IFG Logo  
 
 
home
about us
events
programs
news room
books store
contact us
donate to the IFG
translate

Jobs at IFG:

Fall - Winter 2011 Communications
Internships
Read full description


Materiales en español


 
   
 
   
 

Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesEnsuring Indigenous Peoples’ And Forest-Dependent Communities’ Rights In REDD (Spanish)

   
 

Implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesImplementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

   
 

Sponsored by IFG
.
Oakland Institute

logo


facebook logo

youtube
 

New Report: Outing the Oligarchy

Billionaires Who Benefit from Today’s Climate Crisis


Outing Cover
Image
IMAGE

Image

image image
IFG's "Kochtopus" Post Durban Event Durban Analysis

Full Report (151pages, 5.4 MB)

Table of Contents

IFG released a special report, “Outing the Oligarchy: Billionaires Who Benefit From Today’s Climate Crisis,” which identifies the world’s top 50 individuals whose investments benefit from climate change and whose influence networks block efforts to phase out pollution from fossil fuels.
IFG’s report comes as global debates intensify on how best to protect the climate and how best to counter the corrupting power of extreme wealth over politics.  The report draws the links between the two debates and identifies the emerging, ultra-rich tycoons who are deepening the world’s climate crisis. READ MORE     
      



IFG’S NEW ASIA-PACIFIC NETWORK LAUNCHED IN HONOLULU AT MOANA NUI

image

IFG announced its Asia-Pacific Network program as part of our 3-day teach-in and conference, Moana Nui 2011, Honolulu, November 9-11.

In partnership with a coalition of Pacific Island activists, I Pua Mohala I Ka Po, the event protested the impending APEC/TPP trade agreements among Pacific Rim nations, as well as rampant militarism and colonization in the Pacific, environmental devastation from undersea corporate mining, and the growing battle between the U.S. and China for hegemony in the region. Events culminated with a march on the APEC/TPP meetings.

For speaker videos, articles and more CLICK HERE

imageimageimageimageimageimage


obama

Occupy, Obama, Olsen: 
 
Bank bailouts to expand unless G20 acts now

President faces test at summit in Cannes: Assert public control over private capital or ignore the issues that inspired an Iraq War vet to risk police violence in Oakland.

“Banks got bailed out…We got sold out!” is an often-heard chant from peaceful protesters at Occupy Wall Street, one that even Tea Party activists agree with. 

You don’t need to be a sophisticated investor to know that giving a gambler more money after too many bad bets is akin to enabling an addict with the means to do even more damage. 

 

The backlash to bank bailouts has brought out to the streets all kinds of people protesting today’s extreme concentrations of wealth and power, including two-time Iraq War veteran, Scott Olsen, who fought for freedom abroad only to be critically injured by Oakland Police when peacefully protesting against inequality. Yet President Obama may ignore such concerns when he meets other G20 Heads of State Nov. 3 in Cannes, where French protesters are filling the streets to reign in the rights of capital. Read more

Obama’s “Getting growth back on track” is a road to ruin without new controls on capital

Simply sparking unsustainable consumer demand does not cure today’s crises.

If the Occupy Wall Street has a single grievance or goal it could be the concentration of capital in the hands of too few people and how to undo its undue influence over too many of us.

The movement's name says it all: public control of capital.  Who creates credit and controls currencies is a core concern of any capitalist system, and Wall Street is the icon of today's financial system.  Public pressure is demanding democratic accountability and responsibility. As key constituencies converge around a common agenda, their growing political force seems unstoppable.

wells fargo

So, understanding how capital is organized politically is essential to the asserting democratic control over its governance.  The demographics of ownership of capital assets reveal record concentrations at the top, and a corresponding concentration of political power over the processes of decision-making throughout society. Read more

Olsen

Olsen: When police violence masks corporate violence

Oakland Police’s attack on Scott Olsen and other peaceful protesters should be seen in a global context of Olsen’s serving his country to protect the freedom of people worldwide. He is part of human history’s habit of bringing public grievances to public squares and occupying that space until demands for democratic accountability are met. 

This time-tested and legitimate form of protest happens everyday in China, Mexico, India, Nigeria, and countless other countries that many Americans may consider to be undemocratic.  Perhaps one place where is does not happen is in countries that explicitly allow no political opposition, which often are the very countries most likely to have terrorism. Terrorism is what happens when people have no political space in a society to peacefully bring forth complaints.

Regardless of the rightful outrage about the attack on Olsen, movements might recall an important lesson learned by global justice groups in the 1999 Battle of Seattle and other efforts to occupy public spaces: do not allow predictable police provocations to divert public attention and pressure away from the silent yet often more violent exploitation of people and the planet by corporations, which are the very reasons that so many people to took to the streets in the first place.  We must expose all injustices without losing sight of those responsible at the very top.

We will demand answers about who hurt Scott Olsen. Investigations into the police actions will be watched closely.

We will also demand that those who are charged with the responsibility of reigning in the power of private capital, such as President Obama, stand up, or lose legitimacy.



Now Online!
IFG's New Report: Nuclear Roulette

Released in June 2011 to a global audience increasingly wary of nuclear energy, NUCLEAR ROULETTE: The Case Against a Nuclear Renaissance, is now available for free to download!

Hard copies of the report are available for $16, plus $3 for shipping and handling. Order here.
 
For continual updates on all things nuclear, check out our Nuclear Crisis Resource Center.

Donate now. Your contribution will help us guarantee that NUCLEAR ROULETTE has the greatest impact possible.

Heralded as a nail in the coffin of the nuclear debate, NUCLEAR ROULETTE compiles all the reasons why nuclear power must be abandoned as a viable energy choice.  It is written by celebrated journalist Gar Smith, former managing editor of Earth Island Journal; edited by Ernest Callenbach; and with a riveting report from Japan by the country’s leading anti-nuclear activist, Aileen Mioko Smith.

nuke
Download pdf

Press release

Nuclear Roulette
in the News

False Solutions Program



Board Member News
more board news

Edward Goldsmith

Check Out the New Official Website of Edward Goldsmith

Late environmentalist, author, philosopher and IFG board member
www.edwardgoldsmith.org

The site contains a comprehensive archive of Edward Goldsmith's published works, and allows you to navigate through various sections of his detailed CV.


DonateNow

mbd

Join the IFG Mailing List


RECENT NEWS FROM IFG
(more news)


South Bulletin, Durban Launches a New Round of Climate Talks

Durban Climate Talks Come to an End, find out MORE

Meena Raman, Ministers to address difficult issues in Durban

Martin Khor, IFG Board Member,
Interviewed in Durban by Democracy Now

Nurses to Obama

"U.S. Groups Join Global Call to Tax Speculators," 16 Feb. 2011 by Janet Redman

IFG's New Treasurer Arrested at White House August 22, 2011 read more

"Where is Nuclear Energy Going? A Debate." By Gar Smith, Page One from The Berkeley Daily Planet

First Rave Review of Nuclear Roulette
10 July 2011, by Jan Lundberg, Culture Change: "Nuclear Roulette: new book puts a nail in coffin of nukes"

Support Japan's Anti-Nuclear Movement Donate to Green Action

Green Action
Japan is a Japanese citizens organization (NGO) campaigning to stop Japan's plutonium program.

nuke crisis


The Story of Citizens United v. FEC explores the crisis of corporate influence in American democracy (more)
Released March 1, 2011


UN Global Green Climate Fund
resources


ANALYSIS FROM IFG
& ALLIES ON COP16
(more)

-IFG's Summary Analysis
-"Complex Implications of the Cancun Climate Conference," Economic & Political WEEKLY, 25 Dec. 2010 by Martin Khor (pdf)
-"Cancun texts adopted, overriding Bolivia's objections," Third World Network, 13 Dec. 2010 by Meena Raman (more TWN Cancun News Updates)


1999 Joint Statement by IFG, IPS, TWN and FOE on Global Financial Reform download the article (pdf)


IFG Recommended Reading:

IFG's BOARD AND ASSOCIATES, BOOKS LIST (view) (pdf)

cfnf cover

Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for Energy Policy
by IFG Associate, Arjun Makhijani

download pdf

purchase


occasional_paper6-climate_change_and_china  

Technology, Market and Beyond
by IFG China Scholar, Dale Wen.

Download pdf

 
home | about | events | programs | news room | book store | analysis | contact | join
1009 General Kennedy Avenue #2, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA | Ph. 415.561.7650 | Fax 415.561.7651 | E-mail ifg@ifg.org