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Letter of the President
3 August , 2007
Make poverty history - if not now, when?
On 26 and 31 July respectively, two European political leaders, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, delivered major political speeches that are of critical importance to our country, our continent and the rest of the world. The one spoke at the University of Dakar in Senegal, and the other at the United Nations in New York.
Because of the global and timely significance of these addresses, I believe that as many of us as possible should study them, of course with no obligation to agree with them. Nevertheless, they present urgent and important tasks to which we must respond.
All humanity, including ourselves, must respond to the many important challenges posed by the objective process of the rapid expansion of an integrated global political economy - properly and scientifically understood - that is colloquially described as globalisation.
At the same time, as a movement, we must vigorously address the national, African continental, and universal tasks we face, consistent with the national democratic and internationalist obligations that have defined our movement, the ANC, for many decades.
The problem of the colour line
This imposes a requirement on us to study, understand and act on the basis of a thorough, honest and disciplined analysis of objective national, continental and global reality. As much as we must be resolute in our actions, so must we accept the reality of a complex and dialectical process through which we come to identify the content of our dynamic social reality, and therefore the setting to which we must respond.
The liberation of our country in 1994 created the possibility for the realisation of a dream that the African masses, and not only the leaders, have entertained for a long time. This is the dream of African unity.
In our case, this was first expressed both as the dream of the unity of our Continent and the unity of the African oppressed, who, as Pixley Seme said, had to bury the demon of tribalism. On the larger plain, relevant to all Africans without regard to tribe and defined place of residence, incorporating the African Diaspora, on the eve of the century, WEB du Bois said the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of the colour line.
We now live in the first decade of the 21st century. The problem we all face, as Africans, without regard to tribe and place of residence, incorporating the African Diaspora, remains still, the problem of the colour line, at this stage relating to our socio-economic upliftment and liberation, and our advance away from the periphery of global human society.
Basing ourselves on the historic place of our continent in the birth and evolution of humanity, and the birth of organised human civilisation, we have a duty, and every right to say the 21st must and will be an African century.
The major addresses delivered by President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown, leaders of former European colonial powers, seek to respond to the challenge to liberate the billions in the South from poverty, especially as this relates to our continent and us as Africans.
What Sarkozy said
In this regard, President Sarkozy said: "The weakness of Africa, which knew so many brilliant civilisations on its soil, is due to the fact that she did not engage with other cultures for a long time (because of slavery and colonialism). Africa paid dearly for this disengagement from the world, and it made her very vulnerable. But from all her sufferings, Africa has drawn new strength by re-engaging with herself. This re-engagement, whatever the painful conditions of its birth were, is Africa's true strength and real chance at this moment when the first world civilisation is emerging...
"(The possibility to be able to study, to work, to live decently) is basically what all of Africa wants. Africa does not want charity. Africa does not want help. Africa does not want permits.
"What Africa wants is solidarity, understanding and respect, and this must be given to her. What Africa wants, is that one does not take over her future, think for her, or decide for her. What Africa wants is what France wants; namely cooperation, association, and partnership between two nations, equal in rights and duties.
"Youth of Africa, globalisation as it is, does not please you. Africa has paid too high a price for the mirage of collectivism and progress, to cede to that of laisser faire policies. Youth of Africa, you believe that the free market is beneficial but that it is not a religion. You believe that competition is a means but it is not an end in itself.
"You know that if Africa is too naïve, Africa will be condemned to being the prey of all the world's predators. And you do not want that. You want another globalisation, with more humanity, more justice, more rules.
"I have come to tell you that France also wants this. She wants to fight along with Europe, along with Africa, with anyone in the world who wants to change globalisation. If Africa, France and Europe want it together, then we will succeed. But we cannot express this desire for you."
What Brown said
Addressing the urgent need for a practical manifestation of the solidarity of which President Sarkozy spoke, Prime Minister Brown said: "Unless we act, the planet will by 2015 be suffering not less but more environmental degradation and millions of people will still be struggling on less than one dollar a day with millions of children still hungry...
"The calendar says we are half way from 2000 to 2015, (the period set for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals). But the reality is that we are a million miles away from success...
"We cannot allow our promises that became pledges to descend into just aspirations, and then wishful thinking, and then only words that symbolise broken promises.
"We did not make the commitment to the Millennium Development Goals only for us to be remembered as the generation that betrayed promises rather than honoured them and undermined trust that promises can ever be kept.
"So it is time to call it what it is: a development emergency which needs emergency action...
"So when the need is pressing, when it is our generation that has made historic commitments, when the time to meet them is now short, the simple questions that - to paraphrase the words of an American president - we must ask are:
"If not now, when? If not us, who? If not together, how?
"And I believe the scale of the challenge is such that we cannot now leave it to some other time and some other people but must act now, working together...
"For you also know what I know: that the world has the technology to cure, the science to heal, the medicine to save lives.
"Past generations had the old excuse. They could say: If only we had the knowledge. If only we had the technology. If only we had the medicine. If only we had the science. If only we had the wealth.
"Today we have the science, technology, medicine and wealth: what we now need is the unity and strength of purpose to employ the ingenuity and resources we have - and to employ them well - to help those who need it.
"And we need a compact - the rich accepting their responsibilities to invest, to support, to end protectionism and to deliver our promises; the developing countries accepting their responsibilities to reform, to open up to trade, and to be transparent and free of corruption...
"So it is time to call into action the eighth of the Millennium Goals so we can meet the first seven. Let us remember Millennium Development Goal eight - to call into being, beyond governments alone, a global partnership for development, and together harness the energy, the ideas and the talents of the private sector, consumers, NGOs and faith groups, and citizens everywhere."
The order of the day
In Dakar, President Sarkozy made the important statement that in his view, which he did not seek to impose on us, Africa would never achieve her developmental goals if she accepted a globalisation process driven by a religion of laisser faire (free markets), and should strive for a globalisation process "with more humanity, more justice, more rules".
He called for solidarity, cooperation, association, and partnership among the nations, "equal in rights and duties", and warned against supporting policies that would condemn Africa to remain "prey of all the world's predators".
Prime Minister Brown also called for "a global partnership for development", involving governments, business, civil society and the citizen. He argued for a compact between the rich and the poor of the world. He argued that the means and the know-how exist radically to push back the frontiers of poverty, globally.
He required of the rich that they implement resource transfers to the poor and create the conditions in their countries to empower the poor to extricate themselves from misery: he required of the poor to create the necessary conditions for development, including ensuring that resources meant for development reach the masses of the people rather than end up in the pockets of a predatory elite.
The important statements made by President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown come at a critical time during the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations and the ACP-EU negotiations, with the latter intended to conclude the ACP-EU Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) by 31 December this year, as mandated by the 2000 ACP-EU Cotonou Partnership Agreement.
The Economic Partnership Agreements
The outcome of the EPA negotiations is of critical importance to the achievement of the vital anti-poverty objectives emphasised by President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown in the speeches we have cited.
Everything that has happened so far with regard to the EPA negotiations suggests that the ACP and EU countries should urgently engage in an honest, comprehensive and critical assessment of the fundamental bases of these negotiations, which were defined in the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA).
We would argue that what is fundamentally wrong is that, essentially, the CPA is based on prescriptions derived from the infamous "Washington Consensus".
This "consensus" stands out as the most prominent contemporary exemplar of the free market fundamentalism against which President Sarkozy spoke.
The decisive interventions proposed by Prime Minister Brown seek to respond to the "market failures" that derive from adherence to the "religion" of free markets propagated by adherents of the Washington Consensus.
When he spoke in Dakar, President Sarkozy addressed the need for the world rich and (African) poor to enter into a partnership in which the participants would be "equal in rights and duties". When he spoke in New York, Prime Minister Brown defined reciprocal but differentiated duties for the rich and the poor.
World's poorest vs world's richest
However, the central issue in this equation was raised by Oxfam in its 2006 document, "Unequal Partners". Under a sub-heading, "Next round: world's poorest vs. world's richest", it said: "The EPA negotiations are being conducted between the 25 EU countries, which have a combined GDP of $13,300bn, and six groups of African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries. Among these ACP countries are 39 of the world's 50 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The smallest group, the Pacific Islands, has a combined GDP of only $9bn - 1,400 times smaller than the EU's. Even the largest group, the West Africa region, is more than 80 times smaller than the EU in terms of GDP. Given these vast inequalities, it is not hard to see where the power lies."
It is not possible for us, in this Letter, to discuss the impact of this structural and gross power imbalance on the important issues that President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Brown addressed in their important speeches. This journal discussed this critical issue in its 2004 editions, Vol 4 Nos 41-48.
Responding to the critical need to ensure that the ACP-EU EPA negotiations indeed respond to the urgent challenge radically to push back the frontiers of poverty among "the world's poorest", in March 2005 the British Government Department for International Development (DFID) issued a statement entitled: "Economic Partnership Agreements : Making EPAs Deliver for Development".
Balancing the equation
Because of the importance of the issues it raised, below we quote the DFID statement in full, which said:
"EPAs must be designed to deliver long-term development, economic growth and poverty reduction in ACP countries.
"We believe that:
"Implementing this in practice:
"Implemented along these lines, Economic Partnership Agreements should provide real development benefits to the ACP countries."
What is to be done!
France and the UK are important members of the EU. What President Sarkozy said in Dakar on 26 July, and what Prime Minister Brown said in New York on 31 July suggest that they would be ready and willing to intervene now, five months before the planned finalisation of the EPAs, to ensure that they are consistent with the guidelines spelt out by DFID. What was said in Dakar and New York last month, by leaders of two important global players, France and the UK, suggests these countries are ready and willing to intervene in the WTO negotiations, through the EU, to help ensure an outcome, this year, which respects the reality that, as globally agreed, these negotiations are accurately described as the Doha Development Round.
On this latter issue, in her statement on 8 June this year, as Chairperson of the G8, after the Heiligendamm meetings that included the G8, African leaders, and the G5 (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa), German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "We stressed the need for achieving an ambitious, balanced and comprehensive agreement on the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), which will enhance worldwide trade among and between developed and developing countries and reinforce multilateral trade rules...We pledged to work with a high level of ambition in all areas of the DDA and call on all WTO members to demonstrate constructive flexibility to bring these negotiations to a prompt successful conclusion. The time has come to translate the continued commitment on political level into tangible results. Therefore we urge Ministers in charge of trade, in particular from leading developed countries and major emerging economies, to provide in the coming weeks a solid platform for a multilateral negotiation leading to an agreement on modalities."
There is no reason to suppose that President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not act, in the context of their important July speeches, to ensure that the EPA and DDA negotiations address the objectives they enunciated.
The poor billions of the world are entitled to expect that all those for whom Chancellor Merkel spoke on 8 June would support what Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown would do, responding to the urgent need honestly to answer the questions relating to the global struggle against poverty and underdevelopment - if not now, when? if not us, who? if not together, how?
This page was last updated on Friday July 27, 2007