18 November, 2009
Globalization Unchecked: How Alien Media Is
Suffocating Real Culture
By Ramzy BaroudGlobalization is not a fair game, of course. Those with giant economies get the lion’s share of the ‘collective’ decision-making. Those with more money and global outlook tend to have influential media, also with global outlook. In both scenarios, small countries are lost between desperately trying to negotiate a better economic standing for themselves, while hopelessly trying to maintain their cultural identity, which defined their people, generation after generation throughout history
19 April, 2009
From Corporate Strategy to Global Justice
By Jessica LudescherIt has become fashionable to laud corporate social responsibility as a win-win practice for business and society. Yet CSR is a misleading and distracting doctrine that blinds us to the political realities of corporate economic globalization, writes Jessica Ludescher
02 January, 2009
Beyond Resistance And Cooption
By C.R BijoyResisting privatization and promoting a people’s agenda for reclaiming and controlling public services in this era of neo-liberal globalization cannot be achieved under the neo-liberal frame!
25 February, 2008
India And China: Conflict, Competition,
And Cooperation In The Age Of Globalization
By Dr. Aqueil AhmadIndia and China are two of the world’s most ancient civilizations. For centuries they shared advanced ideas, inventions, religious and philosophical traditions. But their economies and societies stagnated during the colonial period. In the post-colonial era mutual relations suffered a setback due to political and boundary disputes. In contemporary times they have reemerged as leading techno-economic nations. It is high time for them to move beyond conflicts and start cooperating politically, economically, and technologically for mutual benefits
12 February, 2008
Towards Corporate City-States?
By Aseem ShrivastavaWhile the details are unclear, the broad political consequences of SEZs are fairly clear. By shifting the very mode of governance towards the corporate sector, they will render unaccountable and opaque decision-making which will have long-lasting and widespread consequences for the citizens of the country. Not only will the formal success (and consequent expansion)of SEZs threaten more lives and livelihoods in the countryside, they will institute an autocratic labour regime in the workplace. In this and other ways already explored in the essay, they will undermine democracy in India in profound respects and might well pioneer a full-scale transformation of the political system in the direction of formal corporate totalitarianism through the via media of autonomous corporate city-states
10 September, 2007
Book Review:Making Globalization Work
By Jim MilesReview of Joseph Stiglitz' book Making Globalization Work
22 June, 2007
Displacing Farmers: India Will Have
400 Million Agricultural Refugees
By Devinder SharmaAlmost 500 special economic zones are being carved out. What is however less known is that successive government’s are actually following a policy prescription that had been laid out by the World Bank as early as in 1995
07 June, 2007
Paradoxes Of Globalization
By Md. Saidul IslamEvidence shows that Freedman's propagation on globalization is nothing but a "mere dream" and a form of deception, as even in the USA the middle class is gradually shrinking. On the other hand, the middle class/Disney land is now moving to the wretched of the earth. From priests to prostitutes all are selling their labors in capitalism as long as their labor is valued in the market. The capitalists will move to any place where labor is poor and cheap
28 May, 2007
The Growing Abuse Of Transfer Pricing By TNCs
By Kavaljit SinghTransfer pricing, one of the most controversial and complex issues, requires closer scrutiny not only by the critics of TNCs but also by the tax authorities in the poor and the developing world. Transfer pricing is a strategy frequently used by TNCs to book huge profits through illegal means
26 May, 2007
Globalization And Democracy:Some Basics
By Michael ParentiThe fight against free trade is a fight for the right to politico-economic democracy, public services, and a social wage, the right not to be completely at the mercy of big capital
30 April, 2007
Free Trade vs. Small Farmers
By Walden BelloToday, perhaps the greatest threat to small farmers is free trade. And the farmers are fighting back. They have helped, for instance, to stalemate the Doha round of negotiations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This tug of war between farmers and free trade is nowhere more visible than in Asia
India Needs Her Small Farmers
By Vandana ShivaIndia is a land of small farmers, with 650 million of her 1 billion people living on the land and 80 per cent farmers owning less than 2 ha of land. In other words, the land provides livelihood security for 65 per cent of the people, and the small farmers provide food security for 1 billion
21 April, 2007
Human Rights And Globalization
By Dr Samir Naim-AhmedIf economic corporations became transnational and that much powerful what is needed is a powerful transnational government based on real democracy for all the countries and citizens of the world . A government which is capable of issuing and implementing global rules aimed at realization of the maximum use of all humankind achievements for the sake of all the dwellers of our globe . A government which is capable of making economy in the service of man instead of making man a victim and a slave for the market economy
11 April, 2007
Globalisation, Yes, Globalisation, No
By Sirajul IslamIn reflecting on the good and bad sides of globalisation we find that whatever good has come out of it is actually a by-product. The very motive, maximising profit is responsible for its bad sides. So, globalisation may well be one of the most serious challenges ever to the integrity of human civilisation. As a citizen of an underdeveloped country, Bangladesh, how can we deal with this challenge?
03 March, 2007
Migrants: Globalization’s Junk Mail?
By Laura CarlsenMigrant workers are central to cross-border economic integration. A political system that ignores them -- or worse, treats them as junk mail -- is not only hypocritical but severely out of touch with reality
26 February, 2007
Market Fundamentalism Versus
Sustainable Development:
A Titanic Struggle To Save The World
By Dr Zeki ErgasI will confess: I am pessimistic about the future of the planet. I think that NLG and MF are like a train that has left the station and cannot be stopped. In the following years, and even decades: China, India, Russia and Brazil – not to mention the other medium-sized ‘powers’ -- will continue to industrialise at neck-breaking speed. The thousands of billions of tons of carbon dioxide that will have accumulated in the atmosphere probably cannot be removed. Neither is the bridging the great divide between the rich and the poor in the cards. Extreme poverty will persist. It is probable that the no-holds-barred competition between the great powers for natural resources and standards of living will end in a world war. I agree with the British scientist who predicts that we have a 50 per cent chance to reach the end of the century
Markets Hate Farmers
By Devinder SharmaFarmers in United States, Europe and for that matter in other rich and industrialised countries are quitting agriculture. That makes me wonder. Why? After all, they get huge subsidies. They have the advantage of being literate and techno-savvy. They can take benefit of future trading and commodity exchanges. Linked to supermarket retail stores, they supposedly get a bigger share of the consumer price
The Other Side Of Globalization
By Paul BuchheitCorporate leaders are driven by the profit motive, and from a business standpoint they're unmoved by the plight of the 50% of the world's population that can't take advantage of capital gains
22 February, 2007
Whither Globalisation?
By Bal PatilEven after more than half century of freedom in India the gulf between rich and poor is ever widening and with all the glitter of globalisation hunger, starvation and suicide deaths are increasing amidst agricultural surplus, and sometimes fifty million tonnes of grain in godowns rots but cannot be sold at subsidised prices for fear of pushing the market prices down. That is the harsh economic reality!
17 December, 2006
The New Maharajas Of India
By Devinder Sharma & Bhaskar GoswamiWhat is it like to be a modern-day Indian prince? Devinder Sharma and Bhaskar Goswami explain how the laws of the land are being redefined to bring in the reality of the royal tag for the rich and beautiful in the name of Special Economic Zones
04 December, 2006
Monga, Micro credit And The Nobel Prize
By Anu MuhammadWhile Muhammad Yunus must be credited highly for his contribution in innovation in banking and opening up vast sea of market for the huge accumulated finance capital, linking of poverty alleviation with this corporate success is ridiculous and may not be very innocent one
20 November, 2006
Avoid Farmers Suicide In Ladakh
By Stanzin DawaThe Government while advocating in the WTO to protect the due interest of the Indian farmers also need to act locally by reforming its own distorting policies and programmes, so that farmers in Ladakh can also be pride of their own production, their own wisdom, their own economy which is based on organic, cooperation and compassion. This way we can avoid 'Farmers Suicide' in Ladakh
07 November, 2006
Seeing Globalization From The Other Side
By Bob WiseHere was the industry we would have seen in the northeast and around the great lakes half a century ago. It has migrated to the other side of the planet, while the US builds little more than houses and weapons
05 November, 2006
U.S. Corporate Mafia Fighting Chinese
Efforts To Help Workers
By Joel S. HirschhornGreedy and powerful American companies not content with using economic inequality to devastate working- and middle-class Americans are now using their clout to fight efforts in China to combat economic inequality there. They want to keep wages low there so they can drive wages down here and everywhere else
31 October, 2006
Pushing India Toward A Dollar Democracy
By Aseem ShrivastavaYou cannot hide 300 or 400 million starving mouths, and the insistently unjust social reality of India will break through into one or another rear-view mirror, disturbing the fantasies of financiers' wives and girlfriends
30 October, 2006
The Battle In Seattle
(Looking Back Seven Years)
By Mickey Z.Infighting and compromises aside, those five days in Seattle injected American dissidents into an internationalist movement
18 October, 2006
Capital Invading Spaces Of The Poor
By Vidyadhar DateThousands of textile workers in Mumbai are now being evicted from central parts of the city with the closure of the mills and the rich taking over their spaces which are highly coveted by the property market
07 October, 2006
Resisting The Canadian Capital In South Asia
By Harsha WaliaLet us strengthen our end of this resistance by demanding an end to Canadian and other Western countries projects for the corporatization, militarization, and NGOization of the people of South Asia
25 September, 2006
The Geopolitics Of Latin American Foreign Debt
By Pablo DávalosThe adjustment and structural reform policies of the IMF and the World Bank and now the strategic plans of the IADB and the CAF are part of this perpetual war. A war whose purpose is conquest, territorial control, domination and pillage, as in any war
23 September, 2006
Kerala High Court Quashes Ban On
Coca-Cola, Pepsi
By Karthika ThampanJust after the judgement was delivered, employees of a cola company distributed press notes welcoming the judgement. They also distributed cola to the assembled lawyers and journalists. Advocate Ramakumar who represents the Perumatty Grama Panchayath where the Coca Cola factory is situated alleged that the cola companies had prior knowledge of the judgement
Task On Running Unions -Role Of The State
By V.KrishnamurthyPresent environment in India is reflecting the spirit drawn from the fascist ideals. Some ardent believers are for honest implementation. So, State, an oppressive power is slowly erasing the rights of trade union. The freedom expression to voice against corporates is being slowly chocked. Judiciary is speaking Liberalisation of economy and curbing of labour rights
22 September, 2006
Society And Suicide
By Amit ChamariaSociologically, the incident of farmer suicides in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra due to indebtedness is actually the result of the combined effect of 'Relative deprivation' and 'Sudden crises', which came in the category of anomic suicide. Significantly, the feelings of relative deprivation are the outcome of the first green revolution and these feelings has been augmented by the present market policy of Globalization
11 August, 2006
Arrogance And Impunity - Coca-Cola In India
By Amit SrivastavaIn what can only be characterized as arrogance and impunity, we are learning that Coca-Cola and Pepsi have continued to sell soft drinks in India with dangerously high levels of pesticides - three years after even the government of India confirmed that these products were dangerous
25 April, 2006
The Corporate Control Of Society
And Human Life
By Stephen LendmanAs corporations have grown in size they've gained in power and influence. And so has the harm they cause - to communities, nations, the great majority of the public and the planet. Today corporate giants decide who governs and how, who serves on our courts, what laws are enacted and even whether and when wars are fought, against whom and for what purpose or gain
22 April, 2006
Coke Slammed At Shareholders Meeting
For Practices In India
By Haider RizviAs the level of anger and resentment against Coca Cola touches new heights throughout India, rights activists in the U.S. have increased pressure on the company to mend its ways of doing operations in rural areas
13 February, 2006
Indian Villages For Sale
By Devinder SharmaHarkishanpura is a non-descript village in Bathinda district of Punjab in northwestern India. It suddenly made its way into news when in an unprecedented move the village panchayat announced that the village was up for sale. That was in Jan 2001. Since than five more villages in Punjab - in the midst of the food bowl of the country - are awaiting auction
19 December, 2005
Empire Of Shame
A Conversation With Jean ZieglerTranslated from the French By Siv O'Neall
Jean Ziegler, rapporteur at the UN on questions of food resources has just published a book translated in 14 languages: Empire of Shame. Here in this interview Jean Ziegler presents his work
17 December, 2005
The WTO in Hong Kong
By Mark EnglerIs market access the answer to poverty?
23 September, 2005
Globalisation Of Education
By K V SagarAny hasty involvement in the global educational market can end up in harming the vital interests of students, and particularly of poor and downtrodden for generations to come
20 August, 2005
Coca-Cola Ordered To Stop Production
By The HinduThe Kerala State Pollution Control Board on Friday ordered stoppage of production at the Palachimada unit of the Coca-Cola Company in Palakkad district for failure to comply with pollution control norms
04 June, 2005
Court To The Rescue Of Coca Cola
By Karthika ThampanIn an unprecedented judgement Division Bench of the Kerala High Court directed Perumatty gramapanchayath (local council) to renew within one week from Wednesday, the licence granted by the panchayat to Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Ltd to run its plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district, in the south Indian state of Kerala. The court ordered that if a formal licence is not issued by the panchayat within the time prescribed, it should be deemed that the company possesses the renewed licence
27 April, 2005
Coca-Cola Refused Licence
By Karthika ThampanThe Perumatty grama panchayath (local council) yesterday refused to renew the licence of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverage Limited at Plachimada, in the Indian state of Kerala
18 April, 2005
How Coca-Cola Gave Back To Plachimada
By Alexander CockburnAn on the report of the water theft done by Coca Cola company at Plachimada, Kerala, in India, with institutional and judicial support
India Adopts WTO Patent Law
With Left Front Support
By Kranti KumaraIn a move designed to make India’s patent legislation conform with the World Trade Organization’s Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) patent regime, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has pushed a patent amendment bill through India’s Parliament with the support of the Left Front
07 March, 2005
An Evening With P. Sainath
By Niranjan RamakrishnanFluent in his subject and familiar (rather too well, it appeared at times) with the American lecture circuit, Sainath sprinkled his talk with interesting factoids about the rich-poor divide, the politics of SARS, why he stopped drinking Coke and Pepsi, and a host of other gems
06 March, 2005
An Economic Hit Man Speaks
By Kathyayini ChamarajOne of the exciting events at the World Social Forum (WSF) at Porto Alegre in Brazil this year in the last week of January, was a dialogue with John Perkins, the author himself, who, from being an economic hit man, has now crossed over to the "other side" and joined those who have all along believed that "Another world is possible"
22 February, 2005
The Law For Food Facism
By Vandana ShivaThe Food Safety Law 2005 p is a dismantling of the PFA. It is in effect the legalizing of adulteration of India's entire food system with toxic chemicals and industrial processing
21 February, 2005
U.S. Dominates World Bank Leadership
By Alex WilksThere is a vacancy for the most senior post in official world development circles, a job that is of direct interest to billions of people across the globe. The process and candidates are shrouded in secrecy and the only candidates in the running are U.S. citizens
15 February, 2005
The Indian Seed Act And Patent Act:
Sowing The Seeds Of Dictatorship
By Vandana ShivaIn India two laws have been proposed – a seed Act and a Patent Ordinance which could forever destroy the biodiversity of our seeds and crops, and rob farmers of all freedoms, establishing a seed dictatorship
13 January, 2005
Why Boycott Coca Cola
By Mohammed MesbahiCoca Cola’s appalling human rights record, combined with its high boycott vulnerability ratio make it the ideal target for a boycott. Max Keiser, investment activist, and Zak Goldsmith, editor of the Ecologist, have formed a partnership to target Coca Cola by bringing down the value of its shares
12 November, 2004
Hedge Fund To Target Coca-Cola
By Adam PorterAmerican Max Keiser has teamed up with some other "high net worth individuals" to create a boycott-based financial assault on Coca-Cola
09 November, 2004
Things Grow Better With Coke
By John VidalIndian farmers have come up with what they think is the real thing to keep crops free of bugs. Instead of paying hefty fees to international chemical companies for patented pesticides, they are spraying their cotton and chilli fields with Coca-Cola
06 November, 2004
Crime and Reward: Immunity To The World Bank
By Anu MuhammadThe government of Bangladesh has submitted a bill seeking legal immunity for multilateral lending agencies, especially the World Bank on 31st October 2004 in the national parliament
11 October, 2004
Globalization And The Agenda For A Free
And Democratic South Asia
By Anu MuhammadThe increasing collaboration of ruling classes in the form of unity and conflict demands much more increasing collaboration in the form of unity in thoughts and in struggles from the democratic and revolutionary forces
26 August, 2004
WTO Tricks
By Devinder SharmaThe July 31 WTO framework agreement, agreed upon by 147- members in Geneva has drawn a structure that needs to be implemented for furthering the Doha Development Agenda.No sooner the details began to be analysed, it became clear that the developing countries had not only been duped but robbed in the daylight
11 August, 2004
Funding For Vanuatu’s Rural Electrification
By Ching Ching SooWho can provide the investment for an energy supply for small communities who do not have significant cash incomes, who are dispersed over mountains and seas, usually without local experience in technical and financial aspects of an energy system and largely without the economic linkages for exploiting electricity-based small enterprises?
05 August, 2004
Monsanto Prevails In Patent Fight
By Kristen PhilipkoskiThe Canadian Supreme Court upheld a ruling against a farmer who used genetically modified canola seeds patented by Monsanto while replanting his field. The farmer maintained that he inadvertently used seed that had blown into his field
01 August, 2004
Kerala - Loss Of All Hope
By Saji P. GeorgeThe student community has joined the farmers in seeking the 'final solution' in the economically and socially ravaged state of Kerala, a classic case study of neo-liberal globalisation
20 July, 2004
Mounting Sucides: Urgent Need To
Save Wayanad Farmers
By P KrishnaprasadIn the recent years, Wayanad, a tiny hill district in Kerala famous for its spices and coffee plantations, has been in the news for the widespread suicides by distressed farmers - a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly commonplace in rural India as a result of implementation of free market economic policies
18 July, 2004
US Prisons vs Indian Call Centres
By Indo - Asian News ServiceCompetition is brewing for Indian call centres from an unlikely source, American prisons.
15 July, 2004
The Fantasy of “Fair Globalisation”
By Sukomal SenThe recent publication" Fair Globalisation: Creating Opportunities for All", produced by the World Commission on Social Dimension of Globalisation, appears as a formal recognition of the unfair and inhuman character of globalisation
29 June, 2004
Indian Farmer's Final Solution
By Devinder SharmaEver since Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy took charage on May 14, more than 300 farmers have committed suicides. This was the official death toll in the suicides register till June 25. Unofficially, the death toll is estimated to be much higher
22 June, 2004
World Bank Rebuked For Fossil Fuel Strategy
By Paul BrownThe World Bank's drive to promote fossil fuel-generated power for 1.6 billion people lacking electricity will drive developing countries deeper into debt
20 June, 2004
Debt Trap Or Suicide Trap?
By RM Vidyasagar and K Suman ChandraAbout 3,000 Andhra Pradesh farmers committed suicide in the past five years owing to debt trap, drought and crop failure. After the government of Y S Rajashekhar Reddy announced free electricity for agriculture , waiver of electricity dues and a Rs.150,000 financial assistance for the relatives of the farmers who committed suicide , there is a spate of suicides, on an average 70 farmers a week
18 June, 2004
Let's Plant Ideas
By Fidel CastroThe dilemma into which humanity has been dragged by the system is such that there is no option now: either the present world situation changes or the species runs a real risk of extinction. But let's not lose heart, Let's plant ideas
27 May, 2004
Suicide For Survival
By Binu MathewAccording to official figures, 50 farmers have died since the Y S Rajashekhar Reddy government took over on May 14. However, according to the Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangam, a farmers outfit of CPI(M), 92 farmers have killed themselves in the last two weeks. According to another estimate, 220 farmers have committed suicide from Jan 1 to May 13
28 April, 2004
Earth's Riches Should Help the Poor
By Desmond Tutu and Jody WilliamsIt is a cruel irony that countries around the world that suffer from some of the highest rates of poverty, disease, corruption, violent conflict and human rights troubles are also - at least on paper - some of the richest
05 April, 2004
The Suicide Economy Of Corporate Globalisation
By Vandana ShivaThe Indian peasantry, the largest body of surviving small farmers in the world, today faces a crisis of extinction. More than 25,000 peasants in India have taken their lives since 1997
30 March, 2004
Coca-Cola Hunger Strike Ends In Union Win
By Jana SilvermanA 12-day-old hunger strike to protest Coca-Cola labor policies in Colombia ended March 27 in a rare victory for the National Food Industry Workers Union
26 March, 2004
Outsourcing In The Developing
And Developed World
By Huck GutmanOutsourcing is despair for some, and job and jubilation for others. But it is always a race to the bottom, a search for the lowest wages and the highest profit for the multinational corporations
17 March, 2004
India Reacts With Dismay To US
Legislation On Outsourcing
By Kranti KumaraOutsourcing has become a phenomenon that's restructuring the labour relations around the world, undermining the life source of some and benefitting some others but always benefitting the transnational corporations. No solution is possible outside of a political struggle waged by the working class against the profit system as a whole
13 March, 2004
Consensus Is Emerging On The Destructive
Effects of Globalization
By Joseph StiglitzA new report, issued by the International Labor Organization's commission on the social dimensions of globalization, reminds us how far the Bush administration is out of line with the global consensus
07 March, 2004
The Sale of India : ONGC Disinvestment
A U.S. financier, Warren Buffet, who has close links with the "military-industrial complex" is the main buyer in the disinvestment of the state owned oil company ONGC of India.It is a take-over of India's oil resources by American oil-interests
06 March, 2004
Outsmarting Terrorism With Outsourcing
By Naomi KleinThomas Friedman's argument that outsourcing "low-wage, low-prestige" jobs will prevent the third world youngsters becoming suicide bombers and make life safer for the American youth smacks of racism
31 January, 2004
Fighting The Cola Giants In Kerala
By R KrishnakumarThe World Water Conference at Plachimada adds immense strength to the local people's fight against the exploitation of their groundwater resources by Coca-Cola and Pepsi
13 January, 2004
Towards A People Centred Fair Trade
Agreement On Agriculture
By Vandana ShivaAll rewriting of trade rules for agriculture is being driven by the same forces and interests that brought agriculture into the Uruguay Round of GATT, with its genocidal impacts on peasants and the poor
05 January, 2004
Coffee In The Times Of Globalisation
By Josh FrankThe global coffee industry has endured colossal changes over the past fifty years. Production of beans has shifted from country to country in the interest of transnational corporations pushing the price to historical lows and impoverishing millions of farmers
05 November, 2003
Fuzzy Words And Sharp Bullets
By Satya SagarSmokescreen of the global media has been dispensed with and the real messages in our times come from the armed forces of the imperialist powers. While their words have become fuzzier, their bullets have become sharper
30 October, 2003
Outsourcing Culture
By Jeremy SeabrookCall centres may be creating thousands of jobs for Indians - but the price they pay is a loss of culture and alienation
26 October, 2003
The Flight To India
ByGeorge MonbiotThe jobs Britain stole from the Asian subcontinent 200 years ago are now being returned
22 October, 2003
Global Trade Keeps A Billion Children In Poverty
By Maxine FrithMore than one billion young people in the developing world are now living in conditions of severe deprivation, according to a report for the Unicef
15 October, 2003
IMF Confidential
By Greg PalastTo reduce its deficit per IMF decree, Argentina had cut $3 billion from government spending-a cut that was necessary, the authors note here, to "accomodat[e] the increase in interest obligations." The Secret Documents the Masters of the Universe Would Rather You Not See
19 September, 2003
Why It's Good That The Trade Talks Broke Down
By Anuradha MittalCancun is not a failure -- for it offers a lesson: Strong-arm tactics are not going to work any more. And no agreement is better than a bad agreement
17 September, 2003
Cancun, A New Beginning
By Devinder SharmaFirst Seattle in 1999, and now the sudden death at Cancun 2003, the developing world has demonstrated that it will no longer take it lying down. Their anger and rebellion has already caused the biggest derailment to the development agenda. And, rightly so
16 September, 2003
The Collapse In Cancun And
The Transformation Of The Global System
By Andreas HernandezThe collapse of the WTO negotiations in Cancun was the result of a tremendous organizing by the global south. It directly challenged the neoliberal world and might be the first visible signs of the possibility of a social democratic turn in the global system
WTO Kills Farmers: In Memory of Lee Kyung Hae
By Laura CarlsenOn September 10, opening day of the Fifth Ministerial of the World Trade Organization, Lee Kyung Hae climbed the fence that separates the excluded from the included and took his life with a knife to the heart
14 September, 2003
Free Trade Is War
By Naomi KleinThe brutal economic model advanced by the World Trade Organization is itself a form of war because privatization and deregulation kill--by pushing up prices on necessities like water and medicines and pushing down prices on raw commodities like coffee, making small farms unsustainable
11 September, 2003
Developing Countries Take Early Initiative
By C. Rammanohar ReddyOn the eve of the formal opening of the World Trade Organisation's ministerial conference, a 20-member coalition of developing countries led by India, Brazil, China, South Africa and Argentina, has taken centre stage with its distinctive proposals for reform of global trade in agriculture
10 September, 2003
Battle Lines Drawn At Cancun
By Stephen CastleEurope and the United States - so often economic enemies - arrive at crucial world trade talks today lined up against some of the poorer nations, insisting that developing countries must make their share of concessions
Protectionism Trumps Free Trade At The WTO
By Mark WeisbrotAt the Cancun ministerial conference one bone of contention is the international trade in pharmaceuticals. On one side are most developing countries and humanitarian groups who want poor people to have access to cheap, generic, essential medicines. Against this proposition stand the big pharmaceutical companies, backed by their governments in the United States and Europe
06 September, 2003
The Real Cancun: Behind Globalization's Glitz
By Marc CooperA de facto economic and social apartheid keeps the two worlds of Cancún--the served and the server--quite distant except when conducting necessary business
19 August, 2003
Heat On Cold Drinks
By Arjun SenCoke and Pepsi may be following the Enron foot steps in India, unless they do not answer the grave environmental and safety questions raised against them
07 August, 2003
No More Coke And Pepsi
In Indian ParliamentIndian Parliament banned from its premises the soft drinks manufactured by Pepsi and Coca-Cola following allegations by a non-governmental organisation that they contained toxic pesticides
Tests Confirm Toxicity In Sludge From Coke Plant
By P. VenugopalTests conducted by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) have confirmed recent media reports about the toxic nature of the sludge generated by Coca-Cola's bottling plant at Plachimada, in Kerala's Palakkad district
06 August, 2003
Residues Of Toxic Pesticides In 12 Soft Drink Brands
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) today announced that 12 soft drink brands collected for testing from in and around Delhi contained residues of four extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides — lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos
02 August, 2003
Abandoning Agriculture
By Devinder SharmaThe dreams of billions of farmers have been completely shattered,who were initially promised the stars when the WTO was formally launched. It is only a matter of time before the collapse of agriculture in the developing world triggers massive displacements from the rural areas
01 August, 2003
Coke Accused Of Supplying Toxic Fertiliser To Farmers
By George IypeBBC investigative report reveals that the sludge produced by
the Coca Cola factory in Kerala contains dangerous toxic chemicals that are polluting the water supplies, the land and the food chain31 July, 2003
WTO In Montreal
By Aziz ChoudryWherever we live, let's make sure that the world's free traders get no satisfaction in Montreal, Cancun and beyond
28 July, 2003
One Billion suffer Extreme Poverty
By David RowanThe UNDP report notes that 54 nations are poorer now than they were in 1990.The populations of 21 countries are hungrier today than in 1990.
24 July, 2003
Coke vs People
By Paul Vallely, Jon Clarke and Liz StuartIn the Kerala state of India impoverished farmers are fighting to stop drinks giant 'destroying livelihoods'
Boycott Coca-Cola!
By Andy HigginbottomAn international boycott of Coca Cola products have been launched after eight Colombian Coca Cola workers were assassinated
20 July, 2003
We Are Sitting On A Volcano
By Arthur MitzmanIt is centuries since humanity anticipate an alarmingly bleak future for its coming genearations
15 July, 2003
A Global Left Turn?
By Andreas HernandezAs the imperialist forces were waging a war to colonize Iraq a silent revolution was occuring on the other side. Signs of a new global order have begun to unfold. This tremendous organizing on a global scale, directly challenges a uni-polar world
10 July, 2003
Global Poverty and Progressive Politics
by Thabo MbekiIf Progressive Politics is to Have Any Meaning, it Must Start From the Reality That You Can't Overcome Global Poverty Through Reliance on the Market
09 July, 2003
Our water, Their Profits
By Jonathan LeavittTwenty years from now, there will be a war somewhere in this world, but that war will not be an "oil war" but a "water war"
25 June, 2003
Coffee, The Deadly Embrace
By Ben Gregory and David McKnightA report of the Seventh Welsh Delegation to Nicaragua -Nicaragua’s economy is slowly being strangled by the dictates of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
I Was Wrong About Trade
By George MonbiotGeorge Bush seems to be preparing to destroy the WTO at the next world trade talks in September not because its rules are unjust, but because they are not unjust enough. "Our Aim Should Not Be To Abolish The World Trade Organization., But To Transform It", says George Monbiot
17 June, 2003
We Can seize The Day
By George MonbiotEconomic globalisation has made us stronger than ever before, just as the existing instruments of global control have become weaker than ever before
07 June, 2003
On The Defensive : Coke And Pepsi
By R. KrishnakumarPopular struggles against Coca- Cola and Pepsi in Palakkad district of Kerala gather momentum
Battling Coke In Sivaganga
By S. ViswanathanThe people in Sivganga in Tamil Nadu are agitating against Coke's plans to exploit large amounts of water from the region, which is already facing water scarcity
04 June, 2003
Another Fiasco At Evian
By John Lichfield in EvianEvian was another choreographed summit of fixed smiles that evaded all the most contentious issues, from the plunge of the dollar to the explosion of Aids in Africa
Lausanne Solidarity Declaration
In Support Of Activists At The G830 May, 2003
Showdown In Evian
By Mark EnglerThe French city of Evian is getting ready for a showdown between the super rich and the antiglobalisation activists
Patents and Pharmaceutical Access
By Sanjay BasuThe 56th World Health Assembly held in Geneva was alive by a controversy over a resolution mandating the WHO to advise governments about patent rules and access to medicines
12 May, 2003
The New Peasants Revolt
By Katherine AingerAll of us, affected by trends in the global economy, in the most intimate and fundamental way possible - through our food
Bechtel And Blood For Water
By Vandana ShivaIn Iraq blood was not just shed for oil, but also for control over water and other vital services
11 May, 2003
"Corporism: The Systemic Disease
That Destroys Civilization"
By Ken Reiner
Huge corporations now control America's body politic by reason of their bald-faced purchases of the three branches of the American government and America's major media
11 April, 2003
Privatizing Water: What the European Commission Doesn’t Want You to Know
By Daniel PolitiLeaked documents and an exchange of e-mails reveal that the European Union has asked 72 countries to open up their markets to private water companies.
Why Does the WTO Want My Water?
By Lori WallachA leak of European negotiating demands in WTO service sector negotiations reveals that it will be extremely difficult for countries, states and local governments to reverse privatization experiments that fail if the demands are incorporated in GATS.
Zero Tolerance for Farm Subsidies
By Devinder Sharma
Indian farmers are starting to feel the direct impact of the farm subsidies provided by rich nations to their farmers. American wheat is available at Chennai at a landing price much lower than that of the home grown golden grain while the wheat surplus in the north western parts of the country rots in the open
Confronting Empire
By Arundhati RoyOur strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness — and our ability to tell our own stories. Arundhati Roy's speech at Porto Alegre , for the world social forum
Statement OF The Asian Social, Mass And Peoples' Movements And Organisations gathered for the Asian Social Forum held at Hyderabad from January 2-7,2003
Produce and perish - The Fallacy of Raising Crop Yields
By Devinder SharmaTo ask the third world farmers to increase productivity and thereby reduce the cost of production to remain competitive in a globalised world is a fallacy since it is impossible for them to compete with the farmers of the developed world ejoying huge amount of state subsidy.
Now Corporations Claim The "Right To Lie"
By Thom HartmannKasky v. Nike case in U.S. Supreme court poses a serious challenge to the corporate claim of personhood.
The two faces of Mr. Gates
By C. P. ChandrasekharMicrosoft chairman Bill Gates' visit to India was part of a strategy to check the growing trend of developing countries preferring open source software over proprietary software.
The Great Myths Of Globalization
In perhaps the most comprehensive study to date, Scorecard on Globalization 1980-2000, Mark Weisbrot, Dean Baker and other researchers at the Center for Economic and Policy Research documented that key measures of progress have declined globally in the past twenty years
Selling India to Bill Gates
by C. Ram Manohar ReddyBill Gates needs India more than India needs Bill Gates. But we don't seem to want to see that.
UN Consecrates Water As Public Good,Human Right
by Gustavo CapdevilaThe United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights declared access to water a human right and water a social and cultural good, not merely an economic commodity.
PSDS: The Latest Chapter in the World Bank's Privatization Plans
by David TannenbaumWorld Bank's new Private Sector Development Strategy (PSDS) promises to intensify the Bank's support for privatization, extend its privatization advocacy to sectors still generally conceived of as public, and introduce novel approaches to create private markets where none now exist.
Paradoxes
by Eduardo GaleanoAbout some of the paradoxes that we see in daily life
The Passion for Free Markets- Exporting American values through the new World Trade Organization
by Noam ChomskyA Moment Of Deep Hope
An interview with Vandana Shiva
by Geov ParrishExport at Any Cost - Oxfam's Free Trade Recipe for the Third World
by Vandana ShivaThe Bankruptcy of Globalisation
by Vandana Shiva
Speech made at the World Social Forum, 2002
IMF'S FOUR STEPS TO DAMNATION
by Gregory Palast
How crises, failures, and suffering finally drove a US Presidential adviser to the wrong side of the barricadesPrivatisation: from the Guru himself
by Prashant BhushanJoseph Stiglitz, the World Bank's Chief Economist for three years until January 2000 and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001, speaks out with brutal frankness about the Washington Consensus institutions' hypocrisy and the effects that the globalisation programme has had on the developing world.
They Are Systematically Destroying Economies
An interview with George Monbiot who is one of the leading voices of the global justice movement worldwide.Book Review
Global Self -Organization From Below
by Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello
Based on material from the new Second Edition of Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello, and Brendan Smith, GLOBALIZATION FROM BELOW: THE POWER OF SOLIDARITYReview Of Defying Corporations, Defining Democracy
by Robert Jensen