ALT-G20: Exciting conferences in London

Registration is open for two separate and exciting conferences in London in response to the final G20 summit in the UK from 6-7 November:

Recovery towards what? Finance, justice, sustainability - 6 November - on global finance and its role in both developed and developing countries
Speakers include: YV Reddy (former governor Reserve Bank of India), Jomo KS (United Nations), Robert Wade (LSE), Alison Evans (ODI) and more
More info below and registration at: http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/registerconfnov6

Put People First G20 Counter Conference - 7 November - making the links between the economy, decent work, the environment and the global fight against poverty.
Speakers include: Tony Juniper (Princes Rainforest Trust), Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (Party of European Socialists), Caroline Lucas MEP (Green Party), Billy Hayes (CWU) and more
More info below and registration at: http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk/autumn/counterconference/register-for-counter-conference/

Additional events that week include: "Whither financialised capitalism?" at SOAS in London and "Put People First Road to the G20" in St Andrews Scotland. Further information on these below.

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Recovery towards what? Finance, justice, sustainability
6 November 2009
Congress Centre, Central London
www.brettonwoodsproject.org/confnov6

It brings together experts, researchers, practitioners and civil society to discuss how to reshape finance so that it contributes to a just and sustainable economy. To stimulate a genuine debate, it has not only plenary sessions but also breakout sessions to facilitate small group discussions.

Keynote speakers:
YV Reddy, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India
Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development at the UN-Department for Economic and Social Affairs

Other Speakers include:
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the Party of Europaen Socialists and former Prime Minister of Denmark
Robert Wade, Professor at the Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics
Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress
Alison Evans, Director of the Overseas Development Institute
Barbara Ridpath, Chief utive of the International Centre for Financial Regulation
Sandeep Chachra, Head of Governance at ActionAid International
James Vaccaro, Managing Director of Investment Banking (UK) at Triodos Bank
Costas Lapavitsas, Professor in the Department of Economics, School of Oriental and African Studies

An up-to-date agenda can be found at www.brettonwoodsproject.org/agendaconfnov6

When and where?
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November 6, 9:00 – 19:30
Congress Centre, London (near Tottenham Court Road)

The conference is open to everybody interested in hearing about and discussing how to make finance work. However, space is limited. Please register online to attend the conference at http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/registerconfnov6.

Sponsors: Bretton Woods Project, Trades Union Congress, ActionAid, Friends of the Earth, new economics foundation, Research on Money and Finance. This event is being organised with the financial assistance of the Ford Foundation and the European Union. The event is the sole responsibility of the organisers and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the funders.

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Put People First G20 Counter Conference
7 November 2009
Central Hall Westminster, SW1H 9NH
http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk/autumn/counterconference

In March, we marched in our tens of thousands to demand the G20 Put People First. Far from putting people first we’ve seen nothing but a tinkering around the margins followed by the return to business as usual.

On Nov 7, as the G20 returns to the UK, the agenda on the table nurses an already failed economic model back to life, whilst looking to stitch up an unjust international climate deal outside the UN process.

They bailed out the banks to the tune of billions, and now the only choice offered is between what cuts are made to pay for it.

Government intervention to create a Green New Deal is slipping off the agenda, and yet strong alliances are forming - environmentalists and trade unionists have been standing side by side at Vestas to save the UK’s largest wind turbine factory.

- In the run up to Copenhagen, how do we get a global agreement on climate that truly puts climate justice at its heart?
- How do we respond to the jobs crisis and growing poverty around the world
- How do we ensure the global green new deal the world needs?
- How we do we show that cuts are not the only option, and demonstrate what Putting People First really look like?

This counter-conference will bring together academics, activists, campaigners, unions, policy makers and YOU to share ideas on what the alternatives are to cuts, cuts and more cuts, and how we must organise across our issues, of jobs, justice and climate, to make the alternative the reality.

Speakers include:
- Tony Juniper, Princes Rainforests Projects
- Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, former Danish prime minister and president of the Party of European Socialists
- Jon Cruddas MP
- Deborah Doane, director of World Development Movement
- Billy Hayes, general secretary of CWU
- Caroline Lucas MEP, leader of the Green Party
- Diane Elson, University of Essex
- Jesse Griffiths, Bretton Woods Project
- Noel Hatch, Compass Youth
- John Hilary, War on Want
- Catherine Howarth, FairPensions
- Neal Lawson, Compass
- Larry Lohman, The Corner House
- Sarah-Jayne Clifton, Friends of the Earth
- Andrew Simms, new economics foundation
- Glen Tarman, BOND
- Hilary Wainwright, Red Pepper

Register now
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Place are limited so registration is advised. To register to attend please visit http://www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk/autumn/counterconference/register-for-counter-conference/

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On Saturday, 7 November, Scottish civil society is also organising a parallel conference, "Put People First Road to the G20" in St. Andrews, Scotland, the venue for the G20 finance ministers’ summit. More information about that event can be found at http://www.g20standrews.org.

Additionally on 7 November, the Research on Money and Finance (RMF) group at the University of London is hosting an academic conference titled “Whither financialised capitalism?” This is a heterodox and multidisciplinary conference, and interested people are invited to attend and share their thoughts. More information about that event can be found at http://www.soas.ac.uk/events/event54441.html.

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The Bretton Woods Project:
Critical voices on the World Bank and IMF
Tel: +44 (0)20 7561 7610
E-mail: subs@brettonwoodsproject.org

Alternative voices for a new financial architecture
http://www.rethinkingfinance.org