2010: a personal comment
Looking forward
The need for a legally binding climate change treaty is the most pressing issue for 2010 and a new political decade. Developed countries continue to emit more greenhouse gases than our eco-system can sustain. The failure of negotiators should be a wake–up call not only to the urgency of curbing carbon emissions but to the need for reform of the UN system of negotiation to take account of the needs of the poorest nations. Without drastic action now to limit temperature increases to 2˚C by cutting carbon emissions by forty per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 the economic and ecological costs of climate change risk spiralling out of control. Countries such as the Maldives risk being wiped off the map and areas of Africa reduced to deserts.
Yet the issue is awesomely politically complex, involving not only the behaviour of states but of individuals and communities. It is only those organisations and nations that can themselves make cuts that have the credibility to persuade others to do so.
2010 will see the five yearly Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. Unless states with nuclear weapons can be persuaded to drastically reduce their nuclear arsenals, the fragile agreement whereby those states without nuclear weapons agree not to acquire them in return for nuclear-weapons states taking steps to disarm risks falling apart. There is a need for a multilateral engagement that listens to the rights and needs of the poorest nations in creating a new paradigm of human security. If negotiation is just left to the diplomats and politicians nothing will happen.
A general election, probably on 6 May, offers an opportunity not only to ensure that these issues are high on the UK agenda but that the UK government responds to the challenge in ways that are just both to the developing world and to the poorest in our own country. One practical way in which Friends can contribute to democratic renewal is by organising ecumenical hustings in their constituencies at the time of the election, not just to influence voting but to make a contribution to the manner of debate. An ecumenical Guide to the General Election, will be on the CTBI website (www.CTBI.org) shortly.
The issue of refugees illustrates how international and national issues are deeply intertwined. Asylum seekers, including several hundred children, continue to be detained at detention centres such as Harmondsworth. Some whose claims have failed are returned to Afghanistan, while the country is still too insecure for UK troops to withdraw. An election may be a time to make a compelling case that there are alternatives to detention and that no one should be subject to administrative detention without due process of law.
The expenses fiasco and a deep-rooted perception that politics is a dirty game have created a culture in which extremism can flourish. In 2009 two BNP Euro MPs were elected in northern England. Ignoring racism and xenophobia will not make them go away. It is only by confronting the causes of alienation and the myth that blames ethnic minorities for economic problems that we can undermine their appeal.
One of my hopes for 2010 is for a rediscovery of responsible politics and political participation. Quaker faith & practice reminds us of our ‘responsibilities as a citizen for the conduct of local, national and international affairs’ yet too often politics is something that ‘other people’ do. If we believe that our values as Friends are relevant to the twenty-first century, it is only by re-engaging politically that we can ensure that a confident and coherent Quaker voice is heard in national politics.
As long as major political parties continue to put their trust in the panacea of growth, cuts in carbon emissions will need to be led by popular example. As a movement not seeking electoral popularity, Friends can make the case that a more sustainable lifestyle is not only the right way to live but is intrinsically more satisfying. Shorter hours worked may give a better work-life balance. Cycling rather than driving and using the train rather than the plane may lead to more relaxing and less stressful journeys. Seasonal and locally grown produce may be healthier and tastier than internationally transported frozen food.
For political parties that depend for their authority on four-year mandates it may be hard to create the political momentum for the hard political choices required in limiting growth. The ecological and economic crises are two sides of the same coin. In its origin ‘economy’ is about good household management, while the ‘Oikemenou’, Greek for the inhabited world, is our global household. The financial economy has been divorced from the physical environment that sustains it and the illusion of prosperity fuelled by endless borrowing is fuelled in the pursuit of growth. The true health of the economy rests not with the balance sheets of city financial institutions but with the eco-systems that support and maintain it.
Michael Bartlet
Michael is a member of Westminster Meeting & Parliamentary Liaison Secretary.
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