Newsletter No 8
Date: 30 January 2025
The big news this month has been Trump’s return and his open alliance with US corporate power. But we’ve all read a million words about Trump already, so let’s cut straight to …
This month on Critical Takes:
Max Bank of LobbyControl in Germany gave a first-hand account of the “corporate siege” of Davos and described US Big Tech’s efforts to undermine European regulations and Elon Musk’s meddling in Germany ahead of February’s elections, including that Nazi salute.
I asked Max at the end of our interview if he feels optimistic about the future. His reply may express what many of us are thinking: “These are four to five years [when] we may be in defence. But these are also four to five years that we can use to build up alternatives, to build up our strategies and strengthen movements … and come back with a bam!”
I wrote a piece suggesting some themes for the year: what Trump will do next, the intensifying climate crisis and energy transition, Big Tech’s grand plans for AI (which crashed into a “Sputnik moment” this month) and the risk that progressive critiques of corporate power are co-opted by the extreme Right.
Coming up soon:
Critical Takes will be publishing interviews on some of these themes with the executive directors of three civil society organisations:
· Ketakandriana Rafitoson of Publish What You Pay will explain why this global coalition, which has worked for more than 20 years for transparency in the extractive industries, is changing its emphasis (and possibly its name).
· Chenai Mukumba of Tax Justice Network Africa will talk about why a UN tax convention could be a breakthrough for African countries, despite what the US does.
· Claire Godfrey of the Balanced Economy Project will share her thoughts on what Trump’s presidency means for global efforts to curb corporate monopolies.
Other takes in the works include a look at the progress of a UN treaty on business and human rights and a reflection on campaigning for tax justice.
The plan for 2025:
Critical Takes has published many ideas from people across civil society about the “how” of challenging the power of multinationals, all of which you can read here. The plan for 2025 is to add more ideas to the map and to start drawing all these ideas together to suggest what an ambitious agenda for transforming corporate power in the interests of justice and democracy might look like. Watch this space!
Dear Reader, I’d like to ask your help:
The user community of Critical Takes is growing steadily, but it needs to grow faster. I’d be very grateful if each of you could help out by doing one or more of the following:
1. If you read or hear something interesting on Critical Takes, please repost it to your own network. This is the main way that people will come to learn about the platform.
2. Tell your colleagues about Critical Takes. This is a space for ideas and discussion and it’s open to anyone from progressive civil society who wants to make use of it.
3. Consider writing for Critical Takes. Or, if your time is short, maybe do an audio interview. New campaign? New analysis? Just want to share some reflections? Get in touch!
Thanks very much for your help. It’s going to be an interesting year …
The Editor