Protests around the world against The World Bank and neoliberaism

As 2014 draws to a close and we look forwards, we find ourselves tired but happy, daunted but excited, exasperated but full of love and hope.

‘All oppression is connected’, proclaimed artivists in Kenya at the Artivism Lab. What connects all modern liberation struggles, from Nairobi to Ferguson, is the globally dominant ideology of neoliberalism.

Whether it was The One Party Planet or the campaign against the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings, we made it clear that, together, we will expose the key agents of neoliberalism.

2015 is a big year for formal International Development. It’ll see the end of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) and the beginning of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These will be drenched in self-congratulatory rhetoric and grand promises but it looks certain that they will be focused on delivering more capitalism, more crude materialism and more of the same neoliberal approach that is failing the world’s majority.

As the circus of the SDGs rumbles past, we will be looking to join with others who are striving for real change, emancipatory change, rather than the incrementalist reforms of business as usual.

We will focus on spreading stories of the truly transformative, beautiful ideas that are springing up all over the world that address the root causes of inequality and poverty. Ideas like regenerative farming which works with nature to manage carbon cycles and ensure bountiful, local food supplies. We’ll look at new ways to measure and understand growth, so that we can be unshackled from the suicidal slavery of perpetual material growth. And Internet freedom, which is a necessary precondition for the new, connected, emerging global consciousness that is connecting our struggles around the world.

We will continue to spread radical memes, support social movements, run campaigns, establish a fellowship programme, build alliances and champion those who inspire us. We will ask for your support, and humbly offer ways of giving it. We are honoured you are on this journey with us.

Happy 2015!

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