Food crises, economic stagnation and price increases are worsening unevenly, almost everywhere, following the Ukraine war. Sanctions against Russia have especially hurt those relying on wheat and fertilizer imports.

Unilateral sanctions illegal
Unilateral sanctions – not approved by the UN Security Council – are illegal under international law. Besides contravening the UN Charter, unilateral sanctions inflict much human loss. Countless civilians – many far from target countries – are at risk, depriving them of much, even life itself.

Sanctions, embargos and blockades – ‘sold’ as non-violent alternatives to waging war by military means – economically isolate and punish targeted countries, supposedly to force them to acquiesce. But most sanctions hurt the innocent majority, much more than ruling elites.

Read the article by Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury

For the last 40 years, a rising tide of inequality has swept across much of the globe, reversing the achievement of peak equality in many nations in the early postwar decades. Today most rich countries are significantly more unequal than half a century ago.

The trigger for this shift from the dominant postwar philosophy of egalitarianism was an assumption of power by a coterie of small-state, ‘free market’, anti-equality thinkers. For these neoliberal evangelists, equality had gone too far, while faster economic progress, it was said, depended on bigger rewards at the top and accumulation of much larger private fortunes. Although these pro-capital doctrines were applied most forcefully in Anglo-Saxon countries, neoliberalism infected policy-making across much of the globe.

Read the article by Stewart Lansley

US and allied economic sanctions against Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine have not achieved their declared objectives. Instead, they are worsening economic stagnation and inflation worldwide. Worse, they are exacerbating hunger, especially in Africa.

Unless approved by the UN Security Council (UNSC), sanctions are not authorized by international law. With Russia’s veto in the UNSC, unilateral sanctions by the US and its allies have surged following the Ukraine invasion. But sanctions cut both ways.

Read the article by Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury

Our planet is facing a triple crisis of climate, nature and pollution, with one common cause—the fossil-fuel economy. Oil, gas and coal are at the root of runaway climate disruption, widespread biodiversity loss and pervasive plastic pollution. The conclusion is clear and must be paramount when political leaders gather in Stockholm this week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. Any effort to address these existential threats to human and ecological health will mean little as long as the fossil-fuel economy remains intact.

Read more in Social Europe

On the interconnectedness with social justice, on some paradoxical consequences for the peace movement, on borders and global public goods, on nationalisml and sovereignty …

Lessons from the war in Ukraine | Meer

Guy Rider at the opening of the Labour Conference

Guaranteed and protected living wages for Asian garment workers, implementing product pricing models that account for the payment of living wages, moving towards progressive taxation codes, and holding brands legally liable for labor rights violations are critical for re-engineering garment global supply chains.

Read the Statement of Focus on the Global South

After the 2008 global financial crisis, the world seemed ready to undertake meaningful reform of the international monetary system. But the promised structural changes never happened. And the recent spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank indicated that the current bout of global economic upheaval will similarly fail to spur transformation.

Read the article from the China Daily

Billionaire wealth has soared during the COVID-19 pandemic as companies in the food, pharma, energy, and tech sectors have cashed in. Meanwhile millions of people around the world are facing a cost-of-living crisis due to the continuing effects of the pandemic and the rapidly rising costs of essentials, including food and energy. Inequality, already extreme before COVID-19, has reached new levels. There is an urgent need for governments to implement highly progressive taxation measures that in turn must be used to invest in powerful and proven measures to reduce inequalities.

The new Oxfam report on inequalities!