Globalization: What on
Earth is it about?
Globalization is a process in which geographic distance
becomes less a factor in the establishment and sustenance of
border crossing, long distance economic, political and sociocultural relations.
BUILDING A CORPORATE EMPIRE:
REASONS TO OPPOSE
GLOBALIZATION
• International markets could deliver untold misery in the form of
poverty and unemployment
• Diminishing national borders: fusing of individual national markets
• Exploitation of third world countries where labor is cheaper and
environmental standards are lower
• Large-scale trans-national companies become more powerful and
influential than democratically-elected governments, putting
shareholder interests above those of communities and even
customers
•Corporations are disregarding the environment for profits and
marketplace supremacy
•National cultures and identities are also under threat because of
satellite TV, international media networks and increased personal
travel.
STATISTICS
•Already, the world's top 200 companies have twice the
assets of 80 percent of the world's population.
•The northern hemisphere consumes 86% of natural
resources from around the world
•Global income of poorest people in world has dropped
from 2.3% to 1.4% of total income in last decade
•More than 1,500 non-governmental organizations
registered with the WTO
•Approximately 70% of French filmgoers watch Hollywood
movies
Top five Reasons How
Globalization hurts America
1. Millions of Americans have lost jobs due to imports or production
shifts abroad. Most find new jobs--that pay less.
2. Millions of others fear losing their jobs, especially at those
companies operating under competitive pressure.
3. Workers face pay-cut demands from employers, who may threaten
to export jobs.
4. Service and white-collar jobs are increasingly vulnerable to
operations moving offshore.
5. U.S. employees can lose their comparative advantage when
companies build advanced factories in low-wage countries, making
them as productive as those at home.
Top nine reasons to oppose the WTO
1.
The WTO only serves the interests of
multinational corporations
2.
The WTO is a stacked court
3.
The WTO tramples over labor and
human rights
4.
The WTO is destroying the
environment
5.
The WTO is killing people
6.
The US adoption of the WTO was
undemocratic
7.
The WTO undermines local
development and penalizes poor
countries
8.
The WTO is increasing inequality
9.
The WTO undermines national
sovereignty
NOTHING IS FOR FREE:
FAIR TRADE, NOT FREE TRADE
• The WTO is a powerful
international body that develops
and enforces rules for corporate
trade and investment
• To protect corporate freedom,
these global institutions apply
downward pressure on wages
and environmental regulations
• “Free trade” policies have kept
most nations of the global south
in poverty
DEGLOBALIZATION
• Reorienting economies from production for export to
production for the local market
• More space, more flexibility, more compromise
• De-emphasizing growth and maximizing equity
• Society over economy
PROPOSAL
An end to all environmentally destructive corporate
lending and support for more self-reliant, resourceconserving development that preserves biodiversity.
•The reorientation of all corporate lending to ensure
consistency with the agreements reached at the 1992
United Nations "Earth Summit".
•A moratorium on corporate funding for the construction of
large dams.
•Substantial shifts towards alternative, cost-effective,
resource-conserving energy, water-supply, transportation
and sanitation projects.
•A shift in away from agricultural export production and
operations which directly or indirectly accelerate forest
destruction.
• A system that measures the wealth of a nation and the
full value of its natural resources as well as the full cost
of environmental degradation.
References
Globalisation: What on Earth is it about?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/special_report/1999/02/99/ecyclopedia/newsid_711000/711906.stm
Council for Canadian Unity’s Guide to Globalization
http://cwis.kub.nl/globus/Lubpdfs/Globaliz/Global07.pdf
Anti-globalization papers
http://www.users.bigpond.com/r.nunn/2who.htm
CORPWATCH: Holding Corporations Accountable
http://www.corpwatch.org/feature/wto/8-bello.html
http://www.corpwatch.org/feature/wto/1-mardigras.html
CORPWATCH: Corporate Mardi Gras
http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_17/b3678003.htm
http://www.globalexchange.org/economy/rulemakers/topTenReasons.html