Newsletter No 9

Date: 27 February 2025

 

The need to look forward

The times are rather grim, for reasons we all know, so this month’s newsletter picks up some comments from recent interviewees for Critical Takes about the need to be optimistic, or at least forward-looking.

I asked interviewees how they feel about the outlook for 2025.

 

Chenai Mukumba, the executive director of Tax Justice Network Africa, made a point in her interview which has really stuck in my mind: pessimism can be an indulgence.

“ I mean, one of the things that me and a couple of friends that are in this space say is that we don't have the privilege of being pessimistic, right? We have to be optimistic. It's one of the things that pushes us to do the work that we do, right? We need to be hopeful. And so I think for me, for 2025, there's so much opportunity.”

She singled out progress on a UN tax convention which could finally give countries of the global South a meaningful say in the design of international tax rules.

 ”The UN Tax Convention, I think, is something as civil society we've been advocating for now for ten years and to actually see negotiations start, I think, really sets an incredible tone for what I think we can expect this year.”

 

Ketakandriana Rafitoson, the executive director of the global Publish What You Pay coalition, replied in her interview that:

“Definitely, I am optimistic. Of course, these are challenging times, but this is also a moment for us to stand together and enhance our collaboration towards a better future that we are all dreaming of, you know.

There has been a lot achieved in terms of fighting climate change, ensuring social equity, et cetera. But there is still also a big gap to really fill up … for instance, in ensuring that mining countries get more benefits and have fewer harms than in previous booms.”

 

Claire Godfrey, the director of the Balanced Economy Project, said in her interview:

" I am feeling in some ways gloomy because the direction of travel isn't great ... [But] I'm optimistic because I think there's a growing awareness of the problem that we have [with corporate monopolies]."

She added: “It’s become urgent [to come up with] economic policy that’s an alternative to the dominant failing economic philosophy of today. And I hope that’s going to come, whether from civil society or from academics. It’s something I’m hoping will emerge soon.”

 

Max Bank of LobbyControl probably summed up what a lot of people in our field are thinking when he remarked in his interview that:

“These are four to five years we may be, yeah, in defence. But these are also four to five years that we can use to build up alternatives, to build up our strategies, to strengthen movements in Europe and beyond, actually, and to come back with … an agenda and an energy to build progressive alternatives and to challenge corporate power.”

 So in that sense, I'm optimistic because I'm quite angry about what's happening in the world. And I see actually a responsibility and an obligation to challenge corporate power.”

 

Talking of alternatives, I’ve been writing a briefing which brings together many of the ideas published on Critical Takes since last April and makes the case for these ideas to be integrated into an ambitious, long-term agenda for transforming corporate power for the sake of justice and democracy.

I’m asking various people to review the draft briefing before it’s published and I’d welcome your input too (it’s only seven pages long).

So if you’d like to review the draft, please email me at editor at criticaltakes dot org. And thank you!

Until next month, good luck with your work!

Diarmid