By Jamie York
Proponents of global capitalism often argue that "the system works." Of course, it is easy to say this when living in the relative comfort of the United States or other industrialized nations.
While it's true that, so far, capitalism has been able to sustain a higher standard of living for citizens living in the industrialized Western nations, nearly three-fourths of the world's population live in poverty and one billion face starvation each and every day. Is this really a system that "works"?
Marxists argue that the present stage of capitalism is more accurately called "imperialism" or "corporate globalization." One of the fundamental principles of capitalism, Marxists say, is that it must constantly expand; when there are no new markets to exploit, the expansion takes place through corporate mergers, takeovers and acquisitions. It is at this stage, they argue, where the hard-won gains for living wages, health benefits, job safety, and the 8-hour workday are the cause of increasing class conflicts between workers and farmers and the corporate owners. It is at this stage that capitalism is vulnerable to economic collapse.
In order for imperialism to ensure global domination, it relies on four strategies: economic, political, military, and informational.
The economic strategy is the foreign debt, which is maintained by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, both of which provide financial loans to "client" countries and set the terms for the repayment of the loans. While the World Bank and the International Montetary Fund were originally set up at Bretton Woods to have U.N. oversight, they were taken over by multinational corporate conglomerates that drop their restrictive policies on Third World nations like cluster bombs -- and with similar results. People can die by the stroke of a pen just as surely as they can die by the sword. In order to repay their loans to the World Bank, Third World governments are forced to cut spending on health care, education and the environment, to devalue their national currency, increase interest rates, increase exports, and eliminate tariffs on imports. The result is that these nations become further impoverished and unable to strengthen their domestic investments or increase employment. Imagine trying to stand up from a sitting position when someone keeps piling weights on your lap. This is what the policies of the World Bank and the IMF are doing to the Third World and this is the root cause of international resentment toward the United States. It is this debt to Western banks that keeps the Third World depressed, suppressed, and repressed while citizens of the Western countries live in relative prosperity.
The political strategy to maintaining global domination is the negotiation of "free trade" agreements that are financially favorable to the West, as well as the constant threat of credit revocation, trade sanctions, embargoes, or economic blockades. This strategy is maintained by the World Trade Organization, which arbitrarily decides what "free trade" is and overrules any existing labor, human rights or environmental laws that might get in the way, and by the United States government and its allies that make up the G-8 group: the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Britain, France Italy and Russia. These are the agenda setters and they do it behind closed doors, without citizen participation. Securing the world's oil reserves for the West is very much at the heart of this strategy, even if this means drilling in the ecologically sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska or eventually going to war with Russia or Iran to secure the Caspian Sea reserves.
The military strategy to maintaining global domination is enforced by the Pentagon and the NATO alliance. From 1940 to the present, the United States has spent $20 trillion on the military -- enough to have provided food, clean water, electricity, housing, education and basic health services for the entire world if that had been a priority. The Pentagon has at its disposal an enormous arsenal of high-tech and conventional weapons, including nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and upstart or renegade nations, such as Iraq and Yugoslavia -- countries that interfere with the established economic order or buck the IMF's conditions for repaying loans -- are dealt with harshly and unmercifully. Even those U.S. citizens who peacefully demonstrate against the unjust, repressive policies of the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO are met with police force. In November 1999, the peaceful Seattle protesters were met with pepper spray, tear gas, and rubber bullets from the riot-clad Seattle police to try to keep the demonstrators confused, disorganized and, ultimately, silent. In spite of this use of force, however, the demonstrations kept going and the message got out.
The fourth strategy of global domination is control of information dissemination. The majority of the mass media are part of corporate globalization because they are owned by the very corporations that practice it. During the Seattle protests, the media tried to portray the demonstrators as violent and isolated from the mainstream of American politics, even though the participants represented a broad cross-section of domestic and international labor, student and political organizations. It seems that the media pundits are so used to their high salaries and narrow reportage that they cannot recognize what the mainstream of American politics really looks like when they see it. The overall strategy for corporate domination relies heavily on the media to support their agenda and the media certainly did their jobs as corporate cheerleaders during the Gulf war and the assault on Yugoslavia.
During the IMF meeting in Washington, D.C., on April 16, 2000, the rally at the ellipse was broadcast live on C-Span, so viewers of this important cable venue were able to see the broad support for this movement to abolish the repressive policies of the IMF and the World Bank and replace them with a constructive, humanist agenda of land reform, trade union rights, environmental protection, and health care. The IMF demonstrators and their supporters care deeply about justice and democracy. These people care deeply about the environment and about the animals that happen to share the same planet as the IMF. If corporate globalization is allowed to continue unchecked and unchallenged, the future indeed looks bleak. As the world's population climbs and demand increases, today's remaining national forests, wildnerness areas and rainforests, now being harvested for timber without any forethought or planning for the future, will one day be nothing but tall gardens. The once diverse wildlife living in those forests will be reduced to the hardiest species -- the "weeds" of the animal world -- such as deer, rodents, magpies, crows, and ravens. No more elk. No more mountain sheep. No more migratory birds. Same goes for Earth's rivers and oceans; only the hardiest species will survive. If the last period of mass extinctions was caused by the last ice age, the next period of mass extinctions may come at the hands of humankind and its selfish, arrogant policy of raping and ravaging the land for private profit.
Ironically, representatives from 133 Third World nations finished an economic summit in Havana, Cuba, the day before the IMF's Washington meeting began. One of its resolutions demanded relief from the foreign debt. "We will not be beggars content with the crumbs that fall from the table of the North," said Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. This group represents the vast majority of humankind and those most affected by IMF policies and corporate globalization.
Those who argue that "the system works" either have no understanding of these global realities, or they simply do not care. If the entire population of the Earth could be reduced to a village of exactly 100 people, with all of the ratios remaining the same, this is what our world would look like:
* There would be 57 Asians, 21 Europeans, 14 from the Western Hemisphere (North and South America), and 8 Africans.
* 51 would be female; 49 male.
* 70 would be non-white; 30 white.
* 70 would be non-Christian; 30 Christian.
* 50 percent of the wealth would be in the hands of 6 people, and all 6 would be from the U.S.
* 80 would live in substandard housing.
* 70 would be unable to read.
* 50 would suffer from malnutrition
* 1 would be near death; 1 near birth.
* 1 would have a college education.
* No one would own a computer.
Let's face it, globalization is here to stay. But globalization must not continue to be a monster that leaves hunger, disease and poverty in is wake, a monster that drains Third World economies so the rich nations can prosper. Globalization will be the key to humankind's future as the world's population climbs and resources dwindle, so it is important to ensure that globalization benefits the entire planet rather than a select few. Given the right powers, the United Nations can play a significant, positive role in resolving international disputes, fostering Third World economic development, as well as eliminating world hunger and improving education and health care, but this will not happen under the present U.N. structure. Three steps can be taken to revamp the United Nations and the lending organizations so that they can become a positive force in world development and pave the way for a sustainable, democratic future on this planet:
1) Forgive all Third World foreign debt. In order to allow Third World nations to develop, we need to get them out of debt so they can begin to concentrate on providing essential public services rather than on repaying loans.
2) Expand the U.N. Security Council so that permanent membership more accurately represents all regions of the world. Either eliminate all veto power or provide full veto privileges to all members so that a few nations can no longer set the world's agenda. The General Assembly should be empowered to provide democratic representation to all nations and should have the final say on all Security Council resolutions. The World Court, under the auspices of the General Assembly, should also have increased powers to resolve disputes.
3) Replace the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO with United Nations organizations in order to provide genuine assistance to developing nations while monitoring multinational corporations and holding them accountable for their actions. Once Third World debts have been forgiven, the focus should be on helping these nations increase domestic investment and employment, and on breaking up global concentrations of corporate power. Strict ethical standards and corporate licensing will ensure that international corporations act responsibly. The World Court will monitor and enforce these standards.