McDonnell calls for radical reform of global institutions ahead of International Social Forum

John McDonnell MP today (Wednesday 10 July)
called for radical reform of global institutions, so that they can
respond effectively to climate change, inequality and the displacement
of people.

The Shadow Chancellor was speaking ahead of the Labour Party hosting
the International Social Forum, a conference of progressive political
leaders, campaigners and economists to discuss far reaching
institutional reforms.

McDonnell and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will speak at the event this weekend, at SOAS, University of London.

This two-day conference is part of internationalising Labour’s
programme to harness the full might of the Treasury in government to
tackle climate change, end austerity and erode sky-high inequality.

John McDonnell MP said:

“The world is facing a range of challenges that require transnational action and global solutions.

“The existing global institutions are proving to be incapable of
responding effectively to the existential threat of climate change, the
increasingly unaccountable power of multinationals, and the large-scale
displacement of people.

“Labour has convened an international social forum bringing together
politicians, economists and social movement leaders from across the
world to launch a new dialogue on the reform of the international
institutional architecture needed to tackle the global challenges of the
twenty first century.”

Ends

Notes for news editors

In 2017 speech at the United Nations, Geneva, Jeremy Corbyn MP set
out four main threats faced by humanity: the concentration of wealth and
power in a small group, exacerbated by tax avoidance; climate change;
lack of global cooperation on the refugee crisis; and  the “bomb first,
think later” approach to conflict resolution.

Speakers:

• John McDonnell MP (Saturday 0945), Jeremy Corbyn MP, leader of the Labour Party (Sunday 1630).
• The Labour leader and Shadow Chancellor will also share a platform in the closing plenary – (Sunday 17.30pm)
• Other speakers include: the former president of Brazil Dilma
  Rousseff, Ann Pettifor, co-founder of the Jubilee 2000 campaign, and
  Jayati Ghosh, economics professor at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University
  (JNU) in Delhi.

Also speaking, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, Tina
Ngata, an indigenous New Zealand campaigner on climate change, Asad
Rehman, the executive director of War on Want, Fiona Tregenna, Professor
of Economics at the University of Johannesburg and Richard
Kozul-Wright, the director of the division on globalisation and
development strategies at the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development.