The Declaration On Capitalism

The Declaration on “Re-Branding Capitalism” by the Global Youth Symposium 2008, the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “KUALA LUMPUR ’08, DECLARATION I”

The delegates of the Global Youth Symposium 2008 gathered in the University of Malaya from 19th to 23rd August 2008 under the theme of “Empowering Youth – Meeting Global Challenges” to discuss

Australia Chinese Taipei Hong Kong, China India Indonesia Kenya Malaysia Nepal Pakistan Singapore Thailand The Philippines Vietnam

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Preamble This declaration is based on the premise that the capitalist system practiced throughout the years has produced problems such as;

AN increase in global unemployment which in turn lays the foundation for the growing divide between high and low income groups in society resulting in only a few benefiting from capitalism;

AN advancement of materialism, which is key in capitalism, has furthermore corroded concerns for the environment, social development and equality of life;

AN instability in inflation rates which increase the suffering of society;

AN inefficient allocation of scarce resources due to the want of increasing profits regardless of environmental degradation;

AN erosion of personal values and culture are affected while trying to achieve better life standard where people only care on monetary rewards (alienation, dehumanisation and deskilling).

Now, therefore, Global Youth Symposium 2008 proclaims this declaration as a solution to the problems mentioned above with through a change in corporate bodies termed “Corporate Empowerment”. The above participating nations of this symposium hereby declare as follows:

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Article 1 We propose the formation of an independent body which will be transparent and non-political with the aim of ensuring that extreme exploitation of human labour and natural resources which results in the suffering of others do not occur.

Article 2

(1) The governments of nation-states shall provide incentives to corporate bodies or organisations through financial, educational and social agencies and encourage the usage of sustainable products and materials. (2) The aforementioned corporate bodies shall be accorded recognition through formal accreditation system and the media by the government.

Article 3

(1) Empowered corporate bodies, under the new declaration, shall allocate a portion of their revenue for socially beneficial projects with an emphasis on education to share the responsibility of the government, lower the burden of the public by providing, ultimately, free education.

(2) The aforementioned empowered corporate bodies shall be involved in enhancing the infrastructure in the rural areas and giving priority to weaker groups who do not have the opportunity to better their lives.

(3) In order to counter materialism, corporate bodies shall instill a sense of belonging and ownership of the company, environment and society while promoting personal development skills to enhance the labour force.

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