PM urged to call time on global greed

Anti-poverty campaigners are calling on Gordon Brown to push for radical and democratic reform of the economic system, ahead of a special G20 summit.

A coalition of trade unions, development charities, environmental groups and religious leaders, including Jubilee Debt Campaign, has written to Gordon Brown ahead of this weekend's emergency G20 summit in Washington DC urging him to radically rewrite global rules in favour of people and the environment.

On Monday campaigners staged a stunt outside the Bank of England calling on Gordon Brown to 'Call Time on Global Greed', and held a noise demonstration outside the Prime Minister's foreign policy speech to a City of London audience.

Recognising that the global financial crisis will cause great hardship for people in the UK and around the world, the coalition declares that effective government action is needed to manage economies sustainably and demands that the international economic system be made more accountable to all people, particularly the poorest.

Among the demands the coalition makes are:

- Democratisation of international economic institutions to make the system more accountable to all people, particularly the poorest

- Fair and just systems and rules for international trade and debt

- Effective regulation of financial markets

>> TAKE ACTION: Sign our financial crisis petition to Gordon Brown

More about the financial crisis:

• Our updated November 2008 briefing, The debt crisis and the credit crunch
• Jubilee Debt Campaign Director Nick Dearden's article on the financial crisis on Comment is Free
• International civil society statements calling for an inclusive negotiation process for financial reform (over 2,500 signatures) and New Principles and Rules To Build an Economic System that Works for People and the Planet (over 500 signatures so far)