The story Asheville is being sold about the G20 — that it’s going to help with Helene recovery and is generally good for our region — is nonsense.
People have been resisting G20 summits for nearly two decades because these events are disruptive and unpleasant for locals, but more importantly because people understand that the agenda advanced at these meetings of global financial elites does not serve our interests.
Just look at how they announced this event to the public. From the moment it was announced, it was framed as a boost to post-Helene recovery, with claims that “The region’s tourism and hospitality sectors are expected to see an economic boost from the late-summer gathering.”
Does anyone who lives here really believe this event is going to make a meaningful impact on storm recovery for WNC?
Except for the owners of a handful of luxury hotels and restaurants in Asheville, will anyone see a significant benefit from this event? Will a single unit of affordable housing be built as a result? Will raise wages, or improve our transit system?
Or, put another way, just how stupid do they think we are??
At best, these summits serve as sites of maintaining the economic status quo. At worst, they are places where the people who rule us innovate new, even more cruel and irresponsible ways to ensure that multi-national corporations amass unfathomable wealth while rendering the rest of us (and the entire planet) disposable.
In 2023, the G20 summit hosted in New Delhi saw massive demonstrations by Indian farmers and labor leaders. Union organizer Sarwan Singh Pandher explained their opposition to the summit:
We are against this summit as the decisions taken by G20 countries had always been anti-middle class and BPL (Below Poverty Line) population. India is a developing country and so, efforts are always made to exploit its labour and natural resources by imposing pro-corporate policies.”
After more than a quarter century, the impact of these pro-corporate policies is clear: low-income countries now spend more on debt servicing than on social protection, education, health, and climate mitigation combined.
And global inequality is mirrored by inequality at home, because it is driven by the same economic policies. Wall Street gets bailed out, and we get sold out. Normal people have to pay taxes, but tax abuse and avoidance by wealthy individuals costs countries $480 billion a year. As times get harder, instead of greater public supports we get extreme cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
Everything about this system is running in the wrong direction. For example, in 2025, federal funding for MANNA food bank was cut by $4.5 million, even as visits to food pantries climbed from 190,000 to 220,000. As inflation and cost of living rise out of control, NC wages remain stagnant (NC teacher pay, for example, is shamefully $14,000 lower than the national average). And as a diverse array of WNC residents come together to decisively reject data centers in our region, Trump promises this year’s G20 summit will prioritize “pioneering innovations in AI.”
Privatization, deregulation and austerity are the agenda of the G20. Simply put, this summit will not help the people of our region recover or thrive. In fact, it will do the opposite. The agenda advanced at the G20 directly threatens the people and resources we depended on most during and after the storm.
Here is what is really at stake in these summits:
People vs. profit
Sustainability vs. unchecked growth
International solidarity vs. globalized capital
If you don’t buy the story you’re being sold about the G20 in Asheville, or if you just want to learn more, check out our link library for further reading and keep an eye out on this page for updates!
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Past G20s
- 2025: Johannesburg, South Africa
- 2024: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2023: New Delhi, India
- 2022: Bali, Indonesia
- 2021: Rome, Italy
- 2020: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Held virtually due to COVID-19)