Globalization, according to one source, is defined politically and economically as "the process of denationalization of markets, politics and legal systems, i.e., the rise of the so-called global economy. The consequences of this political and economic restructuring on local economies, human welfare and environment are the subject of an open debate among international organizations, governmental institutions and the academic world."[1]
Globalization removes control over local resources to remote insensitive trans-national corporations operating solely on an agenda of profits, underinformed of and with insufficient concern for local effects. It exemplifies the socialization of costs and privatization of profits. "Agricultural workers and their families are being poisoned, rural lands, forests, oceans and waters are devastated, biodiversity is being destroyed, and food is unfit for human consumption. With these words, 140 participants from 17 countries at the First Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific Congress in Manila last week warned the world that industrial agriculture as conducted by transnational corporations is undermining the resources needed to sustain food production."[2]
Another perspective equates globalization with the phenomenon of intercontinental contracting. Keith Porter writes: "People around the globe are more connected to each other than ever before. Information and money flow more quickly than ever. Goods and services produced in one part of the world are increasingly available in all parts of the world. International travel is more frequent. International communication is commonplace."[3]
Porter adds: "While some people think of globalization as primarily a synonym for global business, it is much more than that. The same forces that allow businesses to operate as if national borders did not exist also allow social activists, labor organizers, journalists, academics, and many others to work on a global stage."[4]
Globalization of North America
The activity of globalization can be applied to, or against, any country, including the U.S. [5]; March 28, 2003, Public Citizen:
- "Without approval by Michigan's legislature or Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Bush administration plans to submit offers next week at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that could require the state to open public services to foreign, for-profit ownership and strictly curtail state regulation of banking, insurance, electricity, water systems, transportation, alcohol distribution and professional services including those provided by doctors, lawyers and accountants.
- "States would be required to conform their policies to global rules established as part of negotiations occurring under the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The threat to numerous state laws and policies was revealed only weeks ago when the European Union's (EU) demands of the U.S. were leaked from the secretive talks being held at the WTO's Geneva headquarters.
- "The leaked documents showed that a stunning scope of domestic policies that citizens expect to be set by their federal, state and local officials are poised to be eliminated in global negotiations pushed by giant, multinational service sector corporations such as Andersen, Halliburton and RWE/Thames Water. The policies include the privatization and deregulation of public energy and water utilities, postal services, higher education and alcohol distribution systems; the right of foreign firms to obtain U.S. government small business loans; and deregulation of private-sector industries such as insurance, banking, mutual funds and securities."
The website "Progress Report" observes in October 2003 that
- Mining corporations, many of which are not even American, receive huge welfare handouts from U.S. taxpayers in the form of access to public land at far less than the market value. Billions of dollars' worth of precious metals and other natural resources have been taken from public land, without any compensation to U.S. taxpayers.
- Now in a new development, instead of reforming this scandalous situation, the Bush administration is making it even worse by telling mining corporations they can pollute public lands without liability -- the full cost and liability hits the taxpayers instead.
- "Negotiated behind closed doors between the Bush administration and America's most toxic industry, this outrageous reversal directs the government to quit enforcing existing federal law," said Steve D'Esposito of Mineral Policy Center.
Globalization of Latin America
See article on Imperial terror in South America and links therefrom.
Globalization of the Middle East
Since U.S. and U.K. forces, the "coalition of the willing," began the campaign (Gulf War II) to oust Saddam Hussein and his "repressive" and "malignant" Iraqi leadership, other challenges for globalization may be on the horizon. Some are seeing Iraq's -- and the Middle East's -- future through other definitions like Americanization, or the Pax Americana doctrine.
An increasingly popular view is that Islamist activity is more anti-imperialist than religiously motivated. Olivier Roy of the Open Society Institute has broached the view that any model of an Islamic caliphate would almost certainly be defined by its resistance to economic globalization, rather than any religious ideal.
Globalization of Africa
Jim Lobe, WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct 28, 2003 (OneWorld) writes:
- A dozen major international human rights and develoment groups are calling on the UN Security Council to press the United States and other western governments to launch immediate investigations into the involvement of multinational corporations based in their countries in profiteering from the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The appeal--by such groups as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Friends of the Earth (FoE), Oxfam, and the International Human Rights Law Group--charges that multinational corporations (MNCs) have developed "elite networks" of key political, military, and business elites to plunder the Congo's natural resources during a five-year conflict that has caused the deaths of more than three million people--the highest civilian death toll of any war since World War II.
- The groups' appeal comes on the eve of the final report of a Panel of Experts ["Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the DRC"] that was established by the UN in 2000 to study the illegal exploitation of the DRC's abundant natural resources.
Also see
- Pax Americana, Africa
- Conflict Diamonds
- Background and Primary Source Documents on Economics of Armed Conflict
- information on conflicts involving the exploitation of metals
Other SourceWatch Resources
- the Bolivian Water War
- free trade
- G8
- G20
- George Soros
- Global Compact
- Global Compact Corporate Partners
- Imperial terror in South America
- International Occupation Watch Center in Iraq
- population control
- Pax Americana
- Privatization
- Rothschild family
- Timeline to global governance "The New Rulers Of The World"], a film by John Pilger.
External Links
- An "online symposium" at the Cato Institute.
- "The New Rulers Of The World", a film by John Pilger.
- Tim Shorrock, A Dangerous Game in Korea, The Nation, January 9, 2003.
- Robert Scheer, A Naked Bid to Redraw World Map, The Nation, March 18, 2003.
- Robert Scheer, The Wraps Come Off Bush's Colonialist Agenda, The Nation, March 25, 2003.
- Oh, great. A Bush war spinoff, No Utopia, March 26, 2003. From CNN: The Iraqi war has convinced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership that some form of confrontation with the U.S. could come earlier than expected. Beijing has also begun to fine-tune its domestic and security policies to counter the perceived threat of U.S. "neo-imperialism."
- "Chaos in the Middle East is not the Bush hawks' nightmare scenario--it's their plan.", revised March 28, 2003.
- Thomas L. Friedman, NATO's New Front, The New York Times, March 30, 2003.
- Joshua Micah Marshall, Practice to Deceive. Chaos in the Middle East is not the Bush hawks' nightmare scenario--it's their plan, Washington Monthly, April 2003.
- Thomas L. Friedman, Come the Revolution, The New York Times, April 2, 2003.
- Bill Fletcher, Jr., Response 2. Today Iraq, Tomorrow...?, The Nation, April 3, 2003.
- The problem with fanatics is that they're unreasonable zealots, No Utopia, April 3, 2003.
- David E. Sanger, Viewing the War as a Lesson to the World, The New York Times, April 5, 2003.
- Ron Brownstein, Support of U.S. Military Role in Mideast Grows. Americans' backing for Bush rises; many might endorse action against Iran or Syria, The Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2003.
- North Korea Says U.S. Wants to Commit 'Terrorism', Reuters, April 8, 2003.
Globalization
- Globalization, Growth and Poverty: Building an Inclusive World Economy, World Bank articles.
- IMF Staff, Globalization: Threat or Opportunity?, April 12, 2000 (Corrected January 2002).
- The Globalization Web Site, Emory University. Includes Glossary, Theories, Issues, People, Debates, News, and Books.
- "Globalization - What's all the fuss about?", The Democracy Center, August 24, 2001
- Globalization articles and links from the Global Policy Forum.
- International Forum on Globalization
- Mark Weisbrot, Globalization: A Primer, Center for Economic and Policy Research, October 1999.
- Thomas P. M. Barnett (U.S. Naval War College), The Pentagon's New Map: It Explains Why We're Going to War, and Why We'll Keep Going to War, Esquire, March 2003. Go to "Globalization".
- ICC Says Globalization Narrows the Poverty Gap, WorldTrade, March 15, 2003.
- Anna Willard, IMF-no clear proof globalization helps the poor, Reuters, March 17, 2003.
- "The Scorecard on Globalization 1980-2000; Twenty Years of Diminished Progress.", July 11, 2001, Center for Economic and Policy Research
- Globalization and its Discontents ISBN 0-393-32439-7 by Joseph Stiglitz