Is Brazilian President Lula taking the lead?

Mika Böök and Katarina Sehm Patomäki

At the initiative of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, of Brazil, 83 heads of state gathered in New York, on 20 September 2004, "in a spirit of cooperation and dialogue, to discuss further international action to fight hunger, overcome poverty, and increase financing for development".

The initiative of the Brazilian President relies much on the Report of the Technical Group on Innovative Financing Mechanisms. This report, which was largely based on the findings of the "Landau Commission" of French President Jaques Chirac, discusses taxation of financial transactions and arms trade, an international financial facility, international currency (Special Drawing Rights) for financing development. The report also mentions volontary contributions through credit cards and "ethical funds".

Civil society organisations welcome in particular the initiative of setting up a tax on financial transactions. Groups have long been stating that the research has been done and the case has been made: a tax on financial transactions could decrease speculation, as well as raise funds that could be redistributed as decided by democratic mechanisms. Simultaneously, the tax could be a first step toward putting the financial markets under some kind of democratic control.

In 2002, NIGD issued a draft treaty for a tax on currency transactions (NIGD Discussion Paper 1/2002). At present, a number of organistions are developing a new campaign on the issue. There seems to be interest in this largely in the Attac movement, here headed by ATTAC Finland and ATTAC Ireland. Japanese and Brasilian organisations have indicated interest to join forces. The invitation to join is currently in the process of being extended to other organisations and the launching organisations are planning a joint strategy event for the campaign. For instance, War on Want in the UK and Attac France have been very active on this issue in Europe. In addition, there are numerous other campaigns, and campaigns of campaigns that support the cause of a CTT.

An impressive number of 116 countries signed the declaration issued at the meeting in New York, that was attended by 83 heads of state. Is President Lula becoming a new leader in international world politics? If George W. Bush wins the US elections for a second term as president, will our world be even more divided? Who will lead what groupings of countries? We will follow closely the next steps of Brazilian President Lula.

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For more information on the initiative by the Brazilian President and related documents, see
www.mre.gov.br/ingles/politica_externa/temas_agenda/acfp/index.asp

To see the Landau report, click here
www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/brp/notices/044000440.shtml

For more information on the draft treaty on a tax on currency transactions, see nigd/ctt