[ Election Platform series: the Left ]

The system must change

In a series of comments ahead of Germany’s general election in September, the development spokespersons of the parties representend in the Bundestag elaborate their programmatic ideas this month. The Left Heike Hansel argues that to date, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have served as control instruments of the North over the South. Neo-liberal doctrines, however, must not be allowed to define development policies.


[ By Heike Hänsel ]

Development coorperation must be embedded in an international strategy for liberation: liberation from poverty, analphabetism, supression, exploitation and war. All over the world, therefore, our most important alies are social, environmental and anti-militaritistic movements; consider, for instance, the World Social Forum, labour unions, indigenous movements, local development initiatives, self-help groups and non-governmental organisations.

I am in favour of opening and democratising development cooperation in the sense of promoting more involvement of local civil society groups and social movements, and supporting the societies of the partner countries on a self-determined development course. We must share scientific and technological progress - for instance, in the field of renewable energy - with the peoples of the South, instead of marketing innovations as a new export product. More financial resources must stay in the South instead of flowing back to the North due to interest payments, consultants’ paychecks or contract fees.

When we discuss the inevitable reorientation of Germany development policy, I think we must not merely take into account technocratic institutional reforms, but rather reconsider the fundamentals of decision making. We can only achieve the much called for coherence through a fundamental change of policymaking, but certainly not through institutional manoeuvring.

The world’s current economic crisis shows that the North’s recipies for development and economic success have failed. Free trade and liberalisation have led to higher dependence of the the South, and to its higher susceptibilty to crises. These doctrines have stood in the way of achiving the human right to food at the global level. In order to make German development cooperation effective, a system change in European and international economic and trade policies is necessary.

The Left is committed to democratise donor structures and promoting development. So far, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have been control instruments of the North over the South. For decades, instead of boosting development, their funding policies have hindered progress. Both institutions should be fully integrated into the UN system, and the process of decision making should be democratised. Additionally, strong regional development banks, can support southern countries self-determined development.

The Left Party criticises that the industrial nations sabotaged the UN summit on the global financial crisis in June and preferred to discuss core issues of the global economic order among themselves at the G8 summit. This G8 circus must finally be brought to a halt. Nor are the G20 an acceptable platform for crucial global policymaking. In my view, the correct platform can only be a democratically reformed United Nations.

A billion people are suffering from hunger in the South because the regime of global trade has driven them into deadly dependence. Agroindustrial corporations control who produces and eats what at which price. Small-scale farms deserve much more support, whereas purely export-oriented agroindustrial corporations must accept their limits. In the German Bundestag, the Left has consistently critised the EU’s neo-liberal free trade policy. The Left demands socially and economically sustainable agreements between the EU and developing countries and emerging economies. Our party supports the regional Latin American integration project, ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America), which established itself as an anti-pole to global free-trade ideology.

The European Development Fund, into which Germany annually pays € 800 million, must become more transparent and brought under true parliamentary control. Most important, it must not be used as a means to enforce a neo-liberal policies in recipient countries, as was evident in the EPA-talks (European Partnership Agreements) .

Development requires justice. Otherwise, the vision of Pablo Neruda, the great Chilean poet, will not become reality: “Yo QUIERO tierra, fuego, pan, azúcar, harina, mar, libros, patria para todos.“ (I want earth, fire, bread, sugar, flour, ocean, books and belonging for all.)

D+C, 2009/09, Debate, Page 347