th of September in St. Petersburg a counter-summit, a large-scale international event that aims to be an alternative to the September G20 Summit and to develop new principles of economic and social policy that are not based on the "Washington Consensus" will be held. It will suggest ways to solve the problems associated with the crisis of the U.S. hegemony, "free trade" and the WTO. The international counter-summit organised by the "Postglobalization" initiative will bring together world-renowned experts, politicians, economists, social scientists from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America. In the frames of the counter-summit panel discussions, seminars and public lectures will be held.

In the context of the ongoing global economic crisis, the St. Petersburg counter-summit is especially important. Crisis showed the historical limits of neoliberalism: global capitalism has lost effectiveness. The peoples face the task of implementing new economic policies and approaches in the social sphere. The counter-summit is designed to help society make a decision, take a step from criticising neoliberalism to pursuing radical change. A transition from a weak to a strong state, from non-intervention in the economy to regulation is maturing. Qualitative policy change is required, based on the recognition of the priority of social, cultural, scientific and technological progress. The counter summit sets the task of defining an alternative strategy that would rely on the new reality of a multipolar world economy, free from U.S. hegemony and dominance of transnational corporations.

The counter summit agenda includes: problems of financial markets, the policy of the IMF and the World Bank, the global economic crisis, the debt problems and budget savings. The issues of economic regulation, food safety, environmental protection, labour and social rights, changes in the energy field will be discussed. Contrary to the liberal politicians the counter-summit participants consider that the answer to the crisis should be a welfare state and not the commercialisation of public goods.

Major international organizations will take part in the counter-summit, such as: Focus on the global south, Global exchange, ATTAC, Via campesina, Institute for agriculture and trade policy, Our world is not for sale, Tax Justice Network, Latindadd, Committee for the abolition of world debt, Campagna per la riforma della Banca mondiale, Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo from Latin America, Centre for Civil Society, Globalization monitor, Institute of Globalisation and Social movements, and many others.

The initiative «Postglobalization» was formed with the participation of Transnational institute (TNI), Focus on the Global South, Institute of globalisation and social movements, ATTAC FRANCE and other international institutes. The international Postglobalization initiative aims to find new ways to recover the economy that suffers from the failure of the neoliberal project.

The Press service of the Postglobalization Initiative

http://pglobal.org