Our Future at Stake: The Corporate Capture of Multilateralism

19 January 2022
Webinar

The Round Table, Our Future at Stake: The Corporate Capture of Multilateralism aims not only to address the Davos agenda of multistakeholderism but to initiate a dynamic exchange and contribute to building a dialogue between concerned social movements, affected sectors and governments.

Date
19 January 2022
Time
14.00 - 15:30 CET
Participants
Programmes
Corporate Power

The publication in September 2021 by the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) of the Report “Our Common Future” was a further strong indication of how fast the “multistkeholderization” and corporate capture of the global multilateral system is accelerating. This trend which TNI and other members of the People’s Working Group on Multistakeholderism * have been tracking and analyzing since 2018 has become systemic in key UN Institutions with dire impacts on people’s lives - in terms of inequality and injustice as well as  a devastated planet.  This is a trend, while emerging over several years, has become more visible since the Strategic Partnership between the UN and World Economic Forum (WEF) was signed in 2019.

This trend as it has taken root in five key policy areas, Health, Education, Food and Agriculture, Internet and Environment has been mapped in the book The Great Takeover: Mapping of Multistakeholderism in Global Governance. This publication, combined with the implications of the UNSG’s proposals in “Our Common Future” add urgency to the need for a strong engagement addressing the challenges raised.

It is in this context that we are organizing the Round Table, Our Future at Stake: The Corporate Capture of Multilateralism on January 19, 2022 which aims not only to address the Davos agenda of multistakeholderism but to initiate a dynamic exchange and contribute to building a dialogue between concerned social movements, affected sectors and governments.

The Round Table will contest the vision and trajectory of the multistakeholder approach as the only way to address the multiple inter-related crises. It will also explore the challenges to be faced in exposing the Takeover of our common future by the actors of global corporate power and what is to be done about it.

“Our Common agenda”, the Report released by the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres in September 2021, laid out the road map for the global agenda for the coming years. Behind beautiful words and good intentions, the strategy revealed a future of corporate led global governance based on multistakeholder mechanisms where civil society and developing states have little say. This Round Table aims at unveiling this partnership with the “Davos Class” and its consequences for people and the planet. Facing such a threat, it is key to organize our struggles for a democratic and inclusive world, and a healthy environment.

Panelists:


  • Rosa Pavanelli - Secretary General, Public Services International (PSI)

  • Barbara Figueroa – Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, CSA-TUCA, former President, CUT, Chile
  • Jeremy Corbyn - Member of the House of Commons, UK
  • Harris Gleckman - Senior Fellow, Center for Global Governance and Sustainability, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA

Facilitation: Sofia Monsalve (FIAN) and Sulakshana Nandi (PHM)

Wrap up and conclusions: Brid Brennan, TNI

On this occasion we will also launch the book The Great Takeover: Mapping of Multistakeholderism in Global Governance, published by the People's Working Group on Multistakeholderism.