Our G20 Response
So we felt the build-up, we watched the riots on TV, we marched (somewhat more peacefully) at ‘Put People First’ and we may have heard something of the outcomes, but what has actually happened as a result of the G20 summit?
In a nutshell, it did bring some hope for people living in poverty. Which we like. The good news is that out of a whopping trillion dollars of funds to be allocated, $50 billion was earmarked for the poor. It’s still a small percentage of the total, but it's something. The not-so-good news is that most of that was in the form of loans rather than grants, which greatly reduces its potential impact for breaking the cycle of poverty that so many poor countries are trapped in.
The bad news is that climate change barely cropped up, being totally overshadowed by the recession. The only promise made was to discuss it further at the next meeting, in December in Copenhagen, and make some solid commitments then.
They did make it clear that despite the economic crisis, they intend to stick to their word about increasing aid to poor countries, and meeting the Millennium Development Goals which aim to improve conditions for people living in the world’s poorest communities. They are yet to say how they plan to achieve this.
So let’s give a big thanks to God for the prayers that have been answered – for all the positive steps that were mentioned, and the promise of justice for the poor that continues to linger. Let’s keep raising our voices, both to God and to our government, and insist that some of these things become tangible soon, that stuff gets set in place so that action can be taken, so that the justice dream can become reality.