G20

And now to my sage assessment of the G20 in Seoul.

The last day of the conference proper was spent rushing out releases to anyone who would listen in three languages, shamelessly asking whether the Australian media would deign to leave the conference centre to talk to us and a marathon meeting of civil society groups planning for the G20 next year in France.

As the final communique was released, people scrambled over the precious few copies that were printed in English, trying to make sense of a 22 page document in 10 minutes. That’s those who could stand the self congratulation that went on and on and on…

I thought that NGO’s just couldn’t pull off press conferences anymore- and yet, the KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) packed a room full of cameras and journalists. Four Korean representatives and four foreign representatives spoke to the inadequacy of the document or ‘Seoul Consensus’ that was the outcome of the G20 this week.

So it is hard to tell what, if anything was learned from this process. The utter lack of transparency is probably one. That Julia is now dressed in her ‘Australian’ power suit is another.

That the G20 has remembered what the Millennium Development Goals are is a relief. Also, interestingly, the communique cites civil society as a critical actor in poverty reduction (and hopefully, elimination) and it is acknowledged that there is no one-size-fits-all cure or solution, which is a relief and an improvement.

After a crazy week and hundreds more acronyms stuffed into my acronym crowded brain we celebrated in the only appropriate way: with a Korean barbecue and bimbimbap and Cass and makoli and kimchi and bean sprouts and shoju…. et cetera

Did someone say, “Kimchi”???

(I took this at the markets later — I just wanted any excuse to show the photo)

So here I sit in my hotel in the financial district of Seoul, with an extensive collection of Korean junk food (umm, an essential cultural experience) to keep myself awake enough to try and process today.

The People’s Summit today was a total information overload. The G20 was the main focus of the agenda. There was in depth analysis of the pitfalls and opportunities of the G20 and the broader financial system.

The speakers were from all over the world, from Mexico, Malaysia, the USA, Germany, Ecuador and of course Korea. So if anyone has any questions regarding the impact on the precarity of labour since Korea adopted the IMF recommended reforms please let me know!

Soren Ambrose from ActionAid spoke at the civil society gathering.

The most basic lesson I learned today that I will take away is this: The G20 was established after the global financial crisis with a narrow remit- to restore stability and co-ordination to global financial markets. Instead it entrenched inequalities and its policies are repeats of those that caused all of the problems in the first place.

Let’s hope this one is different, that it includes thoughts for how these decisions affect the poor and those most vulnerable, but I wouldn’t bet even 1,000 Won on it.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by acronyms and relieved that I took a couple of globalisation classes at uni so that I actually understood some of them, I somewhat foolishly opted to walk home.

I think I really must have needed to stretch my legs, because wandering around Seoul, trying to get from one bit to the other bit (that being my total knowledge of where I was) in windy 10 degree weather, having zero words of Korean was perhaps not the most intelligent decision I’ve ever made, (I’m an expert on acronyms and the Korean labour market now though).

I inevitably got lost. But watching the sun set over Seoul, with the trees that line the streets amazing shades of red and yellow, peering into mystery shops, such as cafes with three chairs, out in the open butchers and one restaurant with a patriotic display of plastic tanks out the front I couldn’t help feel better.

Until I ate all of that junk food.

No blog about Korea could go long without mentioning kimchi. And yes, one of the first stops after arriving in Seoul, the Korean BBQ on the corner fulfilled any kimchi cravings sufficiently- for the rest of the year. There is only so much spicy, fermented cabbage that even a vegetarian can get excited about.

More excitingly, our first whole day in Seoul was the opening of the People’s Summit, the alternative to the G20. Amazing activists from all over the world gathered to propose a different vision for the world than the enormous G20 billboards and posters on buildings that are currently all over Seoul. Speakers at the People’s Summit spoke of a world with fairness and equality at its core and paid tribute to those that had struggled to create a better world.

In Korea, this has extraordinary resonance. Today was the anniversary of a famous trade unionist who self immolated, literally, set himself on fire for the cause. An enormous rally filled the centre of town, tens of thousands gathered, wearing their union’s colours, beating drums, flying flags. It was truly a sight to see. As a special delegation, the foreign representatives were situated up the front and to my horror, paraded up on stage.

Today, I was literally up on a stage in front of tens of thousands of activists! I felt rather underqualified. Luckily, the rest of the entertainment, which was heavy in K-Pop was much more entertaining. And the speeches, although I couldn’t understand a word, were passionate and got amazing, co-ordinated chants back from the crowd.

Before today, I hadn’t thought too hard about what solidarity is. It’s an expression that I hear thrown around a lot. Today though, I thought about how a purple scarf was handed to me in the crowd (no doubt proclaiming something revolutionary in Korean) and how despite the enormous language barrier, I could understand the struggle that these people are going through. I thought about how several enormous billboards welcoming the G20 as if it was a rock band coming to town surrounded the crowd – whereas I was surrounded by like-minded people who are imagining and building a better world.