Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World Is Possible - A Report of the International Forum on Globalization
John Cavanagh & Jerry Mander, Editors. (San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2004)
Introduction: Turning Point
In 2003 three landmarks events punctuated the end of the "Golden Era" of corporate-driven economic globalization, the domination of "Washington Consensus, and the ability of the United States to unilaterally dictate the course of global economic and political affairs. (p.1)
Cancun: The outbreak of democracy. The Group of 21 led by brazil, China, India, South Africa, Egypt, and 16 others. Global trade talks collapsed (Sept. 14, 2003).
Miami: Regime change in latin America. Leaders from South American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia) demanded the US to change its policy on agricultural subsidies and on the entry for South American products. The breakdown of negotiations for the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas).
Iraq: The US invasion of Iraq and the failure of the empire. Spring 2003: the largest peace demonstration in human history against American unilateralism and aggression to build a global empire through economic and military coercion.
Part One " A System in Crisis " discusses the worldviews that brought the economic globalization model/system forward and the reasons for its failure.
1. Conflicting Worldviews: the corporate globalists (private profits, power, privilege, eliminating inefficient and meddlesome bureaucracies, unleashing innovation, and wealth-creating power of competition and private enterprise) vs. citizen movements (economic democracy, international institutions that are transparent, and support the rights of people, communities; public accountability, focusing on people and environment, life-support systems, justice against inequality, national and local self determination).
2. Design for Corporate Rule:
Key ingredients pf the globalization model
Promotion of hyper-growth, unrestricted exploitation of resources and new markets
Privatization and commodification of public services
Global cultural and economic homoginization and intense promotion of consumerism
Integration and conversion of national economies
Corporate deregulation and unrestricted movement of capitol across borders
Dramatically increased corporate concentration
Dismantling of public health, social, health, environmental programs
Replacement of traditional national and local community powers by global corporate bureaucracies
The Role of the Media
The mainstream media continue to poorly report the instability and unfairness of the globalization experiment and crises.
3. The Unholy Trinity: World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization
World Bank funds large scale projects, promotes structural adjustment policies, and dominates the development debate
International Monetary Fund presses similar economic "reforms" through short-term emergency loans
World Trade Organization (1994) is the rule setter for global trade and investment
These three institutions were created in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire after WWII at a meeting of major international bank and corporation leaders, economists...to decide what to do after the Great Depression. These institutions work together to be sure that all countries in line and to adopt identical visions, policies and standards.
Part Two Alternatives in Action
From bottom up, a process of correction and readjustment is under way: demand for a new viable system that works for the people, and the environemnt, rather than corporate profit, a panoply of grassroots initiatives from around the world.
4. Ten Core Principles for Sustainable Societies
New Democracy: people organize to protect their communities and rights, and hold their elected officials accoutnable. In the past two decades, governments have transferred much of their sovereignty into the hands of global corporations. Fair election and accoutability, creating governance systems that give a vote to those who will bear the costs when decisions are being made.
Subsidiarity respects the people's sovereignty (legitimate authority from the populace through the expression of their democratic will. It recognizes the inherent democratic right to self-determination for people, communities and nations as long as its exercise does not infringe on the similar rights of others. The authority of more distant levels of administration is subsidiary or subbordinate.
Ecological Sustainability: the health of the planet's life-support systems and the maintenance of its biodiversity. The great need for a new system that reverses a current dominant hierarchy of values that places corporate profits and wealth creation at the top and leaves sustainability out of the mix.
Common Heritage: there are 3 common heritage resources that constoitute a collective birthright of the whole species to be share equitably among all: natural resources, culture and knowledge resources, and access to public services
Diversity: cultural, economic and biological diversity are vital and essential to any living system.
Human Rights: accountability on governments at all levels on core rights as adopted by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 " a standard of living adequate for ...health and well-being..., including food, clothing, housing and medical care, and necessary social services and the right to security in the event of unemployment."
Jobs, Livelihood, Employment: protect rights of workers and address the livelihood needs of the greater numbers of people and those who are seriously underemployed.
Food Security, Safety: local self-reliance in food production and the assurance of healthful safe food
Equity: reducing the gap between the rich and the poor, social justice and greater equality for women and children among nations and within nations, between ethnic groups, between classes are cornerstones of sustainable societies.
The precautionary principle: places the onus of proof on the technology's or the process's proponents to prove that it is safe before it is generally introduced. The two fundamental components of this principle are precaution even in the absence of absolute certainty of danger and the deliberate shifting of burdens of proof to proponents. Two other important ones are that where doubt exists, preference should always be given to alternatives, and that there must be full public participation at all levels of decision making. "Better safe than sorry." "Guilty until proven innocent."
5. Reclaiming the Commons
Many aspects of social and economic life around the world should be off-limits to the processes of economic globalization. For example, certain goods and services like hazardous wastes, endangered species, human organs and sex trafficking, hence a new framework and the debate about the rights of peoples and obligations of nations concerning what has traditionally been called the commons, and the current threats of economic globalization to commons.
Current Threats to the Commons
Freshwater commons: global water corporations want to privatize freshwater resources.
Genetic commons or the building blocks of all life on earth: (seeds, medicines, and other genetic materials...) are subject to reinvention through genetic engineering to become patent-able (patents on life) commodities, which Third World agriculture activists called biopiracy.
Communal Lands: landless peasant movements around the world
The broadcast spectrum commons: corporations want to privatize all or most broadcasting, against public services for education and information capabilities and public trust obligation, The Public Broadcasting Act in 1967 and the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the Public Broadcast Services (PBS), and the National Public Radio (NPR). Mega-corporations such as Time Warner, Disney and Fox control about 70% of global media. The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)within the WTO make it far more difficult for countries to slow down foreign investment by gigantic global media corporations. Multilateral environment agreements (MEAs) are efforts to controlimpacts on global commons, but they have suffered from tremendous political resistance, weak regulartory regimes, and poor enforcement ability.
The Traditions of the Commons
Threats to the Modern Commons
Global economic institutions like the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO have tremendous impact on, and even threaten, government performances of public services for the people and government protection of citizens' basic human rights asserted in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
WTO and GATS and TRIPs Agreements: Global corporations are aiming at dismantling public education and healthcare systems, and lobbying the expansion of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The TRIPs Agreement enablesglobal corporation to claim intellectual property rightsover the genetic heritage of people and communities, and to redefine the role and form of agriculture. Structural adjustment programs play a big role in this shift in agriculture, and permit global corporations to use farmlands for their profits while driving farmers off, and increasing hunger and migration. Both GATS and TRIPS have direct impact on the telecommunications sector, the Internet, digital and e-commerce spheres, public broadcasting, patents, trademarks, and copyright laws.
Cultural diversity and integrity, and the right of social, religious, cultural and indigenous groups to preserve their beliefs, practice, and artistic expressions ... are threatened.
Three Proposals to Reempower the Commons
The greatest challenge for the 21st century is, first of all, to make the commons visible; second, to give it proper reverence; and third, to translate that reverence into publicly owned property rights and legal institutions that are on a par with private property. (Peter Barnes)
First proposal: diminish the power grab over the the commons and the authority of the global trade and finance bodies,
Second proposal: to increase the authority of the multilateral environment agreements and the international bodies that act on behalf of the commons,
Third proposal: to examine and strengthen some trust arrangementsthat might effectively protect the commons and add power to its authority.
