otrosistemafinanciero · Otro Sistema Financiero

Message 48 of 76
From: Mikael Book <book@k...>
Date: Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:44 am
Subject: Notes on the 28 January CTT Seminar


Dear Otro Sistema,

below, please find notes about the 28 January CTT seminar which is
arranged as a part of the Otrosistemafinanceiro events. The notes reflect the
discussion among NIGD-members. Comments are welcome to Ruby van der
Wekken (ruby at nigd.org) who will attend the seminar and to me
(book at kaapeli.fi), who cannot attend WSF 5.

All the best.

- Mikael

Mikael Böök * book@k... * gsm +358(0)-44 5511 324 * WWW
http://www.kaapeli.fi/book/


***********

Title: Currency Transactions Tax - A Necessity Against Neoliberal
Globalisation
(La Tassa Tobin una necessità contro la globalizzazione neo liberista)

Date: 28 January 2005
Time (Turno): 1 - this probably means 8:30 - 11:30 ?
Room: F 102
Code: 2206
Translation: -

Proposed by: Attac Italie

Participating organisations: ATTAC Brasil, ATTAC Francia, ATTAC Italia, ATTAC
Japón,
Grito de los Excluídos, Liberdade Brasil, Fundación Rosa
Luxembugro, NIGD, Sinal Tobin Tax Initiative, Unafisco, Weed

(based on part 8 of the WSF programme, now available at
www.forumsocialmundial.org.br)

Confirmed participants/speakers (20.1. 10 am Finnish time):
Paolo Prieri (Attac Italy), Ruby van der Wekken (NIGD)
Participant from Attac Japan to be confirmed later today.


********************

Notes:

1. The idea of the seminar 28 January is to continue discussions on
setting up a new CTT campaign. This campaign has been built up around
previous discussions held here in Porto Alegre, but also last year in
Mumbai and in between at various regional social foums, for instance at
the European Social Forums in Florence and London.


2. The CTT is climbing on the political agenda. Last year, four official
reports (by the Lula initiative, OECD, UNU/WIDER and ILO), were published
and in all of them global taxation was mentioned as an important new
mechanism. (See list of links to official reports at the end of these
notes.)

3. The Global Currency Transaction Tax should become "an icebreaker in
International Tax Law" (Lieven Denys) and lead to other forms of
global taxation being developed and implemented in the future.

4. The seminar is about setting up a global campaign which promotes that
the emancipatory potential of the CTT ("the Tobin tax") depends on the way
it will be realised. The tax has three main aims:

(1) To curb foreign exchange markets and thus transnational flows of
short-term capital. Thereby the tax will stabilise financial markets and
increase the economic policy autonomy of states;

(2) To gain some democratic control over global financial markets and the
social forces they have helped to unleash and strengthen.

(3) To create global funds for preventive and compensatory mechanisms, and
more generally, for global common goods.


5. The global campaign has the aim to interest a government or a group of
governments to organise a conference where governments would sign on to
a international CTT treaty.

Professors Lieven A Denys and Heikki Patomäki have developed a Draft
Treaty of a Currency Transactions Tax. This is available at

nigd.org/ctt

The idea of the draft treaty is that a CTT could be launched without
universal adherance, once at least 30 countries or 20 per cent of the
currency markets have signed on to the treaty.

The Draft Treaty is currently being translated into several languages.
(It is available in English, Japanese, others?)


6. The 28 January seminar should list interesting new developments and
activities in 2005-2006. Already here, it is worth noting that CTT
seminars in cooperation with parliamentarians are being planned in Japan
and India.

7. Among the organisations working for a CTT, some disagreements have
emerged regarding the prioritisation of the three main goals of the
CTT, and because of different underlying ideas and
opinions. Therefore, it is possible there will be more than one
international campaign for the CTT. If so, it is essential that the
campaigns can cooperate at a basic level. After all, humanity has not
yet been able to implement global taxation so we really should allow
for some different approaches to this problem of the globalization
(some further notes on are found in e.g. "Despite Dispute - Notes
upon a brinstorming over the CTT", an article by Mikael Book,
available from www.uttn.info and, soon, from www.cttcampaigns.info)

This can be discussed at the 28 January seminar. The matter will also
be clarified at the 2 March Tobin-Europe meeting in Brussels.

As a part of our 28 January Seminar at WSF V NIGD is launching a new
website

www.cttcampaigns.info

Since December, a test version of this site is up at www.uttn.info.
Purpose of this new website is to be a center for CTT-related news and
knowledge, and a space for debate and cooperation between CTT
Campaigns. The site is formally owned by NIGD. Organisations which
campaign for the CTT are invited to join as site members with own
folders and passwords. Hopefully, some "ground rules" for "site
member democracy" will be discussed already at the 28 January seminar.



8. Site addresses of official reports on CTT

- Action Against Hunger and Poverty, initiated by Brazilian President Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva, see
www.mre.gov.br/ingles/politica_externa/temas_agenda/acfp/index.asp

- OECD Development Centre Policy Brief 24: Innovative approaches to
funding the Millenium Development Goals by Helmut Reisen, see
www.oecd.org/dev

- UNU-WIDER study on New Sources of Development Finance: Funding the
Millennium Development Goals, see www.wider.unu.edu

- A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All, by the World
Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, see www.ilo.org/wcsdg