It’s official, according to a speech by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the United States is jumping off the neoliberal globalization bandwagon (a root cause of domestic extremism) and it couldn’t come soon enough as institutions of government are sucking up more and more angry exhaust fumes from constituents, as well as encountering a world trade map with China bullying[Read More…]
I remember when my small town lost its last family owned and run pharmacy — a beautiful, old, turn of the century store and a high quality company that the family had managed over four generations of pharmacists. In fact, the pharmacist-owners had loved their jobs and helped each other in work while simultaneously knowing most of their long-standing customers and[Read More…]
One of the most significant commitments of last five decade of twentieth century has been to economic growth and trade expansion, and we have been spectacularly successful in accomplishing the both. Global economic output expanded from $3.8 trillion in 1950 to $18.9 trillion in 1992, nearly a fivefold increase. And to achieve that economic growth and trade[Read More…]
In last five decade of twentieth century has been perhaps the most remarkable in period of human history in terms of scientific development as we have unlocked countless secrets. In this same period saw the creation of institution of global governance: the United Nations, the International monetary fund, the world bank, and the GATT which turned into World trade organization.[Read More…]
by E Ahmet Tonak and Vijay Prashad An article written by authors John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge for Bloomberg on March 24 sounded the alarm to announce the end of “the second great age of globalization.” The Western trade war and sanctions against China that predated the pandemic have now been joined by the stiff Western sanctions imposed against Russia after it[Read More…]
The 12th ministerial conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization will take place from June 12, 2022 at Geneva, Switzerland.The negotiation note distributed on the different issues on the agenda shows that the WTO is a developed countries’ club. Developing and least developed countries will be the losers if they align with this organization. The WTO and Free Trade Agreements [Read More…]
As global connections continue to develop in the twenty-first century under the conditions of globalization, periphery and semi-periphery nations try to adapt to the norms of core countries with the aim of developing a similar global influence as developed nations. Throughout history, people of different cultures have migrated to countries with cultures different from theirs. As people move from location[Read More…]
In July 2018 the attention of The New York Times and then Esquire magazine was somehow drawn to a mountain town in southern Mexico and the truly remarkable amount of Coca-Cola drunk by its residents. The British Broadcasting Corporation has produced a documentary on the same topic. The town is San Cristobal, in the Central Highlands of Chiapas, Mexico’s poorest[Read More…]
It seems like just a few short years ago that the theoretical economists and the insatiable capitalists were head-over-heels in love with globalization. And why not? As a continuation of old-style colonialism wealthy nations go anywhere on the planet to find the cheapest resources with the least amount of pesky environmental or labor regulations and pocket enormous profits when they[Read More…]
The present government’s aggressive push for privatisation, corporatisation and automation – deviously dubbed ‘economic reforms’ – is undoing the gains made backward communities in recent decades, and must be resisted at all costs. ‘Economic reforms’ – it’s a catchphrase that India’s media pundits have repeated for three decades like a mantra, a sleight of hand meant to suggest that these[Read More…]
by Thomas Klikauer and Meg Young It has been said many times that predicting the future is hard. Understanding this, the Nobel Laureate and father of the atomic model Niels Bohr once said, prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future! Just two prediction into the future of work show how such prophecies can go spectacularly wrong even[Read More…]
Series Note: We are in the middle of an unprecedented crisis as the Covid-19 pandemic, and the lockdowns implemented in response, continue to deliver a series of economic, social and psychological shocks to the world. In this time of chaos, some of the world’s most powerful interest groups have stepped forward claiming that this crisis presents an opportunity to ‘reset’[Read More…]
Series Note: We are in the middle of an unprecedented crisis as the Covid-19 pandemic, and the lockdowns implemented in response, continue to deliver a series of economic, social and psychological shocks to the world. In this time of chaos, some of the world’s most powerful interest groups have stepped forward claiming that this crisis presents an opportunity to ‘reset’[Read More…]
Series Note: We are in the middle of an unprecedented crisis as the Covid-19 pandemic, and the lockdowns implemented in response, continue to deliver a series of economic, social and psychological shocks to the world. In this time of chaos, some of the world’s most powerful interest groups have stepped forward claiming that this crisis presents an opportunity to ‘reset’[Read More…]
The difficulties that Mexico has faced in recent times for protecting its food safety should be an eye-opener for all other developing countries including India. These difficulties are particularly acute in the case of corn crop which is the staple food-crop of the people of Mexico. After Mexico agreed to sign the infamous NAFTA trade agreement it was almost inevitable[Read More…]
In recent years a fierce debate has erupted in several countries regarding the impact of various free trade agreements. It is increasingly realized by people that what was publicized in glowing terms to them has turned out to be very harmful for them while some powerful interests may have gained. People are also realizing how big multinational companies often[Read More…]
In most discussions on food and farming systems in India a concern that comes up time and again is that pressures and particular interpretations of the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) can increase problems of India’s farmers and the public distribution system (PDS) for food. A large number of India’s mostly small farmers face a number of[Read More…]
Keeping in view the increasing concerns worldwide to check increasing corporate control over farming and food systems, there is a need to look more carefully at various forms of this increasing corporatization and consider carefully various ways and means of resisting this. Firstly there is the increasing trend of land grab. This can be more clearly seen in the purchase[Read More…]
IMF and WB do not function like UN agencies on a ‘One nation, one vote’ system. Voting power is pegged to the size of economy and on financial contribution to the WB. The after effects of some of the decisions of IMF/WB are as under: In 1994, Zambia declared that it could not hire an additional 9,000 school teachers it[Read More…]
The West seeks to preserve present relations, which enable it to make immense profits by exploiting natural and manpower resources of the whole world. It also molds socioeconomic development of neo-colonial states to the purpose, by adopting development models, which will be based on foreign capital for finance, technology and know-how. There is good reason behind the billions of easy[Read More…]
The world is fast losing farms and farmers through the concentration of land into the hands of rich and powerful land speculators and agribusiness corporations. Smallholder farmers are being criminalised and even made to disappear when it comes to the struggle for land. They are constantly exposed to systematic expulsion. In 2014, the Oakland Institute found that institutional investors, including[Read More…]
Co-Written by Dr. Krati Shrivastava, Dr. Parul Malik & Dr. Arathi P Rao Globalization with its worldwide economic, political and cultural integration has made the world a small village with the borders being dissolved between countries. It has had a positive aspect and has successfully brought the world closer, but simultaneously, it has also resulted in various important public health[Read More…]
Co-Written by Sudhamshi Beeram, Parul Malik & Arathi P Rao The term “globalization” used in a variety of contexts over the years is mostly debated to be an evolution across the fields of economy and industry and as the bridging of geographical gaps. It is essentially a functional integration of the global population (Lee & Collin, 2001) and according to[Read More…]
by Dr. Chandrima Chatterjee, Dr. Parul Malik and Dr. Arathi P Rao Globalization has been described by the economist Brian Easton [1] as “problematic”. He also mentions that often writers avoid explaining about globalization analytically but rather, relate it to a series of phenomena such as capital flow, international organizations and policies as the likes of “free trade”. There is[Read More…]
It is overwhelming to assimilate what is really going on around us, from personal to socio-political to global. No one truly knows all sides of a story. The underlying story in the global media seems to be of doom, from climate catastrophe to rising fascism to the finanancialisation of every aspect of our life. As Michael Parenti said, “The dirty[Read More…]
The post pandemic economic recovery looks uncertain and the economic growth projections look gloomy in every stretch of policy paradigm within capitalist imaginations. The strong and existing multilateral cooperation within the Westphalian international system is falling apart and facing its existential threats due to its entrenched Eurocentric bias, democratic deficits and institutional dominance by the erstwhile colonial powers. The world[Read More…]
As Chile gets convulsed by the aggravating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the structural brutality of copper mining is being starkly outlined. At Codelco or the National Copper Corporation of Chile, approximately 3,000 workers have been infected with Coronavirus and El Teniente and Chuquicamata are the hardest hit regions with 1,044 and 636 cases, respectively. In June itself, unionized workers had reported the suspect[Read More…]
Late capitalism is all about cultural metamorphosis. The intriguing share of pie is the choices of adaptation, resuscitation or both in a 3rd world economy. The cultural envisage of neo liberalism has fleshy credits on the consumer patterns of the global south. Not being the birthplace of a good amount of these ideas, the cultural schizophrenia trapped in dual time[Read More…]
Orientation In Part I of this article, I begin by grounding neoliberal psychology in the political and economic reality of neoliberalism between 1970 to 2020. First, we discussed the historical origins of neoliberalism, and then its economic exploitation, mystification and ideological use to control people. I briefly discussed the realities of the practice of neoliberal economic policies which has resulted in cannibalization of the[Read More…]
Orientation In this two-part article, I trace facets of neoliberal psychology over a 50 years period, from 1970 to present. The first facet of neoliberal psychology is the “realist” phase in which capitalists strip the individual of as many of our social, qualitative (as opposed to quantitative) relations as well as our historical and cross-cultural identities so that everything can[Read More…]
With the unabated march of the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic situation of Colombian coffee farmers is rapidly deteriorating. The price of Arabica coffee has reduced to an exceptionally low $0.9 per pound in June. Earlier, coffee production had fallen by 28% in April, 12% in March, 9% in February and 19% in January. Specialty coffee farmers too are experiencing difficulties in the form of shortage of experienced coffee pickers. In specialty coffee,[Read More…]
Part I:“Linking People to Reforms” Buying Freedom on the Free Market Obscured by the mythology of pursuing economic and political autonomy, Ukraine plays the latest role in a long, unfolding process of western corporate, political and military interests establishing the “territorial integrity” not of independent Eastern European states, but of “NATO’s border” under the monolithic control of the United States. Ukraine[Read More…]
The modern nation-state system came into existence after the Treaty of Westphalia was signed in the year 1648. It shaped and influenced the formation of nation-states in the world for the next few centuries. Territoriality and sovereignty have been the two outstanding features of the nation-state system. The idea of Territoriality has been understood as human beings being organized into[Read More…]
During the early days of the coronavirus lockdowns, in some quarters there was a certain degree of optimism around. Although millions of people were suffering, the hope was that the Covid-19 crisis would shine light on societal and economic systems across the world, exposing some of the deep-rooted flaws of capitalism. There was a belief that people working together with their respective[Read More…]
Last week several articles were published in the Swiss, Canadian and US press informing that Nestlé S.A. was considering to sell all its bottled water brands in the US and Canada. As written in this article : https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nestle-sharpens-water-focus-on-international-premium-mineral-and-functional-brands-while-exploring-strategic-options-for-parts-of-north-american-business-301074652.html “Nestlé S.A.’s Board of Directors today approved a new strategic direction for its Water business. The company will sharpen its focus on[Read More…]
The colonial and imperialist militaries, political and economic systems are defeated by the mutilating powers of the pestilence. The COVID-19 virus is controlling our so-called modern lifestyles and quarantining ourselves within walls of our rooms to reflect and reimagine. The ‘end of history’, ‘clash of civilisations’ and ‘there is no alternative’ were three rotten ideological theses advanced to established market[Read More…]
Friends, this year the WEF is celebrating its 50th Anniversaries. Forty-nine (49) of the insanely pompous – and every year more – WEF events took place in Davos, Switzerland. Just one, in 2002, after 9/11, was moved to New York City, paradoxically for ‘security reasons’ they said – the logic of such a move was as ludicrous as the WEF[Read More…]
Globalization, Democracy, and Migration are themes which continually ignite both scholarly and non-scholarly debate. Not so surprisingly, none of this is new. In his own inimitable way, the German Enlightenment philosopher, Immanuel Kant, touched upon all these current hot topics and more. Kant’s political writings have only relatively recently been appreciated by the likes of political philosophers in the Anglo[Read More…]
On November 4, India announced its decision to exit the negotiations on the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – a mega-regional free trade agreement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed the decision at the third RCEP Summit that took place in Bangkok. The summit was attended by the leaders of all 16 RCEP Participating Countries (RPCs). The full text of[Read More…]
There is a saying ‘Vyaparam droha chintanam’. I don’t know whether it is a saying or something that was brought into being by common people coming face to face with trade. After globalisation, trade has been prancing around as betrayal. Now intellect and commerce have come together and that is being seen as knowledge. These two together are weaving a[Read More…]
On 20th August, 2019 Indian Express e-paper carried an unusual advertisement by the Northern India Textiles Mills Association about Indian Spinning Industry facing a huge crisis. The spinning mills are incurring huge loses, they are not in a position to buy Indian cotton, livelihood of 10 crores people, directly or indirectly, dependent on textile industry and a larger number of[Read More…]
HAARP – the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program – was initiated as an ionospheric research program, established in 1993 in Gakona, Alaska and operated by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. It was and is funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Its alleged purpose[Read More…]
Donald Trump was right when he said that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been a disaster for the United States and promised to renegotiate it when he became president. However, the renegotiated NAFTA-2 is worse than the original NAFTA and should be rejected. On December 1, NAFTA-2 was signed by President Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of[Read More…]
Understanding for intervening Constructivist and psychoanalytic oriented social research provides evidence that human behaviour is driven by the shared meanings of the subjective social experience (Blumer 1969, Mead 1934, Berger and Luckmann 1966, Moscovici 1961, Matte Blanco 1975, Carli 1993). This perspective can be used to understand the cultural drivers underlying the elite’s political and economic action. The understanding of[Read More…]
Bali, Indonesia: At sunset yesterday, over 50 women’s groups, grassroots communities, farmers and workers groups from across Asia gathered at the Padang Galak Beach in Bali, Indonesia to denounce the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a sacred Balinese ritual named Tolak Bala. During the ritual, women from the communities impacted by World Bank-funded projects and IMF policies warded[Read More…]
As key representatives of the three chief villains of international finance and trade, the IMF, World Bank (WB) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) met on the lush resort island of Bali, Indonesia, they warned the world of dire consequences in terms of reduced international investments and decline of economic growth as a result of the ever-widening trade wars initiated[Read More…]
US retail giant Walmart bought 77 per cent stake in Indian online website Flipkart in a $16 billion deal. India does not allow retail monoplies like Walmart to enter Indian market. Walmart’s acquisition of Flikart is seen as a back door entry which may put thousands of small vendors out of business. Angela Ferrao is an independent editorial cartoonist. https://www.facebook.com/Ferraodesigns
In an interview recently, and in several published papers before (1), Wendy Brown, the American political theorist, said she blames neoliberalism for the destruction of liberal democratic institutions and practices across the world including America. It seems surprising to me that an educated person like her should claim by implication that there were functioning liberal democratic institutions in the USA[Read More…]
“Can you think of any problem in any area of human endeavor on any scale, from microscopic to global, whose long-term solution is in any demonstrable way aided, assisted, or advanced by further increases in population, locally, nationally, or globally?” – Al Bartlett Al Bartlett is no longer with us but his wisdom persists. This quotation comes at a[Read More…]
Peru, Espinar (Cusco Province), 4 April 2018 – Violent attacks have been carried out by the copper mining giant Glencore’s security forces and Glencore-contracted national police on defenseless women and even children, on the poorest of the poor segment of Peru’s population. Glencore, is a Swiss registered Anglo-Swiss mining corporation, exploiting mineral resources in developing countries around the globe, where[Read More…]
President Trump’s bold ‘protectionist’ move of introducing import duties of 25% and 10%for steel and aluminum, respectively– and possibly more to come – maybe more than just ‘populism’ and fulfilling a campaign promise. And why is the term ‘populism’ always used with a derogative slant? As if it was way below the intellect of those who deride it as addressing[Read More…]
That pollution is bad for our health will come as a surprise to no one. That pollution kills at least 9 million people every year might. This is 16 percent of all deaths worldwide – 3 times more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and 15 times more than all wars and other forms of violence. Air pollution alone is[Read More…]
The rise of far-right globalization criticism requires a new role for the Degrowth movement. ‘Progressive De-Globalization‘ could be the counter-project that is urgently needed. After the German and Austrian elections, it becomes clear once more that the rise of the new far-right is not a temporary phenomenon. Neither the difficult Brexit negotiations nor the missteps of Donald Trump are stopping[Read More…]
In India, there is a push to drive people from the countryside into cities. The mainstream narrative implies that urbanisation is natural in the evolution of societies and constitutes progress. The World Bank wants India to relocate 400 million people to urban centres. Former Chief Finance Minister P. Chidambaram once stated that 85% of the population would eventually live in[Read More…]
Co-Written By Rosemary Mason and Colin Todhunter If the proposed Monsanto-Bayer merger goes through, the new company would control more than 25 per cent of the global supply of commercial seeds and pesticides. Monsanto held a 26% market share of all seeds sold in 2011. Bayer sells 17% of the world’s total agrochemicals and also has a seeds sector. If competition authorities pass the[Read More…]
The Israeli military filed 12 charges on Monday against Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi. The 16-year-old, who was filmed in an encounter with soldiers in her home village of Nabi Saleh last month, could remain in Israeli prisons for years if convicted on charges including throwing stones, incitement and assaulting and threatening a soldier. Israel’s military tribunals are notorious for their near-100 percent conviction rate against[Read More…]
Now you’re safe, globaliser, to count
your gilt-edged dividends
while the real work is done
by us, digging in the ground
mining the common metal.
In September 2014, I had occasion to write an article entitled Unity or Separation? – Did the Scots Decide Sensibly?1 In that year, the provincial government of Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP), and a large part of the Scottish people, who wanted to secede from the United Kingdom, held a referendum on the question. A majority voted No. The secessionists were[Read More…]
It was as dreary as listening to the formulaic assessments of political economy by an unreconstructed Leninist. But Sunday morning with Steve Ciobo, Australia’s trade minister, was such an occasion. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, withering away on the branch of false optimism, has been an instrument of deserved suspicion and opprobrium from popular movements across countries suspicious about the paternalistic follies[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers The work to transform society involves two parallel paths: resisting harmful systems and institutions and creating new systems and institutions to replace them. Our focus in this article is on positive work that people are doing to change current systems in ways that reduce the wealth divide, meet basic needs, ensure sustainability, create economic and racial justice[Read More…]
Co-Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers The NAFTA-2 negotiations seem to be faltering after the fourth round of talks recently held in the United States. The Trump administration is pushing Mexico and Canada aggressively to include provisions from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in order to renegotiate NAFTA in a way that benefits US corporations. Mexico and the US[Read More…]
India is being cornered to open up its markets at the ongoing negotiations of the Regional Com-prehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).A free trade agreement between 16 Asian countries, including massive manufacturers like China, RCEP will bring down import duties to zero on goods, both agricultural and industrial, for more than 92 per cent of tariff lines. Being the world’s largest trade agreement, it will impact half of the world’s population including 420 million small family farms that produce 80 per cent of Asia’s food.
The density/no density debate on Canada’s northern shores, in every one of its urban settings, like what is going on everywhere else in the world, continues to fuel the never-ending hostilities between the Nimbys and the Yimbys. The NIMBYS and the YIMBYS, one could argue, are the two basic human personality-types that exist in the world; both of whom are[Read More…]
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: Your book Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization is a manifesto for the unification of the labor union movement around the world. In your opinion, is this idea a requirement in the resistance to the ultra liberal offensive? Is the idea of a global labor union front feasible? Dr. Kim Scipes: I think we have to be careful about the[Read More…]
The Trump administration is renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico in secret, just as President Obama did with the TPP. Over the past two decades, NAFTA has resulted in workers losing their jobs and being replaced by machinery, ruined family farms throughout the continent, displaced communities and privatized social services, environmental disasters like the BP oil[Read More…]
Foreign capital is dictating the prevailing development agenda in India. The aim is to replace current structures with a system of industrial agriculture suited to the needs of Western agribusiness, food processing and retail concerns (see this). The plan is for a fraction of the population left in farming working on contracts for large suppliers and large chain supermarkets offering a diet[Read More…]
The American aristocracy want inequality of rights, with two basic polar-opposite classes: the ‘elite’, with themselves at the top of everything, and everybody else below them, as subjects to be ruled by them, in such ways as they (themselves, and their fellow ‘elite’) can agree to do. They are convinced that they have earned their high status, in one[Read More…]
(CNS): Global processes for development should be rooted in and informed by the grassroots movements. But is there a gap or disconnection? Can we do better to ensure that development discourses at all levels are plugged in affected communities on the frontlines? Governments often fail to, meaningfully and centrally, engage the people on the ground, in processes around global agendas[Read More…]
Are public private partnerships helpful or harmful to increase progress on sustainable development? CNS spoke with Gerifel Cerillo, the coordinator of ‘Tanggol Bayi’ – an association of women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the Philippines on this issue. Gerifel will also be a key participant at the forthcoming 3rd Asia Pacific Feminist Forum (APFF 2017), to be held in Chiang[Read More…]
Republicans believe that Corporations are people too !!! So either make sure they pay … [Who does he mean … like himself? – S. D.] In many affairs, the bottom line involves boosting profits regardless of the methods used to achieve this aim. The reason is that unbridled greed can express itself with no limits in sight. Indeed, certain[Read More…]
Alex Jensen questions the assumption that countries like China and India are in fact the “worst offenders” in terms of contributing to global air pollution and other environmental ills. He concludes that the blame should instead be placed where it belongs – with transnational corporations and their highly-profitable global trade networks. A recent study of air pollution in the western[Read More…]
Protests to be held by communities affected by British miner Vedanta Resources in India and Africa. Activist shareholders to again disrupt London AGM on 14th August. Vedanta battles international arbitration and UK compensation case over Zambian pollution. Loud and theatrical protests will again be held outside the AGM of British mining company Vedanta Resources'(1) AGM at the Lincoln Centre, Lincoln[Read More…]
It is an indisputable fact that the British colonizers built roads and railways in India, they established missionary schools, colleges and universities, they enforced English common law and the goal of exploiting the natural resources and the four hundred million strong Indian manpower at the time of independence in 1947, and trading raw materials for pennies and exporting finished goods[Read More…]
Next week, Hyderabad is set to host the 19th round of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) from July 24 to 28, a regional trade agreement between India, the ten member states of the ASEAN and, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, and Republic of Korea. This trade deal threatens to undermine the ability of some of the world’s poorest people to[Read More…]
There’s warning and concern, there’s assurance and optimism, and, there’s accusation and threat. All these were delivered and expressed by Mr. Donald Trump, the US president. The US president was in Warsaw, a historic city, and was delivering a speech in front of people gathered at Krasinski Square, and was speaking at a news conference. All these happened on[Read More…]
Some 350 years ago people came from far west to make us ‘civilised’, because we were a potent market for them to be exploited. And now, they are trying to make us ‘Smart’, because they feel we are ready to move from mere civilisation to smart civilisation. This is from where rises the dilemma of becoming smart and defining what[Read More…]
(Rome) Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979 resulted in the overthrow of the US-supported Pahlavi dynasty at that time under Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The Iranian Revolution was a violent and widely popular overthrow of a ferocious US-inspired regime installed following the CIA-organized coup d’état of the democratically elected government led by PremierMohammad Mossadegh on August 19, 1953. Eventually led[Read More…]
Today, as the dominant global power, the US roles out its brand of unfettered capitalism across the world. US citizens constitute just five percent of the world’s population but consume 24 percent of global energy. Consider the consequences of a US-style model of ‘development’ if it were to be aspired to and copied throughout the world (which it is in places[Read More…]
The association of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, popularly known as BRICS, finds itself at an interesting juncture in its existence. After limited success in restructuring international financial institutions, which was the stated intention of the forum, the BRICS governments established the New Development Bank that has been functioning for more than two years. At a time when[Read More…]
Big news – at times – go completely unnoticed. (Thanks to the mediatised times we are passing through) And thus it did not appear surprising that the decision by Posco, the South Korean steelmaker, the fourth biggest in the world, to exit the proposed 12 million-tonnes a year steel plant in Odisha did not cause much flutter. Yes, newspapers[Read More…]
As you may know from the media about recent the statement by Odisha’s Industry Minister, Devi Prasad Mishra that “POSCO confirmed the withdrawal of its project by requesting the Odisha government to take back the land transferred in its name”. We strongly believe this is not just a victory for our people but also the victory for the all the[Read More…]
Access to the right financial tools at critical moments can determine whether a poor household is able to capture an opportunity to move out of poverty or absorb a shock without being pushed deeper into debt. When microfinance-provision of financial services tailored to fit the needs of low income people – made its first appearance, everyone was infatuated by[Read More…]
Corporations today are run as if their employees are members of a military at war. Obedience to hierarchy is prized above every other consideration. Loyalty to the corporation comes before loyalty to the laws of the country. Like the ‘thin blue line’ employees are expected to never go outside the chain of command no matter how illegal or dangerous is[Read More…]
While misogyny, racism, and ethnic taunts were conspicuous signposts on Donald Trump’s path to the White House, much of that road was paved with “populist”, “anti-establishment” and “anti-globalization” rhetoric. Trump’s inaugural address featured numerous populist lines (e.g. “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people”), attacks on the status[Read More…]
One of the conspicuous absences from the sound and fury last weekend’s protests was the impending executive act of President Donald Trump affirming the US exit from the Trans-Partnership Agreement. Not that that was much in doubt: it had not been ratified nor voted upon in Congress, and that particular body had been cooling towards it. It was a blow[Read More…]
My father likes to say that some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. The same could be said of the neoliberals of the world, who–in case you missed my previous piece–are now transcendent in most policy circles across the world. To review, the neoliberal agenda is one of deregulation, unfettered trade, fiscal austerity (with the[Read More…]
Bourgeois democracy is facing threat from within. It’s the perception of the world elites. The elites are going to gather in Davos, a snow covered village in Switzerland, in their annual moot – the World Economic Forum (WEF); and their annual flagship report – The Global Risks Report 2017 (GSR) – prepared on the basis of perception of hundreds of[Read More…]
As Donald Trump prepares to become U.S. president on Jan. 20, the future of NAFTA is in doubt. He has promised to either renegotiate or withdraw from the trade agreement. Despite the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, there are still many different existing North American integration mechanisms that remain in place. Over the last year, the globalists have quietly[Read More…]
Microfinance continues to thrive despite being under fire from legions of critics. One plausible reason for the lingering faith in the power of microfinance is that it provides a convenient strategy for investors to demonstrate that that they are active fighters against poverty and are trying to save the poor while making a substantial amount of money from them. Microfinance –[Read More…]
When India ushered in neoliberal economic reforms during the early 1990s, the promise was job creation, inclusive growth and prosperity for all. But, some 25 years later, what we have seen is almost 400,000 farmers committing suicide, one of the greatest levels of inequality out of all ‘emerging’ economies, a trend towards jobless ‘growth’, an accelerating and massive illegal outflow[Read More…]
Co-Written by Helena Norberg-Hodge and Rupert Read The election of Donald Trump was a rude awakening from which many people in the US have still not recovered. Their shock is similar to that felt by UK progressives, Greens, and those on the Left following the Brexit referendum. In both cases, the visceral reaction was heightened by the barely-disguised racist and[Read More…]
The election of Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, November 8 terrified many who consider themselves notionally progressive or traditional republicans. It also terrified free trade ideologues, and those who believe that opening borders to boundless consumer goods and services eradicates poverty. There are few better exponents of this idea on trade than Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, whose insistence that[Read More…]
Armed men in jackboots, some masked and toting assault rifles, stand mockingly, defiantly, heavily on the mound of graves – a sacred indigenous burial ground. A site non-natives can understand as similar to Arlington National Cemetery. How US nationalists would feel if the situation were reversed, and people were occupying or plowing up Arlington to bury a pipeline that will[Read More…]
The Obama administration faced reality on Friday when they recognized the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would not be ratified by this Congress. The TPP is dead. How did people power win?
Most interesting watching the progress of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU through the various opaque backroom ministrations this past week. NAFTA first As the progeny of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1994) it serves to refer to a bit of history. Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney very recently on CBC said that[Read More…]
GENEVA (28 October 2016) – The trade deal set to be signed by the European Union and Canada is a corporate-driven, fundamentally flawed treaty which should not be signed or ratified without a referendum in each country concerned, a United Nations human rights expert says. Alfred de Zayas, the UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international[Read More…]
This column is the second part of a series. To read Part One, click here. In Part One, I argued that a healthy society requires that governments be accountable to the people for the well-being of all, and that corporations be accountable to democratic governments. Last week, Bayer, a transnational drug and pesticide company, secured funding for its $66 billion offer[Read More…]
In this most bizarre of presidential elections, no one is talking about one of the biggest—if not the biggest—issues of our time. Namely, the global power imbalance between corporations and governments. Not Donald Trump, as he obsesses over the weight of a long-past Miss Universe. Not Hillary Clinton, despite her many substantive proposals that the media largely ignores. Not even[Read More…]
Eight years after the eruption of the global financial crisis, the conditions are being created for another meltdown of even bigger proportions, amid rising geo-political and economic tensions between the major capitalist powers. This is the implication of three reports issued by the International Monetary Fund in preparation for its annual meeting, which begins in Washington today. The World Economic[Read More…]
The Oxford Martin School is based at Oxford University in the UK. In what seems to be a laudable aim, the school has set up the ‘Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations’ (OMC), which has brought together 19 international leaders from government, business and civil society to address the growing short-term preoccupations of modern politics and business and identify ways of overcoming[Read More…]
As soon as we start speaking about “globalization,” we inevitably associate it with the excessive financial markets that are disconnected from the real economy. There is less public awareness of another type of globalization that also involves the forced unification of institutions all over the world: the institution of private property and privatization strategies. The driving forces behind this development[Read More…]
Imagine that a group of highly concentrated transnational corporations in the knowledge industries such as pharmaceuticals, high-tech, and entertainment pack so much lobbying clout that they can convince the governments of the industrialized world to bully developing countries to “harmonize” their copyright, patent and trademarks laws into a global intellectual property regime. That is what happened in the 1990s when[Read More…]
Financial speculation in food commodities has become one of the main drivers of food price volatility, with devastating impacts on small producers and the poor. Yet the disruptive influence of financial speculation on food markets is only a preview of future crises. International financial markets are now attempting to dominate many conventional markets as a long-term strategy to extract greater[Read More…]
Being savaged by Donald J. Trump on one side of the electoral aisle, and modestly beaten by the Democratic presumptive candidate, Hillary Clinton, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is lying somewhere between near death and miraculous survival. Those breathing life into that unfortunate beast remain politicians who embraced the mythology of free trade while never questioning what was free. The scurrying[Read More…]
It took two days for 60 members of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance to plant the heirloom seeds by hand. It was the spring of 2014, and there were prayers, burning of sage and sweetgrass, and, one by one, volunteers pressed the red corn seeds into the earth of Art and Helen Tanderup’s farm in Neligh, Nebraska. There, along the[Read More…]
“The only way to counter globalisation—just a plot of land in some central place, keep it covered in grass, let there be a single tree, even a wild tree.” This is how dear friend and eminent writer Mahasweta Devi, who passed away on July 28, at the age of 90, quietly laid out her imagination for freedom in our times[Read More…]
What is the purpose of the European Union? This question has been of the minds of everyone following the UK vote in favor of Brexit. Yet in the mad scramble to make sense of the United Kingdom’s rejection of the EU, little lucid commentary has been made. European leaders, the fawning media, and UK citizens alike portrayed the vote as[Read More…]
About two thousand years ago, the Romans had developed the most effective military apparatus seen before in history and, with it, they had created a vast empire. However, with the first century before our era, they found that they had a problem: their stupendous military power was going out of control. One of the warlords of that time, Julius Caesar,[Read More…]
The Brexit crisis was being used as an excuse to fascistify things, regardless what other outcome it might have. Even an essentially progressive vote of the public, to free their nation from the dictatorship in Brussels (the EU), was thus turned into an excuse for the nation to veer far to the right.
Rufus Yerxa, the top lobbyist for the National Foreign Trade Council, told World Trade Online, on July 12th, that he believes “there is enough time and congressional support to get TPP passed during a lame-duck” session of Congress, meaning the session between November 9th and January 3rd, which would be in time for U.S. President Barack Obama to sign it into U.S.[Read More…]
Earlier this year, a collection of papers was published under the title of Building Global Labor Solidarity in a Time of Accelerating Globalization (Scipes, ed., 2016). It was a strong effort by seven labor activists and scholars from different parts of the world to think out how workers today can support each other globally; initially so as to defend against[Read More…]
Africa is facing a new and devastating colonial invasion driven by a determination to plunder the natural resources of Africa, especially its strategic energy and mineral resources. That’s the message from a damning new report from War On Want ‘The New Colonialism: Britain’sscramble for Africa’s energy and mineral resources’ that highlights the role of the British government in aiding[Read More…]
When I woke up on June 24th and checked the news, I cried. Along with millions of people around the world. I’m a diehard believer in independence, freedom, democracy, and strong local economies. For some, the Brexit result represented those things. If that had been the reality, I would’ve supported it too. But like every other choice offered in the[Read More…]
The Brexit verdict brings out the weakness of the concept of European Union. It raises questions whether integration based on the concept of common markets and free flow of capital and goods, services and people can be transformative for all the social classes. Whether integration based on supremacy of finance capital and markets and designed at promoting their profitability at[Read More…]
The British working class, millions of other ordinary Brits and a swathe of British nationalists have voted for Brexit, the exit of Britain from the EU, with immigration and national self-determination being major issues. The British political Establishment, the political elites, Mainstream media, EU officials and the Americans view Brexit as irresponsible and damaging, and the Brexit supporters have[Read More…]
Recent decision of the MHRD to hike the fees of IITs, NITs and IISERs has once again made it clear that the paradigm of this government is to betray the masses and to serve the profit hungry corporates
The enraged liberal reaction to the Brexit vote is in full flood. The anger is pathological – and helps to shed light on why a majority of Britons voted for leaving the European Union, just as earlier a majority of Labour party members voted for Jeremy Corbyn as leader. A few years ago the American writer Chris Hedges wrote[Read More…]
Implicit in all the rhetoric promoting globalization is the premise that the rest of the world can and should be brought up to the standard of living of the West, and America in particular. For much of the world the American Dream – though a constantly moving target – is globalization’s ultimate endpoint.
There remains a conspicuous fear in the US Republic that civilization must be a centralising endeavour. Smaller states only matter if they are wedged into a series of agreements and arrangements with an overseeing hegemon. The hegemon dictates the measures to be taken, even if they may be cushioned by promises of good relations and a false sense of autonomy.
Twenty-four hour news networks are both terrible and worthy sites to gauge herd-like assumptions. A gaze at CNN over the coverage of the Brexit over the course of Friday suggested the dismay, growing into outrage that the infallible market had somehow failed to detect the Leave voters on its all divine radar.
This vote is expected to trigger a wide range of far-reaching social, economic and geo-political ramifications at the domestic, European and international levels. Many of these effects would be long-term and are yet to be fully comprehended. Even though the Leave vote was largely influenced by the immigration issue but other important concerns have not been given adequate attention.
Alfred de Zayas, the U.N.’s Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, is assigned the task to apply the standards of international law to proposed treaties, to determine whether they’re in accord with international law. On Friday, June 24th, he issued his finding on three large proposed treaties regarding international trade among Atlantic countries: TTIP, TISA, and CETA. Earlier, on February 2nd, he had issued a similar finding on the proposed TPP treaty between Pacific countries, and his conclusion there was the same: that the proposed treaty violates international laws, and is inconsistent with democracy.
Instead of accelerating further integration, the member states should reclaim more sovereignty from Brussels. The EU nomenclature is out of touch with the real world. They do not serve the interest of the peoples but rather corporate interests such as the TTIP negotiations show that are held in camera. If the EU doesn’t change track, it will fall apart.
The policy makers of the developing countries must not fall prey to such deceptive arguments, instead, they must formulate policies which suit the interests of their working classes. The only trouble is that the governments of the Third World are dependent on foreign investment and the global loan sharks, that’s why, they cannot adopt an independent economic and trade policy.
Describing itself as a major ‘global communications, stakeholder engagement and business strategy’ company, APCO Worldwide is a lobby/PR agency with firm links to the Wall Street/corporate America establishment (arguably, part of it) and functions to serve its global agenda. India PM Narendra Modi turned to APCO to help transform his image and turn him into electable pro-corporate PM material. It also helped Modi[Read More…]
Neoliberalism or free-market fundamentalism The central dogma of neoliberalism is economic growth, achieved by: # Increasing competition through deregulation (watering-down of social, welfare, health, labour and environmental laws), and opening domestic markets to foreign competition, and # Severely limiting the role of the State by privatization of state assets and liberalization of economic policies, simultaneously increasing corporate influence and involvement[Read More…]
The RSS did not participate in the freedom struggle, and that it was responsible for Gandhi’s assassination, are facts that are not new. These arguments have been used repeatedly against the RSS since the Independence of India in 1947. The RSS does not claim a stake in the freedom struggle, but refutes the accusation of being party to Gandhi’s assassination.[Read More…]
The world’s economies are facing a glut and there is excess manufacturing capacity, amounting to almost 30%, and China is no less a culprit with almost 40% overcapacity. The “Johnny-Come-Lately”, India is going to face a stone wall with its efforts to build a huge manufacturing capacity to take on China at this stage. And the trillions of dollars of investment required are supposed to be met through FDI inflows. The first question that stares us in the face is, “who in his right mind will be willing to invest in new manufacturing capacity, when there is so much over capacity coupled with slackening demand?”
There are some who would believe that collaboration at the pan-European level could facilitate a path to genuine economic decentralization. Others are convinced that those steps to localize can best be taken by first leaving the EU. Still others don’t favor either of these paths. We are not trying to tell UK readers how (or even whether) to vote; we are asking you to help us shed light on and bring sanity to this volatile situation. Whichever way you vote, please reject the glaringly stupid rhetoric in the media. Speak out, let your voice be heard for ecological and economic sanity, for a fundamental turnaround
Usually, we don’t stop to think about how the whole economy works together. A major reason is that we have been lacking data to see long-term relationships. In this post, I show some longer-term time series relating to energy growth, GDP growth, and debt growth–going back to 1820 in some cases–that help us understand our situation better. When examining these[Read More…]
Toxics Watch Alliance (TWA) disapproves of efforts by foreign Shipowners and Shipbreakers to outwit UN’s Basel Convention on transboundary movement of hazardous end-of-life ships, threatening India’s maritime security and environmental and occupational health of workers in the ship breaking facilities in Indian waters. These ship owners have been lobbying with the Ministry of Shipping to amend the Shipbreaking Code 2013[Read More…]
Manipur needs healing touch and Trust building – Not AFSPA 
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Book Review: Building A Just World Order 
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Ukraine: Peace Comes through Mutual Respect 
Canada’s Proclivity To White Wash Its Nazi Citizenry & Nazi Affiliation Past 
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Rifts in INDIA Alliance 
At the Brink? Contemplating the Unimaginable Costs of a Nuclear War 
Cruel Prerogatives: Braverman on Refugees at the AEI 
The Perilous Path From Western Domination to De-Dollarization 
From the Contemporary History of the Balkans: Greece and Slavo-Macedonians (1913-1993) The Ethnic Violence in Manipur, India, Explained 
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Ending Opioid Addiction and Deaths through Creative Strategies 
Solitude: A Source of Empowerment 
Dr.K.S.Sharma Turns 90 
The Unholy Origins of Castes in India 
Union Health Ministry placing a cap on new medical colleges in States on the basis of the population criterion violates federalism 
Reflections on the Revolutionary Legacy of Makhan Singh in Kenya 
Armenian civilians flee Nagorno-Karabakh after new offensive by Azerbaijan 
Manipur: a statement of concern and suggestions for peaceful resolution 
Global Leaders Plead for Peace in Ukraine at UN 
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Keeping Cattle on Public Land Is Bad for People, Cows, Wildlife, and the Planet 
The United States in the World: Making Sense of the Past Forty Years (1981-2023) 
Canadian Youth At Risk and the Discrimination of Marginalized Demographics 
While Searching Worldwide for Terrorists, Uncle Sam Should Also Look in a Mirror 
American Abrams tanks roll into Ukraine 
An open letter to JNU VC – Your association with RSS defies humanism, anti-colonial struggle Indian democracy! 
From Education to Incarceration 
Tunakataa! Saying ‘No’ to Capitalism and Imperialism in Kenya 
Rising Islamophobia and Communal Discord: An Alarming Trend in BJP-Ruled States 
Speak Truth to Power and Pay the Price! 
USA’s Wars Took 12 Million Lives in The Last 25 Years US to send long-range ATACMS missile to Ukraine 
In Jawan, Shah Rukh Khan makes us an offer we can refuse 
Nijjar affair poses an existential dilemma 
My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
