What does the global financial crisis, climate-change, the never-ending crisis of under-development and the ever-expanding crime of corporate tax evasion all have in common? The answer is blazingly obvious they can only ever be solved at an international level. And that goes for a whole lot of other socio-economic scourges that ravage our planet such as corporate profiteering, people trafficking, drugs trafficking and arms trafficking. All these global 21st century man-made crimes, committed by the one percent against the ninety-nine percent, have long transcended national borders.

International law and regulation, which may be an anathema to national politicians, ‘little Englander’s’ and national chauvinists of all persuasions, must now take precedence over weak and ineffective national statutes As the perfect storm gathers pace the agenda points in only one direction global governance. If the 20th century was the still-born infant, events suggest the 21st century will witness a qualitative leap towards international governance. And significantly, we now have the communication technology to ensure that such governance is transparent and accountable.

A legitimate question though, is just how do we apply democratic pressure at an international level when it is all too difficult to pressurise our elites at a local and national level? There is no one answer and there is no simple answer. ‘World Revolution Now!’ is a nice youthful slogan but it has no meaningful content. History has shown that state bureaucracies that emerge from popular revolutionary ferment can oppress and expropriate just as efficiently as global corporate elites. And there is no guarantee that global government, elected or otherwise, would be any more responsive to our collective human needs than the current mafias running the planet. What does seem imperative then, is as global governance becomes both desirable and inevitable, an equally strong democratic localism based on direct activism is more essential than ever. The seeds of this local activism are already sprouting across the planet from the tens of thousands of village protests in China and India to the embryonic Occupy Movement in the West. Linked by social media via the World Wide Web, millions of once isolated protests can become a raging torrent of global democracy.

In recent months there have been international calls for people to withdraw their money from the big banks on a given day; to boycott consumerist spending for one day; to boycott or occupy this or that company for a day. Gimmicks maybe, but I see in these calls a grassroots democracy that can complement and underline more traditional forms of democratic expression. Voting has its uses but on its own it can be little more than a ritualistic choosing between tweedle dee and dweedle dum. Or, as the cynics might say, ‘don’t vote, it only encourages them.’ There is no doubt in my mind that at this torturous stage in the historical transition from private ownership to social ownership, the ninety nine percent will need to take direct action to force the issue. Nothing is inevitable in history other than the inevitability of crisis until a satisfactory resolution of unresolved contradictions has been reached. Such resolutions will not drop from the sky. People will need to intervene. They are intervening in Greece and Spain as we speak.

UK Uncut is planning a national day of action on 8th December against Starbucks, one of the more notorious tax evaders. They are not alone. Virtually every major corporation and high street chain is at it. It is estimated that the UK economy is losing some ¬£32billion of unpaid corporate tax every year, enough to instantly wipe out the structural deficit. UK Uncut’s strategy is clever. They intend to occupy dozens of Starbuck coffee shops and turn them into women’s refuges, homeless shelters and creches, the very things the British government says it is forced to cut. We could sit back and watch it unfold on our plasma TV’s or we could join in. Most of us will probably watch from the sidelines but as the perfect storm gathers pace the time for neutrality will soon be over. At the very least we should boycott Starbucks for the rest of the year. A tiny, non-confrontational step maybe, but multiplied by a million customers and the Starbuck accountants and directors will start to get twitchy. Today a boycott, tomorrow an occupation, and one day soon, who knows? – the collective ownership of the means of production.