I’m sitting in a vast airport hangar style media lounge on a long table marked with “Reserved for G20 Voice”. This is the first summit where bloggers form an integral part of the event. They will distribute their own news, analysis and ideas to their own networks. To be honest, no-one knows whether it will work. Will they start their own global conversation and just add to the acres of copy already written about this event.
There’s only one problem. I can’t see any fellow bloggers. In fact, there must be 1000 seats and network feeds in this room and so far only 50 seats are occupied.
Whilst the media centre is lazily cranking into gear, next door in the summit rooms things are already at full speed. There’s a crackle of anticiation in the air. The PM’s office were here at 6.15am. They are the glue that will hold things together today and whatever the outcome, they’ll deservce a long weekend of recuperation – though of course, with our PM, that is not an easy outcome to achieve!
I was struck by a comment the PM made earlier in the week about it taking 16 years from the Wall Street Crash before the world came together at Bretton Woods to reshape the global financial system. As a historian, he’s determined not to allow us to repeat the mistakes of the past.
World leaders have to clean up the global financial system with tighter and more transparent regulation based on common principles. They need to reform and resource international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank. They need to hold their nerve and reject protectionism. And for me, they must not allow the global recession to weaken existing commitments to the world’s poor. This goes for climate change targets too.
And they haven’t got 16 years. They’ve got until late afternoon today. I wish them all success today.
13 comments ↓
“As a historian, he’s determined not to allow us to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
Well I suppose that he can’t cripple the Bank of England by giving all its power to some faceless incompetent box-ticking bureaucrats for a second time – once was surely enough.
[...] came there none Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 MY FRIEND, colleague and fellow blogger, Tom Watson seems put out that only 50 bloggers have turned up this morning to fill the 1000 seats set aside for new media [...]
Tom
It sounds like a good idea in principle. But I don’t know how much outreach, if any, there was to political bloggers who might have been interested. It sounds to me as though your post is the first that many people have heard of the opportunity.
Sunder: http://www.whitebandaction.org/g20voice
And also for Sunder: http://www.podnosh.com/blog/2009/04/02/724/
To be fair, Sunder, I think Oxfam, whom Tom does not reference in his post (a bit strangely, I thought) have done a fair bit of ‘outreach’ as far as I can see, with bloggers from 22 countries involved. I think the fact that British political bloggers may not hae picked up on the opportunity may reflect the relative parochialims of our scene rather than Oxfam’s outreach weaknesses.
Would be interesting, mind, to know what selection process Tom went through, mind as – with all due respect – he doesn’t strike me as a natural shoe-in as one of the 50.
Paul – I think Oxfam are behind G20 voice, hence the lack of reference. I’m not one of the 50. Oh and, the reason I suspect Oxfam did not get the message out to a wider audience is that they did not get permission to blog the event until quite late.
Yes, just noticed on the site you referred Sunder to that you’re not one of the 50, but there as a mysterious ‘add on’. Most intriguing.
Anyway, you get back to informed comment on matters pertaining to support for developing countries and climate change action, because that’s what Oxfam are sort of half making space for you for.
Tom, I thought you had to be one of the 50 offical “elected” g20 blog voices to get inside? Anthony painter certainly was asking for votes to get elected to be accredited.
In any case I’m a bit jealous of them – and you!
(and I suspect Tom is at the G20 for resaons as ministerial as blog related, no?)
[...] idea, well executed, though Tom Watson tells me on his blog that the competition run by Oxfam was slightly short notice because the press [...]
What do you mean not repeat the mistakes of the past ? Bretton Woods gave the world reliable currency based on gold. Brown sold out gold reserves at the bottom of the market and now wants the IMF to get rid of its supply, yet further destabilising the world just as he’s ruined us by running up unsustainable debt.
I’d have given my right arm to have been there but this is the first I’ve heard about it.
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