we20 2009 Democracy Survey

we20 Pittsburgh Competition!

Host your own G20 meeting and win $1000 to put your plan into action!

To mark the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh (24th and 25th September) host a we20 meeting and you could win US$1000 to make your ideas a reality!

Remember, the basic idea for we20 is to have your own G20 meeting to discuss a problem and to create a plan to overcome the problem. Your we20 meeting could produce a plan for your local area or a wider plan with national or global goals. You may have an existing project to invigorate; ideas to develop; or are looking for a fresh approach to a local challenge. Check out previous we20 meetings and previous plans if you need inspiration.

The competition is open to people anywhere in the world so start organising your we20 meetings!

Eligibility

Organise a we20 meeting with people you know or invite others who you think can help make your ideas a reality. You need to post details of your meeting to the we20 website here: http://we20.org/meetings/edit/. we20 meetings which have taken place before midnight on Tuesday 6th October are eligible (Pittsburgh time).

Post a plan produced at your we20 meeting here. Please say which we20 meeting your plan was produced at. Plans must be posted by midnight on Wednesday 6th October (Pittsburgh time). You have a month!

Your meeting should have at least 3 people present and we suggest no more than 30. we20 is supposed to reflect the G20 after all!

How to Win!

In your plan description, link to any videos (please use YouTube) or photos (Flickr) showing your meeting and describing your plan. The more creative the better!

Our judges will choose the winning plan. Their decision will bear in mind (in no particular order):

• how practical a plan is;
• how much the plan would benefit from winning $1000
• how much winning the competition could benefit the plan due to publicity;
• the creativity of your plan description on this website or somewhere else online and linked to from this site.
• the number of votes a plan has received on this website (remember registered users get 20 votes each at we20.org);
• discussions of the plan on this website;

Time to start making plans! Follow updates on facebook and twitter.

Other rules

Meeting organizers should be over 18 or if you are under 18 please organize your meeting with a parent, guardian or teacher.

The judges decision is final and we can’t guarantee to give feedback to everyone who submits plans - we're volunteers after all. Anyone reading plans can give feedback.

The we20 terms and conditions and privacy policy apply (please see links at bottom of page). we20 might have to change these rules or cancel the competition.

we20 meetings in action

There have been a number of we20 meetings recently and we are expecting a lot more in the run up to the next G20 Summit in Pittsburgh (24 and 25 September).

One of the we20 meetings took place at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. The impressive setting is a Summit room installation by the artist Goshka Macuga.

With Picasso's Guernica as a backdrop, the participants discussed how empty shops can be used.

http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/the-bloomberg-commission-goshka-macuga-the-nature-of-the-beast

The we20 meeting format proved very productive and the round table helped to get everyone talking. There are people all over the UK taking part in different initiatives to re-use shops left empty because of the recession. The participants at this we20 meeting worked towards a plan which the many people involved could all feel a part of. Plans may no work for everyone, but having up to 20 people from different backgrounds discussing the issue gives the different perspectives needed to chrystalise realistic ideas and objectives.

The groups are now making the most of the internet and working to create information portals for those seeking to make use of empty shop space.

Discuss the G20 Communiqué in the we20 Forum. Insights from the G20voice bloggers

The headline from the London G20 Summit was that $1.1 trillion dollars to ease the burden on the IMF and provide a credit system to poorer countries.

Gordon Brown called the Summit “The day the world came together to fight back against the global recession. Not with words but with a plan for global recovery and for reform” while Obama called the day “Historic”.

Brown delivers the Communiqué

http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonsummit/

The six actions set out in the G20 Communiqué (http://www.londonsummit.gov.uk/resources/en/PDF/final-communique) are:

1. Restore confidence, growth, and jobs;
2. Repair the financial system to restore lending;
3. Strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust;
4. Fund and reform our international financial institutions to overcome this crisis and prevent future ones;
5. Promote global trade and investment and reject protectionism, to underpin prosperity; and
6. Build an inclusive, green, and sustainable recovery.

You can review and comment on all of the paragraphs in the Communiqué in the we20 Forum here: http://we20.org/forums/G20Communiquediscussion/

The Financial Times reported that “a row between China and France over the blacklisting of tax havens – including possibly Hong Kong and Macao – blazed behind the scenes.” Leaders praised Gordon Brown’s handling of the Summit and the BBC reported that President Obama was given credit for playing a decisive role in diffusing the situation between China and France. The FT also report that “Much of the $1,100bn pledged to help the world recover from recession represented existing commitments or pledges of future funds that had not been pinned down.” (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/082652de-1fb0–11de-a1df-00144feabdc0.html)

The G20voice bloggers have also been typing up the Communiqué and speeches by Brown and Obama. Tom Watson outlines some of the financial proposals in more detail here: http://is.gd/qlGV

Alex Evans cuts straight to the detail of the headline points. The IMF is the big winner; moves on Tax Havens are “pretty significant” and Climate change is the big disappointment due to the lack of monetary figures. http://www.globaldashboard.org/2009/04/02/london-summit-outcome/

Daudi Were, a prominent African blogger goes some way to explaining the lack of figures in relation to climate change as he discusses the difficulties faced by UK Development Secretary Douglas Alexander in reconciling the various aims of the Summit: http://www.mentalacrobatics.com/think/

Dave Walker, another blogger at the Summit stated: “I will need to reflect before saying too much, but there was talk about action on tax havens, poverty and developing a 'green economy', all of which were issues that I've heard a lot about in the last couple of days. All of the proposed actions sound good, but I'll need to rely on those with more experience to tell me whether the levels of action committed to are sufficient.” He goes on to quote Oxfam and Put People first’s reaction to the G20 statement. You can find his blog here: http://is.gd/qlHZ

One of the bloggers vocally involved at the Summit was Richard Murphy (http://taxresearch.org) He became the first blogger to ask a question at a leaders Summit (his question was about Tax Havens).

President Obama talked of “Constructive approach by all the leaders” while Sarkozy who threatened to walk away before the Summit said that the talks went “better than expected”.

President Obama went on: “Steps in the Communiqué were necessary, whether sufficient, we have to wait and see… in life there are no guarantees and in economics there are no guarantees."

He compared treating the global economy to looking after a sick patient:

“Got a sick patient, apply the right medicine, patient is stabilised and there are still wounds that have to heal. Still emergencies that may arise.”

Of particular interest to we20 was Obama’s response to a question from a Chinese journalist about how local level issues can be addressed. To paraphrase President Obama, he stated that there is a need to provide support to those who may suffer dislocation due to globalisation. To extent that government is not there to help them reshape their company or retrain for new jobs being created, over time, there will be people who rightly see there self interest in narrow terms.

Perhaps we20 can assist on the local front?

Considering the number of interests at the G20 table, President Obama dispelled comparisons to the Bretton Woods Conference which laid the foundations to the global financial institutions – “you can’t compare G20 to Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy.”

Meanwhile, Michelle Obama made the headlines delivering an address to a school about leadership. Cheryl from http://jackandjillpolitics.com told another of Mrs Obama’s stories from the UK, this time making friends with the Queen: http://is.gd/qmuE.

Congratulations to the G20voice bloggers and Save the Children, Oxfam, One and Blue State Digital for pulling it off and look forward to seeing some discussion about the G20 communiqué in our forum (link at the top of the page).

Thanks.
Paul

London G20 Summit Today!

Today is the London G20 Summit. We at we20 have been working towards today for a long time and find ourselves glued to the TV to see what happens. However you feel about the Summit, many people are waiting to hear if this will be a historic moment.

Yesterday, as helicopters swooped overhead, the G20voice bloggers (http://g20voice.org) prepared for their trip to the Summit in London’s Central Hall. 40 or so bloggers from all around the world given access normally reserved for mainstream media. This in itself demonstrates the changes going on. I was lucky to be with the bloggers and the occasion brought home how important these independent voices can be alongside the many voices of the other media present at the Summit.

The bloggers were brought together by Oxfam, One and Save the Children. There was a real buzz in the air as the bloggers mentally prepared for their trip to London’s Excel centre. The bloggers were treated to a series of presenstations to get the creative juices flowing.

Jamie Drummond of One described the paradigm change we are witnessing as a result of a combination of factors; the economic crisis; a new administration in the US and the rise of the G20. What role will the G8 play in the future?

Duncan Green of Oxfam gave a riveting speech, stressing that development requires 2 things:

1. Active citizens; and
2. Effective states.

One of the most well received talks of the day came from Sam Graham Felson of Blue State Digital. Sam has already become part of history as the blogger for the Obama presidential campaign. His insights from this experience provided more than simply an explanation of the strategy behind the largely internet based campaign. We were also treated to a personal insight into the thinking of the President himself. Obama knew from his early meetings with Blue State Digital that the Internet was going to be crucial to his campaign. A Key insight was how the Obama blog provided not simply a platform for Obama to speak to his supporters, but a platform for his supporters to speak to each other as well. Sam explained that the Obama team always blogged in their own names rather than pretending to be the future President. This wise move gave the blog a validity and authenticity which other candidates failed to capture. We certainly learned a lot from Sam and as we’ve said, we will be telling the story of people involved in we20 here. You can also let us know if you would like to write a guest blog post.

We will be reporting from our own G20 Summit at Nesta soon! What you think about the Summit and what should be done to fix the economy?

I met lots of the bloggers, but unfortunately couldn’t speak to everyone! Carole Eldrich (http://moblog.net/Dhamaka_/) has been photo blogging (http://www.flickr.com/photos/webwandering/.) Here are some of her shots:

Simon Berry of http://colalife.org and the back of my head!

Richard Murphy of http://taxjustice.net

Lloyd Davis of Tuttle Club who held their own we20 meeting this week (http://tuttleclub.wordpress.com/)

Paul Hilder of Avaaz.org

Flickr – London Summit

Flickr London Summit

Flickr – Ravish London

Thank you.
Paul