greed - globalisation
by on may 1, 2003, 00:30
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| it's the real thing |
globalisation, a cosy word and at first glance, with the insight provided by the media, a good thing. nice open markets, flow of trade, everyone gets a chance at the golden egg based on their hard work and merit and so on. however in the standard lexicon of transnational business it has a somewhat different interpretation.
the i.m.f. describe it thus, 'the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through trade and financial flows'. in practice, this has meant that the governments of the advanced capitalist countries, along with the i.mf., the world bank, and the w.t.o., have increasingly sought to force other nations to adopt market economies, privatise public companies and resources, abandon labor and environmental regulations, reduce social services, and embrace 'free trade' and the free movement of transnational capital.
there's little social charter in a strategy that is essentially run by the corporate elite whilst our handsomely financed elected leaders grease the runway, with military force if necessary. afterall supplying the military is big business so everyone's happy. even the u.n. has become a eunuch. much of the cocoa that is traded on the commodity markets is from west african countries such as ghana although you don't see many wealthy ghanaian cocoa farmers bling blinging it in accra.
but the argument has already been won. globalisation is a reality rather than an abstract concept and it's hard to see how the military/industrial/political complex can be unwoven. one of the key factors for developing world countries particularly those without mineral resources are trade tariffs that cripple agriculturally based countries where it becomes cheaper to buy an imported banana than to pick it off the tree. held to ransome by overdue world bank loans they can either remain poor or provide their votes in an aid vs debt scenario. but hey, you can get a great latte.
exploit developing world labour?
just done it.
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