London, UK, April 1 2009 – On the eve of the G20 summit, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain has sent an open letter to the Muslim rulers [Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia] attending the G20 summit. The G20 they are proud members of will not propose any fresh thinking, nor does the world need another model of capitalism, a system that is so bankrupt it needs to be completely replaced.
In the letter, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain writes that "Since 1999, the G20 has been at the forefront of designing the financial architecture that has now crumbled before our very eyes" yet today "it claims to be the organisation that will rescue the world from financial ruin."
It notes that despite the huge wealth in the Muslim lands, as a result of implementing the capitalist economic system, "Your countries are also facing economic meltdown, Saudi Arabia faces deficits and significant overseas losses despite having a glut of oil, Turkey a once proud nation has to rely on IMF bailouts while Indonesia the most populous Muslim nation has to beg the west for foreign currency to pay its bills."
Having stated that these rulers have no alternatives, the letter calls upon the Muslim world to “take this opportunity to completely revamp the entire international financial system” by doing three things.
1) “Establish an alternative economic model. The Khilafah State is the only vehicle to establish the Islamic economic system and today provides a unique opportunity to show the rest of the world that there is a better way to manage economic affairs".
2) “Establish a new currency based on the gold or silver metallic standard. The Islamic principles of sound and tangible money cannot now be disputed, nor should you ever allow your own economic well being to be tied to an overseas government’s reckless monetary policy.”
3) “Close down the financial casinos that purport to be stock exchanges, investment banks or other avenues which sell toxic financial assets”.
It demands that “Our economies must be restructured around real engineering not financial engineering, based on real manufacturing not phoney accounting” and that the Muslim world “invest in real projects at home not in idle financial assets abroad, tackle poverty as a priority, not just bail out the rich, invest in long term infrastructure not entertainment venues for western tourists.”
[Ends]
Notes to Editors:
