Linked with Transnational Institute, with Foreign Policy in Focus FPIF, and with The Climate Corporation.
Walden Bello (born 1945) is a left-wing author, academic, and political analyst. He is a professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines, as well as executive director of Focus on the Global South. Born in Manila, Philippines, he became a political activist following the declaration of Martial Law by Ferdinand Marcos on September 21, 1972. In 2003, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award; describes him as « one of the leading critics of the current model of economic globalisation, combining the roles of intellectual and activist. »[1] Bello is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute, based in Amsterdam and is a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus. (wikipedia).
See his personal website.
Little photogallery and more.
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Walden Bello – Philippines
European Commission ploughs ahead with irresponsible agrofuels push, 25/01/2008.
He writes: The American fast food diet and the meat eating habits of the wealthy around the world support a world food system that diverts food resources from the hungry. A diet higher in whole grains and legumes and lower in beef and other meat is not just healthier for ourselves but also contributes to changing the world system that feeds some people and leaves others hungry. (betterworld). See also it’s Vegetarian Quotes.
Social forum proposes alternative to Davos, 23/01/2008.
He writes also: I’m engaged in the global resistance movement because I think that one has to do something worth while with one’s life. There’s nothing heroic about this. It’s just that you have to do it, to be human. It’s something we owe to our fellow human beings. We have a situation in the world in which this sort of exploitation and poverty that we have should not be seen. Human beings should be able to devise more equitable structures. And so one has to be part of that process. Because you either engage in the process and thereby be true to yourself or you disengage from the process and are just an onlooker and that, I think, would be not being true to oneself. So, the answer to the question why does one engage in this work, it’s because that’s the only decent thing to do. There’s no big inspiration and there’s no big heroism, there’s no sort of martyrdom and there’s no glory. It’s just pure decency. I think that’s at least what motivates me. (full text, scroll down).
Poor, Deluded Europeans, January 22, 2008.
During the rally of over 50,000 people against the G 8 in Rostock, the country’s premier weekly, Der Spiegel, reported on its online edition that Focus on the Global South Executive Director Walden Bello was inciting participants to riot. The publication quoted Bello as saying « We have to bring war to this demonstration. » Bello said no such thing in his wildly applauded speech. Representatives of ATTAC, one of the lead organizers of the demonstration, and many others immediately protested. When Der Spiegel’s editorial board were presented with a video of Bello speaking, they admitted their error but shifted the blame to DPA, the German Press Agency, which, they said, filed the story from which they took the wrong quote. According to the Spiegel apology carried online on June 4, “the correspondent from Der Spiegel in Rostock was in another site of the demonstration at the time Walden Bello was giving his speech and could not personally listen to his words” … (full text, 06 June 2007).
See him on Better World.net.
Walden Bello is executive director of Focus on the Global South, professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines, and a fellow of the Transnational Institute.
Players and plays in the Bali climate drama, 12/14/2007.
He is the author of numerous books on Asian issues and globalisation, including Dilemmas of Domination: the Unmaking of the American Empire (2005), The Anti-Development State: the political ecnonomy of permanent crisis in the Philippines (2004) and Deglobalisation: ideas for a new world economy (2004). His articles have appeared in numerous periodicals including Review of international Political Economy, Third World Quarterly, Foreign Policy, Race and Class, Le Monde Diplomatique, Le Monde, Guardian, Boston Globe, Far Eastern Economic Review, and La Jornada. He is currently a columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Foreign Policy in Focus. He won South Korea’s Suh Sang Don Prize in 2001, and in 2003 he was given the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, for « for outstanding efforts in educating civil society about the effects of corporate globalisation, and how alternatives to it can be implemented. » (See Walden’s acceptance speech: The Future in the Balance). An academic as well as an activist, Bello obtained his PhD in sociology from Princeton University in the US in 1975 and has been a full professor at the University of the Philippines at Diliman since 1997. He has also served as visiting professor at the University of California at Los Angeles (2002), UC Irvine (2006), and UC Santa Barbara (2006). He also taught for four years, 1978-82, at UC Berkeley. He was Chancellor’s Fellow at UC Irvine in 2004 and was awarded an honorary PhD by Panteion University in Athens, Greece, in 2005 … (full text).
All fall down: 10 years after the Asian financial crisis, 07/25/2007.
EU energy package: a licence to carry on polluting, by Carbon Trade Watch, 23 January 2008: New EU rules announced as part of the European Commission’s energy package, released today, will do little to cut carbon emissions without more fundamental changes to the EU emissions trading scheme ETS … (full text).
The environmental movement in the global South, The pivotal agent in fight against global warming? 11/17/2007.
The Commission has been subjected to a fierce bout of industry lobbying as it looks to replace free emissions permits with an auction system, although this has been subjected to a series of opt outs and will not take full effect until 2020. “The EU has compromised to corporate lobbyists again” says Tamra Gilbertson of Carbon Trade Watch, a project of the Transnational Institute. “Instead of imposing strict regulations on emissions, it is offering them a lifeline and continuing to offer free pollution permits for at least the next decade.” Many of the most fundamental criticisms of the ETS have simply not been addressed by the EU’s new proposals … (full text).
The post-Washington dissensus, 09/17/2007.
Since 2005, some 12,000 large industrial plants in the EU are able to buy and sell permits to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The so-called Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) enables companies exceeding individual CO2 emissions targets to buy allowances from ‘greener’ ones and help reach the EU targets under the Kyoto Protocol. But overallocations of pollution credits by several member states is forcing carbon prices down and risk undermining the scheme’s credibility. (full text, 20 December 2004).
Walden Bello’s bio: on The Globalist; on Rights Livelihood Award; on his website.
What happens next? The European Commission is currently negotiating with national governments over the limits to be set in the second phase of the ETS, which runs from 2008-2012, with the final NAPs to be in place by the summer of 2007. In January, the Commission is expected to announce a new target to cut to carbon emissions. It is set to call for a 30% reduction from 1990 levels by 2020, and the ETS will play a key role in delivering this target. Internationally, Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard has set up a task force to look at carbon trading. Australia along with the US refused to sign the 1997 Kyoto protocol, fearing it would damage their economies while not requiring developing countries such as China and India to reduce emissions. Such a move could pave the way for an international carbon trading scheme to form the central pillar of a post-2012 Kyoto agreement. (full text, Dec. 20, 2006).
Indonesia’s Ailing Suharto Eludes Court, Jan 17, 2008.
He says: « I think the WSF Day of Action is a good idea. It is a first step in moving the WSF from being simply a forum for discussion to becoming an arena for action. It will push people into actively taking on issues and mobilizing for them. Being local actions being undertaken globally, the many protest activities will also underline the transnational character of the social movements in the WSF, which is one of their key strengths ». (full interview text, 22 January 2008).
His publications: on Inquirer.net; on his website; on Google Book-search; on Google Blog-search.
links:
Emission Trading Scheme, EU ETS;
European Union Emission Trading Scheme, on wikipedia;
UK: EU Emissions Trading Scheme disappoints chemical sector, January 25, 2008;
Pascua Lama mining project on hold, January 19, 2008;
See all new articles about ETS.