GLOBALISIERUNG - KRITISCHE ANMERKUNGEN - 500 Beiträge pro Seite
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Meistdiskutierte Wertpapiere
| Platz | vorher | Wertpapier | Kurs | Perf. % | Anzahl | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 2. | 18.193,55 | +0,95 | 236 | |||
| 2. | 1. | 170,98 | +1,65 | 94 | |||
| 3. | 9. | 10,580 | +9,07 | 67 | |||
| 4. | 10. | 1,2000 | +37,14 | 60 | |||
| 5. | Neu! | 85,50 | -0,81 | 33 | |||
| 6. | 4. | 2.324,56 | +0,99 | 23 | |||
| 7. | 16. | 6,9240 | +0,84 | 23 | |||
| 8. | Neu! | 19,320 | +18,80 | 22 |
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Um eine weitere Eskalation vorzubeugen, sollte die Polizei zukünftig auf Schußwaffen verzichten!
Schon in Göteborg setzte die Polizei Schußwaffen ein. Eine Notwehrsituation war damals auch nicht zu erkennen. Nur mit viel Glück gab es in Göteborg keine Toten. Mit scharfen Schußwaffen kann man den gewalttätigen Protest einiger Politikrowdy nicht verhindern. Die Gewalttäter kann man auch mit anderen Mittel vorübergehend „kampfunfähig“ machen. Die Verhältnismäßigkeit der Mittel muß auch in kritischen Situationen eingehalten werden.
98 Prozent der Demonstranten haben in Genua friedlich demonstriert. Deshalb sollten wir die häßlichen Gewaltszenen nicht überbewerten. Eine Minderheit gewalttätiger Gipfelgegner kann nicht eine ganze Bewegung in Frage stellen.
Demokratische Grundrechte in Westeuropa akut gefährdet!
Die Neigung demokratische Grundrechte einzuschränken, hat in jüngster Zeit zugenommen. Unrühmliches Beispiel ist der angeblich so freie (Schengen) Personenverkehr und außerdem werden das Informations-, Demonstrations- und Versammlungsrecht immer öfter ausgehebelt.
BESCHRÄNKT DIE MACHT DER MEGAKONZERNE!
Warum kommt es zu diesen massiven weltweiten Protesten?
Die Deregulierung gesetzlicher und tariflicher Arbeitsbedingungen
Ich will das mal hier in einer verkürzten Form erläutern, denn zu komplex ist das gesamte Thema. Die großen Akteure der transnationalen Konzerne bestimmen heute immer mehr die Richtlinien der Politik und die Kapitalkonzentration nimmt obendrein noch stetig zu. Der entfesselte Kapitalismus - auch Neoliberalismus genannt - begünstigt hauptsächlich die Entwicklung von Megakonzernen. Neoliberalismus bedeutet nichts anderes als die Deregulierung der Märkte und der Arbeitsbedingungen. Die gewerkschaftliche Macht wird dadurch zusätzlich untergraben und ferner werden die tariflichen Verträge oft ausgehebelt. Lohnabbau und die Verschlechterung der Arbeitsbedingungen sind die direkten Folgen dieser unheilvollen Entwicklung. Diese Machenschaften können aber nur kurzfristig die Profitrate heben. Außerdem bedeutet das konkret den Rückzug staatlicher Interventionen. Folglich werden die staatlichen Politikorgane immer mehr entmündigt, bzw. die Verfügungsmacht, die Legitimation und die Mittel für das Gemeinwohl werden zusätzlich ausgehöhlt.
Steuersenkungen und Sozialabbau
Die Konzerne fordern Steuersenkungen und Sozialabbau und sie bekommen sie. Wo kommen wir hin, wenn der einfache Bürger schön brav seine Steuern zahlt und selbst die kerngesunden Konzerne jedes Steuerschlupfloch genüßlich ausschöpfen? Und wenn dann noch die Selbstbedienungsmentalität der Besserverdienenden unverschämte Formen annehmen, so kann man diese gesellschaftlichen Mißstände nicht nur mit gutem Zureden ändern.
Der Privatisierungswahn
Die eiserne Lady und Ronald Reagan haben in ihrer Amtszeit fast alles privatisiert und das oft mit verheerenden Folgen. Das englische Gesundheitssystem ist einer der marodesten in Europa. Wenn selbst schon Gefängnisse (USA) privatisiert werden, so ist das der falsche Weg. Wenn die Repräsentanten des Staatsapparates nur noch für die Interessen der Privatwirtschaft ein offenes Ohr haben, dann befinden sie sich auf den Holzweg. Fast alle politischen Parteien, die im deutschen Bundestag vertreten sind, möchten für diese Megakonzerne noch günstigere Rahmenbedingungen schaffen, als wir sie jetzt schon haben. Diese fatale Entwicklung muß gestoppt werden. Hier sind auch radikalere Protestformen - zum Beispiel ziviler Ungehorsam - angebracht, wobei ich Gewalt gegen Personen ablehne.
NEOLIBERALISMUS PUR – BEISPIEL USA
Viele Amerikaner können sich nur mit mehreren Jobs über Wasser halten, denn die Löhne für gering- oder unqualifizierte Arbeiter sind extrem niedrig. Fairerweise muß man sagen, daß die Löhne für qualifizierte Fachkräfte teilweise über den europäischen Niveau liegen. Kündigungsschutz, eine gesetzliche Altersversorgung, Krankenversicherung oder Arbeitslosenversicherung gibt es aber nicht. Die durchschnittliche Lebenserwartung in den Slums der USA liegt auf zentralafrikanischem Niveau. Die Zahl der prekären Arbeitsplätze hat sich im Vorreiter-Land des Neoliberalismus in den letzten Jahrzehnten stark erhöht. Die Kriminalitäts- und Inhaftierungsraten in den USA ist einer der höchsten in der Welt. Die wirklich reichen Amerikaner wohnen meist in Gegenden die durch Sicherheitskräfte und hohen Zäunen bewacht und gesichert werden. Oft sind die Arbeitsbedingungen bei amerikanische Konzernen, wie Wal Mart, Coca-Cola, Mc Donalds oder Nike - um nur einige zu nennen - alles andere als rosig. Die Arbeitsbedingungen des Fast-Food-Konzerns Mc Donalds sind selbst in Deutschland als unerträglich zu bezeichnen. Betriebliche Mitbestimmungsrechte werden stets torpediert und von den Hungerlöhnen kann kein Mensch vernünftig leben. Bei Nike werden die Sportartikel fast ausschließlich in den Entwiklungsländern (Freihandelszonen) unter oft hundsmiserabelen Bedingungen produziert. Dies gilt auch für Wal Mart. Dieser Big Player kann seine Konsumgüter relativ billig anbieten, da sie auch in erster Linie in den Entwicklungsländern hergestellt werden. Hier sind die Löhne, Steuern und auch die Umweltauflagen meistens besonders niedrig. Oft werden selbst die einfachen Mindeststandards noch nicht einmal eingehalten. Von dieser Arbeitsteilung profitiert natürlich auch der einfache Bürger in den reichen Industriestaaten. Fairerweise muß man sagen, daß auch die Entwicklungsländer von dieser Arbeitsteilung profitieren.
Das Gegenstück zum Neoliberalismus heißt soziale Marktwirtschaft.
Kein geringerer als der Christdemokrat Ludwig Erhardt, der bei den Wirtschaftswissenschaftler noch heute als Vater des deutschen Wirtschaftswunders gilt, hat sie stets lauthals propagiert. Kapitalismus mit sozialer Flankierung hat in Westeuropa lange gut funktioniert. Selbst Arbeiter kamen zum bescheiden
Wohlstand. Die sozialen Sicherungssysteme waren vor allem in Deutschland vorbildlich. Nicht alle Gegner des Neoliberalismus sind per se gegen diese Form der Marktwirtschaft, sie muß aber mit dem Attribut „SOZIAL“ gekennzeichnet sein.
Die Abkehr von den Prinzipien der sozialen Marktwirtschaft fördert den Sozialdarwinismus
Der jüngst wieder aufkeimende Rassismus hier in Deutschland, vor allem der in Ostdeutschland, hat unter anderem auch seine Wurzeln in der neoliberalen Politik, wo mit dem Recht des Stärkeren, dem Verlust von Solidarität und Sozialstaatlichkeit, der Bodensatz für diese autoritäre Ideologie gelegt worden ist. Sollte es zur einer ernsthaften Akkumulationskrise kommen und die Arbeitslosen stark steigen, so ist mit einer stärker werdenden Kriminalität und mit steigenden Extremistenzahlen zu rechnen.
Die Weltdiktatur unter Führung der USA
Hinzu kommt noch die militärischen und geopolitischen Aspekte der USA. Die weltweit imperialen amerikanischen Interessen, vor allem das Hegemonialstreben dieser Supermacht nimmt schon jetzt gefährliche Züge an, zumal die übrigen westlichen Staaten nicht über den Status eines Vasallenstaates hinaus gelangen. Das neue Anti-Raketenprogramm brüskiert China und Rußland und könnte sehr bald eine neue Runde im Wettrüsten einleiten.
GEGEN eine EINHEITSKULTUR unter der FÜHRUNG der USA und die UMWELT
Als Gegner der Globalisierung bin ich gegen eine Universalisierung der Kultur und ich pfeife auf die amerikanische Leitkultur. Der amerikanische Weg führt meines Erachtens schnurstracks in einer Sackgasse. [/u] Ein Skandal ist es auch, daß im führenden kapitalistischem Industrieland, die ökologische Normen nur noch – wenn überhaupt – äußerst schwer (Stichwort: Kyoto) durchsetzbar sind. Aber auch die anderen Industriestaaten müssen noch die Hausaufgaben machen. Die Konsumgewohnheiten der Amerikaner ist alles andere als wünschenswert. Der Energieverbrauch pro Kopf ist doppelt so hoch wie in Europa. Diese unglaubliche Verschwendung von Ressourcen und das mangelnde Umweltbewußtsein der amerikanischen Bürger, ist eine ernsthafte Bedrohung für die Umwelt. Die USA ist für ein Viertel der weltweiten CO2-Abgase verantwortlich.
Die fatale IWF-Politik
BEISPIEL TÜRKEI und ARGENTINIEN
Die Zahl der Freihandelszonen hat sich weltweit in den vergangenen fünf Jahren verdoppelt. In der Regel sind dort die Rechte der Arbeitnehmer stark eingeschränkt. Die Arbeitsbedingungen sind in diesen Sonderzonen oft unerträglich und die Löhne generell niedrig.
Internationale Gewerkschaften werfen dem Internationalen Währungsfond IWF Versagen beim Krisenmanagement vor.
Die Forderungen des IWF an die in einer schweren Krise geratenen Staaten Türkei und Argentinien, zeigen deutlich, daß die Verantwortlichen nichts aus den Finanzturbulenzen der 90er Jahre gelernt haben. Das Mittel eines verschärften Sparkurses, den der IWF Krisenstaaten aufzwinge, habe "nicht akzeptable soziale Folgen" und vertiefe damit die Schieflage in jenen Ländern. Warum akzeptiert der vom IWF gemanagte Fond nicht eine verstärkte Nachfrage-Politik ala Keynes, denn letztlich wird dadurch das Wachstum gestärkt.
Nord-Süd-Initiativen
GERMANWATCH ist eine unabhängige Nord-Süd-Initiative die sich mit der Problematik beschäftigt. Die ökonomische und ökologische Umorientierung im Norden ist die Voraussetzung, damit die Menschen im Süden unter menschenwürdigen Bedingungen leben können. Ärgerlich sind auch die nur halbherzigen Bemühungen der G-8-Staaten, die Entwicklungsländern beim Aufbau einer moderner Informations- und Kommunikationsinfrastruktur zu helfen. Überhaupt wird zu wenig für die Entwicklungshilfe ausgegeben.
Hier können sich Interessenten selber informieren > Der Link http://www.germanwatch.org
Die Konditionierung zum Konsumtrottel schafft ökologische Probleme
Der künstlich erzeugte Paw‘lowsche Reflex
Mit Hilfe der Werbeindustrie versuchen nicht nur die Megakonzerne, den Lebensstil breiter Bevölkerungsteile zu beeinflussen, (künstliche Wünsche werden erzeugt) um uns letztlich zu Konsumidioten zu konditionieren. Dieser Sachverhalt ist schon mehr als bedenklich, nicht nur für die Umwelt. Heute sind wir schon soweit, daß selbst Erstkläßler auf Markenklamotten Wert legen. Schaut Euch doch nur mal die Kindersendungen an. Schon da versucht man die Kinder süchtig nach bestimmten Markenartikel zu machen. Die Produktion von Einwegkameras, oder wie jüngst zu lesen war von Einweghandies ist gelinde gesagt eine unglaubliche Unsitte, die schnellstens Verboten gehört. Schon jetzt ist der eingebaute Verschleiß in den meisten Konsumgüter eine nicht zu leugnende Tatsache. Diese Wegwerfmentalität schafft nur weitere Umweltprobleme. Hier müssen die Umweltrichtlinien erheblich verstärkt werden.
UNGLAUBLICHES aus den STAATEN
Das habe ich der amerikanischen Bevölkerung nicht zugetraut!
Über 80 Prozent der amerikanischen Öffentlichkeit glaubt, daß es keine funktionierende Demokratie gibt und daß die Regierung nur für ein paar spezielle Interessen arbeitet.
Schuldenproblematik
Die Schulden in der sogenannten Dritten Welt haben sich allein in den letzten 13 Jahren verdoppelt. Ein sofortiger Schuldenerlaß ist daher unerläßlich.
WTO
Für fairen Welthandel
Wenn z. B. die großen Kaffeekonzerne den Preis für den Kaffee selbst bestimmen können, so hat das mit fairen Handel nichts mehr zu tun. Oft werden Entwicklungsländer bei den ach so unglaublich freien Welthandel benachteiligt. Tatsache ist, durch die Abschottung der reichen Industriestaaten (z. B. bei landwirtschaftlichen Produkten, Ausrüstungsgütern und selbst bei einigen Textilien) gehen den Entwicklungsländern jährlich ca. 150 bis 170 Milliarden Dollar verloren. Man redet zwar hier viel von freien Welthandel, aber die reichen Industriestaaten praktizieren es nicht. Zum Beispiel versuchen viele Industrieländer mit hohen Schutzzöllen ihre heimische Landwirtschaft zu schützen. Außerdem hängen hier nach wie vor ganze Industriezweige am staatlichen Tropf und dieser Tatbestand geht teilweise auch auf Kosten der Entwicklungsländer.
Die gravierenden Unterschiede zwischen armen und reichen Staaten haben sich in den letzen Jahrzehnten noch vergrößert.
Fakten an die keiner vorbei kommt!
-1,3 Mrd Menschen müssen von weniger als 1 US-$ pro Tag leben.
-sogar 3 Mrd Menschen von weniger als 3 US-$?
-die 200 reichsten Personen der Welt konnten ihr Vermögen zwischen 1994 und 1998 auf zusammen ca. eine Billion US-Dollar verdoppeln.
-Das Vermögen der drei reichsten Männer der Welt übersteigt heute das Bruttosozialprodukt der 40 ärmsten Länder mit ihren 600 Millionen Einwohnern.
-Während 1970 das Bruttosozialprodukt pro Kopf in den reichsten 15 Ländern 40 mal so hoch war wie in den ärmsten 15, war es 1995 170 mal so hoch.
Capoon
Schon in Göteborg setzte die Polizei Schußwaffen ein. Eine Notwehrsituation war damals auch nicht zu erkennen. Nur mit viel Glück gab es in Göteborg keine Toten. Mit scharfen Schußwaffen kann man den gewalttätigen Protest einiger Politikrowdy nicht verhindern. Die Gewalttäter kann man auch mit anderen Mittel vorübergehend „kampfunfähig“ machen. Die Verhältnismäßigkeit der Mittel muß auch in kritischen Situationen eingehalten werden.
98 Prozent der Demonstranten haben in Genua friedlich demonstriert. Deshalb sollten wir die häßlichen Gewaltszenen nicht überbewerten. Eine Minderheit gewalttätiger Gipfelgegner kann nicht eine ganze Bewegung in Frage stellen.
Demokratische Grundrechte in Westeuropa akut gefährdet!
Die Neigung demokratische Grundrechte einzuschränken, hat in jüngster Zeit zugenommen. Unrühmliches Beispiel ist der angeblich so freie (Schengen) Personenverkehr und außerdem werden das Informations-, Demonstrations- und Versammlungsrecht immer öfter ausgehebelt.
BESCHRÄNKT DIE MACHT DER MEGAKONZERNE!
Warum kommt es zu diesen massiven weltweiten Protesten?
Die Deregulierung gesetzlicher und tariflicher Arbeitsbedingungen
Ich will das mal hier in einer verkürzten Form erläutern, denn zu komplex ist das gesamte Thema. Die großen Akteure der transnationalen Konzerne bestimmen heute immer mehr die Richtlinien der Politik und die Kapitalkonzentration nimmt obendrein noch stetig zu. Der entfesselte Kapitalismus - auch Neoliberalismus genannt - begünstigt hauptsächlich die Entwicklung von Megakonzernen. Neoliberalismus bedeutet nichts anderes als die Deregulierung der Märkte und der Arbeitsbedingungen. Die gewerkschaftliche Macht wird dadurch zusätzlich untergraben und ferner werden die tariflichen Verträge oft ausgehebelt. Lohnabbau und die Verschlechterung der Arbeitsbedingungen sind die direkten Folgen dieser unheilvollen Entwicklung. Diese Machenschaften können aber nur kurzfristig die Profitrate heben. Außerdem bedeutet das konkret den Rückzug staatlicher Interventionen. Folglich werden die staatlichen Politikorgane immer mehr entmündigt, bzw. die Verfügungsmacht, die Legitimation und die Mittel für das Gemeinwohl werden zusätzlich ausgehöhlt.
Steuersenkungen und Sozialabbau
Die Konzerne fordern Steuersenkungen und Sozialabbau und sie bekommen sie. Wo kommen wir hin, wenn der einfache Bürger schön brav seine Steuern zahlt und selbst die kerngesunden Konzerne jedes Steuerschlupfloch genüßlich ausschöpfen? Und wenn dann noch die Selbstbedienungsmentalität der Besserverdienenden unverschämte Formen annehmen, so kann man diese gesellschaftlichen Mißstände nicht nur mit gutem Zureden ändern.
Der Privatisierungswahn
Die eiserne Lady und Ronald Reagan haben in ihrer Amtszeit fast alles privatisiert und das oft mit verheerenden Folgen. Das englische Gesundheitssystem ist einer der marodesten in Europa. Wenn selbst schon Gefängnisse (USA) privatisiert werden, so ist das der falsche Weg. Wenn die Repräsentanten des Staatsapparates nur noch für die Interessen der Privatwirtschaft ein offenes Ohr haben, dann befinden sie sich auf den Holzweg. Fast alle politischen Parteien, die im deutschen Bundestag vertreten sind, möchten für diese Megakonzerne noch günstigere Rahmenbedingungen schaffen, als wir sie jetzt schon haben. Diese fatale Entwicklung muß gestoppt werden. Hier sind auch radikalere Protestformen - zum Beispiel ziviler Ungehorsam - angebracht, wobei ich Gewalt gegen Personen ablehne.
NEOLIBERALISMUS PUR – BEISPIEL USA
Viele Amerikaner können sich nur mit mehreren Jobs über Wasser halten, denn die Löhne für gering- oder unqualifizierte Arbeiter sind extrem niedrig. Fairerweise muß man sagen, daß die Löhne für qualifizierte Fachkräfte teilweise über den europäischen Niveau liegen. Kündigungsschutz, eine gesetzliche Altersversorgung, Krankenversicherung oder Arbeitslosenversicherung gibt es aber nicht. Die durchschnittliche Lebenserwartung in den Slums der USA liegt auf zentralafrikanischem Niveau. Die Zahl der prekären Arbeitsplätze hat sich im Vorreiter-Land des Neoliberalismus in den letzten Jahrzehnten stark erhöht. Die Kriminalitäts- und Inhaftierungsraten in den USA ist einer der höchsten in der Welt. Die wirklich reichen Amerikaner wohnen meist in Gegenden die durch Sicherheitskräfte und hohen Zäunen bewacht und gesichert werden. Oft sind die Arbeitsbedingungen bei amerikanische Konzernen, wie Wal Mart, Coca-Cola, Mc Donalds oder Nike - um nur einige zu nennen - alles andere als rosig. Die Arbeitsbedingungen des Fast-Food-Konzerns Mc Donalds sind selbst in Deutschland als unerträglich zu bezeichnen. Betriebliche Mitbestimmungsrechte werden stets torpediert und von den Hungerlöhnen kann kein Mensch vernünftig leben. Bei Nike werden die Sportartikel fast ausschließlich in den Entwiklungsländern (Freihandelszonen) unter oft hundsmiserabelen Bedingungen produziert. Dies gilt auch für Wal Mart. Dieser Big Player kann seine Konsumgüter relativ billig anbieten, da sie auch in erster Linie in den Entwicklungsländern hergestellt werden. Hier sind die Löhne, Steuern und auch die Umweltauflagen meistens besonders niedrig. Oft werden selbst die einfachen Mindeststandards noch nicht einmal eingehalten. Von dieser Arbeitsteilung profitiert natürlich auch der einfache Bürger in den reichen Industriestaaten. Fairerweise muß man sagen, daß auch die Entwicklungsländer von dieser Arbeitsteilung profitieren.
Das Gegenstück zum Neoliberalismus heißt soziale Marktwirtschaft.
Kein geringerer als der Christdemokrat Ludwig Erhardt, der bei den Wirtschaftswissenschaftler noch heute als Vater des deutschen Wirtschaftswunders gilt, hat sie stets lauthals propagiert. Kapitalismus mit sozialer Flankierung hat in Westeuropa lange gut funktioniert. Selbst Arbeiter kamen zum bescheiden
Wohlstand. Die sozialen Sicherungssysteme waren vor allem in Deutschland vorbildlich. Nicht alle Gegner des Neoliberalismus sind per se gegen diese Form der Marktwirtschaft, sie muß aber mit dem Attribut „SOZIAL“ gekennzeichnet sein.
Die Abkehr von den Prinzipien der sozialen Marktwirtschaft fördert den Sozialdarwinismus
Der jüngst wieder aufkeimende Rassismus hier in Deutschland, vor allem der in Ostdeutschland, hat unter anderem auch seine Wurzeln in der neoliberalen Politik, wo mit dem Recht des Stärkeren, dem Verlust von Solidarität und Sozialstaatlichkeit, der Bodensatz für diese autoritäre Ideologie gelegt worden ist. Sollte es zur einer ernsthaften Akkumulationskrise kommen und die Arbeitslosen stark steigen, so ist mit einer stärker werdenden Kriminalität und mit steigenden Extremistenzahlen zu rechnen.
Die Weltdiktatur unter Führung der USA
Hinzu kommt noch die militärischen und geopolitischen Aspekte der USA. Die weltweit imperialen amerikanischen Interessen, vor allem das Hegemonialstreben dieser Supermacht nimmt schon jetzt gefährliche Züge an, zumal die übrigen westlichen Staaten nicht über den Status eines Vasallenstaates hinaus gelangen. Das neue Anti-Raketenprogramm brüskiert China und Rußland und könnte sehr bald eine neue Runde im Wettrüsten einleiten.
GEGEN eine EINHEITSKULTUR unter der FÜHRUNG der USA und die UMWELT
Als Gegner der Globalisierung bin ich gegen eine Universalisierung der Kultur und ich pfeife auf die amerikanische Leitkultur. Der amerikanische Weg führt meines Erachtens schnurstracks in einer Sackgasse. [/u] Ein Skandal ist es auch, daß im führenden kapitalistischem Industrieland, die ökologische Normen nur noch – wenn überhaupt – äußerst schwer (Stichwort: Kyoto) durchsetzbar sind. Aber auch die anderen Industriestaaten müssen noch die Hausaufgaben machen. Die Konsumgewohnheiten der Amerikaner ist alles andere als wünschenswert. Der Energieverbrauch pro Kopf ist doppelt so hoch wie in Europa. Diese unglaubliche Verschwendung von Ressourcen und das mangelnde Umweltbewußtsein der amerikanischen Bürger, ist eine ernsthafte Bedrohung für die Umwelt. Die USA ist für ein Viertel der weltweiten CO2-Abgase verantwortlich.
Die fatale IWF-Politik
BEISPIEL TÜRKEI und ARGENTINIEN
Die Zahl der Freihandelszonen hat sich weltweit in den vergangenen fünf Jahren verdoppelt. In der Regel sind dort die Rechte der Arbeitnehmer stark eingeschränkt. Die Arbeitsbedingungen sind in diesen Sonderzonen oft unerträglich und die Löhne generell niedrig.
Internationale Gewerkschaften werfen dem Internationalen Währungsfond IWF Versagen beim Krisenmanagement vor.
Die Forderungen des IWF an die in einer schweren Krise geratenen Staaten Türkei und Argentinien, zeigen deutlich, daß die Verantwortlichen nichts aus den Finanzturbulenzen der 90er Jahre gelernt haben. Das Mittel eines verschärften Sparkurses, den der IWF Krisenstaaten aufzwinge, habe "nicht akzeptable soziale Folgen" und vertiefe damit die Schieflage in jenen Ländern. Warum akzeptiert der vom IWF gemanagte Fond nicht eine verstärkte Nachfrage-Politik ala Keynes, denn letztlich wird dadurch das Wachstum gestärkt.
Nord-Süd-Initiativen
GERMANWATCH ist eine unabhängige Nord-Süd-Initiative die sich mit der Problematik beschäftigt. Die ökonomische und ökologische Umorientierung im Norden ist die Voraussetzung, damit die Menschen im Süden unter menschenwürdigen Bedingungen leben können. Ärgerlich sind auch die nur halbherzigen Bemühungen der G-8-Staaten, die Entwicklungsländern beim Aufbau einer moderner Informations- und Kommunikationsinfrastruktur zu helfen. Überhaupt wird zu wenig für die Entwicklungshilfe ausgegeben.
Hier können sich Interessenten selber informieren > Der Link http://www.germanwatch.org
Die Konditionierung zum Konsumtrottel schafft ökologische Probleme
Der künstlich erzeugte Paw‘lowsche Reflex
Mit Hilfe der Werbeindustrie versuchen nicht nur die Megakonzerne, den Lebensstil breiter Bevölkerungsteile zu beeinflussen, (künstliche Wünsche werden erzeugt) um uns letztlich zu Konsumidioten zu konditionieren. Dieser Sachverhalt ist schon mehr als bedenklich, nicht nur für die Umwelt. Heute sind wir schon soweit, daß selbst Erstkläßler auf Markenklamotten Wert legen. Schaut Euch doch nur mal die Kindersendungen an. Schon da versucht man die Kinder süchtig nach bestimmten Markenartikel zu machen. Die Produktion von Einwegkameras, oder wie jüngst zu lesen war von Einweghandies ist gelinde gesagt eine unglaubliche Unsitte, die schnellstens Verboten gehört. Schon jetzt ist der eingebaute Verschleiß in den meisten Konsumgüter eine nicht zu leugnende Tatsache. Diese Wegwerfmentalität schafft nur weitere Umweltprobleme. Hier müssen die Umweltrichtlinien erheblich verstärkt werden.
UNGLAUBLICHES aus den STAATEN
Das habe ich der amerikanischen Bevölkerung nicht zugetraut!
Über 80 Prozent der amerikanischen Öffentlichkeit glaubt, daß es keine funktionierende Demokratie gibt und daß die Regierung nur für ein paar spezielle Interessen arbeitet.
Schuldenproblematik
Die Schulden in der sogenannten Dritten Welt haben sich allein in den letzten 13 Jahren verdoppelt. Ein sofortiger Schuldenerlaß ist daher unerläßlich.
WTO
Für fairen Welthandel
Wenn z. B. die großen Kaffeekonzerne den Preis für den Kaffee selbst bestimmen können, so hat das mit fairen Handel nichts mehr zu tun. Oft werden Entwicklungsländer bei den ach so unglaublich freien Welthandel benachteiligt. Tatsache ist, durch die Abschottung der reichen Industriestaaten (z. B. bei landwirtschaftlichen Produkten, Ausrüstungsgütern und selbst bei einigen Textilien) gehen den Entwicklungsländern jährlich ca. 150 bis 170 Milliarden Dollar verloren. Man redet zwar hier viel von freien Welthandel, aber die reichen Industriestaaten praktizieren es nicht. Zum Beispiel versuchen viele Industrieländer mit hohen Schutzzöllen ihre heimische Landwirtschaft zu schützen. Außerdem hängen hier nach wie vor ganze Industriezweige am staatlichen Tropf und dieser Tatbestand geht teilweise auch auf Kosten der Entwicklungsländer.
Die gravierenden Unterschiede zwischen armen und reichen Staaten haben sich in den letzen Jahrzehnten noch vergrößert.
Fakten an die keiner vorbei kommt!
-1,3 Mrd Menschen müssen von weniger als 1 US-$ pro Tag leben.
-sogar 3 Mrd Menschen von weniger als 3 US-$?
-die 200 reichsten Personen der Welt konnten ihr Vermögen zwischen 1994 und 1998 auf zusammen ca. eine Billion US-Dollar verdoppeln.
-Das Vermögen der drei reichsten Männer der Welt übersteigt heute das Bruttosozialprodukt der 40 ärmsten Länder mit ihren 600 Millionen Einwohnern.
-Während 1970 das Bruttosozialprodukt pro Kopf in den reichsten 15 Ländern 40 mal so hoch war wie in den ärmsten 15, war es 1995 170 mal so hoch.
Capoon
Von den Globalisierungsgegnern kritisierte Einrichtungen
Quelle: DER SPIEGEL Nr. 30 (23-07-01)
Organisationen des Weltkapitals
INTERNATIONALER WÄHRUNGSFONDS(IWF)
Gegründet 1944 in Bretton Woods, 183 Mitgliedsländer sind mit Einlagen beteiligt. Der IWF überwacht die Währungspolitik der Mitglieder, leistet die finanzielle Hilfe bei Zahlungsproblemen und stellt Krisenländern Kredite sowie das notwendige Know-how zur Einleitung finanzpolitischer und institutioneller Reformen zur Verfügung.
KRITIK:
Strenge wirtschaftliche Auflagen für Krisenländer verschärfen bestehende soziale und politische Konflikte, politische Auflagen greifen tief in die Handelsfreiheit der Nehmerländer ein.
WELTBANK
Ebenfalls 1944 in Bretton Woods gegründet, 183 Mitgliedsländer, 10600 Mitarbeiter. Vergibt Kredite u. a. für Großprojekte wie Staudämme oder Brückenbauten, legt Entwicklungshilfeprogramme auf und koordiniert Kooperationen in öffentlichen und privaten Sektor. Mit 15.Milliarden Dollar vergebener Kredite im Jahr 2000 ist die Weltbank die größte Entwicklungshilfeagentur weltweit.
KRITIK:
Förderung monströser Großprojekte, die an den ökonomischen und ökologischen Bedürfnissen der Entwicklungsländer vorbeigehen und vorwiegend den Interessen internationaler Konzerne dienen.
WELTHANDELSORGANISATION (WTO)
1995 als Sonderorganisation der UNO gegründet. Die 141 Mitgliedsländer legen in internationalen Vereinbarungen die Spielregeln des Welthandels fest. Die Organisation vermittelt bei Handelsstreitigkeiten und überwacht die Handelspolitik der Mitgliedsländer.
KRITIK:
Die WTO forciert die Liberalisierung des Handels im Interesse der mächtigen Industrienationen und treibt damit die Globalisierung voran. Oft werden sinnvolle nationale Handelsbeschränkungen von der WTO mit der Berufung auf den Abbau von Handelshemmnisen für unzulässig erklärt.
Capoon
Quelle: DER SPIEGEL Nr. 30 (23-07-01)
Organisationen des Weltkapitals
INTERNATIONALER WÄHRUNGSFONDS(IWF)
Gegründet 1944 in Bretton Woods, 183 Mitgliedsländer sind mit Einlagen beteiligt. Der IWF überwacht die Währungspolitik der Mitglieder, leistet die finanzielle Hilfe bei Zahlungsproblemen und stellt Krisenländern Kredite sowie das notwendige Know-how zur Einleitung finanzpolitischer und institutioneller Reformen zur Verfügung.
KRITIK:
Strenge wirtschaftliche Auflagen für Krisenländer verschärfen bestehende soziale und politische Konflikte, politische Auflagen greifen tief in die Handelsfreiheit der Nehmerländer ein.
WELTBANK
Ebenfalls 1944 in Bretton Woods gegründet, 183 Mitgliedsländer, 10600 Mitarbeiter. Vergibt Kredite u. a. für Großprojekte wie Staudämme oder Brückenbauten, legt Entwicklungshilfeprogramme auf und koordiniert Kooperationen in öffentlichen und privaten Sektor. Mit 15.Milliarden Dollar vergebener Kredite im Jahr 2000 ist die Weltbank die größte Entwicklungshilfeagentur weltweit.
KRITIK:
Förderung monströser Großprojekte, die an den ökonomischen und ökologischen Bedürfnissen der Entwicklungsländer vorbeigehen und vorwiegend den Interessen internationaler Konzerne dienen.
WELTHANDELSORGANISATION (WTO)
1995 als Sonderorganisation der UNO gegründet. Die 141 Mitgliedsländer legen in internationalen Vereinbarungen die Spielregeln des Welthandels fest. Die Organisation vermittelt bei Handelsstreitigkeiten und überwacht die Handelspolitik der Mitgliedsländer.
KRITIK:
Die WTO forciert die Liberalisierung des Handels im Interesse der mächtigen Industrienationen und treibt damit die Globalisierung voran. Oft werden sinnvolle nationale Handelsbeschränkungen von der WTO mit der Berufung auf den Abbau von Handelshemmnisen für unzulässig erklärt.
Capoon
@capoon
Meinen Dank, dass Sie dieses ` brisante ` Thema von dieser Seite angegangen haben. Es ist widerlich, wenn man andere Threads ansieht, wo (ich nenne sie einfach "Uninformierte")
die Uniformierten bejubeln, wenn sie Leute totschiessen.
Dabei dürften Sie noch nicht einmal um die Brisanz, die in diesen " Meetings " für ihr zukünftiges Leben enthalten ist, verstanden haben.
@all
- die informiert werden w o l l e n !
World Bank and IMF: Good, evil or irrelevant?
IFG POSITION STATEMENT
The International Forum on Globalization advocates equitable, democratic, and ecologically sustainable economics. It is formed in response to the present worldwide drive toward a globalized economic system dominated by supranational corporate trade and banking institutions that are not accountable to democratic processes or national governments. These current trends toward globalization are neither historically inevitable nor desirable. Globalization policies lead to a number of negative outcomes, including:
· The rapid diminishment of the powers of local and indigenous communities, states, and even nations to control their futures as economic and political power is transferred to global and transnational institutions.
· The acceleration of modes of economic development that give scant attention to issues of equity, or the health of the natural world, and that have already brought the planet to the brink of economic, social and ecological catastrophe.
· The reinforcement and expansion of the economic colonization of southern countries by northern countries, while widening the gap between rich and poor in all countries.
· A sharp increase in unemployment in both the North and the South, as work is increasingly mechanized and automated, as corporate farming and biotechnology replace traditional small-scale agriculture, and as corporate activity becomes more mobile, unrestricted, opaque, and unaccountable.
· Massive population shifts from rural to urban areas, with commensurate poverty, famine, ethnic friction, and degradation of living and working conditions and human rights.
· . . .
The generalization about those who are participating in the protests against the World Bank and IMF is a bit too dismissive. Yes, it`s true, many protesters sport pierced noses and other hallmarks of the discontented white middle class. But just because they are the most colorful does not mean they are the majority. There are religious groups by the thousands around the world who have joined this movement for greater accountability and debt relief on the part of the World Bank and IMF; there are labor groups, scholars and a wide array of grass-roots activists.
There are those who may not have degrees from the finest universities in the country, but understand just how close to the bone they are living thanks to the "new prosperity" that globalization has brought to their lives.
Most importantly, there are the poor and their allies in developing countries, who are rising up by the thousands, putting their lives on the line to resist the dehumanizing programs that result in their resettlement, social upheaval and impoverishment to make way for World Bank development projects. And there are those such as [former World Bank economists] Herman Daly and Joseph Stiglitz, who have worked inside the bank and know its failings, who agree with many of these criticisms.
All of these people understand something is seriously wrong with the growing concentration of wealth, power and decision-making in the hands of the few.
Mark Hertsgaard is the author of "Earth Odyssey," a book about the human toll of environmental devastation: Why is it that environmentalists are so riled up about the [World] Bank? After all, the bank`s mission is to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development: Surely that`s the kind of work the activists and social justice types should applaud. The problem is, the bank often has not lived up to its lofty rhetoric. Time and again, it has financed gargantuan, ill-conceived projects whose anti-poverty effects are indirect at best and whose environmental consequences are downright disastrous. Bank-funded projects often do more to subsidize Northern corporations than to fight Southern poverty.
Right now, in the western African nation of Chad, the Bank is trying to fund the development of a vast oil field and pipeline that will extend 650 miles through Cameroon to the Atlantic Ocean, ravaging the ecosystems and human settlements in one of Africa`s great remaining rainforests. The Bank is loaning or guaranteeing some $540 million of the project`s $3.5 billion total cost, but the profits will go to its private partner, Exxon-Mobil, and the notoriously corrupt governments of Chad and Cameroon.
The Bank claims that the project`s environmental impact will be minimal and the wealth generated will lift living standards of the local poor. But the Dutch government has twice rejected the bank`s environmental impact assessment as unconvincing. The bank`s "revenue management plan" to keep the kleptocrats in Chad and Cameroon from pocketing its loan money has been ridiculed as naive and unworkable by Harvard Law School`s Human Rights Project.
The Chad project is, in short, corporate welfare at its most naked, and it makes about as much environmental sense as incinerating nuclear waste. This is all the more true considering that the project`s purpose is to bring to market more oil that humanity can`t afford to burn anyway -- not because of prices at the pump, but because of rising temperatures and fiercer weather around the world. Our longstanding fossil fuel use has already begun changing the global climate, so doesn`t environmental prudence suggest that the bank should be leading the transition away from fossil fuels and toward solar and other non-carbon energy sources ?
Imagine what the Bank could accomplish if it diverted the $540 million it wants to spend subsidizing Exxon in Chad to genuinely sustainable development initiatives. It could provide solar panels and cookers to villages throughout the region. Or, in keeping with the bank`s preference for macro-solutions, it could provide the financing needed to bring industrial-scale solar power to market. A recent study -- led by British Petroleum experts, no less -- found that photovoltaic solar power would be competitive with coal and oil-fired electricity tomorrow, if only someone built a PVC solar factory large enough to capture the economies of scale that come with mass production. BP likes to talk green, but it has declined to build that factory, presumably because it prefers to keep solar off the market in deference to its core business of oil production. But the World Bank could finance that factory, whose projected cost just happens to be approximately $540 million.
A good percentage of the remaining loans from the World Bank went to industries like telecommunications, oil and mining -- sectors that are hardly in need of government-backed, low-interest loans. Investment in these sectors - particularly the natural resource extraction -- tends to result in dislocation of the poorest, resettlement under far worse conditions and greater impoverishment. Our own Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, suggests it is time for the World Bank to get out of these sectors.
Based on direct experience of LowDevelopedCountries ( LDCs ) economic development, which is drawn for the most part from Asia, I would say that "free trade" has generally benefited the LDCs, including their poorer residents. But it is important to point out that "free trade" generally entailed their access to developed world markets and free flow of capital into the LDCs. The losers in this game are the poorest and least-skilled workers of the developed world, who are the ones who are forced to compete with their counterparts in the LDCs.
Hertsgaard: I think it is a fair assessment [to say the World Bank and IMF are widening the poverty gap]. Think back to the Chad project. The benefits of that project are not going to be felt by the impoverished majority in Chad and Cameroon but rather by their kleptocratic leaders and the officers and shareholders of Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. Multiply that example by all the individual projects the bank has financed over the years and it`s not hard to see why inequality is likely to be increased, not decreased, by bank activities.
These spring meetings are rather mundane affairs where few decisions are made. Unlike Seattle, where there was supposed to be a new global round of trade negotiations launched, there is very little at stake in Washington this weekend. Besides, it would be a mistake to give the Seattle protesters too much credit for the collapse of the WTO talks last December. That had just as much to do with the U.S. and Europe`s unwillingness to cater to LDC concerns about issues like textile tariffs and intellectual property rights, and virtually everyone`s unwillingness to put agricultural subsidies on the table.
Is the WTO`s insularity acceptable ? And that negotiators should continue dotting i`s and crossing t`s, with or without public support for their actions. What would it take to suggest this autocratic approach was wrong? What would it take other than mass protests by thousands of citizens from around the world? If this doesn`t have an impact, then the WTO has proved itself to be the truly undemocratic, unaccountable institution its critics charge it to be.
The protesters are sending a message, regardless of whether this time around we will have limousine gridlock, as we usually do here in Washington when those finance ministers and their business cronies so concerned with poverty alleviation settle in for a week of caviar, champagne and conversation with the likes of Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. The message is a clear continuation of the message that has been articulated in the efforts to halt NAFTA fast-track legislation, to derail the MAI and to shut down the WTO, namely: Democratize these institutions and processes; make them transparent and give us a voice that ensures that our needs, not those of the wealthiest, most powerful corporations, are heard when decisions about trade and finance are made that effect our rights and laws and the issues we care about.
The most important effect is to make bank officials aware that they are not operating in a vacuum, that their decisions are being watched, that these once-arcane issues of global finance and development will never again be decided completely in secret without outsiders demanding to take part in and influence the decisions. That`s good, I think, even if the immediate response of some of the officials, including bank president James Wolfensohn, is simply to reassure themselves and their colleagues that, contrary to the activists, the bank`s work is objectively valuable to poor people.
Critics charge that, like the WTO, the World Bank and IMF are "democratically deficient" -- decisions are made behind closed doors and programs lack public accountability. In an essay in the New Republic this week, former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz describes the IMF as "secretive and insulated from Democratic accountability." Are these criticisms legitimate? If so, what steps should they take to open themselves up?
There are those of us who have been slaving away in Washington for years trying to reform these institutions.
It`s not just the non-government organizations who are working on reform. There are also a few lone government officials who take up the thankless jobs of trying to review, for example, environmental impact assessments on World Bank projects that pile up on their desks by the dozens each month, with only 60 days (if that) for review before they proceed to the World Bank`s board for approval.
No World Bank project has ever been rejected by the board once it gets this far. It`s a Sisyphean task, one we take on knowing full well that the most we will get out of the board, if we are lucky, is a slight modification in the project. There have been times when Wolfensohn has intervened, withdrawing a project from the board before it can decide on it -- as in the Arun II Dam in Nepal. But these are rare exceptions to the "culture of approval" that is the dominant one within the bank.
If those of us who work most closely with these institutions, who know bank officials by their first names, cannot succeed in politely requesting reforms, then I politely suggest that this is a rogue institution, one that desperately needs to be called to heel.
Globalization concerns opening the borders for international trade between the different states and transforming the world into one massive market. This idea is technically supported by the recent developments in communication and information technology. These developments eliminated many obstacles and allowed for a free move of products and services.
The past two decades have witnessed the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the creation of a one-polar New World Order dominating, or trying to dominate, the world through the idea of globalization. Globalization, however, may satisfy the human aspiration in having a wide spectrum. Therefore, it can not be considered totally negative. Globalization has been used to satisfy the strategic interests of United States of America and other giant commercial groups on the expense of smaller groups. The past experiences showed that the main concerns of these giant groups are to dominate the world markets and to control the natural welfare and resources.
The New World Order was decelerated through the establishment of the "International Trade Organization" and its manifesto of "Partners in a sustainable world order". The manifesto addressed the various conditions of finance, aid and trade. Some of these conditions strongly affect the sovereignty of smaller countries in the name of fighting poverty, human rights and democracy. Thus, a "Certificate of good behavior" became a pre-requisite for joining and interacting with the national community, and eventually, for getting supplies and portions in the international markets.
The Transparency of the Globalization Era
Transparency, in international trade, refers to the transparency of fiscal markets and services. It concerns the privatization and free market policies and the various activities related to these policies. Local fiscal markets, therefore, should be connected to international ones. Here, it is important to learn from the Southeast Asian experiences. The collapses of their fiscal markets in the late 1990s indicated the fragility of their experiments in globalization. These experiences showed the danger of having immature partnerships that lack local and regional arrangements.
*
In diesem Sinne
HJL
Meinen Dank, dass Sie dieses ` brisante ` Thema von dieser Seite angegangen haben. Es ist widerlich, wenn man andere Threads ansieht, wo (ich nenne sie einfach "Uninformierte")
die Uniformierten bejubeln, wenn sie Leute totschiessen.
Dabei dürften Sie noch nicht einmal um die Brisanz, die in diesen " Meetings " für ihr zukünftiges Leben enthalten ist, verstanden haben.
@all
- die informiert werden w o l l e n !
World Bank and IMF: Good, evil or irrelevant?
IFG POSITION STATEMENT
The International Forum on Globalization advocates equitable, democratic, and ecologically sustainable economics. It is formed in response to the present worldwide drive toward a globalized economic system dominated by supranational corporate trade and banking institutions that are not accountable to democratic processes or national governments. These current trends toward globalization are neither historically inevitable nor desirable. Globalization policies lead to a number of negative outcomes, including:
· The rapid diminishment of the powers of local and indigenous communities, states, and even nations to control their futures as economic and political power is transferred to global and transnational institutions.
· The acceleration of modes of economic development that give scant attention to issues of equity, or the health of the natural world, and that have already brought the planet to the brink of economic, social and ecological catastrophe.
· The reinforcement and expansion of the economic colonization of southern countries by northern countries, while widening the gap between rich and poor in all countries.
· A sharp increase in unemployment in both the North and the South, as work is increasingly mechanized and automated, as corporate farming and biotechnology replace traditional small-scale agriculture, and as corporate activity becomes more mobile, unrestricted, opaque, and unaccountable.
· Massive population shifts from rural to urban areas, with commensurate poverty, famine, ethnic friction, and degradation of living and working conditions and human rights.
· . . .
The generalization about those who are participating in the protests against the World Bank and IMF is a bit too dismissive. Yes, it`s true, many protesters sport pierced noses and other hallmarks of the discontented white middle class. But just because they are the most colorful does not mean they are the majority. There are religious groups by the thousands around the world who have joined this movement for greater accountability and debt relief on the part of the World Bank and IMF; there are labor groups, scholars and a wide array of grass-roots activists.
There are those who may not have degrees from the finest universities in the country, but understand just how close to the bone they are living thanks to the "new prosperity" that globalization has brought to their lives.
Most importantly, there are the poor and their allies in developing countries, who are rising up by the thousands, putting their lives on the line to resist the dehumanizing programs that result in their resettlement, social upheaval and impoverishment to make way for World Bank development projects. And there are those such as [former World Bank economists] Herman Daly and Joseph Stiglitz, who have worked inside the bank and know its failings, who agree with many of these criticisms.
All of these people understand something is seriously wrong with the growing concentration of wealth, power and decision-making in the hands of the few.
Mark Hertsgaard is the author of "Earth Odyssey," a book about the human toll of environmental devastation: Why is it that environmentalists are so riled up about the [World] Bank? After all, the bank`s mission is to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development: Surely that`s the kind of work the activists and social justice types should applaud. The problem is, the bank often has not lived up to its lofty rhetoric. Time and again, it has financed gargantuan, ill-conceived projects whose anti-poverty effects are indirect at best and whose environmental consequences are downright disastrous. Bank-funded projects often do more to subsidize Northern corporations than to fight Southern poverty.
Right now, in the western African nation of Chad, the Bank is trying to fund the development of a vast oil field and pipeline that will extend 650 miles through Cameroon to the Atlantic Ocean, ravaging the ecosystems and human settlements in one of Africa`s great remaining rainforests. The Bank is loaning or guaranteeing some $540 million of the project`s $3.5 billion total cost, but the profits will go to its private partner, Exxon-Mobil, and the notoriously corrupt governments of Chad and Cameroon.
The Bank claims that the project`s environmental impact will be minimal and the wealth generated will lift living standards of the local poor. But the Dutch government has twice rejected the bank`s environmental impact assessment as unconvincing. The bank`s "revenue management plan" to keep the kleptocrats in Chad and Cameroon from pocketing its loan money has been ridiculed as naive and unworkable by Harvard Law School`s Human Rights Project.
The Chad project is, in short, corporate welfare at its most naked, and it makes about as much environmental sense as incinerating nuclear waste. This is all the more true considering that the project`s purpose is to bring to market more oil that humanity can`t afford to burn anyway -- not because of prices at the pump, but because of rising temperatures and fiercer weather around the world. Our longstanding fossil fuel use has already begun changing the global climate, so doesn`t environmental prudence suggest that the bank should be leading the transition away from fossil fuels and toward solar and other non-carbon energy sources ?
Imagine what the Bank could accomplish if it diverted the $540 million it wants to spend subsidizing Exxon in Chad to genuinely sustainable development initiatives. It could provide solar panels and cookers to villages throughout the region. Or, in keeping with the bank`s preference for macro-solutions, it could provide the financing needed to bring industrial-scale solar power to market. A recent study -- led by British Petroleum experts, no less -- found that photovoltaic solar power would be competitive with coal and oil-fired electricity tomorrow, if only someone built a PVC solar factory large enough to capture the economies of scale that come with mass production. BP likes to talk green, but it has declined to build that factory, presumably because it prefers to keep solar off the market in deference to its core business of oil production. But the World Bank could finance that factory, whose projected cost just happens to be approximately $540 million.
A good percentage of the remaining loans from the World Bank went to industries like telecommunications, oil and mining -- sectors that are hardly in need of government-backed, low-interest loans. Investment in these sectors - particularly the natural resource extraction -- tends to result in dislocation of the poorest, resettlement under far worse conditions and greater impoverishment. Our own Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, suggests it is time for the World Bank to get out of these sectors.
Based on direct experience of LowDevelopedCountries ( LDCs ) economic development, which is drawn for the most part from Asia, I would say that "free trade" has generally benefited the LDCs, including their poorer residents. But it is important to point out that "free trade" generally entailed their access to developed world markets and free flow of capital into the LDCs. The losers in this game are the poorest and least-skilled workers of the developed world, who are the ones who are forced to compete with their counterparts in the LDCs.
Hertsgaard: I think it is a fair assessment [to say the World Bank and IMF are widening the poverty gap]. Think back to the Chad project. The benefits of that project are not going to be felt by the impoverished majority in Chad and Cameroon but rather by their kleptocratic leaders and the officers and shareholders of Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. Multiply that example by all the individual projects the bank has financed over the years and it`s not hard to see why inequality is likely to be increased, not decreased, by bank activities.
These spring meetings are rather mundane affairs where few decisions are made. Unlike Seattle, where there was supposed to be a new global round of trade negotiations launched, there is very little at stake in Washington this weekend. Besides, it would be a mistake to give the Seattle protesters too much credit for the collapse of the WTO talks last December. That had just as much to do with the U.S. and Europe`s unwillingness to cater to LDC concerns about issues like textile tariffs and intellectual property rights, and virtually everyone`s unwillingness to put agricultural subsidies on the table.
Is the WTO`s insularity acceptable ? And that negotiators should continue dotting i`s and crossing t`s, with or without public support for their actions. What would it take to suggest this autocratic approach was wrong? What would it take other than mass protests by thousands of citizens from around the world? If this doesn`t have an impact, then the WTO has proved itself to be the truly undemocratic, unaccountable institution its critics charge it to be.
The protesters are sending a message, regardless of whether this time around we will have limousine gridlock, as we usually do here in Washington when those finance ministers and their business cronies so concerned with poverty alleviation settle in for a week of caviar, champagne and conversation with the likes of Exxon-Mobil and Chevron. The message is a clear continuation of the message that has been articulated in the efforts to halt NAFTA fast-track legislation, to derail the MAI and to shut down the WTO, namely: Democratize these institutions and processes; make them transparent and give us a voice that ensures that our needs, not those of the wealthiest, most powerful corporations, are heard when decisions about trade and finance are made that effect our rights and laws and the issues we care about.
The most important effect is to make bank officials aware that they are not operating in a vacuum, that their decisions are being watched, that these once-arcane issues of global finance and development will never again be decided completely in secret without outsiders demanding to take part in and influence the decisions. That`s good, I think, even if the immediate response of some of the officials, including bank president James Wolfensohn, is simply to reassure themselves and their colleagues that, contrary to the activists, the bank`s work is objectively valuable to poor people.
Critics charge that, like the WTO, the World Bank and IMF are "democratically deficient" -- decisions are made behind closed doors and programs lack public accountability. In an essay in the New Republic this week, former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz describes the IMF as "secretive and insulated from Democratic accountability." Are these criticisms legitimate? If so, what steps should they take to open themselves up?
There are those of us who have been slaving away in Washington for years trying to reform these institutions.
It`s not just the non-government organizations who are working on reform. There are also a few lone government officials who take up the thankless jobs of trying to review, for example, environmental impact assessments on World Bank projects that pile up on their desks by the dozens each month, with only 60 days (if that) for review before they proceed to the World Bank`s board for approval.
No World Bank project has ever been rejected by the board once it gets this far. It`s a Sisyphean task, one we take on knowing full well that the most we will get out of the board, if we are lucky, is a slight modification in the project. There have been times when Wolfensohn has intervened, withdrawing a project from the board before it can decide on it -- as in the Arun II Dam in Nepal. But these are rare exceptions to the "culture of approval" that is the dominant one within the bank.
If those of us who work most closely with these institutions, who know bank officials by their first names, cannot succeed in politely requesting reforms, then I politely suggest that this is a rogue institution, one that desperately needs to be called to heel.
Globalization concerns opening the borders for international trade between the different states and transforming the world into one massive market. This idea is technically supported by the recent developments in communication and information technology. These developments eliminated many obstacles and allowed for a free move of products and services.
The past two decades have witnessed the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the creation of a one-polar New World Order dominating, or trying to dominate, the world through the idea of globalization. Globalization, however, may satisfy the human aspiration in having a wide spectrum. Therefore, it can not be considered totally negative. Globalization has been used to satisfy the strategic interests of United States of America and other giant commercial groups on the expense of smaller groups. The past experiences showed that the main concerns of these giant groups are to dominate the world markets and to control the natural welfare and resources.
The New World Order was decelerated through the establishment of the "International Trade Organization" and its manifesto of "Partners in a sustainable world order". The manifesto addressed the various conditions of finance, aid and trade. Some of these conditions strongly affect the sovereignty of smaller countries in the name of fighting poverty, human rights and democracy. Thus, a "Certificate of good behavior" became a pre-requisite for joining and interacting with the national community, and eventually, for getting supplies and portions in the international markets.
The Transparency of the Globalization Era
Transparency, in international trade, refers to the transparency of fiscal markets and services. It concerns the privatization and free market policies and the various activities related to these policies. Local fiscal markets, therefore, should be connected to international ones. Here, it is important to learn from the Southeast Asian experiences. The collapses of their fiscal markets in the late 1990s indicated the fragility of their experiments in globalization. These experiences showed the danger of having immature partnerships that lack local and regional arrangements.
*
In diesem Sinne
HJL
@HJL@WOL
Ein wirklich interessanter Bericht über die negativen Aspekte der Globalisierung
TEIL 1
KAUM FORTSCHRITTE BEIM KLIMASCHUTZABKOMMEN IN BONN!
Umweltexperten sagen : Um die Temperatur nicht noch weiter steigen zu lassen, muß bis zum Jahre 2050 die Hälfte der CO-2 Abgase reduziert werden. Ohne der USA ist dies aber nicht zu schaffen.
Narrenfreiheit für die Umwelt-Krieger aus Washington ermuntern Japan und Kanada das Kyoto-Abkommen wie ein Schweizer Käse zu durchlöchern
Amerika braucht aufgrund seiner Vorherrschaft in der Welt keine Sanktionen befürchten.
Die transatlantischen Beziehungen haben sich mit den neuen US-Präsidenten keineswegs verbessert. Im Gegenteil: Die Ablehnung des Vertrags von Kyoto durch die Bush-Regierung wird in Europa mit Unverständnis gesehen. Statt den „Großen Bruder“ zu kritisieren, kam die europäische Kritik aber nur brühwarm rüber. Das jetzige Klimaabkommen ist ein fauler Kompromiß. Angestachelt von der umweltfeindlichen Linie der USA, haben die Japsen und die Kanadier auf Sonderkonditionen bestanden und auch durchgesetzt.
Raketenabwehrsystem
Auch das geplante Raketenabwehrsystem (NMD) irritiert die Nato-Partner, weil der ABM-Vertrag damit praktisch auf Eis gelegt ist. Europa muß sich darauf einstellen, daß eine Militarisierung der US-Außenpolitik bevorsteht. Denn eines steht fest: Obwohl die Regierung Bush-Cheney im Senat inzwischen über keine republikanische Mehrheit mehr verfügt, wird sie die Kriegsausgaben deutlich steigern.
DEUTSCHLAND
Der Versuch einer Deregulierung (Angriff auf die Arbeitnehmerrechte) des hiesigen Arbeitsmarktes ist vorerst gescheitert!
Viele Unternehmer möchten am liebsten wieder die betrieblichen Mitspracherechte der Arbeitnehmer einschränken. Welcher Betrieb möchte zum Beispiel schon ein engagierten Betriebsrat? Die leichte Verbesserung des Betriebsverfassungsgesetzes war so gar nicht nach den Geschmack der neoliberalen Deregulierer. Noch haben wir in Westeuropa eine andere Arbeiterkultur als in den USA. Die Einführung eines Hire-and-fire-Systems auf dem Arbeitsmarkt läßt sich bisher noch nicht ohne breiten Widerspruch durchsetzen, auch wenn die Interessenverbände der deutschen Industrie eine Auflockerung des Kündigungsschutzes fordern. Es ist noch gar nicht lange her, da wollten die Unternehmer Karenztage einführen. Noch ist die gewerkschaftliche Gegenmacht in Deutschland einigermaßen stabil, so daß die schlimmsten Übel abgewendet werden konnten. Fragt sich aber nur: WIE LANGE NOCH?
Ein weiteres Anliegen der deutschen Unternehmerverbände ist die Einführung von Leichtlohngruppen. Spezialdemokraten und Grüne sind für den Vorschlag.
Lohnsubventionen für Niedriglohngruppen
Die Grünen und die Spezialdemokraten möchten das aber auf sozialverträglichen Art. Zum Beispiel lautet der Grüne Vorschlag: Niedriglöhne subventionieren. Die Grünen wollen in der Arbeitsmarktpolitik neue Wege gehen. Parteichef Fritz Kuhn sprach sich im Tagesspiegel für befristete Lohnsubventionen, mehr Teilzeit und Kombilöhne aus. Jobs mit einem Verdienst von 630 bis 1.800 Mark sollen gestaffelt finanziell unterstützt werden.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
TEIL 2
Hohe Kriminalität – die vergessenen FOLGEN der GLOBALISIERUNG
Die Gefängnisindustrie in den Vereinigten Staaten ist zum neuen
Wirtschaftsfaktor geworden
...von KONRAD LISCHKA
Außer Gestrüpp gibt es wenig im Süden von Texas. Die meisten Einwohner des kleinen Städtchens Beeville arbeiteten seit Mitte der fünfziger Jahre beim Luftstützpunkt der Marine. 2000 Jobs mit insgesamt 27 Millionen Dollar an Gehaltszahlungen im Jahr schaffte der Kalte Krieg in Beeville, 30 Prozent der Wirtschaft hingen von der Marine ab. 1991 schloss der Stützpunkt. Heute
stehen auf den ehemaligen Militärarealen zwei Gefängnisse.
1500 Arbeitsplätze bringen 30 Millionen Dollar an Gehältern. Beeville hat 13000 Einwohner - und 7200 Gefangene.
In den Vereinigten Staaten hat die Gefängnisindustrie die Funktionen des militärisch-industriellen Komplexes übernommen. Wurden früher Militärstützpunkte als Wirtschaftshilfe in armen, ländlichen Regionen gebaut, sind es heute Gefängnisse. Über 150 private Haftanstalten gibt es in den Vereinigten Staaten, die Betreiber nutzen ihren Einfluss in der Politik für den eigenen Profit. Diese These vertritt der Pulitzerpreis-Träger Joseph Hallinan in seinem jüngst erschienenen Buch "Going up the river". Den Begriff des prison-industrial complex prägte 1998 Eric Schlosser - Autor des eben erschienen Buches "Fast Food Nation" - in einem Beitrag für Atlantic Monthly. Auch er arbeitet zur Zeit an einem Buch über die Gefängnisindustrie.
Die Parallelen zum Kalten Krieg sind nicht nur ökonomisch. Die Angst vor Kriminalität ist in den neunziger Jahren zu einem massenpsychologischen Phänomen wie die Kommunistenfurcht in den Sechzigern und Siebzigern geworden. In Beeville etwa, wo die Kriminalitätsrate von 1991 bis 1995 um elf Prozent sank, hörte Hallinan immer wieder, das Verbrechen sei "eine klare, gegenwärtige Bedrohung" vor Ort, obwohl dies tatsächlich nicht der Fall war.
Sinkende Kriminalitätsraten und die Knäste sind voller denn je
Dass die Kriminalitätsrate in den Vereinigten Staaten sinkt, ist mittlerweile Allgemeinwissen. Und doch werden die Gefängnisse immer voller. Allein Kalifornien hat mehr Gefangene in seinen Anstalten als Frankreich, Großbritannien, Deutschland, Japan, Singapur und die Niederlanden zusammen. 1, 3 Millionen Amerikaner saßen im Jahr 2000 in Staats- oder Bundesgefängnissen. Und jede Woche kommen 1000 hinzu. 476 von 100000 Amerikanern saßen 1999 im Gefängnis, 1939, zu Zeiten Al Capones waren es nur 137.
SCHARFE GESETZE
Dieser Anstieg ist vor allem die Folge schärfer Gesetze, nicht steigender Kriminalität. 1983 wurde in den Vereinigten Staaten das erste private Gefängnis von der Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) gebaut. Ein Jahr später erließ der Kongress ein Gesetz, das vorzeitige Haftentlassung fast gänzlich abschaffte und zugleich die Freiheit der Richter beim Festsetzen des Strafmaßes beschnitt. Seitdem steigen die Gefangenenzahlen. 59 Prozent der Häftlinge sitzen heute wegen Drogendelikten. Die durchschnittliche Strafdauer für den Verkauf von Crack beträgt elf Jahre - bei einem Mord sind es sechs. Spätestens hier wirken Drogen wie ein zweiter Kommunismus: Eine nahezu unsichtbare Kraft, die von außen in das Land strömt und es zersetzt.
Die Antwort konnte nicht Rehabilitation und Reintegration heißen. Der antiamerikanische Einfluss von Drogendealern musste abgetrennt, verbannt, weggesperrt werden, während die Gemeinschaft im Kampf gegen die kranken Elemente enger zusammenrückte.
Von wegen Resozialisierung
Einer repräsentativen Meinungsumfrage aus dem Jahr 1995 zufolge glaubt nur ein Viertel der US-Bürger, dass Gefängnisse der Rehabilitation dienen sollten. Gerade mal fünf Prozent des kalifornischen Strafvollzugsbudgets werden für Wiedereingliederungmaßnahmen ausgegeben. 70 Prozent der
Gefangenen in den Vereinigten Staaten sind Analphabeten, auf einen Drogentherapieplatz in Gefängnissen kommen im Durchschnitt zehn Bewerber. Haftanstalten werden nicht zum Nutzen der Inhaftierten gebaut - sondern jenem der ordentlichen, amerikanischen Bürger. Mit über 600000 Beschäftigten sind die staatlichen und privaten Gefängnisse nach General Motors und Wal-Mart der drittgrößte Arbeitgeber der Vereinigten Staaten, wie Loic Waquant in "Elend hinter Gittern" vorrechnet. Für wirtschaftlich schwache und unattraktive Regionen sind Gefängnisse die einzige und beste
Entwicklungshilfe.
Gefängniswärter – ein lukrativer Job
Viele Menschen in Städten wie Beeville sind Gefängniswärter. Nicht nur, weil es überhaupt ein Job ist - es ist auch ein sehr attraktiver, gutbezahlter mit zusätzlicher Krankenversicherung und einem Rentenanspruch. Der Journalist Ted Conover, der ein Jahr lang im New Yorker Hochsicherheitsgefängnis Sing Sing arbeitete, beschreibt in seinem Buch "Guarding Sing Sing" seine Mitanwärter bei der Ausbildung: Ein Filialmanager von Burger King, ein Klempner, ein Gebäudereiniger, ein Vertriebsmanager von Wal-Mart, ein Inhaber eines Fitness-Studios.
Ansehnliche Gewinne
Nicht nur die Einwohner von Städten wie Beeville und die Aktionäre von Unternehmen wie CCA - die Anteile gewannen Anfang der Neunziger Jahre zeitweise um 1000 Prozent an Wert - profitieren vom amerikanischen Gefängnisboom. Die Inhaftierten bescheren auch anderen privaten Unternehmen
ansehliche Gewinne. So verlegte etwa der Möbelhersteller Kwalu 1997 seine Produktion von Kapstadt in ein Gefängnis in South Carolina. Die Arbeitsstunde eines Gefangenen kostet ingesamt sieben Dollar. In Kapstadt beträgt der Lohn zwar nur ein Drittel davon, doch die Produktivität der Gefangenen gleicht das mehr als aus. Sie müssen arbeiten, obwohl ihnen nach
Abzügen von dem Geld gerade mal 1,20 Dollar bleiben. Der Großteil der Jobs qualifiziert die Gefangenen in keiner Weise. Um Hühnerställe sauber zu machen, muss ihnen nicht einmal das Lesen beigebracht werden.
AT&T und MCI Worldcom
Auch bekannte Firmen wie AT&T profitieren von Gefängnissen. Für Ferngespräche geben Häftlinge im Jahr Schätzungen zufolge eine Milliarde Dollar aus. Nur können sie nicht den billigsten Anbieter wählen. Die Gefängnisleitung entscheidet, mit welcher Firma telefoniert wird. Deshalb gibt AT&T bis zu 50 Prozent der Gewinne an die Gefängnisse weiter, allein in New York kamen 1997 so 21,2 Millionen Dollar zusammen. MCI gibt dem Staat Kalifornien 32 Prozent der Gewinne ab, und den Häftlingen bleibt nicht anderes übrig, als für jeden Anruf eine obligatorische Zusatzgebühr von drei Dollar zu zahlen.
Die Abkehr von der Rehabilitation hin zu Strafe und Profit hat nicht etwa ruhigere, straff organisierte Gefängnissen geschaffen.
Die Gewaltbereitschaft der Gefangenen steigt, je weniger sinnvolle Beschäftigung sie haben. Da die meisten Inhaftierten aus Großstädten stammen und zum Teil einige hundert Meilen entfernt von ihrer Heimat in jenen Kleinstädten inhaftiert sind, wo Wärterjobs gebraucht werden, können ihre Familien sie nur selten besuchen. Anders, als der in den Vereinigten Staaten gebrauchte Begriff Supermax für Hochsicherheitsgefängnisse suggeriert, ist die entstehende Gewalt selbst hier nicht zu kontrollieren.
Morde an Gefangenen werden auch in Hochsicherheitstrakten regelmäßig verübt!
Der zweifache Mörder Richard Johnson etwa hat im Gefängnis zwei weitere Menschen umgebracht und zwei schwer verletzt. Im Hochsicherheitstrakt des Gefängnisses Youngstown gelang es ihm 1998 bei der Rückkehr vom Hofgang in wenigen Minuten, sich seiner Handschellen und Fußfesseln zu entledigen, ein
selbstgemachtes Messer aus seiner Zelle zu holen und dann einen gefesselten Mitgefangenen auf dem Gang zu töten, bevor die Wächter etwas bemerkten. Conover beschreibt in "Guarding Sing Sing", warum Wärter so selten ihre gewalttätige Kollegen melden: Sie sind ihre einzige Chance, einen immer drohenden Angriff eines Gefangenen zu überleben.
Die Macht der Gangs
Nicht die Wärter kontrollieren das Leben in Gefängnissen. Die Gangs tun es. Sie entscheiden, wer seine Zelle räumen muss, wer wieviel zu essen bekommt und wer überlebt. Wie weit ihre Macht reicht, zeigt die Liste von Gegenständen, die binnen eines Monats in der Zelle des lebenslänglich inhaftierten Ganganführers Ernest Wilson beschlagnahmt wurden: Ein Mobiltelefon, ein Game Boy, ein Pager, 230 Dollar Bargeld, 15,7 Gramm Kokain, 13 Flaschen Rasierwasser, eine tragbare Waschmaschine, ein tragbarer Farbfernseher, ein Bügeleisen, ein Jagdmesser. In Illinois sind in manchen Gefängnissen 97 Prozent der Gefangenen in Gangs organsiert. Die Gruppen rekrutieren hier ihre Mitglieder, die sie nach der Freilassung dann bei Straftaten einsetzen.
Brutstätten für Psychosen
Das einzige Mittel gegen Gangs und Gewalt ist in amerikanischen Gefängnissen die Isolationshaft für besonders gewalttätige Gefangene in sogenannten special housing units. Wie eine Bundesrichterin 1999 in einem Urteil feststellte, sind diese "im Grunde genommen Brutkästen für Psychosen".
Connover hat Gefangene erlebt, die den Tag über mit Fäkalien im Mund am Sehschlitz ihrer Zelle warten, bis ein Wächter vorbeikommt, den sie anspeien können.
Es ist wenig bekannt, warum Alexis de Tocquevilles 1831 in die Vereinigten Staaten reiste. Bekannt ist nur sein damals entstandenes Werk "Über die Demokratie in Amerika". Tocqueville war im Auftrag der französischen Regierung in Amerika, um das damals in Europa bewunderte Konzept der
Besserungsanstalt kennenzulernen. Käme er heute von dieser Reise zurück - sein Werk würde anders heißen.
Capoon
Ein wirklich interessanter Bericht über die negativen Aspekte der Globalisierung
TEIL 1
KAUM FORTSCHRITTE BEIM KLIMASCHUTZABKOMMEN IN BONN!
Umweltexperten sagen : Um die Temperatur nicht noch weiter steigen zu lassen, muß bis zum Jahre 2050 die Hälfte der CO-2 Abgase reduziert werden. Ohne der USA ist dies aber nicht zu schaffen.
Narrenfreiheit für die Umwelt-Krieger aus Washington ermuntern Japan und Kanada das Kyoto-Abkommen wie ein Schweizer Käse zu durchlöchern
Amerika braucht aufgrund seiner Vorherrschaft in der Welt keine Sanktionen befürchten.
Die transatlantischen Beziehungen haben sich mit den neuen US-Präsidenten keineswegs verbessert. Im Gegenteil: Die Ablehnung des Vertrags von Kyoto durch die Bush-Regierung wird in Europa mit Unverständnis gesehen. Statt den „Großen Bruder“ zu kritisieren, kam die europäische Kritik aber nur brühwarm rüber. Das jetzige Klimaabkommen ist ein fauler Kompromiß. Angestachelt von der umweltfeindlichen Linie der USA, haben die Japsen und die Kanadier auf Sonderkonditionen bestanden und auch durchgesetzt.
Raketenabwehrsystem
Auch das geplante Raketenabwehrsystem (NMD) irritiert die Nato-Partner, weil der ABM-Vertrag damit praktisch auf Eis gelegt ist. Europa muß sich darauf einstellen, daß eine Militarisierung der US-Außenpolitik bevorsteht. Denn eines steht fest: Obwohl die Regierung Bush-Cheney im Senat inzwischen über keine republikanische Mehrheit mehr verfügt, wird sie die Kriegsausgaben deutlich steigern.
DEUTSCHLAND
Der Versuch einer Deregulierung (Angriff auf die Arbeitnehmerrechte) des hiesigen Arbeitsmarktes ist vorerst gescheitert!
Viele Unternehmer möchten am liebsten wieder die betrieblichen Mitspracherechte der Arbeitnehmer einschränken. Welcher Betrieb möchte zum Beispiel schon ein engagierten Betriebsrat? Die leichte Verbesserung des Betriebsverfassungsgesetzes war so gar nicht nach den Geschmack der neoliberalen Deregulierer. Noch haben wir in Westeuropa eine andere Arbeiterkultur als in den USA. Die Einführung eines Hire-and-fire-Systems auf dem Arbeitsmarkt läßt sich bisher noch nicht ohne breiten Widerspruch durchsetzen, auch wenn die Interessenverbände der deutschen Industrie eine Auflockerung des Kündigungsschutzes fordern. Es ist noch gar nicht lange her, da wollten die Unternehmer Karenztage einführen. Noch ist die gewerkschaftliche Gegenmacht in Deutschland einigermaßen stabil, so daß die schlimmsten Übel abgewendet werden konnten. Fragt sich aber nur: WIE LANGE NOCH?
Ein weiteres Anliegen der deutschen Unternehmerverbände ist die Einführung von Leichtlohngruppen. Spezialdemokraten und Grüne sind für den Vorschlag.
Lohnsubventionen für Niedriglohngruppen
Die Grünen und die Spezialdemokraten möchten das aber auf sozialverträglichen Art. Zum Beispiel lautet der Grüne Vorschlag: Niedriglöhne subventionieren. Die Grünen wollen in der Arbeitsmarktpolitik neue Wege gehen. Parteichef Fritz Kuhn sprach sich im Tagesspiegel für befristete Lohnsubventionen, mehr Teilzeit und Kombilöhne aus. Jobs mit einem Verdienst von 630 bis 1.800 Mark sollen gestaffelt finanziell unterstützt werden.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
TEIL 2
Hohe Kriminalität – die vergessenen FOLGEN der GLOBALISIERUNG
Die Gefängnisindustrie in den Vereinigten Staaten ist zum neuen
Wirtschaftsfaktor geworden
...von KONRAD LISCHKA
Außer Gestrüpp gibt es wenig im Süden von Texas. Die meisten Einwohner des kleinen Städtchens Beeville arbeiteten seit Mitte der fünfziger Jahre beim Luftstützpunkt der Marine. 2000 Jobs mit insgesamt 27 Millionen Dollar an Gehaltszahlungen im Jahr schaffte der Kalte Krieg in Beeville, 30 Prozent der Wirtschaft hingen von der Marine ab. 1991 schloss der Stützpunkt. Heute
stehen auf den ehemaligen Militärarealen zwei Gefängnisse.
1500 Arbeitsplätze bringen 30 Millionen Dollar an Gehältern. Beeville hat 13000 Einwohner - und 7200 Gefangene.
In den Vereinigten Staaten hat die Gefängnisindustrie die Funktionen des militärisch-industriellen Komplexes übernommen. Wurden früher Militärstützpunkte als Wirtschaftshilfe in armen, ländlichen Regionen gebaut, sind es heute Gefängnisse. Über 150 private Haftanstalten gibt es in den Vereinigten Staaten, die Betreiber nutzen ihren Einfluss in der Politik für den eigenen Profit. Diese These vertritt der Pulitzerpreis-Träger Joseph Hallinan in seinem jüngst erschienenen Buch "Going up the river". Den Begriff des prison-industrial complex prägte 1998 Eric Schlosser - Autor des eben erschienen Buches "Fast Food Nation" - in einem Beitrag für Atlantic Monthly. Auch er arbeitet zur Zeit an einem Buch über die Gefängnisindustrie.
Die Parallelen zum Kalten Krieg sind nicht nur ökonomisch. Die Angst vor Kriminalität ist in den neunziger Jahren zu einem massenpsychologischen Phänomen wie die Kommunistenfurcht in den Sechzigern und Siebzigern geworden. In Beeville etwa, wo die Kriminalitätsrate von 1991 bis 1995 um elf Prozent sank, hörte Hallinan immer wieder, das Verbrechen sei "eine klare, gegenwärtige Bedrohung" vor Ort, obwohl dies tatsächlich nicht der Fall war.
Sinkende Kriminalitätsraten und die Knäste sind voller denn je
Dass die Kriminalitätsrate in den Vereinigten Staaten sinkt, ist mittlerweile Allgemeinwissen. Und doch werden die Gefängnisse immer voller. Allein Kalifornien hat mehr Gefangene in seinen Anstalten als Frankreich, Großbritannien, Deutschland, Japan, Singapur und die Niederlanden zusammen. 1, 3 Millionen Amerikaner saßen im Jahr 2000 in Staats- oder Bundesgefängnissen. Und jede Woche kommen 1000 hinzu. 476 von 100000 Amerikanern saßen 1999 im Gefängnis, 1939, zu Zeiten Al Capones waren es nur 137.
SCHARFE GESETZE
Dieser Anstieg ist vor allem die Folge schärfer Gesetze, nicht steigender Kriminalität. 1983 wurde in den Vereinigten Staaten das erste private Gefängnis von der Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) gebaut. Ein Jahr später erließ der Kongress ein Gesetz, das vorzeitige Haftentlassung fast gänzlich abschaffte und zugleich die Freiheit der Richter beim Festsetzen des Strafmaßes beschnitt. Seitdem steigen die Gefangenenzahlen. 59 Prozent der Häftlinge sitzen heute wegen Drogendelikten. Die durchschnittliche Strafdauer für den Verkauf von Crack beträgt elf Jahre - bei einem Mord sind es sechs. Spätestens hier wirken Drogen wie ein zweiter Kommunismus: Eine nahezu unsichtbare Kraft, die von außen in das Land strömt und es zersetzt.
Die Antwort konnte nicht Rehabilitation und Reintegration heißen. Der antiamerikanische Einfluss von Drogendealern musste abgetrennt, verbannt, weggesperrt werden, während die Gemeinschaft im Kampf gegen die kranken Elemente enger zusammenrückte.
Von wegen Resozialisierung
Einer repräsentativen Meinungsumfrage aus dem Jahr 1995 zufolge glaubt nur ein Viertel der US-Bürger, dass Gefängnisse der Rehabilitation dienen sollten. Gerade mal fünf Prozent des kalifornischen Strafvollzugsbudgets werden für Wiedereingliederungmaßnahmen ausgegeben. 70 Prozent der
Gefangenen in den Vereinigten Staaten sind Analphabeten, auf einen Drogentherapieplatz in Gefängnissen kommen im Durchschnitt zehn Bewerber. Haftanstalten werden nicht zum Nutzen der Inhaftierten gebaut - sondern jenem der ordentlichen, amerikanischen Bürger. Mit über 600000 Beschäftigten sind die staatlichen und privaten Gefängnisse nach General Motors und Wal-Mart der drittgrößte Arbeitgeber der Vereinigten Staaten, wie Loic Waquant in "Elend hinter Gittern" vorrechnet. Für wirtschaftlich schwache und unattraktive Regionen sind Gefängnisse die einzige und beste
Entwicklungshilfe.
Gefängniswärter – ein lukrativer Job
Viele Menschen in Städten wie Beeville sind Gefängniswärter. Nicht nur, weil es überhaupt ein Job ist - es ist auch ein sehr attraktiver, gutbezahlter mit zusätzlicher Krankenversicherung und einem Rentenanspruch. Der Journalist Ted Conover, der ein Jahr lang im New Yorker Hochsicherheitsgefängnis Sing Sing arbeitete, beschreibt in seinem Buch "Guarding Sing Sing" seine Mitanwärter bei der Ausbildung: Ein Filialmanager von Burger King, ein Klempner, ein Gebäudereiniger, ein Vertriebsmanager von Wal-Mart, ein Inhaber eines Fitness-Studios.
Ansehnliche Gewinne
Nicht nur die Einwohner von Städten wie Beeville und die Aktionäre von Unternehmen wie CCA - die Anteile gewannen Anfang der Neunziger Jahre zeitweise um 1000 Prozent an Wert - profitieren vom amerikanischen Gefängnisboom. Die Inhaftierten bescheren auch anderen privaten Unternehmen
ansehliche Gewinne. So verlegte etwa der Möbelhersteller Kwalu 1997 seine Produktion von Kapstadt in ein Gefängnis in South Carolina. Die Arbeitsstunde eines Gefangenen kostet ingesamt sieben Dollar. In Kapstadt beträgt der Lohn zwar nur ein Drittel davon, doch die Produktivität der Gefangenen gleicht das mehr als aus. Sie müssen arbeiten, obwohl ihnen nach
Abzügen von dem Geld gerade mal 1,20 Dollar bleiben. Der Großteil der Jobs qualifiziert die Gefangenen in keiner Weise. Um Hühnerställe sauber zu machen, muss ihnen nicht einmal das Lesen beigebracht werden.
AT&T und MCI Worldcom
Auch bekannte Firmen wie AT&T profitieren von Gefängnissen. Für Ferngespräche geben Häftlinge im Jahr Schätzungen zufolge eine Milliarde Dollar aus. Nur können sie nicht den billigsten Anbieter wählen. Die Gefängnisleitung entscheidet, mit welcher Firma telefoniert wird. Deshalb gibt AT&T bis zu 50 Prozent der Gewinne an die Gefängnisse weiter, allein in New York kamen 1997 so 21,2 Millionen Dollar zusammen. MCI gibt dem Staat Kalifornien 32 Prozent der Gewinne ab, und den Häftlingen bleibt nicht anderes übrig, als für jeden Anruf eine obligatorische Zusatzgebühr von drei Dollar zu zahlen.
Die Abkehr von der Rehabilitation hin zu Strafe und Profit hat nicht etwa ruhigere, straff organisierte Gefängnissen geschaffen.
Die Gewaltbereitschaft der Gefangenen steigt, je weniger sinnvolle Beschäftigung sie haben. Da die meisten Inhaftierten aus Großstädten stammen und zum Teil einige hundert Meilen entfernt von ihrer Heimat in jenen Kleinstädten inhaftiert sind, wo Wärterjobs gebraucht werden, können ihre Familien sie nur selten besuchen. Anders, als der in den Vereinigten Staaten gebrauchte Begriff Supermax für Hochsicherheitsgefängnisse suggeriert, ist die entstehende Gewalt selbst hier nicht zu kontrollieren.
Morde an Gefangenen werden auch in Hochsicherheitstrakten regelmäßig verübt!
Der zweifache Mörder Richard Johnson etwa hat im Gefängnis zwei weitere Menschen umgebracht und zwei schwer verletzt. Im Hochsicherheitstrakt des Gefängnisses Youngstown gelang es ihm 1998 bei der Rückkehr vom Hofgang in wenigen Minuten, sich seiner Handschellen und Fußfesseln zu entledigen, ein
selbstgemachtes Messer aus seiner Zelle zu holen und dann einen gefesselten Mitgefangenen auf dem Gang zu töten, bevor die Wächter etwas bemerkten. Conover beschreibt in "Guarding Sing Sing", warum Wärter so selten ihre gewalttätige Kollegen melden: Sie sind ihre einzige Chance, einen immer drohenden Angriff eines Gefangenen zu überleben.
Die Macht der Gangs
Nicht die Wärter kontrollieren das Leben in Gefängnissen. Die Gangs tun es. Sie entscheiden, wer seine Zelle räumen muss, wer wieviel zu essen bekommt und wer überlebt. Wie weit ihre Macht reicht, zeigt die Liste von Gegenständen, die binnen eines Monats in der Zelle des lebenslänglich inhaftierten Ganganführers Ernest Wilson beschlagnahmt wurden: Ein Mobiltelefon, ein Game Boy, ein Pager, 230 Dollar Bargeld, 15,7 Gramm Kokain, 13 Flaschen Rasierwasser, eine tragbare Waschmaschine, ein tragbarer Farbfernseher, ein Bügeleisen, ein Jagdmesser. In Illinois sind in manchen Gefängnissen 97 Prozent der Gefangenen in Gangs organsiert. Die Gruppen rekrutieren hier ihre Mitglieder, die sie nach der Freilassung dann bei Straftaten einsetzen.
Brutstätten für Psychosen
Das einzige Mittel gegen Gangs und Gewalt ist in amerikanischen Gefängnissen die Isolationshaft für besonders gewalttätige Gefangene in sogenannten special housing units. Wie eine Bundesrichterin 1999 in einem Urteil feststellte, sind diese "im Grunde genommen Brutkästen für Psychosen".
Connover hat Gefangene erlebt, die den Tag über mit Fäkalien im Mund am Sehschlitz ihrer Zelle warten, bis ein Wächter vorbeikommt, den sie anspeien können.
Es ist wenig bekannt, warum Alexis de Tocquevilles 1831 in die Vereinigten Staaten reiste. Bekannt ist nur sein damals entstandenes Werk "Über die Demokratie in Amerika". Tocqueville war im Auftrag der französischen Regierung in Amerika, um das damals in Europa bewunderte Konzept der
Besserungsanstalt kennenzulernen. Käme er heute von dieser Reise zurück - sein Werk würde anders heißen.
Capoon
Ich möchte euch mal gerne sehen, wenn ihr in eurem Auto von "Chaoten" angegriffen werdet.....
Trading Spotlight
Ein Konzept oder eine Zielvorstellung ist nicht erkennbar.
Sozialistisches Meckerpublikum, Klugscheißer, Weltverbesserer im negativen Sinn, Gutmenschen mit Heiligenschein; mehr kann ich nicht erkennen.
Sozialistisches Meckerpublikum, Klugscheißer, Weltverbesserer im negativen Sinn, Gutmenschen mit Heiligenschein; mehr kann ich nicht erkennen.
@Hildebecker
In Beantwortung Ihres Postings
Ohne dass ich den eigentlichen Sinn dieses Threads " umlenken will.
Grundsätzlich :
Wer angegriffen wird, darf, soll u. wenn er kann muss sich
wehren - sofern es nicht mehr anders geht !
1. Riot Police - ( neudeutsch: Polizei-Verbände die gegen Volksaufstände, Aufruhr etc. speziell ausgebildet snd ( besser : sein sollten ) versagen immer häufiger. Nicht nur in Italien, selbst in Schweden eskalieren Konfrontationen bis hin zum Gebrauch d. Schusswaffe.
2. Liest man " ehrliche " Berichte v. " friedlichen Demonstranten " werden diese häufig nicht n. durch " Chaoten " infiltriert, sondern auch durch " Polizei-Einheiten tlw. in Zivil " die dann selbst an " nicht randalierenden Tln " ihren - sagen wir " Frust " abreagieren - ob von gewissen Institutionen absichtlich so inszeniert o. aus d. Situation heraus entstanden, stelle ich anheim.
3. Dass d. Polizei-Apparat dazu da ist, Ordnung aufrechtzuerhalten, d. h. Gesetze aufrechtzuerhalten, darüber brauchen wir ebenfalls nicht diskutieren. Ist m. E. selbstverständlich.
4. Was mich stört ist allerdings die Wahl d. Mittel :
Genauso wie ich es nicht gut heisse, dass in Palästina Steine werfende Kinder u. Jugendlichen von israelischen
Militär-Einheiten abgeschossen werden wie Karnickel, - genausowenig heiße ich es gut, das " Riot-Police " auf Gegenstände werfende Randalierer m. der Schusswaffe antwortet. Die Wahl der Mittel ist entscheidend !
5. Vielleicht habe ich eine andere Bewertung, als andere Menschen. Ich darf Ihnen aber aus meiner eigenen Erfahrung ( Dienstzeit bei einer ehemals sehr harten Kampf-Einheit im Schwarzwald - vielen alten Leuten n. bekannt als die Schleifer v. ... ) sagen, daß meine damaligen Kameraden u. mich ein Feuerlöscher werfender Chaot sicherlich nicht so in Bedrängnis gebracht hätte, dass wir nur noch die Wahl des " Erschiessens " gehabt hätten.
6. Ich gehe konform insofern, dass ich sage Gewalt wird m. Gewalt beantwortet. Schläger verdienen Schläge ! Offenbar scheint dies das einzige Mittel zu sein, um sie zur Räson zu bringen - bzw. ihre Gehirnwindungen wieder unter " Strom " zu setzen.
7. Leider ist die " Führung " oftmals mit den an sie gestellten Aufgaben überfordert. Ich möchte nicht wissen, welche " Befehle " im Hintergrund tatsächlich gegeben worden sind. Ein Beispiel aus eigener erlebter Situation :
Unser damaliger Wachauftrag :
Fernhalten v. Eindringlingen in den milit. Sicherheitsbereich - notfalls mittels Schusswaffe.
Hat zu erfolgen in folgenden Reihenfolgen:
Szenario I - das Lehrbuch
1. Aufruf - Halt stehenbleiben
1.a. bleibt er nicht stehen - Warnschuss
1.b. bleibt er weiterhin nicht stehen - Feuer frei !
Szenario II - die Praxis
2. Aufruf - Halt stehenbleiben
2.a. bleibt er nicht stehen - Feuer - frei -
2.b. Warnschuss nicht vergessen . Es müssen wenigstens 2 Schüsse abgegeben worden sein.
Dies ist bzw. war kein böser Scherz !
8. Fast immer wird der Dienstherr seine schützende Hand über seine " Roboter " halten, egal ob Militär oder Polizei. Beispiele in Deutschland gibt es ja auch. Polizei erschiesst falschen, unschuldigen Mann bei d. Erstürmung eines Hotelzimmers. Der Witwe wurde noch nichjt einmal Beileid gezollt ! Das ist mein Verständnis v. Demokratie, Rechtsstaat ... ?! - Hören sie mir bloß auf !
9. Weiter - aus dieser kurzen Entfernung ( 1,5-2m )keine andere Körperteile aussuchen zu können, als den " gezielten Kopfschuss " mit 100%-igem Ergenis, das können sie einer alten Oma erzählen, die sich ihre Schlüpfer mit der Pistole hochschießt, einer der Pistolen geschossen hat und dann noch auf diese Entfernung ... selbstredend. Das war, wenn nicht eine Hinrichtung - eine bewußte absichtliche Inkaufnahme der Tötung. Solche Leute sollten bei Riot-Einheiten nichts, aber auch gar nichts verloren haben !
10. Nochmals z. Verständnis : Gewalt erzeugt Gewalt. Sollen sie diesen Typen den Verstand einprügeln, hab ich nichts dagegen - im Gegenteil. Es ist Allgemeingut was diese Typen zerstören - also Ihre und meine Steuergelder. Aber Mord, Totschlag oder wie auch immer die Winkeladvokaten dies auch drehen mögen - nicht in meinem Verständnis.
11. Sollten sie jemals vor die Entscheidung gestellt werden, gegen die Wegnahme elemantarer Rechte, die Ihnen Ihre Regierung abnehmen will, zu protestieren - und Ihre Regierung hat eine andere Vorstellung v. braven Untertanen, dann wünsche ich Ihnen aufrichtig, daß sie nicht an einen solchen " Staatsroboter " geraten mögen.
12. Wenn solche Methoden einreissen, dann bin ich fest davon überzeugt, dass sich auch die Gegenseite " schärfer " bewaffnen wird und dann dürfte die Eskalation perfekt werden - ggf. bis hin zum Bürgerkrieg.
Ich glaube Ihnen hiermit meine Positon klargelegt zu haben.
- - -
Trotzdem - Globalisierung ist ein so einschneidendes Thema, das in Zukunft immer mehr eine Rolle im Leben eines jeden Individuums spielen wird, als dass man den " Polit-Seelenverkäufern " dieses Thema allein zur " freien Verfügung " überlassen darf.
In diesem Sinne - zurück zum Thema
Gruß
HJL
In Beantwortung Ihres Postings
Ohne dass ich den eigentlichen Sinn dieses Threads " umlenken will.
Grundsätzlich :
Wer angegriffen wird, darf, soll u. wenn er kann muss sich
wehren - sofern es nicht mehr anders geht !
1. Riot Police - ( neudeutsch: Polizei-Verbände die gegen Volksaufstände, Aufruhr etc. speziell ausgebildet snd ( besser : sein sollten ) versagen immer häufiger. Nicht nur in Italien, selbst in Schweden eskalieren Konfrontationen bis hin zum Gebrauch d. Schusswaffe.
2. Liest man " ehrliche " Berichte v. " friedlichen Demonstranten " werden diese häufig nicht n. durch " Chaoten " infiltriert, sondern auch durch " Polizei-Einheiten tlw. in Zivil " die dann selbst an " nicht randalierenden Tln " ihren - sagen wir " Frust " abreagieren - ob von gewissen Institutionen absichtlich so inszeniert o. aus d. Situation heraus entstanden, stelle ich anheim.
3. Dass d. Polizei-Apparat dazu da ist, Ordnung aufrechtzuerhalten, d. h. Gesetze aufrechtzuerhalten, darüber brauchen wir ebenfalls nicht diskutieren. Ist m. E. selbstverständlich.
4. Was mich stört ist allerdings die Wahl d. Mittel :
Genauso wie ich es nicht gut heisse, dass in Palästina Steine werfende Kinder u. Jugendlichen von israelischen
Militär-Einheiten abgeschossen werden wie Karnickel, - genausowenig heiße ich es gut, das " Riot-Police " auf Gegenstände werfende Randalierer m. der Schusswaffe antwortet. Die Wahl der Mittel ist entscheidend !
5. Vielleicht habe ich eine andere Bewertung, als andere Menschen. Ich darf Ihnen aber aus meiner eigenen Erfahrung ( Dienstzeit bei einer ehemals sehr harten Kampf-Einheit im Schwarzwald - vielen alten Leuten n. bekannt als die Schleifer v. ... ) sagen, daß meine damaligen Kameraden u. mich ein Feuerlöscher werfender Chaot sicherlich nicht so in Bedrängnis gebracht hätte, dass wir nur noch die Wahl des " Erschiessens " gehabt hätten.
6. Ich gehe konform insofern, dass ich sage Gewalt wird m. Gewalt beantwortet. Schläger verdienen Schläge ! Offenbar scheint dies das einzige Mittel zu sein, um sie zur Räson zu bringen - bzw. ihre Gehirnwindungen wieder unter " Strom " zu setzen.
7. Leider ist die " Führung " oftmals mit den an sie gestellten Aufgaben überfordert. Ich möchte nicht wissen, welche " Befehle " im Hintergrund tatsächlich gegeben worden sind. Ein Beispiel aus eigener erlebter Situation :
Unser damaliger Wachauftrag :
Fernhalten v. Eindringlingen in den milit. Sicherheitsbereich - notfalls mittels Schusswaffe.
Hat zu erfolgen in folgenden Reihenfolgen:
Szenario I - das Lehrbuch
1. Aufruf - Halt stehenbleiben
1.a. bleibt er nicht stehen - Warnschuss
1.b. bleibt er weiterhin nicht stehen - Feuer frei !
Szenario II - die Praxis
2. Aufruf - Halt stehenbleiben
2.a. bleibt er nicht stehen - Feuer - frei -
2.b. Warnschuss nicht vergessen . Es müssen wenigstens 2 Schüsse abgegeben worden sein.
Dies ist bzw. war kein böser Scherz !
8. Fast immer wird der Dienstherr seine schützende Hand über seine " Roboter " halten, egal ob Militär oder Polizei. Beispiele in Deutschland gibt es ja auch. Polizei erschiesst falschen, unschuldigen Mann bei d. Erstürmung eines Hotelzimmers. Der Witwe wurde noch nichjt einmal Beileid gezollt ! Das ist mein Verständnis v. Demokratie, Rechtsstaat ... ?! - Hören sie mir bloß auf !
9. Weiter - aus dieser kurzen Entfernung ( 1,5-2m )keine andere Körperteile aussuchen zu können, als den " gezielten Kopfschuss " mit 100%-igem Ergenis, das können sie einer alten Oma erzählen, die sich ihre Schlüpfer mit der Pistole hochschießt, einer der Pistolen geschossen hat und dann noch auf diese Entfernung ... selbstredend. Das war, wenn nicht eine Hinrichtung - eine bewußte absichtliche Inkaufnahme der Tötung. Solche Leute sollten bei Riot-Einheiten nichts, aber auch gar nichts verloren haben !
10. Nochmals z. Verständnis : Gewalt erzeugt Gewalt. Sollen sie diesen Typen den Verstand einprügeln, hab ich nichts dagegen - im Gegenteil. Es ist Allgemeingut was diese Typen zerstören - also Ihre und meine Steuergelder. Aber Mord, Totschlag oder wie auch immer die Winkeladvokaten dies auch drehen mögen - nicht in meinem Verständnis.
11. Sollten sie jemals vor die Entscheidung gestellt werden, gegen die Wegnahme elemantarer Rechte, die Ihnen Ihre Regierung abnehmen will, zu protestieren - und Ihre Regierung hat eine andere Vorstellung v. braven Untertanen, dann wünsche ich Ihnen aufrichtig, daß sie nicht an einen solchen " Staatsroboter " geraten mögen.
12. Wenn solche Methoden einreissen, dann bin ich fest davon überzeugt, dass sich auch die Gegenseite " schärfer " bewaffnen wird und dann dürfte die Eskalation perfekt werden - ggf. bis hin zum Bürgerkrieg.
Ich glaube Ihnen hiermit meine Positon klargelegt zu haben.
- - -
Trotzdem - Globalisierung ist ein so einschneidendes Thema, das in Zukunft immer mehr eine Rolle im Leben eines jeden Individuums spielen wird, als dass man den " Polit-Seelenverkäufern " dieses Thema allein zur " freien Verfügung " überlassen darf.
In diesem Sinne - zurück zum Thema
Gruß
HJL
@all
Eine „ Parabel " zur Globalisierung - vom Ex-Präsidenten Haiti’s
Sacrificial Pigs For Haiti, globalization is a trail of broken promises
JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE
The eradication of the Haitian Creole pig population in the 1980s is a classic parable of globalization.
Haiti`s small, black, Creole pigs were at the heart of the peasant economy. An extremely hearty breed, well adapted to Haiti`s climate and conditions, they ate readily available waste products, and could survive for three days without food.
Eighty to 85 percent of rural households raised pigs; they played a key role in maintaining the fertility of the soil and instituted the primary savings bank of the peasant population. Traditionally, a pig was sold to pay for emergencies and special occasions (funerals, marriages, illnesses), and, critically, to pay school fees and buy books for the children when school opened each year in October.
In 1982, international agencies assured Haiti`s peasants their pigs were sick and had to be killed (so that the illness would not spread to countries to the north). Promises were made that better pigs would replace the sick pigs.
With an efficiency not since seen among development projects, all of the Creole pigs were killed over a period of 13 months.
Two years later, the new, "better" pigs came from Iowa. They were so much better they required clean drinking water (unavailable to 80 percent of the population), imported feed ($90 a year when the per capita income was about $130), and special roofed pigpens. Haitian peasants quickly dubbed them "prince a quatre pieds," (four-footed princes). Adding insult to injury, the meat didn`t taste as good.
Needless to say, the repopulution program was a complete failure.
One observer of the process estimated that in monetary terms, Haitian peasants lost $600 million. There was a 30 percent drop in enrollment in rural schools, a dramatic decline in the protein consumption in rural Haiti, a devastating decapitalization of the peasant economy, and an incalculable negative impact on Haiti`s soil and agricultural productivity.
Haiti`s peasantry has not recovered to this day. Most of rural Haiti is still isolated from global markets, so for many peasants the extermination of the Creole pigs was their first experience of globalization.
The experience looms large in the collective memory. Today, when the peasants are told that "economic reform" and privatization will benefit them, they are understandably wary.
The state-owned enterprises are sick, we are told, and must be privatized. The peasants shake their heads and remember the Creole pigs.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a former president of Haiti.
*
For $45, supporters in the US can buy a pig for a gwoupman (group of peasants). They can also throw a "Pig Party," including screening the video with friends and neighbors, discussing the ramifications of this early example of negative globalization, and raising money for a good cause. For a Pig Party Packet, including the video, contact: Grassroots International 179 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02130-9901 Phone: (617)-524-1400 Fax: (617) 524-5525 e-mail, <grassroots@igc.apc.org> <www.grassrootsonline.org>
- - -
In diesem Sinne
HJL
P.S. - Meine Meinung : Ich bin nicht grundsätzlich gegen Privatisierung, den vieles läuft in Beamten-Apparaten sehr viel schleppender als in d. Privatwirtschaft. ( Beispiel : Post " Briefe " ). Allerdings f. das Volk elementare Bereiche wie Wasser/-versorgung ... NIEMALS !
Eine „ Parabel " zur Globalisierung - vom Ex-Präsidenten Haiti’s
Sacrificial Pigs For Haiti, globalization is a trail of broken promises
JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE
The eradication of the Haitian Creole pig population in the 1980s is a classic parable of globalization.
Haiti`s small, black, Creole pigs were at the heart of the peasant economy. An extremely hearty breed, well adapted to Haiti`s climate and conditions, they ate readily available waste products, and could survive for three days without food.
Eighty to 85 percent of rural households raised pigs; they played a key role in maintaining the fertility of the soil and instituted the primary savings bank of the peasant population. Traditionally, a pig was sold to pay for emergencies and special occasions (funerals, marriages, illnesses), and, critically, to pay school fees and buy books for the children when school opened each year in October.
In 1982, international agencies assured Haiti`s peasants their pigs were sick and had to be killed (so that the illness would not spread to countries to the north). Promises were made that better pigs would replace the sick pigs.
With an efficiency not since seen among development projects, all of the Creole pigs were killed over a period of 13 months.
Two years later, the new, "better" pigs came from Iowa. They were so much better they required clean drinking water (unavailable to 80 percent of the population), imported feed ($90 a year when the per capita income was about $130), and special roofed pigpens. Haitian peasants quickly dubbed them "prince a quatre pieds," (four-footed princes). Adding insult to injury, the meat didn`t taste as good.
Needless to say, the repopulution program was a complete failure.
One observer of the process estimated that in monetary terms, Haitian peasants lost $600 million. There was a 30 percent drop in enrollment in rural schools, a dramatic decline in the protein consumption in rural Haiti, a devastating decapitalization of the peasant economy, and an incalculable negative impact on Haiti`s soil and agricultural productivity.
Haiti`s peasantry has not recovered to this day. Most of rural Haiti is still isolated from global markets, so for many peasants the extermination of the Creole pigs was their first experience of globalization.
The experience looms large in the collective memory. Today, when the peasants are told that "economic reform" and privatization will benefit them, they are understandably wary.
The state-owned enterprises are sick, we are told, and must be privatized. The peasants shake their heads and remember the Creole pigs.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a former president of Haiti.
*
For $45, supporters in the US can buy a pig for a gwoupman (group of peasants). They can also throw a "Pig Party," including screening the video with friends and neighbors, discussing the ramifications of this early example of negative globalization, and raising money for a good cause. For a Pig Party Packet, including the video, contact: Grassroots International 179 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02130-9901 Phone: (617)-524-1400 Fax: (617) 524-5525 e-mail, <grassroots@igc.apc.org> <www.grassrootsonline.org>
- - -
In diesem Sinne
HJL
P.S. - Meine Meinung : Ich bin nicht grundsätzlich gegen Privatisierung, den vieles läuft in Beamten-Apparaten sehr viel schleppender als in d. Privatwirtschaft. ( Beispiel : Post " Briefe " ). Allerdings f. das Volk elementare Bereiche wie Wasser/-versorgung ... NIEMALS !
Der (Staats)Kommunismus ist gescheitert, warum soll der Turbokapitalismus eines Tages nicht genauso untergehen?
Internationalisierung des Protestes.
Allein 700 unterschiedliche Organisationen aus den verschiedensten Ländern haben in Genua demonstriert.
Die Befürworter des Turbokapitalismus verkünden lauthals die verführerische Formel: Globalisierung + Privatisierung + Deregulierung = wachsender Wohlstand.
Diese Formel geht so nicht auf!
Welcher Staatschef kann noch die Megakonzerne wirksam kontrollieren?
Die Umsätze der Megakonzerne sind so groß wie Volkswirtschaften
Die Umsätze einiger Megakonzerne im Vergleich zum Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP)
Größenvergleich:
Exxon/Mobil > UMSATZ 2000 > 210,4 Mrd.
Schweden > BIP 2000 > 228,3 Mrd.
WAL-Mart > UMSATZ 2000 > 193,3 Mrd.
Österreich > BIP 2000 > 190,3 Mrd.
Ford > UMSATZ 2000 > 180,6 Mrd.
Polen > BIP 2000 > 160,8 Mrd.
General Motors > UMSATZ 2000 > 184,6 Mrd.
Dänemark > BIP 2000 > 162,3 Mrd.
Daimler/Chrysler > UMSATZ 2000 > 150,1
Indonesien > BIP 2000 > 153,7 Mrd.
Alle Angaben in Dollar
Quelle: Der Spiegel Nr. 30 23-07-01
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Jüngst bekannte der deutsche IWF-Chef Horst Köhler, „die extremen Ungleichgewichte in der Verteilung der Wohlfahrtsgewinne werden mehr und mehr zu einer Bedrohung der politischen und sozialen Stabilität“.
„Die Finanzmärkte bergen die Gefahr selbstzerstörischer Entwicklungen, deshalb brauche das globale Casino auch mehr Kontrolle“, so der Finanzprofi George Soros.
Eine generelle Steuer auf sämtliche Devisengeschäfte, die sogenannte Tobin-Steuer, soll Sand ins Getriebe der Devisenspekulanten streuen.
BEISPIEL: STEUERFLUCHT IN STEUEROASEN!
Steueroasen wie die britischen Cayman-Inseln, die Niederländischen Antillen oder Liechtenstein geraten zusehends zu einem schwarzen Loch der Weltwirtschaft, in den nach Schätzungen des internationalen Währungsfonds (IWF) private Vermögen im Umfang von über fünf Billiarden Dollar gebucht sind, um die Erträge steuerfrei kassieren zu können. Allein den deutschen Fiskus entgehen so mindestens zwölf Milliarden Mark jährlich, so der SPIEGEL in seiner jüngsten Ausgabe. Weil die Regierungen nicht motiviert sind, gegen diese Steuerschlupflöcher wirksam vorzugehen, werden die Privilegien der Reichen weiterhin unangetastet bleiben. Der ehrliche Steuerzahler ist mal wieder der Gelackmeierte.
Die nationalen Regierungen können die Steuerpolitik nicht mehr effektiv nutzen. Längst sind sie in einen weltweiten Steuersenkungswettlauf für Unternehmen und Kapitalbesitzer verstrickt. Laut SPIEGEL zahlten Kapitalgesellschaften in der EU 40 Prozent weniger Steuern als ein Jahrzehnt zuvor.
Rechtlose Arbeitssklaven
So sind etwa gewerkschaftliche Rechte bis heute keineswegs globalisiert. Anders als in den Handelsregeln der WTO werden Verstöße gegen die geltenden Uno-Konventionen zur Gewerkschaftsfreiheit oder zum Verbot von Kinderarbeit nicht mit Sanktionen geahndet. Darum beteiligen sich in den USA viele tausend Aktivisten an Kampagnen gegen die schrankenlose Ausbeutung in den Textilfabriken Mexikos, Nicaraguas und Indonesiens, wo Näherinnen für ein paar Cent pro Stunde teure Markenjeans produzieren, aber jeder Versuch einer Selbstorganisation mit Gewalt unterdrückt wird.
Quelle: DER SPIEGEL Nr. 30 (23-07-01)
Capoon
Internationalisierung des Protestes.
Allein 700 unterschiedliche Organisationen aus den verschiedensten Ländern haben in Genua demonstriert.
Die Befürworter des Turbokapitalismus verkünden lauthals die verführerische Formel: Globalisierung + Privatisierung + Deregulierung = wachsender Wohlstand.
Diese Formel geht so nicht auf!
Welcher Staatschef kann noch die Megakonzerne wirksam kontrollieren?
Die Umsätze der Megakonzerne sind so groß wie Volkswirtschaften
Die Umsätze einiger Megakonzerne im Vergleich zum Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP)
Größenvergleich:
Exxon/Mobil > UMSATZ 2000 > 210,4 Mrd.
Schweden > BIP 2000 > 228,3 Mrd.
WAL-Mart > UMSATZ 2000 > 193,3 Mrd.
Österreich > BIP 2000 > 190,3 Mrd.
Ford > UMSATZ 2000 > 180,6 Mrd.
Polen > BIP 2000 > 160,8 Mrd.
General Motors > UMSATZ 2000 > 184,6 Mrd.
Dänemark > BIP 2000 > 162,3 Mrd.
Daimler/Chrysler > UMSATZ 2000 > 150,1
Indonesien > BIP 2000 > 153,7 Mrd.
Alle Angaben in Dollar
Quelle: Der Spiegel Nr. 30 23-07-01
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Jüngst bekannte der deutsche IWF-Chef Horst Köhler, „die extremen Ungleichgewichte in der Verteilung der Wohlfahrtsgewinne werden mehr und mehr zu einer Bedrohung der politischen und sozialen Stabilität“.
„Die Finanzmärkte bergen die Gefahr selbstzerstörischer Entwicklungen, deshalb brauche das globale Casino auch mehr Kontrolle“, so der Finanzprofi George Soros.
Eine generelle Steuer auf sämtliche Devisengeschäfte, die sogenannte Tobin-Steuer, soll Sand ins Getriebe der Devisenspekulanten streuen.
BEISPIEL: STEUERFLUCHT IN STEUEROASEN!
Steueroasen wie die britischen Cayman-Inseln, die Niederländischen Antillen oder Liechtenstein geraten zusehends zu einem schwarzen Loch der Weltwirtschaft, in den nach Schätzungen des internationalen Währungsfonds (IWF) private Vermögen im Umfang von über fünf Billiarden Dollar gebucht sind, um die Erträge steuerfrei kassieren zu können. Allein den deutschen Fiskus entgehen so mindestens zwölf Milliarden Mark jährlich, so der SPIEGEL in seiner jüngsten Ausgabe. Weil die Regierungen nicht motiviert sind, gegen diese Steuerschlupflöcher wirksam vorzugehen, werden die Privilegien der Reichen weiterhin unangetastet bleiben. Der ehrliche Steuerzahler ist mal wieder der Gelackmeierte.
Die nationalen Regierungen können die Steuerpolitik nicht mehr effektiv nutzen. Längst sind sie in einen weltweiten Steuersenkungswettlauf für Unternehmen und Kapitalbesitzer verstrickt. Laut SPIEGEL zahlten Kapitalgesellschaften in der EU 40 Prozent weniger Steuern als ein Jahrzehnt zuvor.
Rechtlose Arbeitssklaven
So sind etwa gewerkschaftliche Rechte bis heute keineswegs globalisiert. Anders als in den Handelsregeln der WTO werden Verstöße gegen die geltenden Uno-Konventionen zur Gewerkschaftsfreiheit oder zum Verbot von Kinderarbeit nicht mit Sanktionen geahndet. Darum beteiligen sich in den USA viele tausend Aktivisten an Kampagnen gegen die schrankenlose Ausbeutung in den Textilfabriken Mexikos, Nicaraguas und Indonesiens, wo Näherinnen für ein paar Cent pro Stunde teure Markenjeans produzieren, aber jeder Versuch einer Selbstorganisation mit Gewalt unterdrückt wird.
Quelle: DER SPIEGEL Nr. 30 (23-07-01)
Capoon
@all
weitere Beispiele von „ Globalisierung " und TNCs ( Transnational Corporations )
Kein halbwegs intelligenter Mensch, ob politisch - links, mittig, rechts, oben od. unten kann diesem aus dem „ Ruder " gelaufenen „ Globalisierungs-Mechanismus " seelenruhig zuschauen. Hier geht es um unser aller Zukunft u. die Zukunft unserer Folgegenerationen.
Es darf nicht sein, dass wenige „ Finanz-Powereliten " sich anmassen, das Leben / die Lebensart etc. der restl. Welt-Bevölkerung in „ Art und Manier unantastbarer Diktatoren " gestalten zu dürfen. Dass es soweit gekommen ist, kann man m. E. der „ unheiligen Allianz " aus Politik, Medien und Wirtschaft zuschreiben, einschl. der „ Dummheit " noch v. einigen wenigen ehrlichen Politikern.
Selbst überzeugte Kapitalisten wie mich, läßt diese Art von „ New World Order " erschaudern !
Wann ist es endlich so weit, dass politische Ämter nicht gleichzeitig in Vorständen von Banken, Großindustrie
Versicherungen etc. zu finden sind. Das wäre sinnigerweise eine „ allererste " logische Forderung, die wirklich demokratische Kräfte auf die Tagesordnung setzen müssten - und zwar schnellstens u. unnachgiebig !
Ein deutsches Beispiel - Pharrma-Industrie / Kartell. Selbst Frau Fischer + Nachfolge bissen/beissen sich hierzulande schlicht die Zähne aus.
- - -
THE MONSANTO MACHINE
---------------------------
Is Monsanto sowing the seeds of change or destruction?
by Jennifer Kahn
THIS LETTER, SENT BY the agrochemical company Monsanto to 30,000 farmers to warn them that saving and replanting seeds from genetically engineered crops constitute "piracy", appears to be the act of a company on the defensive. But, in truth, it’s a display of corporate sovereignty, Monsanto’s way of staking the flag of empire upon the land.
Thanks to advances in transgenics — inserting a gene from one species into an unrelated organism’s DNA — seeds are now considered "intellectual property". According to the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), more than one third of the world’s commercial-seed sales are controlled by a handful of corporations. Among them, Monsanto — the world’s third-largest agochemical and second-largest seed company — is the most aggressive.
Monsanto, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in genomics R&D, insists that farmers who save and replant "self-reproducing" transgenic seeds are engaging in copyright infringement. The company requires US farmers to sign a contract forbidding them to save seed; any farmers subsequently caught will have to pay royalties and have their farms inspected for five years.
The planting methods associated with monoculture biotech crops tend to increase susceptibility to weeds and the need for herbicide, which not only threatens the environment but can have the unintended effect of killing the crop plants.
Monsanto, however, has turned this drawback of the green revolution into a distinct advantage. After a twelve-year search, Monsanto found a bacterium containing a gene immune to the company’s herbicide Roundup. By introducing this gene into its seeds, Monsanto created crops immune to its own herbicide, ensuring demand for both products.
Today, Roundup and Roundup Ready seeds account for at least a fifth of Monsanto’s $8.5 billion annual sales, and the market is growing: in 1996, only 1 million acres of Roundup Ready soy were planted; this year at least half of the US’s 70-million-acre soybean crop will be Roundup Ready.
To the price of each bag of soy, Monsanto adds a $6.50 "technology fee", which will earn the company almost $300 million in soy royalties next year — provided it keeps suing seed-saving farmers.
MONSANTO LIKES TO bill itself as the answer to farmers’ problems and the solution to the world’s food crisis.
Although transgenic crop seeds can cost as much as $32 more per bag than old-fashioned varieties, US farmers have proved willing customers as long as the seeds result in higher yields or reduce the need for expensive pesticides and fertilizers. Monsanto’s Bollgard cotton, YieldGard corn and NewLeaf potatoes are engineered to be insect-resistant. And this is only the first wave. In 1997 alone, there were 10,500 patent applications for biotechnology traits.
Notable biologists worry that the lack of crop diversity associated with corporate farming combined with transgenic advances could result in a reprise of the Irish potato famine or the US corn blight of the 1970s. Monsanto calls such fears "fantasies", but some of its crops have already faced significant problems. In 1996, the company had to recall 60,000 bags of canola seeds that contained an unapproved gene. In 1998, Monsanto had to settle with Mississippi farmers whose Roundup Ready cotton crop suffered from deformed bolls and bolls that fell off early.
A 1998 Nature study found that transgenic traits were twenty times more likely to "flow" to other plants by cross-pollination, which could result in the evolution of weeds that can resist herbicide. Similarly, bugs feeding on the insect-resistant corn, cotton and potatoes — which Monsanto created by splicing a gene from a pest-killing bacterium (Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, normally sprayed over crops) into seeds — could survive and breed progeny resistant to the pesticide, much like the multi-antibiotic-resistant bacteria that plague hospitals.
Just as Monsanto’s products lead to agricultural homogeneity, the company’s policies encourage farmers to act in lockstep — the so-called level playing field referred to in the letter. In 1996, when Monsanto hired five full-time inspectors to hunt down seed pirates, farmers and seed distributors lined up to turn in their competitors and former customers.
"Farmers are being turned into criminals and rural communities are becoming corporate police states," noted Hope Shand of RAFI. "We call it bioserfdom." Thus far, Monsanto has investigated at least 500 farmers but won’t disclose the amount of back royalties it has recovered, which it donates to agricultural college scholarship funds.
Between 1996 and 1997, Monsanto’s sales of agricultural products increased twenty-two per cent, largely due to a boom in Roundup sales, especially in the US, Brazil and Argentina. Monsanto attributes this increase to several factors, only one of which is the advent of Roundup Ready seeds. Company studies show that Roundup Ready crops require less herbicide, because farmers can wait to see where weeds develop before spraying. But, given the magic bullet of herbicide-resistance, farmers might instead spray more liberally, eliminating weeds that they might otherwise tolerate for fear of damaging their crops. In any case, Roundup Ready seeds are critical to Monsanto’s long-term herbicide sales.
The patents protecting glyphosate (Roundup’s active ingredient) expired in various countries in 1991 and will expire in the US in 2000. No patent? No problem! Monsanto requires farmers using Roundup Ready seeds and a glyphosate-based herbicide to sign a contract promising to use only Roundup.
Monsanto once manufactured virtually all the world’s PCBs — as well as Agent Orange. But, these days, "life sciences" are more profitable than chemical weapons, so, in 1997, Monsanto spun off its chemical division and has, since 1996, spent $6 billion acquiring seed companies like Cargill International Seed ($1.4 billion) and DeKalb Genetics ($2.3 billion).
Monsanto’s headquarters is in St. Louis, but the real locus of its power is in Washington, DC, where a revolving door exists between Monsanto’s forty-two lobbyists and us regulatory agencies. In 1992, when the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) wrote its policy on transgenic foods, it ruled that consumer labelling and safety testing were not needed unless the genetic modification altered the nutritional content or posed a known health risk. The policy was written by an FDA deputy commissioner who had worked for Monsanto for seven years, and who does so again. In 1994, when Monsanto introduced Bovine Growth Hormone, the FDA warned retailers not to label milk as being RBGH-free. Studies dispute whether there is a link between RBGH milk and cancer, but Dr. Samuel Epstein of the University of Illinois School of Public Health notes that "with the complicity of the FDA, the entire nation is currently being subjected to an experiment involving large-scale adulteration of an age-old dietary staple."
Last year, Monsanto (whose board includes former us Trade Representative Mickey Kantor) pressured the US to threaten to cancel a trade agreement with New Zealand when the country said it would test and label transgenic food; direct pressure from Clinton, Gore and four cabinet members also persuaded France to import Monsanto’s corn. The US plans to petition the World Trade Organization if Europe introduces a compulsory labelling system, saying it constitutes a non-tariff trade barrier. Monsanto hired Clinton pollster Stan Greenberg and launched a $1.6 million advertising campaign entitled "Let the Harvest Begin" to convince Europeans that it will solve the world’s food crisis. A UN African delegation called the advertisements "totally distorting and misleading", and The Ecologist devoted an issue to Monsanto. The magazine’s printer, however, shredded the print run, fearing that the notoriously litigious company would sue for libel.
As seed sales expand beyond US borders, it will be impossible for Monsanto to guard its patents by making spot inspections of fields. So it has found the ultimate protection by moving to acquire Delta & Pine Land, which, along with the USDA, holds the US patent on "Terminator Technology", a genetic alteration that causes seeds to die after a single season. Biologists worry that were Terminator-type modifications to "flow", non-transgenic varieties of corn, soy, wheat and rice could eventually become sterile, affording companies like Monsanto the ultimate monopoly.
*
HJL
weitere Beispiele von „ Globalisierung " und TNCs ( Transnational Corporations )
Kein halbwegs intelligenter Mensch, ob politisch - links, mittig, rechts, oben od. unten kann diesem aus dem „ Ruder " gelaufenen „ Globalisierungs-Mechanismus " seelenruhig zuschauen. Hier geht es um unser aller Zukunft u. die Zukunft unserer Folgegenerationen.
Es darf nicht sein, dass wenige „ Finanz-Powereliten " sich anmassen, das Leben / die Lebensart etc. der restl. Welt-Bevölkerung in „ Art und Manier unantastbarer Diktatoren " gestalten zu dürfen. Dass es soweit gekommen ist, kann man m. E. der „ unheiligen Allianz " aus Politik, Medien und Wirtschaft zuschreiben, einschl. der „ Dummheit " noch v. einigen wenigen ehrlichen Politikern.
Selbst überzeugte Kapitalisten wie mich, läßt diese Art von „ New World Order " erschaudern !
Wann ist es endlich so weit, dass politische Ämter nicht gleichzeitig in Vorständen von Banken, Großindustrie
Versicherungen etc. zu finden sind. Das wäre sinnigerweise eine „ allererste " logische Forderung, die wirklich demokratische Kräfte auf die Tagesordnung setzen müssten - und zwar schnellstens u. unnachgiebig !
Ein deutsches Beispiel - Pharrma-Industrie / Kartell. Selbst Frau Fischer + Nachfolge bissen/beissen sich hierzulande schlicht die Zähne aus.
- - -
THE MONSANTO MACHINE
---------------------------
Is Monsanto sowing the seeds of change or destruction?
by Jennifer Kahn
THIS LETTER, SENT BY the agrochemical company Monsanto to 30,000 farmers to warn them that saving and replanting seeds from genetically engineered crops constitute "piracy", appears to be the act of a company on the defensive. But, in truth, it’s a display of corporate sovereignty, Monsanto’s way of staking the flag of empire upon the land.
Thanks to advances in transgenics — inserting a gene from one species into an unrelated organism’s DNA — seeds are now considered "intellectual property". According to the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), more than one third of the world’s commercial-seed sales are controlled by a handful of corporations. Among them, Monsanto — the world’s third-largest agochemical and second-largest seed company — is the most aggressive.
Monsanto, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in genomics R&D, insists that farmers who save and replant "self-reproducing" transgenic seeds are engaging in copyright infringement. The company requires US farmers to sign a contract forbidding them to save seed; any farmers subsequently caught will have to pay royalties and have their farms inspected for five years.
The planting methods associated with monoculture biotech crops tend to increase susceptibility to weeds and the need for herbicide, which not only threatens the environment but can have the unintended effect of killing the crop plants.
Monsanto, however, has turned this drawback of the green revolution into a distinct advantage. After a twelve-year search, Monsanto found a bacterium containing a gene immune to the company’s herbicide Roundup. By introducing this gene into its seeds, Monsanto created crops immune to its own herbicide, ensuring demand for both products.
Today, Roundup and Roundup Ready seeds account for at least a fifth of Monsanto’s $8.5 billion annual sales, and the market is growing: in 1996, only 1 million acres of Roundup Ready soy were planted; this year at least half of the US’s 70-million-acre soybean crop will be Roundup Ready.
To the price of each bag of soy, Monsanto adds a $6.50 "technology fee", which will earn the company almost $300 million in soy royalties next year — provided it keeps suing seed-saving farmers.
MONSANTO LIKES TO bill itself as the answer to farmers’ problems and the solution to the world’s food crisis.
Although transgenic crop seeds can cost as much as $32 more per bag than old-fashioned varieties, US farmers have proved willing customers as long as the seeds result in higher yields or reduce the need for expensive pesticides and fertilizers. Monsanto’s Bollgard cotton, YieldGard corn and NewLeaf potatoes are engineered to be insect-resistant. And this is only the first wave. In 1997 alone, there were 10,500 patent applications for biotechnology traits.
Notable biologists worry that the lack of crop diversity associated with corporate farming combined with transgenic advances could result in a reprise of the Irish potato famine or the US corn blight of the 1970s. Monsanto calls such fears "fantasies", but some of its crops have already faced significant problems. In 1996, the company had to recall 60,000 bags of canola seeds that contained an unapproved gene. In 1998, Monsanto had to settle with Mississippi farmers whose Roundup Ready cotton crop suffered from deformed bolls and bolls that fell off early.
A 1998 Nature study found that transgenic traits were twenty times more likely to "flow" to other plants by cross-pollination, which could result in the evolution of weeds that can resist herbicide. Similarly, bugs feeding on the insect-resistant corn, cotton and potatoes — which Monsanto created by splicing a gene from a pest-killing bacterium (Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, normally sprayed over crops) into seeds — could survive and breed progeny resistant to the pesticide, much like the multi-antibiotic-resistant bacteria that plague hospitals.
Just as Monsanto’s products lead to agricultural homogeneity, the company’s policies encourage farmers to act in lockstep — the so-called level playing field referred to in the letter. In 1996, when Monsanto hired five full-time inspectors to hunt down seed pirates, farmers and seed distributors lined up to turn in their competitors and former customers.
"Farmers are being turned into criminals and rural communities are becoming corporate police states," noted Hope Shand of RAFI. "We call it bioserfdom." Thus far, Monsanto has investigated at least 500 farmers but won’t disclose the amount of back royalties it has recovered, which it donates to agricultural college scholarship funds.
Between 1996 and 1997, Monsanto’s sales of agricultural products increased twenty-two per cent, largely due to a boom in Roundup sales, especially in the US, Brazil and Argentina. Monsanto attributes this increase to several factors, only one of which is the advent of Roundup Ready seeds. Company studies show that Roundup Ready crops require less herbicide, because farmers can wait to see where weeds develop before spraying. But, given the magic bullet of herbicide-resistance, farmers might instead spray more liberally, eliminating weeds that they might otherwise tolerate for fear of damaging their crops. In any case, Roundup Ready seeds are critical to Monsanto’s long-term herbicide sales.
The patents protecting glyphosate (Roundup’s active ingredient) expired in various countries in 1991 and will expire in the US in 2000. No patent? No problem! Monsanto requires farmers using Roundup Ready seeds and a glyphosate-based herbicide to sign a contract promising to use only Roundup.
Monsanto once manufactured virtually all the world’s PCBs — as well as Agent Orange. But, these days, "life sciences" are more profitable than chemical weapons, so, in 1997, Monsanto spun off its chemical division and has, since 1996, spent $6 billion acquiring seed companies like Cargill International Seed ($1.4 billion) and DeKalb Genetics ($2.3 billion).
Monsanto’s headquarters is in St. Louis, but the real locus of its power is in Washington, DC, where a revolving door exists between Monsanto’s forty-two lobbyists and us regulatory agencies. In 1992, when the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) wrote its policy on transgenic foods, it ruled that consumer labelling and safety testing were not needed unless the genetic modification altered the nutritional content or posed a known health risk. The policy was written by an FDA deputy commissioner who had worked for Monsanto for seven years, and who does so again. In 1994, when Monsanto introduced Bovine Growth Hormone, the FDA warned retailers not to label milk as being RBGH-free. Studies dispute whether there is a link between RBGH milk and cancer, but Dr. Samuel Epstein of the University of Illinois School of Public Health notes that "with the complicity of the FDA, the entire nation is currently being subjected to an experiment involving large-scale adulteration of an age-old dietary staple."
Last year, Monsanto (whose board includes former us Trade Representative Mickey Kantor) pressured the US to threaten to cancel a trade agreement with New Zealand when the country said it would test and label transgenic food; direct pressure from Clinton, Gore and four cabinet members also persuaded France to import Monsanto’s corn. The US plans to petition the World Trade Organization if Europe introduces a compulsory labelling system, saying it constitutes a non-tariff trade barrier. Monsanto hired Clinton pollster Stan Greenberg and launched a $1.6 million advertising campaign entitled "Let the Harvest Begin" to convince Europeans that it will solve the world’s food crisis. A UN African delegation called the advertisements "totally distorting and misleading", and The Ecologist devoted an issue to Monsanto. The magazine’s printer, however, shredded the print run, fearing that the notoriously litigious company would sue for libel.
As seed sales expand beyond US borders, it will be impossible for Monsanto to guard its patents by making spot inspections of fields. So it has found the ultimate protection by moving to acquire Delta & Pine Land, which, along with the USDA, holds the US patent on "Terminator Technology", a genetic alteration that causes seeds to die after a single season. Biologists worry that were Terminator-type modifications to "flow", non-transgenic varieties of corn, soy, wheat and rice could eventually become sterile, affording companies like Monsanto the ultimate monopoly.
*
HJL
Bei allem Verständnis und Respekt vor dem Engagement: wer soll das alles lesen?
Gruß,
Marc Aurel
Gruß,
Marc Aurel
@Marc Aurel
Exakt ! Ich bin mir der Problematik sehr wohl bewusst -
- das ist die eine Seite des Problem`s.
Die andere dürfte die mangelnden English-Kenntnisse vieler Boardteilnehmern sein, die jenseits ihrer Schulkenntnise sind ( Schule schon x+ Jahre u. länger her ).
Stundenlang ein Dictionary wälzen ... ?!
Leider kann man nicht nur kurze Stichpunkte so hinstellen - sie würden sonst aus dem Kontext gerissen.
Ich habe aber Hoffnung, dass der ein oder andere Boardteilnehmer Stichpunkte aufgreift und sie dann in einem eigenen Posting " in Deutscher Sprache " wiedereröffnet.
Besser ein grammatikalisch schlecht übersetzter Text, als keine Information - also alle sind herzlichst eingeladen hier mitzuwirken. Von den " ernsthaft " an der Problematik interessierten Leuten wird keiner auf die Idee kommen, sich schulmeisterhaft " aufspielen " zu wollen. Dazu gibt es genügend andere unausgegorene " Kindergarten-Threads "
Leider sind internationale Ressourcen überwiegend nur in Englisch verfügbar. Und Deutschland ist u. war ja noch nie ein Ort " freier Geister ", d.h. Quellen sind sehr rar !
Ich selbst muss mir die Zeit " zwischendurch " stehlen, um das, was ich spätabends od. auch nachts aus der " Global Village " hole, hier reinstellen zu können. Noch die Zeit für Übersetzungen aufbringen zu können, wäre zwar wünschenswert, leider in meinem Fall aber illusorisch.
Wie immer gilt folglich auch hier die bittere Wahrheit - ohne Englisch, keine Information.
Gruss
HJL
Exakt ! Ich bin mir der Problematik sehr wohl bewusst -
- das ist die eine Seite des Problem`s.
Die andere dürfte die mangelnden English-Kenntnisse vieler Boardteilnehmern sein, die jenseits ihrer Schulkenntnise sind ( Schule schon x+ Jahre u. länger her ).
Stundenlang ein Dictionary wälzen ... ?!
Leider kann man nicht nur kurze Stichpunkte so hinstellen - sie würden sonst aus dem Kontext gerissen.
Ich habe aber Hoffnung, dass der ein oder andere Boardteilnehmer Stichpunkte aufgreift und sie dann in einem eigenen Posting " in Deutscher Sprache " wiedereröffnet.
Besser ein grammatikalisch schlecht übersetzter Text, als keine Information - also alle sind herzlichst eingeladen hier mitzuwirken. Von den " ernsthaft " an der Problematik interessierten Leuten wird keiner auf die Idee kommen, sich schulmeisterhaft " aufspielen " zu wollen. Dazu gibt es genügend andere unausgegorene " Kindergarten-Threads "
Leider sind internationale Ressourcen überwiegend nur in Englisch verfügbar. Und Deutschland ist u. war ja noch nie ein Ort " freier Geister ", d.h. Quellen sind sehr rar !
Ich selbst muss mir die Zeit " zwischendurch " stehlen, um das, was ich spätabends od. auch nachts aus der " Global Village " hole, hier reinstellen zu können. Noch die Zeit für Übersetzungen aufbringen zu können, wäre zwar wünschenswert, leider in meinem Fall aber illusorisch.
Wie immer gilt folglich auch hier die bittere Wahrheit - ohne Englisch, keine Information.
Gruss
HJL
sehr interessanter thread, endlich mal was informatives zur globalisierung!
Jaja, das hammer doch alles vor 20 Jahren schon diskutiert, dann sind wir Aktionäre geworden und dann haben wir plötzlich darauf gesetzt, daß unsere Firma, an der wir partizipieren, expandiert und Stellen abbaut und geringere Löhne zahlt und so wird es euch eines Tages auch gehen und so werdet ihr eines Tages auch denken, todsicher, bei allem Respekt vor euren Bemühungen.
@Kampfhund
Bemerkenswert wie Sie schon vor 20 J. ( 1981 )über diese Problematik nachgedacht haben, wo doch die WTO meines Wissens erst 1995 als Ableger aus d. Taufe gehoben worden ist, mit all ihren dann stark beschleunigten negativen Globalisierungs-Folgen.
Ohne Schande gestehe ich Ihnen, dass ich politisch selbst 1995 " weit " davon entfernt war, zu wissen, dass die " Hintermänner " dieser Organisation z.B. die " Bilderberger " und CFR ( Counsel f. Foreign Relations )- Grössen sind.
Dafür hatte ich allerdings auf dem techn. Sektor meines Berufes wiederum einen " himmelweiten Vorsprung ". Alles zur gleichen Zeit kann man offensichtlich nicht erreichen - schon gar nicht, wenn man nicht mit d. Nase direkt in diesen " Sumpf " hineingetaucht wird.
Meine erklärte Absicht ist es, vielen jüngeren Menschen, denen es heute geht, wie mir 1995 ging, die Hintergründe dieser " dreckigen " Politik aufzuzeigen - zu informieren.
Nicht mehr, aber auch nicht weniger.
Und Unterstellungen, wie sich die Leute " entwickeln " abzugeben, welche Ansichten sie haben werden ... ,das ist m. E. nicht nur vermessen - das überlasse ich jedem Einzelnen selbst.
Nichtsdestoweniger, ich würde sie bitten, wenn Sie schon vor 20 Jahren so viel gewusst haben, wie Sie heute vorgeben, dann lassen Sie uns doch einfach an Ihrem Wissen teilhaben. Fakten interessieren uns allemal !
Es ist schon schwer genug " sachlich " halbwegs in der Lage zu sein, das heutige Material " aufzuarbeiten ". Also als richtiger " Kampfhund " in diesem Sinne, sind Sie mir sehr willkommen und ich nehme an, auch den anderen interessierten Leuten.
Gruss
HJL
@all
Einladung an alle " sachlichen " Leute steht !
Bemerkenswert wie Sie schon vor 20 J. ( 1981 )über diese Problematik nachgedacht haben, wo doch die WTO meines Wissens erst 1995 als Ableger aus d. Taufe gehoben worden ist, mit all ihren dann stark beschleunigten negativen Globalisierungs-Folgen.
Ohne Schande gestehe ich Ihnen, dass ich politisch selbst 1995 " weit " davon entfernt war, zu wissen, dass die " Hintermänner " dieser Organisation z.B. die " Bilderberger " und CFR ( Counsel f. Foreign Relations )- Grössen sind.
Dafür hatte ich allerdings auf dem techn. Sektor meines Berufes wiederum einen " himmelweiten Vorsprung ". Alles zur gleichen Zeit kann man offensichtlich nicht erreichen - schon gar nicht, wenn man nicht mit d. Nase direkt in diesen " Sumpf " hineingetaucht wird.
Meine erklärte Absicht ist es, vielen jüngeren Menschen, denen es heute geht, wie mir 1995 ging, die Hintergründe dieser " dreckigen " Politik aufzuzeigen - zu informieren.
Nicht mehr, aber auch nicht weniger.
Und Unterstellungen, wie sich die Leute " entwickeln " abzugeben, welche Ansichten sie haben werden ... ,das ist m. E. nicht nur vermessen - das überlasse ich jedem Einzelnen selbst.
Nichtsdestoweniger, ich würde sie bitten, wenn Sie schon vor 20 Jahren so viel gewusst haben, wie Sie heute vorgeben, dann lassen Sie uns doch einfach an Ihrem Wissen teilhaben. Fakten interessieren uns allemal !
Es ist schon schwer genug " sachlich " halbwegs in der Lage zu sein, das heutige Material " aufzuarbeiten ". Also als richtiger " Kampfhund " in diesem Sinne, sind Sie mir sehr willkommen und ich nehme an, auch den anderen interessierten Leuten.
Gruss
HJL
@all
Einladung an alle " sachlichen " Leute steht !
Hat hier schon mal jemand daran gedacht, dass wir Verbraucher alles immer biliger haben wollen und wir so unseren Teil zur Globalisierung beitragen? Und das geschimpfe von George Soros ist ja wohl das letzte! Wann ist ihm den eingefallen, dass die Welt schlecht ist? Als er mal wieder eine millarde in den Sand gesetzt hatte. In der Russlandkriese 1998, die er ausgelöst hat mit seiner bemerkung über den zu teuren Rubel. Als er die Bank von England gesprengt hat, war dass system doch ok oder ist das System nur schlecht,wenn George Soros Geld verliert?
n8
Neonjaeger
n8
Neonjaeger
@Neonjaeger
Icg bin mir absolut sicher, dass eine ganze Menge Menschen sich Gedanken über ihre Nahrung macht. Auch, dass diese immer " billiger " werden muss, damit die " kleinen Leute " bis zum Monatsende ihre Familien " versorgen " können.
Nur, auf der anderen Seite bin ich mir ebenso sicher, dass viele gar nicht informiert sind, welchen " Kuhhandel " sie damit eingehen. Wer weiß schon aus den deutschen Medien, was die Pharma-/Chemie-TNCs " zusammenbrauen " und uns allen dann in den " attraktivsten " Gaumenschmaus-Farben als gesunde Ernährung verkaufen.
Stichwort : Labelling d. Nahrung ( Inhaltsstoffe )
Noch nicht einmal hier hat d. Verbraucher eine ehrliche, umfassende Information.
Dass der Verbraucher kritisch ist, hat sicher der BSE -Skandal, die Schweinepest etc. gezeigt. Also, dass wir alle bereit sind " ungesunden Dreck " zu " fressen " - ich glaube das ist eindeutig widerlegt.
Dass Arme immer ärmer werden, sich keine " BIO-Kost " leisten können - ich glaube da gibt es Beispiele genug. Man muss nur die Augen aufmachen wollen. Familien, Alleinerziehende, Arbeitslose, Menschen m. Einkommen am Limit ... - Folgen dieser unseligen " zügellosen " Globalisierung. Aber dies hat unsere " Politik " zu verantworten - nicht nur d. jetzigen " Selbstbediener ". Man sollten diesen " Damen u. Herren " zuvörderst ihre Politik angedeihen lassen und sie auch d. " Globalisierung " unterstellen. Mal sehen, wie weit dies dann noch gehen würde. Sie müßten dann wohl " Diäten " halten, als nur " Diäten " obendrauf einzusacken.
- - -
Was nun SOROS anbelangt, ich stelle Ihnen hiermit mal die Mitgliederliste " S " - BB f.( Bilderberger ) CFR f. ( Counsel Foreign Relations ) rein. Den Rest überlasse ich Ihnen !
S
3383. SABA SHOICHI,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3384. SABBAGH SANA H,CFR `85,,,
3385. SACHS JEFFREY D,CFR `92,,,
3386. SACKS PAUL M,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3387. SADIK NAFIS,1988,,,
3388. SADOWSKI YAHYA M,CFR `87,,,TC `92
3389. SAEKI KIICHI,CFR `92,,,
3390. SAFRAN NADAV,CFR `92,,,
3391. SAGAN CARL E,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt , 1990 a rpt
3392. SAGAN SCOTT D,CFR `85,,,
3393. SAGE MILDRED D,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3394. SAHLIYEH EMILE F,CFR `92,,,
3395. SAID EDWARD W,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3396. SAIKAL AMIN,,,,TC `92
3397. SAITO YUTAKA,,,,TC `92
3398. SAJI KEIZO,CFR `92,,,
3399. SAKOIAN CAROL,CFR `92,,,
3400. SALACUSE JESWALD W,1988,,,
3401. SALCIDO PABLO,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3402. SALGUEIRO JOAO,CFR `92,,,
3403. SALISBURY HARRISON E,CFR `92,,,
3404. SALK JONAS,CFR `92,,,
3405. SALOMON RICHARD E,CFR `92,,,
3406. SALOMON WILLIAM R,CFR `85, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3407. SALTZMAN CHARLES E,CFR `85,,,
3408. SALZMAN HERBERT,CFR `92,,,
3409. SAMPLE STEVEN B,CFR `92,,,
3410. SAMUEL HOWARD D,CFR `92,,,
3411. SAMUELS BARBARA C,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3412. SAMUELS MICHAEL A,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3413. SAMUELS NATHANIEL,CFR `92,,,
3414. SAMUELS RICHARD J,CFR `92,,,
3415. SANCHEZ NESTOR D,CFR `92,,,
3416. SANDERS EDWARD G,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3417. SANDERS JONATHAN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3418. SANFORD CHARLES STEADMAN JR,CFR `92,,,
3419. SANFORD TERRY D-NC,CFR `92,,,
3420. SANTOS MIRIAM,CFR `92,,,
3421. SAPIRO MIRIAM,,,,TC `92
3422. SARASQUETA ANTXON,CFR `92,,,
3423. SARRO DALE M,CFR `92,,,
3424. SATO KUMI,, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3425. SATO SEIZABURO,CFR `92,,,
3426. SAUL RALPH S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3427. SAUNDERS HAROLD HENRY HAL,CFR `92,,,
3428. SAVAGE FRANK,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3429. SAVIMBI JONAS MALHEIRO,,,,TC `92
3430. SAVONA PAOLO,CFR `92,,,
3431. SAWHILL JOHN C,CFR `92,, 1990 annual rpt ,
3432. SAWYER DIANE,CFR `92,,,
3433. SAWYER JOHN EDWARD,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3434. SAWYLER STEPHEN K,CFR `84,,,
3435. SAYLOR LYNNE S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3436. SCALAPINO ROBERT A,CFR `92,,,
3437. SCALI JOHN A,CFR `92,,,
3438. SCHACHT HENRY BREWER,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3439. SCHACHTER OSCAR,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3440. SCHAETZEL J ROBERT,CFR `85,,,
3441. SCHAFER JOHN H,CFR `92,,,
3442. SCHAFFER HOWARD B,CFR `92,,,
3443. SCHAKE KORI NAOMI,CFR `85,,,
3444. SCHALLERT EDWIN G,CFR `92,,,
3445. SCHAUFELE WILLIAM E JR,CFR `92,,,
3446. SCHECTER JERROLD L,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3447. SCHEFFER DAVID J,CFR `92,,,
3448. SCHEINMAN LAWRENCE,CFR `85,,,
3449. SCHELL ORVILLE H,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3450. SCHERPENHUIJSEN ROM WILLEM E,CFR `92,,,
3451. SCHIFF FRANK W,CFR `85,,,
3452. SCHIFF JOHN M,CFR `92,,,
3453. SCHILLING WARNER R,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3454. SCHLEIMANN JOERGEN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3455. SCHLESINGER ARTHUR MEIER JR,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3456. SCHLESINGER JAMES RODNEY,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3457. SCHLESINGER HELMUT,CFR `92,,,
3458. SCHLOSSER HERBERT S,CFR `92,,,
3459. SCHMERTZ HERBERT,CFR `92,,,
3460. SCHMIDT BENNO C JR,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3461. SCHMIDT HELMUT,,,,TC `92
3462. SCHMITZ RONALDO,CFR `92,,,
3463. SCHMOKE KURT L,CFR `85,,,
3464. SCHMOKER JOHN B,CFR `92,,,
3465. SCHMULTS EDWARD C,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3466. SCHNAKE ERIC,CFR `92,,,
3467. SCHNEIDER JAN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3468. SCHNEIDER WILLIAM JR,CFR `92,,,
3469. SCHNEIER ARTHUR,CFR `85,,,
3470. SCHOEN DOUGLAS,CFR `92,,,
3471. SCHOENBAUM THOMAS JOHN,CFR `92,,,
3472. SCHOETTLE ENID C.B.,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3473. SCHORR DANIEL L,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt
3474. SCHOTT JEFFREY J,CFR `92,
3475. SCHREYER WILLIAM A,CFR `92,
3476. SCHROEDER PATRICIA D-CO,CFR `92,
3477. SCHUBERT RICHARD F,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3478. SCHUH G EDWARD,CFR `92,
3479. SCHULHOF MICHAEL P,1990,
3480. SCHULTZ FREDERICK H,, 1988 annual rpt
3481. SCHUMANN JOHN,CFR `92,
3482. SCHUYLER CORTLANDT VAN RENSSELAER,CFR `92,
3483. SCHWAB SUSAN C,CFR `92,
3484. SCHWAB WILLIAM B,CFR `85,
3485. SCHWARTZ DAVID N,CFR `92,
3486. SCHWARTZ ERIC PAUL,CFR `92,
3487. SCHWARTZ HARRY H,1988,
3488. SCHWARTZ NORTON A,CFR `92,,,
3489. SCHWARTZ THOMAS ALAN,,,,TC `92
3490. SCHWARTZ PEDRO,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3491. SCHWARZ FREDERICK A.O. JR,CFR `92,,,
3492. SCHWARZER WILLIAM W,CFR `92,,,
3493. SCHWARZMAN STEPHEN A,CFR `92,,,
3494. SCHWEBEL STEPHEN M,CFR `92,,,
3495. SCIOLINO ELAINE F,CFR `85,,,
3496. SCOTT HAROLD B,CFR `84,,,
3497. SCOTT STUART NASH,CFR `85,,,
3498. SCOVILLE HERBERT JR PETE,CFR `92, 1988 a rpt TC 92
3499. SCOWCROFT BRENT,CFR `92,,,
3500. SCRANTON WILLIAM W,CFR `85,,,
3501. SCRIMSHAW NEVIN S,CFR `92,,,
3502. SEABORG GLENN T,CFR `85,,,
3503. SEABURY PAUL,CFR `92,,,
3504. SEAGRAVE NORMAN P,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3505. SEALE PATRICK,CFR `92,,,
3506. SEAMANS ROBERT C JR,CFR `85,,,
3507. SEBENIUS JAMES K,CFR `92,,,
3508. SEELY CAROLYN T,CFR `92,,,
3509. SEGAL SHELDON J,CFR `92,,,
3510. SEGAL SUSAN L,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3511. SEGAL DAVID R,,,,TC `92
3512. SEGURADO JOSE ANTONIO,CFR `92,,,
3513. SEIB GERALD,CFR `92,,,
3514. SEIBOLD FREDERICK C JR,CFR `92,,,
3515. SEIDMAN HERTA LANDE,CFR `92,,,
3516. SEIGENTHALER JOHN L,CFR `92,,,
3517. SEIGLE JOHN W,CFR `92,,,
3518. SEIGNIOUS GEORGE M,CFR `92,,,
3519. SEITZ FREDERICK,1988,,,
3520. SELBY NORMAN C,CFR `92,,,
3521. SELIN IVAN,CFR `92,,,
3522. SEMPLE ROBERT B JR,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3523. SERFATY SIMON,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3524. SESTANOVICH STEPHEN R,CFR `92,,,
3525. SETEAR JOHN K,CFR `92,,,
3526. SEWALL JOHN O.B.,CFR `92,,,
3527. SEWALL SARAH BULKELEY,CFR `92,,,
3528. SEWELL JOHN W,CFR `92,,,
3529. SEXTON WILLIAM C,CFR `92,,,
3530. SHAFER D MICHAEL,CFR `85,,,
3531. SHAFER RAYMOND PHILIP,CFR `92,,,
3532. SHAFFER GAIL S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3533. SHALALA DONNA E,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3534. SHAMIR YITZHAK,,,,TC `92
3535. SHANKER ALBERT,CFR `85,,,
3536. SHANNON JAMES M,CFR `92,,
3537. SHAPIRO ELI CFR,CFR `85,,
3538. SHAPIRO GEORGE M,CFR `92,,
3539. SHAPIRO HAROLD TAFLER,CFR `92,,
3540. SHAPIRO ISAAC,CFR `85,,
3541. SHAPLEN ROBERT,CFR `85,,
3542. SHARABI HISHAM,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,
3543. SHARANSKY NATAN,CFR `92,,
3544. SHARP DANIEL A,CFR `92,,
3545. SHAYNE HERBERT M,CFR `85,,
3546. SHEARER WARREN W,CFR `84,, 1990 annual rpt
3547. SHEEHAN KEVIN P,CFR `92,,
3548. SHEELINE PAUL C,CFR `92,,
3549. SHEFFIELD JAMES R,CFR `92,,
3550. SHEFFIELD JILL W,CFR `92,,
3551. SHEINBAUM STANLEY K,CFR `92,,
3552. SHEINKMAN JACK JACOB,CFR `92,,,
3553. SHELDON ELEANOR BERNERT,CFR `92,,,
3554. SHELLEY SALLY SWING,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3555. SHELP RONALD K,CFR `92,,,
3556. SHELTON JOANNA REED,CFR `92,,,
3557. SHELTON-COLBY SALLY A,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3558. SHENK GEORGE H,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3559. SHEPARDSON WHITNEY H,CFR `85,,,
3560. SHEPHERD MARK JR,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3561. SHEPHERD WILLIAM R,CFR `92,,,
3562. SHERRY GEORGE L,CFR `92,,,
3563. SHERWOOD BEN,CFR `92,,,
3564. SHERWOOD ELIZABETH D,CFR `92,,,
3565. SHERWOOD RICHARD E,CFR `92,,,
3566. SHESTACK JEROME J,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3567. SHEVARDNADZE EDUARD A,,,,TC `92
3568. SHIBUSAWA MASAHIDE,,,,TC `92
3569. SHIINA MOTOO,,,,TC `92
3570. SHIINA TAKEO,CFR `92,,,
3571. SHINER JOSETTE,1988,,,
3572. SHINN JAMES J,CFR `92,,,
3573. SHINN RICHARD R,CFR `92,,,
3574. SHIPLEY WALTER V,CFR `92,,,
3575. SHIRER WILLIAM L,CFR `92,,,
3576. SHIRK SUSAN L,CFR `92,,,
3577. SHLAES AMITY,,,,TC `92
3578. SHODA TATSUO,CFR `92,,,
3579. SHOEMAKER ALVIN V,CFR `92,,,
3580. SHOEMAKER CHRISTOPHER COLE,CFR `92,,,
3581. SHOEMAKER DON,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3582. SHORE PETER MP,CFR `92,,,
3583. SHRIVER DONALD W JR,CFR `92,,,
3584. SHRIVER SARGENT JR,CFR `92,,,
3585. SHUBERT GUSTAVE HARRY,CFR `85,,,
3586. SHULL THOMAS C,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3587. SHULMAN COLETTE,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3588. SHULMAN MARSHALL DARROW,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3589. SHULTZ GEORGE P,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3590. SHUTE BENJAMIN R,CFR `84,,,
3591. SICK GARY G,CFR `92,,,
3592. SIEGMAN HENRY,CFR `92,,,
3593. SIFTON ELISABETH,CFR `92,,,
3594. SIGAL LEON V,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3595. SIGLER JOHN H,,,,TC `92
3596. SIGLIENTI SERGIO,CFR `92,,,
3597. SIGMUND PAUL E,CFR `85,,,
3598. SIHLER WILLIAM W,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3599. SILAS C J,CFR `92,,,
3600. SILBERMAN LAURENCE H,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3601. SILK LEONARD S,CFR `92,,,
3602. SILKENAT JAMES R,CFR `92,,,
3603. SILVERS ROBERT B,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3604. SILVESTRI UMBERTO,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt , 1990
3605. SIMES DIMITRI K,CFR `92,,,
3606. SIMMONS ADELE SMITH,CFR `85,,,
3607. SIMMONS RICHARD S,CFR `92,,,
3608. SIMON WILLIAM EDWARD,CFR `84,, 1990 annual rpt ,
3609. SIMON STEVEN,,,,TC `92
3610. SIMONET HENRI F,CFR `85,,,
3611. SIMONS HOWARD,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3612. SIMONSEN MARIO HENRIQUE,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3613. SIMPSON ALAN K RWY,CFR `92,,,
3614. SIMS ALBERT G,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3615. SIMS WILLIAM J,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3616. SINAI ALLEN,, 1988 annual rpt
3617. SINCLAIR JUNE D,CFR `92,
3618. SINGER CHRISTINE EIBS,, 1988 annual rpt
3619. SINIORA HANNA,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3620. SISCO JOSEPH JOHN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3621. SITRICK JAMES B,CFR `92,
3622. SKARZYNSKI MICHAEL P,CFR `92,
3623. SKIDMORE THOMAS E,CFR `85,
3624. SKILLING JEFFREY K,CFR `85,
3625. SKINNER DAVID E,CFR `92,
3626. SKINNER ELLIOTT P,CFR `92,
3627. SKOLNIKOFF EUGENE B,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3628. SLADE DAVID R,CFR `85,
3629. SLATER JACQUELINE R,CFR `92,
3630. SLATER JOSEPH E,CFR `85,
3631. SLAWSON JOHN,CFR `92,
3632. SLAWSON PAUL S,CFR `92,
3633. SLOAN DAVID M,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt
3634. SLOAN ALFRED P JR,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3635. SLOANE ANN BROWNELL,CFR `92,
3636. SLOCOMBE WALTER BECKER,CFR `92,
3637. SLOCUM JOHN J,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt
3638. SLONI SHULAMIT,CFR `92,
3639. SLOSS LEON,CFR `92,
3640. SMALL LAWRENCE M,CFR `92,
3641. SMALLEY PATRICIA T,CFR `92,
3642. SMART S BRUCE,CFR `92,
3643. SMITH CARLETON SPRAGUE,CFR `92,
3644. SMITH CLINT E,CFR `92,
3645. SMITH DATUS C JR,CFR `92,
3646. SMITH DAVID SHIVERICK,CFR `92,
3647. SMITH DEWITT C JR,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3648. SMITH EDWIN M,CFR `92,,,
3649. SMITH GADDIS,CFR `92,,,
3650. SMITH GARE A,CFR `85, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3651. SMITH GERARD C,CFR `92,,,
3652. SMITH HEDRICK L,CFR `92,,,
3653. SMITH JEFFREY H,CFR `92,,,
3654. SMITH JOHN T II,CFR `92,,,
3655. SMITH LARRY K,CFR `84,,,
3656. SMITH LEIGHTON W JR SNUFFY,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3657. SMITH MALCOLM B,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3658. SMITH MICHAEL B,CFR `85,,,
3659. SMITH MICHAEL JOSEPH,CFR `92,,,
3660. SMITH PERRY M,CFR `92,,,
3661. SMITH PETER B,CFR `92,,,
3662. SMITH PETER HOPKINSON,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3663. SMITH R.JEFFREY,CFR `92,,,
3664. SMITH RICHARD M,CFR `92,,,
3665. SMITH ROBERT F,CFR `87,,,
3666. SMITH STEPHEN GRANT NEWSWEEK,CFR `92,,,
3667. SMITH THEODORE M,CFR `92,,,
3668. SMITH TONY,CFR `92,,,
3669. SMITH W MASON,CFR `84,,,
3670. SMITH W.Y.,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3671. SMITH WAYNE S,,,,TC `92
3672. SMITH JOHN M-P,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3673. SMITH MURRAY G,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3674. SMITH RICHARDSON FOUNDATION,,,,
3675. SMITH WAYNE S,CFR `85,,,
3676. SMYTH HENRY DeW,CFR `92,,,
3677. SMYTHE MABEL M,CFR `85,,,
3678. SNEATH WILLIAM S,CFR `85,,,
3679. SNEIDER RICHARD LEE,CFR `85,,,
3680. SNIPES JAMES C,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,
3681. SNOW ROBERT ANTHONY,CFR `92,,
3682. SNOWE OLYMPIA J,CFR `92,,
3683. SNYDER CRAIG,CFR `92,,
3684. SNYDER DAVID M,CFR `92,,
3685. SNYDER JACK L,CFR `92,,
3686. SNYDER JED C,CFR `92,,
3687. SNYDER RICHARD EDWARD,, 1988 annual rpt ,
3688. SNYDER CRAIG,CFR `87,, 1990 annual rpt
3689. SNYDER DAVID M,, 1988 annual rpt ,
3690. SNYDER JACK L,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,
3691. SOARES MARIO,CFR `92,,
3692. SOBOL DOROTHY MEADOW,CFR `92,,
3693. SODERBERG NANCY E,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,
3694. SOFAER ABRAHAM DAVID,CFR `92,,
3695. SOHN LOUIS B,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,
3696. SOLARZ STEPHEN J D-NY,CFR `92,,,
3697. SOLBERT PETER O.A.,CFR `85,,,
3698. SOLOMON ADAM,CFR `92,,,
3699. SOLOMON ANNE G.K.,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3700. SOLOMON ANTHONY M,CFR `92,,,
3701. SOLOMON PETER J,CFR `92,,,
3702. SOLOMON RICHARD H,CFR `92,,,
3703. SOLOMON ROBERT,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3704. SOLOMON PETER J,CFR `87,,,TC `92
3705. SOMMER THEO,CFR `85,,,
3706. SOMMERS A WING,CFR `92,,,
3707. SONENSHINE H MARSHALL,CFR `92,,,
3708. SONENSHINE TARA,CFR `92,,,
3709. SONNE CHRISTIAN R,CFR `92,,,
3710. SONNENFELDT HELMUT,CFR `92,,,
3711. SONNENFELDT RICHARD W,CFR `92,,,
3712. SORENSEN GILLIAN MARTIN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3713. SORENSEN THEODORE C,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3714. SOROS GEORGE,CFR `92,,,
3715. SOROS PAUL,CFR `85,,,
3716. SOUBRY,CFR `84,,,
3717. SOUTHARD FRANK A JR,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3718. SOUTHERN RONALD D,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3719. SOVERN MICHAEL I,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3720. SPAIN JAMES WILLIAM,CFR `92,,,
3721. SPALTER JONATHAN,CFR `92,,,
3722. SPANG KENNETH M,CFR `92,,,
3723. SPECTOR LEONARD S,CFR `85,,,
3724. SPECTOR PHILLIP L,CFR `92,,,
3725. SPENCER EDSON W,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3726. SPENCER JOHN H,CFR `92,,,
3727. SPENCER WILLIAM C,CFR `92,,,
3728. SPENCER WILLIAM I,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt
3729. SPERO JOAN EDELMAN,CFR `92,
3730. SPETH JAMES GUSTAVE,CFR `92,
3731. SPEYER JERRY I,CFR `92,
3732. SPIERS RONALD I,CFR `92,
3733. SPIRO DAVID E,CFR `92,
3734. SPIRO HERBERT J,CFR `92,
3735. SPIRO PETER J,CFR `85, 1988 annual rpt
3736. SPOFFORD CHARLES M,CFR `85,
3737. SPRAGUE ROBERT C,CFR `92,
3738. SPRATT JOHN M JR D-SC,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3739. SQUADRON HOWARD M,CFR `92,
3740. STACKPOLE STEPHEN H,CFR `92,
3741. STACKS JOHN,CFR `92,
3742. STAHELI DONALD L,CFR `85,
3743. STALEY EUGENE A,CFR `92,
3744. STALSON HELENA,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3745. STAMAS STEPHEN,CFR `92,,,
3746. STANKARD FRANCIS X,CFR `92,,,
3747. STANLEY PETER W,CFR `92,,,
3748. STANLEY TIMOTHY WADSWORTH,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt
3749. STANLEY FOUNDATION,CFR `92,,,
3750. STANTON FRANK,CFR `92,,,
3751. STANTON R JOHN JR.,CFR `92,,,
3752. STAPLES EUGENE S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3753. STAROBIN HERMAN,CFR `92,,,
3754. STARR JEFFREY M,CFR `92,,,TC `92
3755. STARR S FREDERICK,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3756. STARR FOUNDATION,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3757. STASSEN HAROLD E,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3758. STAUNTON MYLES,CFR `85,, 1990 annual rpt ,
3759. STAVRIDIS JAMES G,CFR `92,,,
3760. STEADMAN RICHARD C,CFR `92,
3761. STEBBINS JAMES H,CFR `92,
3762. STEEL RONALD,CFR `92,
3763. STEGEMEIER RICHARD J,CFR `92,
3764. STEIGER PAUL E,CFR `92,
3765. STEIN ELLIOT JR,CFR `92,
3766. STEIN ERIC,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3767. STEIN JONATHAN B,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt
3768. STEIN SCOTT,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3769. STEINBERG DAVID JOEL,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3770. STEINBERG JAMES B,CFR `85, 1988 annual rpt
3771. STEINBRUNER JOHN D,CFR `92,
3772. STEINER DANIEL,CFR `92,
3773. STENGEL RICHARD,CFR `92,
3774. STENT ANGELA E,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3775. STEPAN ALFRED C,CFR `85,
3776. STEPHAN EDMUND A,CFR `92,,,
3777. STEPHANOPOULOS GEORGE R,CFR `92,,,
3778. STERN ERNEST,CFR `92,,,
3779. STERN FRITZ,CFR `92,,,
3780. STERN H.PETER,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3781. STERN PAULA,CFR `84,, 1990 annual rpt ,
3782. STERN ERNEST,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3783. STERN FRITZ,CFR `92,,,
3784. STERNER MICHAEL E,CFR `92,,,
3785. STERNLIGHT DAVID,CFR `92,,,
3786. STEVENS CHARLES R,CFR `92,,,
3787. STEVENS JAMES W,CFR `92,,,
3788. STEVENS NORTON,CFR `92,,,
3789. STEVENS PAUL SCHOTT,CFR `92,,,
3790. STEVENSON ADLAI E III,CFR `92,,,
3791. STEVENSON CHARLES A,CFR `85,,,
3792. STEVENSON H L,CFR `92,,,
3793. STEVENSON JOHN R,CFR `85,,,
3794. STEVENSON RUTH CARTER,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3795. STEVENSON ADLAI EWING,CFR `92,,,
3796. STEWART DONALD M,CFR `92,,,
3797. STEWART GORDON MATTHEWS,CFR `92,,,
3798. STEWART PATRICIA CARRY,CFR `92,,,
3799. STEWART RUTH ANN,CFR `92,,,
3800. STICHT J PAUL,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3801. STIEHM JUDITH HICKS,CFR `92,,,
3802. STIFEL LAURENCE D,CFR `85,,,
3803. STILWELL RICHARD GILES,CFR `92,,,
3804. STOBAUGH ROBERT B,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3805. STOBBE DIETRICH,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3806. STOCKMAN DAVID A,CFR `92,,,
3807. STOCKTON PAUL NOBLE,CFR `85,,,
3808. STOESSEL WALTER J JR,CFR `92,,,
3809. STOESSINGER JOHN G,CFR `92,,,
3810. STOGA ALAN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3811. STOKES BRUCE,CFR `92,,,
3812. STOKES DONALD E,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3813. STOKES LOUIS D-OH,CFR `87,,,TC `92
3814. STOLTENBERG GERHARD,,,,TC `92
3815. STOLTENBERG THORVALD,CFR `92,,,
3816. STONE JEREMY J,CFR `92,,,
3817. STONE MICHAEL P.W.,CFR `92,,,
3818. STONE ROGER D,CFR `85,,,
3819. STONE SHEPARD,CFR `92,,,
3820. STOOKEY JOHN HOYT,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3821. STRASCHNOW AMNON,CFR `92,,,
3822. STRATTON JULIUS A,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3823. STRAUS DONALD B,CFR `85,,,
3824. STRAUS JACK I,CFR `92,
3825. STRAUS OSCAR S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3826. STRAUS R PETER,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3827. STRAUS RALPH I,CFR `92,
3828. STRAUS ROBERT K,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3829. STRAUSS ROBERT S,CFR `92,
3830. STRAUSS SIMON D,CFR `92,
3831. STRAUSZ-HUPE ROBERT,CFR `85,
3832. STRAYER JOSEPH R,CFR `92,
3833. STREMLAU JOHN J,CFR `92,
3834. STROCK JAMES M,CFR `92,
3835. STROMSETH JANE E,CFR `92,
3836. STROUD JOE H,CFR `92,
3837. STUDEMAN WILLIAM O ADM,CFR `92,
3838. STYRON ROSE,CFR `92,
3839. SUDARKASA MICHAEL E.M.,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3840. SUDARKASA NIARA,CFR `92,,,
3841. SUITS CHRISTOPHER D,CFR `92,,,
3842. SULEIMAN EZRA N,CFR `85,,,
3843. SULLIVAN EUGENE J,CFR `92,,,
3844. SULLIVAN GORDON RUSSELL GEN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3845. SULLIVAN LEON H,CFR `92,,,
3846. SULLIVAN MARGARET C,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3847. SULLIVAN ROGER W,CFR `92,,,
3848. SULLIVAN WILLIAM HEALY,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3849. SULLIVAN CROMWELL LAW FIRM,CFR `92,,,
3850. SUMMERS HARRY G JR COL,CFR `92,,,
3851. SUMMERS LAWRENCE H,CFR `92,,,
3852. SUNDERLAND JACK B,CFR `85,,,
3853. SURREY WALTER STERLING,CFR `92,,,
3854. SUSLOW LEO A,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3855. SUTHERLAND PETER D,CFR `92,,,
3856. SUTTERLIN JAMES SMYRL,CFR `92,,,
3857. SUTTON FRANCIS X,1988,,,
3858. SUTTON PERCY E,CFR `87,,,TC `92
3859. SUZUKI TETSUO,,,,TC `92
3860. SVANHOLM POUL JOHAN,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3861. SVEC MILAN,CFR `92,,,
3862. SWANK EMORY COBLENTZ,CFR `92,,,
3863. SWANSON DAVID H,CFR `85,,,
3864. SWEARER HOWARD R,CFR `92,,,
3865. SWEITZER BRANDON W,CFR `92,,,
3866. SWENSON ERIC P,CFR `92,,,
3867. SWID STEPHEN C,CFR `92,,,
3868. SWIERS PETER BIRD,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3869. SWIGERT JAMES W,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3870. SWILLING MARK,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt , 1990 a r
3871. SWING JOHN TEMPLE,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3872. SWIRE JOHN A,CFR `85,,,
3873. SYMINGTON STUART W D-MO,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3874. SZABO STEPHEN F,CFR `92,,,
3875. SZANTON PETER L,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3876. SZULC TAD,CFR `85,,,
- - -
Leider und das ist auch eine Wahrheit - schleppend und zögerlich kommen Wahrheiten um Wahrheiten ans Tageslicht.
Die " Aufklärung " d. Bürger eilt im Schneckentempo voran.
Was nicht schon irgendwie offen unter der Hand gehandelt wird, erscheint nun mal nicht in deutschen " Medien ".
In diesem Sinne
Gruss
HJL
Icg bin mir absolut sicher, dass eine ganze Menge Menschen sich Gedanken über ihre Nahrung macht. Auch, dass diese immer " billiger " werden muss, damit die " kleinen Leute " bis zum Monatsende ihre Familien " versorgen " können.
Nur, auf der anderen Seite bin ich mir ebenso sicher, dass viele gar nicht informiert sind, welchen " Kuhhandel " sie damit eingehen. Wer weiß schon aus den deutschen Medien, was die Pharma-/Chemie-TNCs " zusammenbrauen " und uns allen dann in den " attraktivsten " Gaumenschmaus-Farben als gesunde Ernährung verkaufen.
Stichwort : Labelling d. Nahrung ( Inhaltsstoffe )
Noch nicht einmal hier hat d. Verbraucher eine ehrliche, umfassende Information.
Dass der Verbraucher kritisch ist, hat sicher der BSE -Skandal, die Schweinepest etc. gezeigt. Also, dass wir alle bereit sind " ungesunden Dreck " zu " fressen " - ich glaube das ist eindeutig widerlegt.
Dass Arme immer ärmer werden, sich keine " BIO-Kost " leisten können - ich glaube da gibt es Beispiele genug. Man muss nur die Augen aufmachen wollen. Familien, Alleinerziehende, Arbeitslose, Menschen m. Einkommen am Limit ... - Folgen dieser unseligen " zügellosen " Globalisierung. Aber dies hat unsere " Politik " zu verantworten - nicht nur d. jetzigen " Selbstbediener ". Man sollten diesen " Damen u. Herren " zuvörderst ihre Politik angedeihen lassen und sie auch d. " Globalisierung " unterstellen. Mal sehen, wie weit dies dann noch gehen würde. Sie müßten dann wohl " Diäten " halten, als nur " Diäten " obendrauf einzusacken.
- - -
Was nun SOROS anbelangt, ich stelle Ihnen hiermit mal die Mitgliederliste " S " - BB f.( Bilderberger ) CFR f. ( Counsel Foreign Relations ) rein. Den Rest überlasse ich Ihnen !
S
3383. SABA SHOICHI,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3384. SABBAGH SANA H,CFR `85,,,
3385. SACHS JEFFREY D,CFR `92,,,
3386. SACKS PAUL M,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3387. SADIK NAFIS,1988,,,
3388. SADOWSKI YAHYA M,CFR `87,,,TC `92
3389. SAEKI KIICHI,CFR `92,,,
3390. SAFRAN NADAV,CFR `92,,,
3391. SAGAN CARL E,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt , 1990 a rpt
3392. SAGAN SCOTT D,CFR `85,,,
3393. SAGE MILDRED D,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3394. SAHLIYEH EMILE F,CFR `92,,,
3395. SAID EDWARD W,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3396. SAIKAL AMIN,,,,TC `92
3397. SAITO YUTAKA,,,,TC `92
3398. SAJI KEIZO,CFR `92,,,
3399. SAKOIAN CAROL,CFR `92,,,
3400. SALACUSE JESWALD W,1988,,,
3401. SALCIDO PABLO,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3402. SALGUEIRO JOAO,CFR `92,,,
3403. SALISBURY HARRISON E,CFR `92,,,
3404. SALK JONAS,CFR `92,,,
3405. SALOMON RICHARD E,CFR `92,,,
3406. SALOMON WILLIAM R,CFR `85, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3407. SALTZMAN CHARLES E,CFR `85,,,
3408. SALZMAN HERBERT,CFR `92,,,
3409. SAMPLE STEVEN B,CFR `92,,,
3410. SAMUEL HOWARD D,CFR `92,,,
3411. SAMUELS BARBARA C,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3412. SAMUELS MICHAEL A,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3413. SAMUELS NATHANIEL,CFR `92,,,
3414. SAMUELS RICHARD J,CFR `92,,,
3415. SANCHEZ NESTOR D,CFR `92,,,
3416. SANDERS EDWARD G,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3417. SANDERS JONATHAN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3418. SANFORD CHARLES STEADMAN JR,CFR `92,,,
3419. SANFORD TERRY D-NC,CFR `92,,,
3420. SANTOS MIRIAM,CFR `92,,,
3421. SAPIRO MIRIAM,,,,TC `92
3422. SARASQUETA ANTXON,CFR `92,,,
3423. SARRO DALE M,CFR `92,,,
3424. SATO KUMI,, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3425. SATO SEIZABURO,CFR `92,,,
3426. SAUL RALPH S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3427. SAUNDERS HAROLD HENRY HAL,CFR `92,,,
3428. SAVAGE FRANK,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3429. SAVIMBI JONAS MALHEIRO,,,,TC `92
3430. SAVONA PAOLO,CFR `92,,,
3431. SAWHILL JOHN C,CFR `92,, 1990 annual rpt ,
3432. SAWYER DIANE,CFR `92,,,
3433. SAWYER JOHN EDWARD,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3434. SAWYLER STEPHEN K,CFR `84,,,
3435. SAYLOR LYNNE S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3436. SCALAPINO ROBERT A,CFR `92,,,
3437. SCALI JOHN A,CFR `92,,,
3438. SCHACHT HENRY BREWER,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3439. SCHACHTER OSCAR,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3440. SCHAETZEL J ROBERT,CFR `85,,,
3441. SCHAFER JOHN H,CFR `92,,,
3442. SCHAFFER HOWARD B,CFR `92,,,
3443. SCHAKE KORI NAOMI,CFR `85,,,
3444. SCHALLERT EDWIN G,CFR `92,,,
3445. SCHAUFELE WILLIAM E JR,CFR `92,,,
3446. SCHECTER JERROLD L,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3447. SCHEFFER DAVID J,CFR `92,,,
3448. SCHEINMAN LAWRENCE,CFR `85,,,
3449. SCHELL ORVILLE H,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3450. SCHERPENHUIJSEN ROM WILLEM E,CFR `92,,,
3451. SCHIFF FRANK W,CFR `85,,,
3452. SCHIFF JOHN M,CFR `92,,,
3453. SCHILLING WARNER R,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3454. SCHLEIMANN JOERGEN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3455. SCHLESINGER ARTHUR MEIER JR,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3456. SCHLESINGER JAMES RODNEY,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3457. SCHLESINGER HELMUT,CFR `92,,,
3458. SCHLOSSER HERBERT S,CFR `92,,,
3459. SCHMERTZ HERBERT,CFR `92,,,
3460. SCHMIDT BENNO C JR,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3461. SCHMIDT HELMUT,,,,TC `92
3462. SCHMITZ RONALDO,CFR `92,,,
3463. SCHMOKE KURT L,CFR `85,,,
3464. SCHMOKER JOHN B,CFR `92,,,
3465. SCHMULTS EDWARD C,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3466. SCHNAKE ERIC,CFR `92,,,
3467. SCHNEIDER JAN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3468. SCHNEIDER WILLIAM JR,CFR `92,,,
3469. SCHNEIER ARTHUR,CFR `85,,,
3470. SCHOEN DOUGLAS,CFR `92,,,
3471. SCHOENBAUM THOMAS JOHN,CFR `92,,,
3472. SCHOETTLE ENID C.B.,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3473. SCHORR DANIEL L,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt
3474. SCHOTT JEFFREY J,CFR `92,
3475. SCHREYER WILLIAM A,CFR `92,
3476. SCHROEDER PATRICIA D-CO,CFR `92,
3477. SCHUBERT RICHARD F,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3478. SCHUH G EDWARD,CFR `92,
3479. SCHULHOF MICHAEL P,1990,
3480. SCHULTZ FREDERICK H,, 1988 annual rpt
3481. SCHUMANN JOHN,CFR `92,
3482. SCHUYLER CORTLANDT VAN RENSSELAER,CFR `92,
3483. SCHWAB SUSAN C,CFR `92,
3484. SCHWAB WILLIAM B,CFR `85,
3485. SCHWARTZ DAVID N,CFR `92,
3486. SCHWARTZ ERIC PAUL,CFR `92,
3487. SCHWARTZ HARRY H,1988,
3488. SCHWARTZ NORTON A,CFR `92,,,
3489. SCHWARTZ THOMAS ALAN,,,,TC `92
3490. SCHWARTZ PEDRO,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3491. SCHWARZ FREDERICK A.O. JR,CFR `92,,,
3492. SCHWARZER WILLIAM W,CFR `92,,,
3493. SCHWARZMAN STEPHEN A,CFR `92,,,
3494. SCHWEBEL STEPHEN M,CFR `92,,,
3495. SCIOLINO ELAINE F,CFR `85,,,
3496. SCOTT HAROLD B,CFR `84,,,
3497. SCOTT STUART NASH,CFR `85,,,
3498. SCOVILLE HERBERT JR PETE,CFR `92, 1988 a rpt TC 92
3499. SCOWCROFT BRENT,CFR `92,,,
3500. SCRANTON WILLIAM W,CFR `85,,,
3501. SCRIMSHAW NEVIN S,CFR `92,,,
3502. SEABORG GLENN T,CFR `85,,,
3503. SEABURY PAUL,CFR `92,,,
3504. SEAGRAVE NORMAN P,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3505. SEALE PATRICK,CFR `92,,,
3506. SEAMANS ROBERT C JR,CFR `85,,,
3507. SEBENIUS JAMES K,CFR `92,,,
3508. SEELY CAROLYN T,CFR `92,,,
3509. SEGAL SHELDON J,CFR `92,,,
3510. SEGAL SUSAN L,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3511. SEGAL DAVID R,,,,TC `92
3512. SEGURADO JOSE ANTONIO,CFR `92,,,
3513. SEIB GERALD,CFR `92,,,
3514. SEIBOLD FREDERICK C JR,CFR `92,,,
3515. SEIDMAN HERTA LANDE,CFR `92,,,
3516. SEIGENTHALER JOHN L,CFR `92,,,
3517. SEIGLE JOHN W,CFR `92,,,
3518. SEIGNIOUS GEORGE M,CFR `92,,,
3519. SEITZ FREDERICK,1988,,,
3520. SELBY NORMAN C,CFR `92,,,
3521. SELIN IVAN,CFR `92,,,
3522. SEMPLE ROBERT B JR,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3523. SERFATY SIMON,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3524. SESTANOVICH STEPHEN R,CFR `92,,,
3525. SETEAR JOHN K,CFR `92,,,
3526. SEWALL JOHN O.B.,CFR `92,,,
3527. SEWALL SARAH BULKELEY,CFR `92,,,
3528. SEWELL JOHN W,CFR `92,,,
3529. SEXTON WILLIAM C,CFR `92,,,
3530. SHAFER D MICHAEL,CFR `85,,,
3531. SHAFER RAYMOND PHILIP,CFR `92,,,
3532. SHAFFER GAIL S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3533. SHALALA DONNA E,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3534. SHAMIR YITZHAK,,,,TC `92
3535. SHANKER ALBERT,CFR `85,,,
3536. SHANNON JAMES M,CFR `92,,
3537. SHAPIRO ELI CFR,CFR `85,,
3538. SHAPIRO GEORGE M,CFR `92,,
3539. SHAPIRO HAROLD TAFLER,CFR `92,,
3540. SHAPIRO ISAAC,CFR `85,,
3541. SHAPLEN ROBERT,CFR `85,,
3542. SHARABI HISHAM,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,
3543. SHARANSKY NATAN,CFR `92,,
3544. SHARP DANIEL A,CFR `92,,
3545. SHAYNE HERBERT M,CFR `85,,
3546. SHEARER WARREN W,CFR `84,, 1990 annual rpt
3547. SHEEHAN KEVIN P,CFR `92,,
3548. SHEELINE PAUL C,CFR `92,,
3549. SHEFFIELD JAMES R,CFR `92,,
3550. SHEFFIELD JILL W,CFR `92,,
3551. SHEINBAUM STANLEY K,CFR `92,,
3552. SHEINKMAN JACK JACOB,CFR `92,,,
3553. SHELDON ELEANOR BERNERT,CFR `92,,,
3554. SHELLEY SALLY SWING,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3555. SHELP RONALD K,CFR `92,,,
3556. SHELTON JOANNA REED,CFR `92,,,
3557. SHELTON-COLBY SALLY A,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3558. SHENK GEORGE H,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3559. SHEPARDSON WHITNEY H,CFR `85,,,
3560. SHEPHERD MARK JR,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3561. SHEPHERD WILLIAM R,CFR `92,,,
3562. SHERRY GEORGE L,CFR `92,,,
3563. SHERWOOD BEN,CFR `92,,,
3564. SHERWOOD ELIZABETH D,CFR `92,,,
3565. SHERWOOD RICHARD E,CFR `92,,,
3566. SHESTACK JEROME J,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3567. SHEVARDNADZE EDUARD A,,,,TC `92
3568. SHIBUSAWA MASAHIDE,,,,TC `92
3569. SHIINA MOTOO,,,,TC `92
3570. SHIINA TAKEO,CFR `92,,,
3571. SHINER JOSETTE,1988,,,
3572. SHINN JAMES J,CFR `92,,,
3573. SHINN RICHARD R,CFR `92,,,
3574. SHIPLEY WALTER V,CFR `92,,,
3575. SHIRER WILLIAM L,CFR `92,,,
3576. SHIRK SUSAN L,CFR `92,,,
3577. SHLAES AMITY,,,,TC `92
3578. SHODA TATSUO,CFR `92,,,
3579. SHOEMAKER ALVIN V,CFR `92,,,
3580. SHOEMAKER CHRISTOPHER COLE,CFR `92,,,
3581. SHOEMAKER DON,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3582. SHORE PETER MP,CFR `92,,,
3583. SHRIVER DONALD W JR,CFR `92,,,
3584. SHRIVER SARGENT JR,CFR `92,,,
3585. SHUBERT GUSTAVE HARRY,CFR `85,,,
3586. SHULL THOMAS C,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3587. SHULMAN COLETTE,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3588. SHULMAN MARSHALL DARROW,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3589. SHULTZ GEORGE P,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3590. SHUTE BENJAMIN R,CFR `84,,,
3591. SICK GARY G,CFR `92,,,
3592. SIEGMAN HENRY,CFR `92,,,
3593. SIFTON ELISABETH,CFR `92,,,
3594. SIGAL LEON V,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3595. SIGLER JOHN H,,,,TC `92
3596. SIGLIENTI SERGIO,CFR `92,,,
3597. SIGMUND PAUL E,CFR `85,,,
3598. SIHLER WILLIAM W,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3599. SILAS C J,CFR `92,,,
3600. SILBERMAN LAURENCE H,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3601. SILK LEONARD S,CFR `92,,,
3602. SILKENAT JAMES R,CFR `92,,,
3603. SILVERS ROBERT B,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3604. SILVESTRI UMBERTO,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt , 1990
3605. SIMES DIMITRI K,CFR `92,,,
3606. SIMMONS ADELE SMITH,CFR `85,,,
3607. SIMMONS RICHARD S,CFR `92,,,
3608. SIMON WILLIAM EDWARD,CFR `84,, 1990 annual rpt ,
3609. SIMON STEVEN,,,,TC `92
3610. SIMONET HENRI F,CFR `85,,,
3611. SIMONS HOWARD,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3612. SIMONSEN MARIO HENRIQUE,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3613. SIMPSON ALAN K RWY,CFR `92,,,
3614. SIMS ALBERT G,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3615. SIMS WILLIAM J,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3616. SINAI ALLEN,, 1988 annual rpt
3617. SINCLAIR JUNE D,CFR `92,
3618. SINGER CHRISTINE EIBS,, 1988 annual rpt
3619. SINIORA HANNA,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3620. SISCO JOSEPH JOHN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3621. SITRICK JAMES B,CFR `92,
3622. SKARZYNSKI MICHAEL P,CFR `92,
3623. SKIDMORE THOMAS E,CFR `85,
3624. SKILLING JEFFREY K,CFR `85,
3625. SKINNER DAVID E,CFR `92,
3626. SKINNER ELLIOTT P,CFR `92,
3627. SKOLNIKOFF EUGENE B,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3628. SLADE DAVID R,CFR `85,
3629. SLATER JACQUELINE R,CFR `92,
3630. SLATER JOSEPH E,CFR `85,
3631. SLAWSON JOHN,CFR `92,
3632. SLAWSON PAUL S,CFR `92,
3633. SLOAN DAVID M,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt
3634. SLOAN ALFRED P JR,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3635. SLOANE ANN BROWNELL,CFR `92,
3636. SLOCOMBE WALTER BECKER,CFR `92,
3637. SLOCUM JOHN J,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt
3638. SLONI SHULAMIT,CFR `92,
3639. SLOSS LEON,CFR `92,
3640. SMALL LAWRENCE M,CFR `92,
3641. SMALLEY PATRICIA T,CFR `92,
3642. SMART S BRUCE,CFR `92,
3643. SMITH CARLETON SPRAGUE,CFR `92,
3644. SMITH CLINT E,CFR `92,
3645. SMITH DATUS C JR,CFR `92,
3646. SMITH DAVID SHIVERICK,CFR `92,
3647. SMITH DEWITT C JR,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3648. SMITH EDWIN M,CFR `92,,,
3649. SMITH GADDIS,CFR `92,,,
3650. SMITH GARE A,CFR `85, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3651. SMITH GERARD C,CFR `92,,,
3652. SMITH HEDRICK L,CFR `92,,,
3653. SMITH JEFFREY H,CFR `92,,,
3654. SMITH JOHN T II,CFR `92,,,
3655. SMITH LARRY K,CFR `84,,,
3656. SMITH LEIGHTON W JR SNUFFY,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3657. SMITH MALCOLM B,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3658. SMITH MICHAEL B,CFR `85,,,
3659. SMITH MICHAEL JOSEPH,CFR `92,,,
3660. SMITH PERRY M,CFR `92,,,
3661. SMITH PETER B,CFR `92,,,
3662. SMITH PETER HOPKINSON,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3663. SMITH R.JEFFREY,CFR `92,,,
3664. SMITH RICHARD M,CFR `92,,,
3665. SMITH ROBERT F,CFR `87,,,
3666. SMITH STEPHEN GRANT NEWSWEEK,CFR `92,,,
3667. SMITH THEODORE M,CFR `92,,,
3668. SMITH TONY,CFR `92,,,
3669. SMITH W MASON,CFR `84,,,
3670. SMITH W.Y.,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3671. SMITH WAYNE S,,,,TC `92
3672. SMITH JOHN M-P,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3673. SMITH MURRAY G,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3674. SMITH RICHARDSON FOUNDATION,,,,
3675. SMITH WAYNE S,CFR `85,,,
3676. SMYTH HENRY DeW,CFR `92,,,
3677. SMYTHE MABEL M,CFR `85,,,
3678. SNEATH WILLIAM S,CFR `85,,,
3679. SNEIDER RICHARD LEE,CFR `85,,,
3680. SNIPES JAMES C,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,
3681. SNOW ROBERT ANTHONY,CFR `92,,
3682. SNOWE OLYMPIA J,CFR `92,,
3683. SNYDER CRAIG,CFR `92,,
3684. SNYDER DAVID M,CFR `92,,
3685. SNYDER JACK L,CFR `92,,
3686. SNYDER JED C,CFR `92,,
3687. SNYDER RICHARD EDWARD,, 1988 annual rpt ,
3688. SNYDER CRAIG,CFR `87,, 1990 annual rpt
3689. SNYDER DAVID M,, 1988 annual rpt ,
3690. SNYDER JACK L,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,
3691. SOARES MARIO,CFR `92,,
3692. SOBOL DOROTHY MEADOW,CFR `92,,
3693. SODERBERG NANCY E,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,
3694. SOFAER ABRAHAM DAVID,CFR `92,,
3695. SOHN LOUIS B,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,
3696. SOLARZ STEPHEN J D-NY,CFR `92,,,
3697. SOLBERT PETER O.A.,CFR `85,,,
3698. SOLOMON ADAM,CFR `92,,,
3699. SOLOMON ANNE G.K.,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3700. SOLOMON ANTHONY M,CFR `92,,,
3701. SOLOMON PETER J,CFR `92,,,
3702. SOLOMON RICHARD H,CFR `92,,,
3703. SOLOMON ROBERT,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3704. SOLOMON PETER J,CFR `87,,,TC `92
3705. SOMMER THEO,CFR `85,,,
3706. SOMMERS A WING,CFR `92,,,
3707. SONENSHINE H MARSHALL,CFR `92,,,
3708. SONENSHINE TARA,CFR `92,,,
3709. SONNE CHRISTIAN R,CFR `92,,,
3710. SONNENFELDT HELMUT,CFR `92,,,
3711. SONNENFELDT RICHARD W,CFR `92,,,
3712. SORENSEN GILLIAN MARTIN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3713. SORENSEN THEODORE C,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3714. SOROS GEORGE,CFR `92,,,
3715. SOROS PAUL,CFR `85,,,
3716. SOUBRY,CFR `84,,,
3717. SOUTHARD FRANK A JR,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3718. SOUTHERN RONALD D,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3719. SOVERN MICHAEL I,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3720. SPAIN JAMES WILLIAM,CFR `92,,,
3721. SPALTER JONATHAN,CFR `92,,,
3722. SPANG KENNETH M,CFR `92,,,
3723. SPECTOR LEONARD S,CFR `85,,,
3724. SPECTOR PHILLIP L,CFR `92,,,
3725. SPENCER EDSON W,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3726. SPENCER JOHN H,CFR `92,,,
3727. SPENCER WILLIAM C,CFR `92,,,
3728. SPENCER WILLIAM I,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt
3729. SPERO JOAN EDELMAN,CFR `92,
3730. SPETH JAMES GUSTAVE,CFR `92,
3731. SPEYER JERRY I,CFR `92,
3732. SPIERS RONALD I,CFR `92,
3733. SPIRO DAVID E,CFR `92,
3734. SPIRO HERBERT J,CFR `92,
3735. SPIRO PETER J,CFR `85, 1988 annual rpt
3736. SPOFFORD CHARLES M,CFR `85,
3737. SPRAGUE ROBERT C,CFR `92,
3738. SPRATT JOHN M JR D-SC,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3739. SQUADRON HOWARD M,CFR `92,
3740. STACKPOLE STEPHEN H,CFR `92,
3741. STACKS JOHN,CFR `92,
3742. STAHELI DONALD L,CFR `85,
3743. STALEY EUGENE A,CFR `92,
3744. STALSON HELENA,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3745. STAMAS STEPHEN,CFR `92,,,
3746. STANKARD FRANCIS X,CFR `92,,,
3747. STANLEY PETER W,CFR `92,,,
3748. STANLEY TIMOTHY WADSWORTH,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt
3749. STANLEY FOUNDATION,CFR `92,,,
3750. STANTON FRANK,CFR `92,,,
3751. STANTON R JOHN JR.,CFR `92,,,
3752. STAPLES EUGENE S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3753. STAROBIN HERMAN,CFR `92,,,
3754. STARR JEFFREY M,CFR `92,,,TC `92
3755. STARR S FREDERICK,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3756. STARR FOUNDATION,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3757. STASSEN HAROLD E,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3758. STAUNTON MYLES,CFR `85,, 1990 annual rpt ,
3759. STAVRIDIS JAMES G,CFR `92,,,
3760. STEADMAN RICHARD C,CFR `92,
3761. STEBBINS JAMES H,CFR `92,
3762. STEEL RONALD,CFR `92,
3763. STEGEMEIER RICHARD J,CFR `92,
3764. STEIGER PAUL E,CFR `92,
3765. STEIN ELLIOT JR,CFR `92,
3766. STEIN ERIC,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3767. STEIN JONATHAN B,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt
3768. STEIN SCOTT,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3769. STEINBERG DAVID JOEL,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3770. STEINBERG JAMES B,CFR `85, 1988 annual rpt
3771. STEINBRUNER JOHN D,CFR `92,
3772. STEINER DANIEL,CFR `92,
3773. STENGEL RICHARD,CFR `92,
3774. STENT ANGELA E,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3775. STEPAN ALFRED C,CFR `85,
3776. STEPHAN EDMUND A,CFR `92,,,
3777. STEPHANOPOULOS GEORGE R,CFR `92,,,
3778. STERN ERNEST,CFR `92,,,
3779. STERN FRITZ,CFR `92,,,
3780. STERN H.PETER,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3781. STERN PAULA,CFR `84,, 1990 annual rpt ,
3782. STERN ERNEST,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3783. STERN FRITZ,CFR `92,,,
3784. STERNER MICHAEL E,CFR `92,,,
3785. STERNLIGHT DAVID,CFR `92,,,
3786. STEVENS CHARLES R,CFR `92,,,
3787. STEVENS JAMES W,CFR `92,,,
3788. STEVENS NORTON,CFR `92,,,
3789. STEVENS PAUL SCHOTT,CFR `92,,,
3790. STEVENSON ADLAI E III,CFR `92,,,
3791. STEVENSON CHARLES A,CFR `85,,,
3792. STEVENSON H L,CFR `92,,,
3793. STEVENSON JOHN R,CFR `85,,,
3794. STEVENSON RUTH CARTER,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3795. STEVENSON ADLAI EWING,CFR `92,,,
3796. STEWART DONALD M,CFR `92,,,
3797. STEWART GORDON MATTHEWS,CFR `92,,,
3798. STEWART PATRICIA CARRY,CFR `92,,,
3799. STEWART RUTH ANN,CFR `92,,,
3800. STICHT J PAUL,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3801. STIEHM JUDITH HICKS,CFR `92,,,
3802. STIFEL LAURENCE D,CFR `85,,,
3803. STILWELL RICHARD GILES,CFR `92,,,
3804. STOBAUGH ROBERT B,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3805. STOBBE DIETRICH,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,TC `92
3806. STOCKMAN DAVID A,CFR `92,,,
3807. STOCKTON PAUL NOBLE,CFR `85,,,
3808. STOESSEL WALTER J JR,CFR `92,,,
3809. STOESSINGER JOHN G,CFR `92,,,
3810. STOGA ALAN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3811. STOKES BRUCE,CFR `92,,,
3812. STOKES DONALD E,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3813. STOKES LOUIS D-OH,CFR `87,,,TC `92
3814. STOLTENBERG GERHARD,,,,TC `92
3815. STOLTENBERG THORVALD,CFR `92,,,
3816. STONE JEREMY J,CFR `92,,,
3817. STONE MICHAEL P.W.,CFR `92,,,
3818. STONE ROGER D,CFR `85,,,
3819. STONE SHEPARD,CFR `92,,,
3820. STOOKEY JOHN HOYT,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3821. STRASCHNOW AMNON,CFR `92,,,
3822. STRATTON JULIUS A,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3823. STRAUS DONALD B,CFR `85,,,
3824. STRAUS JACK I,CFR `92,
3825. STRAUS OSCAR S,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3826. STRAUS R PETER,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3827. STRAUS RALPH I,CFR `92,
3828. STRAUS ROBERT K,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3829. STRAUSS ROBERT S,CFR `92,
3830. STRAUSS SIMON D,CFR `92,
3831. STRAUSZ-HUPE ROBERT,CFR `85,
3832. STRAYER JOSEPH R,CFR `92,
3833. STREMLAU JOHN J,CFR `92,
3834. STROCK JAMES M,CFR `92,
3835. STROMSETH JANE E,CFR `92,
3836. STROUD JOE H,CFR `92,
3837. STUDEMAN WILLIAM O ADM,CFR `92,
3838. STYRON ROSE,CFR `92,
3839. SUDARKASA MICHAEL E.M.,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3840. SUDARKASA NIARA,CFR `92,,,
3841. SUITS CHRISTOPHER D,CFR `92,,,
3842. SULEIMAN EZRA N,CFR `85,,,
3843. SULLIVAN EUGENE J,CFR `92,,,
3844. SULLIVAN GORDON RUSSELL GEN,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt
3845. SULLIVAN LEON H,CFR `92,,,
3846. SULLIVAN MARGARET C,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3847. SULLIVAN ROGER W,CFR `92,,,
3848. SULLIVAN WILLIAM HEALY,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3849. SULLIVAN CROMWELL LAW FIRM,CFR `92,,,
3850. SUMMERS HARRY G JR COL,CFR `92,,,
3851. SUMMERS LAWRENCE H,CFR `92,,,
3852. SUNDERLAND JACK B,CFR `85,,,
3853. SURREY WALTER STERLING,CFR `92,,,
3854. SUSLOW LEO A,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3855. SUTHERLAND PETER D,CFR `92,,,
3856. SUTTERLIN JAMES SMYRL,CFR `92,,,
3857. SUTTON FRANCIS X,1988,,,
3858. SUTTON PERCY E,CFR `87,,,TC `92
3859. SUZUKI TETSUO,,,,TC `92
3860. SVANHOLM POUL JOHAN,, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3861. SVEC MILAN,CFR `92,,,
3862. SWANK EMORY COBLENTZ,CFR `92,,,
3863. SWANSON DAVID H,CFR `85,,,
3864. SWEARER HOWARD R,CFR `92,,,
3865. SWEITZER BRANDON W,CFR `92,,,
3866. SWENSON ERIC P,CFR `92,,,
3867. SWID STEPHEN C,CFR `92,,,
3868. SWIERS PETER BIRD,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3869. SWIGERT JAMES W,CFR `87, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3870. SWILLING MARK,CFR `92, 1988 annual rpt , 1990 a r
3871. SWING JOHN TEMPLE,CFR `84,,,TC `92
3872. SWIRE JOHN A,CFR `85,,,
3873. SYMINGTON STUART W D-MO,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3874. SZABO STEPHEN F,CFR `92,,,
3875. SZANTON PETER L,CFR `84, 1988 annual rpt ,,
3876. SZULC TAD,CFR `85,,,
- - -
Leider und das ist auch eine Wahrheit - schleppend und zögerlich kommen Wahrheiten um Wahrheiten ans Tageslicht.
Die " Aufklärung " d. Bürger eilt im Schneckentempo voran.
Was nicht schon irgendwie offen unter der Hand gehandelt wird, erscheint nun mal nicht in deutschen " Medien ".
In diesem Sinne
Gruss
HJL
Schwieriges Thema,, mit dem ich mich nicht sehr intensiv beschäftigt habe. Daher nur meine Kurzversion: Die Amis arbeiten nur an den eigenen Interessen, schulden der UNO Geld, boykottieren das Klimaschutzabkommen, verweigern Kontrollen bei biologischen Waffen, und die EU hat Zollbarrieren für landwirtschaftliche Produkte, macht keinen guten Eindruck. Auf der anderen Seite hat gerade Deutschland in die Türkei, aber auch in die Russland Milliarden hineingepumpt, aber sich keine Kontrolle vorbehalten, die Gelder sind weg und die Bevölkerung ist so arm als wie zuvor, und die afrikanischen Staaten gehen mit Geldern auch nicht besser um und haben obendrein eine verkehrte Bevölkerungspolitik, so sie überhaupt eine haben - im Gegensatz zu China - und sind in der Aidsproblematik überwiegend hilflos und verklemmt.
Ob mit oder ohne Globalisierung, diese Länder kommen aus eigener Kraft nicht vom Fleck; eine schnelle Besserung wäre nur bei strikter Kontrolle von Geldern möglich, oder am besten gleich unter westliches Kuratel gestellt - das will keiner und darf man so auch nicht mal andenken - sollen se weiter vor sich hinwurschteln, es ist naiv zu glauben, dass die westliche Welt alleine Schuld an dem Elend der zweiten und dritten Welt hätte, da ist zuviel hausgemacht.
Ob mit oder ohne Globalisierung, diese Länder kommen aus eigener Kraft nicht vom Fleck; eine schnelle Besserung wäre nur bei strikter Kontrolle von Geldern möglich, oder am besten gleich unter westliches Kuratel gestellt - das will keiner und darf man so auch nicht mal andenken - sollen se weiter vor sich hinwurschteln, es ist naiv zu glauben, dass die westliche Welt alleine Schuld an dem Elend der zweiten und dritten Welt hätte, da ist zuviel hausgemacht.
@tommyausol
Das ist wohl wahr - ein nicht nur " schwieriges Thema ", sondern auch ein " verflucht heisses Eisen ".
Fakt ist, dass " UN " und " WTO " beide die " One World Government " ( Weltregierung ) spielen wollen. Gleichzeitig haben beide so viel Dreck am Stecken, d. h. so viele Menschen haben wegen diesen beiden Organisationen schon ins " Gras " gebissen, dass einem nur bleibt, sich dafür einzusetzen, dass dies in der jetzigen Form der " Macht-Konzentration " und unter solchen " unkontrollierten " anti-demokratischen " Verhältnissen nie ( wirklich n i e m a l s ) dazu kommt. Bi- u. multilaterale Verträge unter den Ländern sind d. weitaus kleinere Übel f. die Menschen in allen Ländern dieser Erde.
Zum Thema Afrika gibt es viele Anschauungen. Verfehlte Gabenpolitik, nichtverstandene Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe, Chaos u. Korruption in unglaublicher Dimension, aufgebürdete Schuldenlasten und gezielte Abhängigmachung und nicht zuletzt ein " apathisch " gewordenes Volk. Beiträge gab es hin u. wieder in den Boards. Fakt ist auch hier, ähnlich wie bei uns. Im Hintergrund werden die Fäden gezogen. Was nun im einzelnen schon seit d. Kolonialzeiten ( Ausbeutung etc. ) verkorkst wurde, mit d. Last müssen die Menschen noch heute leben. Man hat darüberhinaus versucht, sie von ihrer angestammten Kultur in eine neue, ihnen fremde westl. " Kultur " im Schnellverfahren " umzutopfen ". Das ging genauso in die Hose, wie Multi-Kulti in den USA eher ein abschreckendes Beispiel darstellt.
Beiträge, wie die UN, WTO, IMF, WB mittels verfehlter kostspieliger Aktionen den einzelnen Ländern eher Chaos gebracht hat, denn sog. Wohlstand, darüber gibt es weitere ausführliche Beispiele. Siehe mein Posting " Haiti ".
Die zweite Welt, sprich Asien ( Indonesien ), auch hier Probleme m. versch. Kulturen. Bald 90% gemäßigter Islam, ca. 7% Christen div. andere Religionen Buddhismus, Hinduismus etc. Nach der sog. " Demokratisierungswelle " -Chaos ! Aufspaltungstendenzen, chin. Geschäftsleute als Buh-Männer usw. Nicht zuletzt " Korruption " pur, Gaben der WB, Verschuldungen etc.
Wie Sie richtig sagen - unkontrolliert den Mächtigen Geld einspritzen. Das Volk lebt tlw. unter erbärmlichsten Konditionen. Die Gegensätze Wohlstand / Bettelarmut am Beispiel Java`s / Jakarta - grausam !
Dasselbe ist passiert bei uns. Gelder an Russland - Milliarden " verschwanden im Nirwana ". Das Volk ? - !!! Wenn Sie heute auf der Behörde auch nur Kindergeld beantragen, Nachweis hier, Nachweis da. Das ist eben die " politische Dimension ". Hier verbrät man Gelder im " Verteilungswahn ", es ist ja nicht das eigene ! Also Kontroll-Instanzen fehlen auch hier mehr als nur deutlich !
Demokratie heißt auch Verantwortung
Verantwortung ? = wo ?
*
- - -
11 Censored
United Nations Corporate Partnerships—A Human Rights Peril
Dollars and Sense
July/August 2000
Title: United McNations
Author: Danielle Knight
Multinational Monitor
March 2000
Title: Perilous Partnerships
Author: Kenny Bruno
www.essential.org/monitor/mm2000/00march/economics1.html
Corporate news coverage: Toronto Star 3/19/99, Washington Post 7/27/00 p. A-6
Faculty evaluators; Tim Wandling, Ph.D., Robert Tellander,
Student Researchers: Cassandra Pojda, Bonnie Faulkner, Terrie Girdner
In a move to make the United Nations more corporate-friendly, officials are calling for UN-corporate partnerships. The UN’s new partners include multinational giants like McDonald’s, Disney, Dow, and Unocal.
A business-friendly ideology at the UN is based on a desire to gain favor with the United States, the UN’s largest funder, and to raise money through private sources. The practice of the U.S. withholding dues from the UN for political purposes has jeopardized its operations. Now facing a funding crisis, the UN is turning to direct corporate aid on an unprecedented scale. UN officials are keenly aware that support from the United States is predicated upon a friendly stance toward business. U.S. business pressure led to the closure of the UN’s Center on Transnational Corporations in the early 1990s.
UN agencies have entered into an array of partnerships with giant corporations, including many that citizen movements have denounced for violations of human and labor rights. Human rights groups around the world are increasingly challenging the new partnership arrangements for fear that these new relationships will undermine the UN’s ability to serve as a counterbalance to global corporate power. Human rights groups fear that corporations will get a public boost by wrapping themselves in the UN flag while making no commitments to adjust their behavior to reflect the institution’s principles. They are calling on the UN to pull back from the partnerships and set clear guidelines for any cooperative ventures with business enterprises. At stake are the core values of the UN itself as the partnerships undermine the primacy of human rights, health, labor rights and environmental protection to favor markets and profits.
Executive director of UNICEF Carol Bellamy warned in April 1999, "It is dangerous to assume that goals of the private sector are somehow synonymous with those of the United Nations." Ward Moorehouse of the Center for International and Public Affairs in New York stated that, "the UN’s job must be to monitor and hold corporations accountable, not to give out special favors."
General Kofi Anan set the stage for the partnership initiative by calling on CEOs to join a "Global Compact" with the UN. He also challenged business leaders to enact the nine principles derived from UN agreements on labor standards, human rights, and environmental protection.
One of the controversial partnerships is the Global Sustainable Development Facility (GSDF) set up to fund sustainable development projects worldwide. The GSDF is now headed by a steering committee that includes Dow Chemical, the world’s largest producer of chlorine and pesticides, and Asea Brown and Bovari, one of the main suppliers for the controversial Three Gorges Dam in China.
The UN High Commissioner on Refugees, Sadako Ogata, is now co-chair of the Business Humanitarian Forum with Unocal President John Imle. Unocal is a business partner with Burma’s murderous military regime. Unocal’s gas pipeline project in Burma has generated thousands of refugees seeking to escape the militarized pipeline area.
UNESCO, the UN’s educational arm, is teaming up with Disney and McDonald’s to present "Millennium Dreamer" youth awards to two thousand kids. It "should have crossed UNESCO officials minds that young people have more than enough exposure to these two brands already." said Beth Handman, a curriculum specialist in New York city schools.
Update by Kenny Bruno
The Battle in Seattle revealed the existence of a growing citizens’ movement actively opposing corporate globalization and the international institutions that support it. Many in this movement see the United Nations, with its unique dedication to universal values of peace, human rights, environmental protection, and public health, as a potential counterbalance to the WTO and its pro-corporate agenda of free trade and investment. However, under financial pressure, due largely to the United States refusal to pay its dues, and fearful of irrelevance in world affairs, the UN has turned toward "partnerships" with the private sector, including some of the same companies against which citizens’ movements campaign. These include Nike, Shell, Rio Tinto, and many others. "Perilous Partnerships" revealed the trend toward partnerships with business at the UN.
The rhetoric around the partnerships reveals a tendency for the UN to endorse a view of corporate-led globalization supported by the WTO, World Bank, and IMF. This endorsement comes precisely at the time of a popular backlash against corporate globalization, and represents a betrayal of "we the peoples" the UN is supposed to represent. In addition, the partnerships have no monitoring or enforcement of corporate behavior; therefore companies can sign onto UN principles without having to adhere to them. For some of these companies, the partnerships amount to a slick PR initiative, a chance to "bluewash" their image by wrapping themselves in the blue flag of the United Nations while carrying on with business as usual.
After publication of "Perilous Partnerships," the International Forum on Globalization sponsored an all-day teach-in on the UN and corporate globalization. Later that week, the Alliance for a Corporate-free United Nations—a grouping of non-governmental groups from around the world—was born. UN officials have acknowledged some of our concerns, though the momentum toward partnerships has not been stopped. At the time of this writing, the General Assembly has been deadlocked since December 12,2000, over a resolution that would encourage such partnerships.
Limited coverage of the story from the UN`s point of view started in January 1999, with Kofi Annan`s launch of the Global Compact with corporations. Coverage of our critique of the partnerships has been nonexistent on television, while radio coverage has been limited to local stations, with the exception of Pacifica. In print, the New York Times did one major piece, in the context of the Millennium Summit, while Business Week ran a short blurb. In Europe, there has been somewhat more print coverage, including an exchange of opinion pieces in the International Herald Tribune and a highly critical piece in the Guardian.
This coverage, along with exchanges of letters between our Alliance and UN officials, our report "Tangled Up In Blue," and a great deal of other information is available on this theme at www.corpwatch.org/un.
*
In diesem Sinne
Gruss + Gute Nacht
HJL
Das ist wohl wahr - ein nicht nur " schwieriges Thema ", sondern auch ein " verflucht heisses Eisen ".
Fakt ist, dass " UN " und " WTO " beide die " One World Government " ( Weltregierung ) spielen wollen. Gleichzeitig haben beide so viel Dreck am Stecken, d. h. so viele Menschen haben wegen diesen beiden Organisationen schon ins " Gras " gebissen, dass einem nur bleibt, sich dafür einzusetzen, dass dies in der jetzigen Form der " Macht-Konzentration " und unter solchen " unkontrollierten " anti-demokratischen " Verhältnissen nie ( wirklich n i e m a l s ) dazu kommt. Bi- u. multilaterale Verträge unter den Ländern sind d. weitaus kleinere Übel f. die Menschen in allen Ländern dieser Erde.
Zum Thema Afrika gibt es viele Anschauungen. Verfehlte Gabenpolitik, nichtverstandene Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe, Chaos u. Korruption in unglaublicher Dimension, aufgebürdete Schuldenlasten und gezielte Abhängigmachung und nicht zuletzt ein " apathisch " gewordenes Volk. Beiträge gab es hin u. wieder in den Boards. Fakt ist auch hier, ähnlich wie bei uns. Im Hintergrund werden die Fäden gezogen. Was nun im einzelnen schon seit d. Kolonialzeiten ( Ausbeutung etc. ) verkorkst wurde, mit d. Last müssen die Menschen noch heute leben. Man hat darüberhinaus versucht, sie von ihrer angestammten Kultur in eine neue, ihnen fremde westl. " Kultur " im Schnellverfahren " umzutopfen ". Das ging genauso in die Hose, wie Multi-Kulti in den USA eher ein abschreckendes Beispiel darstellt.
Beiträge, wie die UN, WTO, IMF, WB mittels verfehlter kostspieliger Aktionen den einzelnen Ländern eher Chaos gebracht hat, denn sog. Wohlstand, darüber gibt es weitere ausführliche Beispiele. Siehe mein Posting " Haiti ".
Die zweite Welt, sprich Asien ( Indonesien ), auch hier Probleme m. versch. Kulturen. Bald 90% gemäßigter Islam, ca. 7% Christen div. andere Religionen Buddhismus, Hinduismus etc. Nach der sog. " Demokratisierungswelle " -Chaos ! Aufspaltungstendenzen, chin. Geschäftsleute als Buh-Männer usw. Nicht zuletzt " Korruption " pur, Gaben der WB, Verschuldungen etc.
Wie Sie richtig sagen - unkontrolliert den Mächtigen Geld einspritzen. Das Volk lebt tlw. unter erbärmlichsten Konditionen. Die Gegensätze Wohlstand / Bettelarmut am Beispiel Java`s / Jakarta - grausam !
Dasselbe ist passiert bei uns. Gelder an Russland - Milliarden " verschwanden im Nirwana ". Das Volk ? - !!! Wenn Sie heute auf der Behörde auch nur Kindergeld beantragen, Nachweis hier, Nachweis da. Das ist eben die " politische Dimension ". Hier verbrät man Gelder im " Verteilungswahn ", es ist ja nicht das eigene ! Also Kontroll-Instanzen fehlen auch hier mehr als nur deutlich !
Demokratie heißt auch Verantwortung
Verantwortung ? = wo ?
*
- - -
11 Censored
United Nations Corporate Partnerships—A Human Rights Peril
Dollars and Sense
July/August 2000
Title: United McNations
Author: Danielle Knight
Multinational Monitor
March 2000
Title: Perilous Partnerships
Author: Kenny Bruno
www.essential.org/monitor/mm2000/00march/economics1.html
Corporate news coverage: Toronto Star 3/19/99, Washington Post 7/27/00 p. A-6
Faculty evaluators; Tim Wandling, Ph.D., Robert Tellander,
Student Researchers: Cassandra Pojda, Bonnie Faulkner, Terrie Girdner
In a move to make the United Nations more corporate-friendly, officials are calling for UN-corporate partnerships. The UN’s new partners include multinational giants like McDonald’s, Disney, Dow, and Unocal.
A business-friendly ideology at the UN is based on a desire to gain favor with the United States, the UN’s largest funder, and to raise money through private sources. The practice of the U.S. withholding dues from the UN for political purposes has jeopardized its operations. Now facing a funding crisis, the UN is turning to direct corporate aid on an unprecedented scale. UN officials are keenly aware that support from the United States is predicated upon a friendly stance toward business. U.S. business pressure led to the closure of the UN’s Center on Transnational Corporations in the early 1990s.
UN agencies have entered into an array of partnerships with giant corporations, including many that citizen movements have denounced for violations of human and labor rights. Human rights groups around the world are increasingly challenging the new partnership arrangements for fear that these new relationships will undermine the UN’s ability to serve as a counterbalance to global corporate power. Human rights groups fear that corporations will get a public boost by wrapping themselves in the UN flag while making no commitments to adjust their behavior to reflect the institution’s principles. They are calling on the UN to pull back from the partnerships and set clear guidelines for any cooperative ventures with business enterprises. At stake are the core values of the UN itself as the partnerships undermine the primacy of human rights, health, labor rights and environmental protection to favor markets and profits.
Executive director of UNICEF Carol Bellamy warned in April 1999, "It is dangerous to assume that goals of the private sector are somehow synonymous with those of the United Nations." Ward Moorehouse of the Center for International and Public Affairs in New York stated that, "the UN’s job must be to monitor and hold corporations accountable, not to give out special favors."
General Kofi Anan set the stage for the partnership initiative by calling on CEOs to join a "Global Compact" with the UN. He also challenged business leaders to enact the nine principles derived from UN agreements on labor standards, human rights, and environmental protection.
One of the controversial partnerships is the Global Sustainable Development Facility (GSDF) set up to fund sustainable development projects worldwide. The GSDF is now headed by a steering committee that includes Dow Chemical, the world’s largest producer of chlorine and pesticides, and Asea Brown and Bovari, one of the main suppliers for the controversial Three Gorges Dam in China.
The UN High Commissioner on Refugees, Sadako Ogata, is now co-chair of the Business Humanitarian Forum with Unocal President John Imle. Unocal is a business partner with Burma’s murderous military regime. Unocal’s gas pipeline project in Burma has generated thousands of refugees seeking to escape the militarized pipeline area.
UNESCO, the UN’s educational arm, is teaming up with Disney and McDonald’s to present "Millennium Dreamer" youth awards to two thousand kids. It "should have crossed UNESCO officials minds that young people have more than enough exposure to these two brands already." said Beth Handman, a curriculum specialist in New York city schools.
Update by Kenny Bruno
The Battle in Seattle revealed the existence of a growing citizens’ movement actively opposing corporate globalization and the international institutions that support it. Many in this movement see the United Nations, with its unique dedication to universal values of peace, human rights, environmental protection, and public health, as a potential counterbalance to the WTO and its pro-corporate agenda of free trade and investment. However, under financial pressure, due largely to the United States refusal to pay its dues, and fearful of irrelevance in world affairs, the UN has turned toward "partnerships" with the private sector, including some of the same companies against which citizens’ movements campaign. These include Nike, Shell, Rio Tinto, and many others. "Perilous Partnerships" revealed the trend toward partnerships with business at the UN.
The rhetoric around the partnerships reveals a tendency for the UN to endorse a view of corporate-led globalization supported by the WTO, World Bank, and IMF. This endorsement comes precisely at the time of a popular backlash against corporate globalization, and represents a betrayal of "we the peoples" the UN is supposed to represent. In addition, the partnerships have no monitoring or enforcement of corporate behavior; therefore companies can sign onto UN principles without having to adhere to them. For some of these companies, the partnerships amount to a slick PR initiative, a chance to "bluewash" their image by wrapping themselves in the blue flag of the United Nations while carrying on with business as usual.
After publication of "Perilous Partnerships," the International Forum on Globalization sponsored an all-day teach-in on the UN and corporate globalization. Later that week, the Alliance for a Corporate-free United Nations—a grouping of non-governmental groups from around the world—was born. UN officials have acknowledged some of our concerns, though the momentum toward partnerships has not been stopped. At the time of this writing, the General Assembly has been deadlocked since December 12,2000, over a resolution that would encourage such partnerships.
Limited coverage of the story from the UN`s point of view started in January 1999, with Kofi Annan`s launch of the Global Compact with corporations. Coverage of our critique of the partnerships has been nonexistent on television, while radio coverage has been limited to local stations, with the exception of Pacifica. In print, the New York Times did one major piece, in the context of the Millennium Summit, while Business Week ran a short blurb. In Europe, there has been somewhat more print coverage, including an exchange of opinion pieces in the International Herald Tribune and a highly critical piece in the Guardian.
This coverage, along with exchanges of letters between our Alliance and UN officials, our report "Tangled Up In Blue," and a great deal of other information is available on this theme at www.corpwatch.org/un.
*
In diesem Sinne
Gruss + Gute Nacht
HJL
Ich sage nur : Soylent green!
Es gibt da einen SF-Film mit Charlton Heston in dem die Menschen in New York mit sog. Keksen (Soylent Green) angereichert mit Psychopharmaka ernährt werden.
Am Schluß kommt es raus: Die Menschheit frißt sich selbst.
Zugegeben, Zukunftsmusik.
Aber, was essen wir wirklich?
Zusammengeschweißtes Restfleisch, Algen, Soja oder was?
Die Mächtigen dieser Welt (Kapital) scheren sich um uns einen Dreck und nebenbei werden die Märkte aufgeteilt.
Wo kommt welches Produkt her? Ist der Markenname nicht nur Makulatur? Entwicklungshilfe ist zur Billigproduktion in Drittländern verkommen. Wo hin man schaut "Sumpf"
Beispiel Infineon. Fabriken werden mit Fördermitteln aus dem Boden gestampft, Produktionsausweitungen werden angekündigt und 6 Monate später werden 15% Stellen abgebaut.
Ein Musterbeispiel. Und Schumacher? ist wie immer ahnungslos, das arme Schäfchen.
Es gibt da einen SF-Film mit Charlton Heston in dem die Menschen in New York mit sog. Keksen (Soylent Green) angereichert mit Psychopharmaka ernährt werden.
Am Schluß kommt es raus: Die Menschheit frißt sich selbst.
Zugegeben, Zukunftsmusik.
Aber, was essen wir wirklich?
Zusammengeschweißtes Restfleisch, Algen, Soja oder was?
Die Mächtigen dieser Welt (Kapital) scheren sich um uns einen Dreck und nebenbei werden die Märkte aufgeteilt.
Wo kommt welches Produkt her? Ist der Markenname nicht nur Makulatur? Entwicklungshilfe ist zur Billigproduktion in Drittländern verkommen. Wo hin man schaut "Sumpf"
Beispiel Infineon. Fabriken werden mit Fördermitteln aus dem Boden gestampft, Produktionsausweitungen werden angekündigt und 6 Monate später werden 15% Stellen abgebaut.
Ein Musterbeispiel. Und Schumacher? ist wie immer ahnungslos, das arme Schäfchen.
@Schnirchel
Doch seltsam, wenn über Filme wie " Soylent Green " " laut nachgedacht " wird, wie man dann doch feststellt, dass man nicht allein ist, mit solchen Gedankengängen !
Ich glaube in der Hollywood-Industrie, gibt es viele " Regisseure u. Scriptschreiber, die sich ihre " Ideen " von Ihren zukünftigen " Geldgebern " f. Filme etc. " holen ".
Es liegt in einigen Filmen, die wir heute noch als " utopisch " abtun, mehr als nur ein Quäntchen " Wahrheit.
Seines Zeichens " Orwell " wurde ja auch als hirnrissig abgetan - die Situation heute : man hat ihn x-fach " überholt, er liest sich jetzt schon wie ein " alter Schinken ".
Echelon, Carnivore u. was sonst noch " Hinterfotziges " in den " Schubladen " nicht nur der Zukunft schlummert. Alles natürlich nur zum Wohle d. Volkes. Wie oft dies schon in der Geschichte gesagt wurde.
Man muß verdammt aufpassen !
- - -
Ein andere Seite : T O P - Wochenendlektüre !
Egal welcher politischen Überzeugung man " nachhängt "
Wahrheiten müssen Wahrheiten bleiben !
Hier ein interessanter " Bericht " mit dokumentierten
Quellen-Angaben im Anhang - also kein " Bla-Bla " !
Allen noch ein " schönes Wochenende " und viel Einblick in den " politischen Sumpf ".
-
Backing up Globalization with Military Might
--------------------------------------------
New World Order Onslaught
by Karen Talbot
The U.S. and its NATO underlings undoubtedly will be vastly emboldened by their "success" in ensconcing themselves in Kosovo, Bosnia and the other remnants of Yugoslavia--Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia. We can expect rapid steps to further fragment the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). We can also expect the new mission of nuclear-armed NATO -- intervening over so-called "humanitarian concerns" against sovereign nations---to be implemented elsewhere, with great speed, especially in the Caspian Sea/Caucuses areas of the former Soviet Union.
Burgeoning military alliances, with the U.S. at the helm, are likely to try intervening in a similar way against North Korea, China -- any country refusing to be a "New World Order" colony by allowing its wealth and labor power to be plundered by the TNCs. The assault against Yugoslavia threw open the floodgates for new wars including wars of competition among the industrial powers, with nuclear weapons part of the equation.
President Bill Clinton recently praised NATO for its campaign in Kosovo saying the alliance could intervene elsewhere in Europe or in Africa to fight repression."We can do it now. We can do it tomorrow, if it is necessary, somewhere else," he told U.S. troops gathered at the Skopje, Macedonia airport. (1)
Given these scenarios, it is hardly surprising that Clinton and the leaders of the other NATO countries continue to glorify the aggression against Yugoslavia as "preventing a humanitarian catastrophe," "promoting democracy" and "keeping the peace "against a Hitler-like dictator who would not adhere to "peace" agreements. The public is being repeatedly assured that the means –the bombing of the people of Yugoslavia–were justified by the ends.
The ongoing media hype, including the unprecedented demonization of the Serbs, is designed to continue molding public opinion to accept the "justice" of the war. The unmistakable message is that the "Serbs got what they deserve." It also masterfully conceals, and therefore allows unimpeded momentum toward, the true goals behind the stepped-up saber-rattling of the world’s super-power and its allies. This skillful disinformation campaign has been spectacularly successful in derailing sections of the traditional peace and progressive movement.
But, today, as never before, we need to tear away the mask of lies and disclose the real goals of this "new world order" imperialism and see clearly how it hurts workers and the poor within our own borders and globally. We need to see the ways in which military dominance increasingly works in close tandem with economic globalization, privatization and the drive for corporate super profits.
This basic understanding is essential for paving the road to a powerful united worldwide resistence movement. Already, the U.S./NATO war against Yugoslavia has awakened millions of people to the ferocious nature of the U.S. corporate drive for world dominance. That process needs to be accelerated by exposing the palliatives designed to mislead the public and getting down to a true diagnosis which can help lead the peace and justice movement to an effective response. So let’s examine some of the rationales for the war and then look at some of the real motives.
The Real Terrorists
Adding to the barrage or propaganda, the U.S. Senate recently labeled Serbia a "terrorist state." (2) What obscene hypocrisy! Yet another case of blaming the victim for the crimes of the perpetrator.
What could be more "terrorist" than the relentless blitzkrieg with 23,000 "dumb" bombs and "smart" missiles rained upon Yugoslavia for 79 days by U.S.- led NATO forces? Is it not terrorism to casually drop upon civilians, from the sanctuary of thousands of feet in the air, or with terrain-hugging computer-guided missiles, radioactive depleted uranium weapons and outlawed cluster bombs designed to rip human flesh to shreds? Is it not terrorism to deliberately target the entire infrastructure of this small nation including the electrical and water filtration systems critical to the survival of civilians?
Is it not terrorism to ferociously obliterate 200 factories destroy the jobs of millions of workers? What of the constant air assault–"fire from the sky"–against cities, villages, schools, hospitals, senior residences, TV towers and studios, oil refineries, chemical plants, electrical power plants, transmission towers, gas stations, homes, farms, marketplaces, buses, trains, railroad lines, bridges, roads, medieval monasteries, churches, historic monuments— destruction amounting to more than $100 billion dollars?
What of the eco-terrorism, biological and chemical warfare, resulting from the incalculable destruction of the environment including the deliberate bombardment of chemical plants. Above all, is it not terrorism to kill, maim, traumatize, impoverish, or render homeless tens of thousands of men, women and children?
Not only was NATO’s war a reprehensible act of inhumanity, it was in contravention of all norms of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations.
It was an unprecedented war by the most powerful military force in history involving the 19 wealthiest nations with 95% of the world’s armaments against a small sovereign nation that ultimately had little chance of countering such an attack. Given that reality, it was awe-inspiring to see the heroism of the peoples of Yugoslavia–a population of 10 million-- standing up to such a mighty juggernaut.
"Humanitarian Crisis" Crusade
We were told this inhuman blitzkrieg was necessary to protect the human rights of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. People everywhere wanted to believe this noble purpose. Yet the most obvious and glaring contradiction was the absence of any similar concerns about hundreds of thousands of Serbs expelled from the Krajina region of Croatia by the Croatian military, in 1995–described in the press as "the largest ethnic cleansing" of the Yugoslav civil war. (3)
Thousands died in that "Operation Storm." Not only did the United States not express compassion or offer to defend those refugees, the massive assault was carried out with the aid of "retired" U.S. military officers belonging to a "private" organization, Military, Professional Resources, Inc. (MPRI) with the help of U.S./NATO planes and weaponry. (4)
In fact, Agim Ceku, a brigadier general from the Croatian Army who presided over that colossal bombing and expulsion of Serbs from Krajina, beginning in 1993, took over command of the KLA in recent months, according to Jane Defense Weekly. Licensed by the U.S. State Department and Pentagon, the MPRI also had been operating in Kosovo training the KLA, beginning several weeks before the air strikes began. (5)
Rick Rowden, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, said "Americans should question the administration’s stated objective to ‘stop the killing’ in Kosovo. [It] should give us reason to ask "Why can the U.S. support Croatian ethnic cleansing in Croatia but oppose Serbian ethnic cleansing in Kosovo? The answer likely has little to do with ‘stopping the killing’ and much to do with the expansion of NATO and its post-Cold War global role." (6)
There were a million Serb refugees even before the bombing began. This terrible flood of human suffering was greatly augmented by refugees who fled Kosovo after the NATO attack was launched–Albanians, but also, Turks, Romas, Goranies, and Serbs (many of whom were refugees from Bosnia and Krajina, once again uprooted.) Now there is a vast exodus particularly of Serbs as the KLA’s drive for an ethnically pure Kosovo is being played out swiftly while NATO troops stand by and take no steps to prevent it.
What of the human rights of the population of Yugoslavia which is confronted by appalling conditions following the U.S./NATO attack? People have no jobs, often no water and electricity, and face desperate circumstances in the coming winter, according to Jim Carlton, Secretary-General of the Australian Red Cross, who inspected the devastation in June. He said that NATO’s air war had destroyed the basic industry resulting in massive unemployment and caused a serious refugee situation. "The humanitarian assistance that the Red Cross can get into Serbia is minuscule compared to the need," he said. (7)
In fact, there was no "humanitarian crisis" until NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, (including Kosovo) over an alleged "humanitarian crisis."
If protecting human rights was the purpose behind the bombardment why were there no similar actions, for example, over the genocide in Rwanda, or the tens of thousands killed in Angola, Mozambique, Guatemala, El Salvador or among the Kurds of Turkey? There were no threats to bomb on their behalf. What of millions of victims of the bombings and continuing sanctions–using the withholding of food and medicines as a weapon of war–against the people of Iraq? What of the embargo against the people of Cuba?
KLA Steps up Terrorist Attacks
The U.S. and NATO’s hypocrisy over human rights is exposed especially since the occupation of Kosovo began on June 8. There has been intense persecution and expulsion of tens of thousands of Serbs, Romas, pro-Yugoslav ethnic Albanians and anyone targeted by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). This has included attacks on Serbian monasteries and churches, and assaults carried out while NATO troops watch and do nothing, which amounts to helping the KLA. The separatist KLA whose goal is an ethnically pure "Greater Albania." has been further entrenched–not "demilitarized" as required in UN Security Council resolution 1244 ending the bombing. Yet, out of a total of $150 million appropriated for assistance for Kosovo, the Senate earmarked $20 million for training and equipping a security force "that its authors say could include the KLA," (8)
By the first of September, NATO and UN officials had agreed to the civilian force made up of "the remnants of the KLA." It will have 3,000 members with a military structure formed from the core KLA commanders. Gen. Agim Ceku, who makes no secret about this force as essential to achieving independence from Yugoslavia, said "We will build a new army in the future and the Kosovo Corps will be one part of it."
According to the UN Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly one third of the Serbs in Kosovo had fled by early July. No longer are there any Serbo-Croat language television or radio programs. Broadcasting studios have been taken over by the KLA. Albanian and German currencies have replaced the Yugoslav dinar, postal links have been cut and a legal system is being set up without Belgrade’s involvement. (9)
Human Rights Watch reported, "well over 164,000 Serbs have now fled Kosovo with a significant number of Romas. The intent behind many of the killings and abductions..appears to be the expulsion of Kosovo’s Serb and Roma population." It said NATO and the UN "seem ill-equipped to stop the violence." (10) That number has escalated greatly in the interim, reaching proportions approaching the ejection of the entire Serb population.
A media release by UNCHR said "If emergency aid is not immediately provided to these people, 40-50 percent of whom are children under 16 years of age, UNCHR believes their situation could turn desperate when winter comes." (11)
There are myriad examples of the ongoing KLA rampage such as the plundering of Belo Polje which had been an entirely Serb village. Today it is in ruins. Soldiers wearing KLA uniforms murdered Serb civilians, then looted and torched the entire village, according t a reporter at the scene. NATO soldiers did nothing to stop the mayhem. (12)
Three hundred and fifty armed KLA troops seized the Belavic coal mine in Dobro Selo near Pristina—a mine that provides for much of Serbia—and KFOR took no action (13)
"Violence has been rising steadily, against the remaining pockets of Serb civilians. The looting and burning of Serb homes, as well as dozens of assassinations and kidnapings of Serbs—including the massacre of 14 Serb farmers...are reminiscent of the gun-slinging and anarchy that have characterized Albania in the last few years." (14)
Congress member Dennis J. Kucinich, said: "I read the latest reports concerning a recent Executive Order that hands the CIA a black bag in the Balkans for engineering a military coup in Serbia, for interrupting communications, for tampering with bank accounts, freezing assets abroad and training the Kosovo Liberation Army in terrorist tactics, such as how to blow up buildings.
"How this is intended to help establish a democracy in Serbia or Kosovo hasn’t been explained. Nor has the failure to substantially demilitarize the KLA been explained. Nor has the reverse ethnic cleansing taking place in Kosovo by the KLA while NATO rules the province been explained." (15)
KLA’s Fascist Roots
The fascist roots of the KLA were detailed even in a New York Times story by Chris Hedges. (16) He speaks of the leadership faction as having "hints of fascism" and being comprised of the "sons and grandsons of those who fought in the World War II fascist militias and the Nazi Skanderberg SS Division" or descendants of the rightist Albanian Kacak rebels who fought against Serbs 80 years ago. They wear black fatigues and had ordered their fighters to salute with a clenched fist to the forehead, as did their fascist antecedents. (17)
The 1941, German and Italian fascist invaders of Kosovo called for turning multi-ethnic Kosovo into a "pure" Albanian State. A "greater Albania" only existed during the administration by the Nazis who linked Albania and Kosovo as a single unit.
The CIA and BND of Germany had been covertly training and supplying the KLA since the mid 1990s. (18)
German NATO troops–the first German forces in Yugoslavia in 54 years– were enthusiastically welcomed by KLA supporters. Western journalists seemed to be startled by this. "This is a second liberation," Ali Majo, 68, a native of Prizren told Los Angeles Times staff writer Marjorie Miller on June 17. "I can’t describe how it felt when we saw German soldiers come here again." Majo told the reporter how he had first seen the Nazi forces bomb Partisan guerrilla positions. "After that...we all shouted ‘Hitler.’ We were proud of the German soldiers because they liberated us from the Serbs." (19)
The U.S. and NATO Prevented a Peace Agreement
The key reason used to justify the NATO attack was that Milosevic refused to sign the Rambouillet "peace agreement." Actually, the chance to arrive at a peaceful settlement of the crisis during the talks in Rambouillet and Paris, last February and March, was thwarted. Even the short time initially allotted to "negotiate" this complex question showed a lack of seriousness. It becomes clear by perusing the text of the Rambouillet "agreement" (20) that the Contact Group, especially the U.S., did not want a peace agreement because no nation would have signed away its sovereignty as required in that document. It was accompanied by an ultimatum to sign or be bombed. This was déjà vu for the Yugoslavs. In 1941, Hitler had ordered them to capitulate to his pact or be bombed. Then as now, they refused and were bombed. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, in its thrust toward World War I, inflicted a similar edict on Serbia, in 1914.
In Rambouillet, the delegation from the FRY, made up of representatives of every nationality of Serbia including ethnic Albanians, had agreed to the ten original political points decreed by the U.S. and the Contact Group, including autonomy for Kosovo. However they rejected the added demand for the deployment of NATO troops in the province, maintaining that if the parties agreed to the ten points, there would be no need for a heavily armed force in Kosovo. (21)
The acquiescence of the Yugoslavs to the political points provided an opening for a successful peaceful settlement of the crisis. It contrasted sharply with rejection of this document by the KLA, causing considerable consternation among U.S. officials. Press accounts were full of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s open apprehension that NATO would not be able to bomb if the KLA refused to sign. After a flurry of activity over several days, a signature was obtained on the greatly altered Rambouillet accords with 56 added pages. It was then presented to the FRY delegation when the talks resumed in Paris. This virtually new document, totally contravening the 10 Contact Group principles, had never been negotiated. In fact, there never were real negotiations.
Aside from the other blatant violations of the sovereignty of Yugoslavia contained in the Rambouillet "accords, there was a provision that after a three year period, a new international meeting would be held to "take into account the will of the people" in Kosovo. This was clearly meant to open the way to independence even though the U.S. and the other Contact Group members had repeatedly assured the world they only favored autonomy, not independence, for Kosovo-Metojia. (22)
The refusal of the FRY to sign the fraudulent Rambouillet document provided the desired go-ahead for NATO to begin bombing with all its terrible consequences for civilians, refugees-- Serbs, Albanians and all the people of Yugoslavia. NATO’s ultimate goal of establishing itself in Kosovo was also accomplished.
These few simple and obvious facts cut through the lies used to justify the war against Yugoslavia. What then are the real objectives of the U.S. and NATO?
McDonald`s Needs McDonnell Douglas to Flourish
An article by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times entitled "What the World Needs Now" tells it all. Illustrated by an American Flag on a fist it said, among other things: "For globalism to work, America can`t be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is....The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist—McDonald`s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley`s technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps." (23)
There could not be a better description of how the U.S. armed forces are seen as the military arm of the globalizing transnational corporations (TNCs).
President Clinton said in a speech delivered the day before his televised address to Americans about Kosovo: "If we`re going to have a strong economic relationship that includes our ability to sell around the world, Europe has got to be a key....That`s what this Kosovo thing is all about." (24)
Defense Secretary William Cohen, in remarks to reporters prior to his speech at Microsoft Corporation in Seattle, put it this way, "[T]he prosperity that companies like Microsoft now enjoy could not occur without having the strong military that we have."
"The defense secretary is making the case that conflicts in faraway lands such as Bosnia, Korea and Iraq have a direct effect on the U.S. economy. The billions it costs to keep 100,000 American troops in South Korea and Japan, for example, makes Asia more stable--and thus better markets for U.S. goods. The military`s success in holding Iraq in check ensures a continued flow of oil from the Persian Gulf," concluded the Associated Press dispatch reporting on Cohen`s Seattle appearance.(25)
In today`s world, TNCs, and governments running interference for them, are pushing relentlessly for an end to national sovereignty and democratic rights in order to achieve total unimpeded access to acquire investments, cheap labor and consumers in every nook and cranny of the globe. This is being accomplished particularly through mechanisms such as multilateral agreements on investment, NAFTA-type free trade agreements, and the dictates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO).
The globalization fever is running rampant. It is epitomized in the feeding frenzy taking place across the Asia-Pacific region where U.S.-based transnationals and banks are gobbling up assets at bargain basement prices in nations stricken by the Asian economic crisis. In the early weeks of that economic tsunami, the New York Times , described U.S. banks and corporations as poised to "snap up some corporate bargains...Chase Manhattan, General Electric, General Motors and J.P. Morgan are all said to be looking at ailing companies in the region."(26)
Corporations will stop at nothing
To achieve maximum profits these transnationals will stop at nothing. After all, they are non-human institutions that must expand through ever-greater profits, or go out of business. In so doing they have shown willingness to violate human rights–particularly workers` rights--to throw millions out of work, eliminate unions, use sweat-shops and slave labor, destroy the environment, destabilize governments, install or bolster tyrants who oppress, repress, torture and kill with impunity.
Is it surprising, then, that wars and military intervention, including attacks on civilians, are waged on behalf of corporations? It has been an integral part of the history of imperialist powers. Why should we believe it is any different today? Yugoslavia is but the most recent victim of this process.
But the targeting of Yugoslavia did not begin with the bombing. Economic destabilization of that nation began in the 1980`s with IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs (SAPs). As happens throughout the world where such SAPs are imposed as conditions for debt relief, they devastated the economy, laying the groundwork for the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Political destabilization through the years against Yugoslavia was equally intense. Today, there are amazingly open pronouncements about deposing Milosevic. The funding and organizing of opposition groups is openly espoused and carried out.
Those endeavors by the U.S. have included a meeting held the end of June organized by President Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro, attended by Prince Alexander, self-declared heir to the Yugoslav "throne," and Serbian Democratic Party President Zoran Djindjic. Djindjic has taken the lead in organizing U.S.-orchestrated efforts to get rid of Milosevic. To this end he formed the Alliance for Change.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded by the U.S. government in what Republican Congressman Chris Smith defined as "the most cost-effective item in the budget" (NED Press Release, March 5, 1999) has been pouring millions of dollars into Yugoslavia for years.* (27)
*(Statement by Paul B. McCarthy, National Endowment for Democracy (NED Press Release, March 5, 1999) : Hearing of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe "The Milosevic Regime Versus Serbian Democracy and Balkan Stability, December Paul B. McCarthy, said "past grantees have included the newspapers Nasa Borba, Vreme, and Danas, an independent TV station in eastern Serbia, TV Negotin, the prominent news agency BETA, and...Radio B-92....the Association for Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)....and Dnevni Telegraf." ( 10,1998, 2172 Rayburn House Office
Building)
Among other things, McCarthy praised the "Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations held in Belgrade in June (1998) and encouraged U.S. organizations "to provide opposition political parties with expertise.." He said western funders should support organizations like the Alternative Academic Network, the Anti-War Campaign which "protested the war in Kosovo." NED funding also is going to the Humanitarian Law Center, the Center for Democracy Foundation, the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, the Center for International Private Enterprise the European Movement of Serbia and the G-17 group of economists as well as the American Center for International Labor Solidarity which continues to assist UGS Nezavisnost, a trade union confederation which opposes Milosevic., among others, according to McCarthy. )
Profits for the Military-Industrial Complex
Clearly, a related major objective behind the NATO action was to add more billions to the already bloated U.S. military budget and to fill the coffers of the military-industrial corporations with super profits acquired from the hard-earned tax dollars of American workers. After all, the stocks of Tomahawk Cruise missiles must be replenished. Congress, with great bi-partisan fervor, is approving an increase for the Pentagon of $20 billion adding up to $288.8 billion for FY 2000. By contrast, all other domestic discretionary spending, including for education, job-training, housing, environment and health programs, totals $245 billion-- "the biggest disparity in modern times," according to the Center for Defense Information. More food and education being taken from children to feed the war machine.
If that were not enough, President Clinton signed a bill appropriating $15 billion above the current Pentagon budget to wage the war against Yugoslavia. Most of that will be siphoned out of the Social Security surplus fund.
The Pentagon is not satisfied with all this largess but apparently finds it necessary to divert hundreds of millions of dollars into projects never authorized by Congress including a "super-secret" Air Force "black program," and "illegally spent hundreds of millions to update its C-5 transport planes; and millions on a previously canceled ‘Star Wars’ missile defense program."(28)
Tapping into this lucrative bottomless well of funds, the "Big Three" weapons makers—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon-- now receive among themselves over $30 billion per year in Pentagon contracts. Companies like Lockheed Martin are actively engaged in shaping U.S. foreign and military policies. Their efforts have yielded among other things: the "payoffs for layoffs" subsidies for defense industry mergers such as the Lockheed/Martin Marietta merger; the elimination of royalty fees that foreign arms customers had been paying to reimburse the U.S. Treasury for the cost of weapons developed at taxpayer expense (this adds up to a loss for taxpayers of roughly $500 million per year); and the creation of billions of dollars of new grants and government-guaranteed loans to support the export of U.S. weaponry. These Pentagon contractors, conservative think tanks and advocacy groups lobbied heavily and successfully for the "Star Wars" missile defense program.(29)
War Profiteering
The bombing and missile strikes are, more than ever, giant bazaars for selling the wares of the armaments manufacturers. An article in USA Today said: "The USA`s defense equipment, such as the satellite-guided smart bombs, has stolen the international spotlight as NATO air forces pound Serbian forces. That could mean increased foreign interest in U.S. military equipment..." (30) Raytheon spokesperson, David Shea, said: "We are expecting the Kosovo conflict to result in new orders downstream." Officials at Raytheon announced that replacing munitions used in the Balkans could lead to about $1 billion in new contracts. (31)
Jaynatha Dhanapala, UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, said recently that "television coverage of modern warfare has effectively created an ‘advertising dividend’ for the manufacturers of high-tech weaponry and the countries and alliances that use such weapons..." He observed that during the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf and the recent NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, tiny video cameras enabled hundreds of millions of viewers to "experience vicariously" the flight paths of attacking missiles to their intended targets. (32)
No wonder stock prices of the large military manufacturers shot up. Since the beginning of the war against Yugoslavia, March 24, 1999, the stocks of Rockwell International (maker of the Lancer, B-1 bomber, etc.) was up +48 percent; Boeing Aircraft (maker of the B-52 Stratofortress, etc.) up +30 percent; Raytheon Systems (maker of the Tomahawk cruise missile, HARM missile, etc) up +37 percent; Lockheed Martin (maker of the F-117 Nighthawk, F-16 Falcon, etc.), up +18 percent; and Northrop Grumman (maker of the B-2 bomber, etc.) up +16 percent. (33)
Defense and aerospace companies have either announced or completed mergers and acquisitions amounting to nearly $60 billion just in the first half of 1999. That amount is already well above the total for all of 1998. (34)
The New NATO
The giant corporations–especially the military-industrial corporations--have been pushing vigorously for expanding and extending the role of NATO. Their blatant salivating over potential profits was indisputable during NATO`s 50th Anniversary celebrations which became "the ultimate marketing opportunity," as described in the Washington Post. The host committee included the chief executives of Ameritech, DamilerChrysler, Boeing, Ford Motor, General Motors, Honeywell, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nextel, SBC Communications, TRW and United Technologies. (35) These companies sell weapons but also other products. They have been busy lobbying for the expansion of NATO to avail themselves of the lucrative markets in Eastern European nations which have been pressed to join NATO. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have already been admitted. In order to be a part of the Alliance these nations must spend billions to upgrade their military forces.
Even the Ukraine, part of the NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace, held joint naval exercises with the United States in July. Perceiving this as a threat, Russian Prime Minster Sergei Stepashin was quoted by Interfax Ukraine news agency as telling the officers and men of Russia’s Black Sea fleet to prepare for a naval exercise to imitate the military action in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo crisis. (36)
The Ukraine along with Georgia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldava are members of GUUAM, a bloc of "Western-oriented" Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members, according to a dispatch from "Global Intelligence Updates." (37) Moldava and Uzbekistan joined during the NATO anniversary Summit in April, and a charter was established encompassing military cooperation within the group and with NATO. GUUAM members have opted out of the CIS Collective Security Treaty. (38)
"The pendulum of Ukrainian foreign policy swung closest to the West on June 12, when Kiev briefly closed Ukrainian airspace to Russian aircraft trying to reinforce Russian troops at Slatina airbase in Kosovo... Russia’s military commanders were furious. It was bad enough that NATO convinced ostensibly neutral Romania and Bulgaria to deny their airspace to Russian aircraft, but Ukraine was a step too far. Ukraine had to clarify its relationship with NATO and with Russia," said the dispatch. (39)
Moreover, NATO has repeatedly deflected protest over its possession of nuclear armaments and its refusal to renounce first use of these weapons.
At all costs then, NATO is projecting its new role as acting "out of area" and intervening anywhere on the basis of "humanitarian concerns" regardless of national sovereignty and international law. The purpose is to send a message to nations of the entire world that if they do not do the U.S. bidding, they too could be a victim of the kind of devastation unleashed upon Yugoslavia and Iraq. They too could be divided up, balkanized, turned into banana republics or emirates. Especially vulnerable are those countries involved over the oil riches of the Caspian Sea basin--Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazahkstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia–and where there are already related conflicts including over Dagestan, Chechnya, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Abhkazia.
Intensifying Antagonisms Between the U.S. and Europe
Another factor driving U.S. policies is economic competition with the European Union which is surfacing increasingly in spite of cooperation and commonality of interests on other levels. This is epitomized by: the recent banana trade wars in which the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of U.S. TNCs; the rivalry over such prizes as the oil riches of the Caspian sea basin and access to the labor, market and resources of Eastern Europe.
The U.S. has warned openly that it will not tolerate a purely European military alliance to take the place of NATO. The military might of the U.S. must prevail.
This was clearly spelled out in "The Defense Planning Guide," excerpted in the New York Times , which said, among other things: "We must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order. ... we must [deter] potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role... We must seek to prevent the emergence of European-only security arrangements which would undermine NATO."(40)
Nevertheless, on the very day that Yugoslavia adhered to the G-8 agreement, the leaders of 15 European countries announced the European Union will establish an independent military force.
Commerce up the Danube was disrupted by the bombing of bridges in Novi Sad which infuriated Europeans whose economies continue to be adversely affected. It was perceived as a manifestation of the intensifying economic rivalry between the U.S. and Europe.
Alarm bells should remind us that two world wars were ignited by such competition
At the same time, rivalry is tempered increasingly by the the corporate imperative to survive at all costs and to make maximum profits including through mergers and partnerships. Lockheed Martin, maker of missiles and high tech weaponry, has created Lockheed Martin UK Limited, based in London. Its largest UK operation is the Royal Navy Merlin helicopter program among many other military programs. In fact, Lockheed Martin has more than 200 international partnerships around the world. (41)
U.S. aerospace companies are determined not to be locked out of the lucrative profits to be had from the establishment of a separate European military alliance. This pressure has led to a shift in policy by the Pentagon. Mergers between U.S. and European defense contractors are being given the go-ahead. "U.S. Undersecretary for Defense Jacques Gansler has admitted being in talks not only with European Governments such as the UK, Germany, France and Italy but also with leading defense companies including British Aerospace (Bae), France’s Aerospatiale Matra SA and Germany’s Dasa," (42)
Girdling the Globe with U.S.-led Military Alliances
NATO expansion pertains to what Washington calls a "new strategic concept," an expensive new program to have NATO, under U.S. leadership, become the key player globally. This new blueprint for NATO not only sees it extending throughout Eastern and Baltic Europe, possibly taking in Russia itself, it goes considerably beyond this, as indicated by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his new book ("The Grand Chessboard"). He defines the alliance as part of an "integrated, comprehensive and long-term geostrategy for all of Eurasia," in which NATO would eventually reach Asia, where another U.S. led military alliance would connect Pacific and Southeast Asian states.
The unfolding events in Indonesia and East Timor appear to be closely related to plans for establishing a U.S.-controlled NATO-type military alliance in that region and to counter a purely Asian military association.
"Control of Space Means Control of Earth"
The Pentagon is convinced that control of space means control of Earth. It is working non-stop to deploy anti-satellite weapons (ASAT’s) to enable the U.S. to knock out competitors’ "eyes in the sky," according to Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. (43)
The Persian Gulf war convinced the U.S. military that "space dominance and space control" are essential. The war in Kosovo was used "to show the world that they have achieved their goal," says Gagnon. In a news release, June 17, 1999, the U.S. Space Command proclaimed: "Any questions about the role or effectiveness of the use of space for military operations have been answered by NATO’s operation Allied Force." (44)
The recent go-ahead given by Congress for Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) is integral to this strategy. Though BMD is touted as being "defensive," Col. Tom Clark, speaking at the 36th Space Congress at Cape Canaveral, Florida, said it is "obvious that dual use is clear", referring to the ability of lasers in space to fire either defensively or offensively. (45)
Russia and China are deeply concerned over this drive for space dominance and the flouting by the U.S. of the ABM and Outer Space Treaties. They have both called for the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) to establish an ad hoc committee to negotiate a treaty for the "prevention of an arms race in outer space." The U.S. has consistently blocked this in the CD for two decades. Furthermore, the U.S. has been virtually the only member state of the UN to vote "no" time and again opposing UN General Assembly resolutions calling for preventing an arms race in outer space. (46)
Becoming ‘Irrational," "Vindictive" and Threatening Nuclear Attack
Nothing could describe U.S. military goals better than the British American Security Information Council’s recently published, partially declassified, text of the U.S. Strategic Command’s 1995 "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence:
"[T]he United States should have available the full range of responses, conventional weapons, special operations, and nuclear weapons. Unlike chemical or biological weapons, the extreme destruction from a nuclear explosion is immediate, with few if any palliatives to reduce its effect. Although we are not likely to use nuclear weapons in less than matters of the greatest national importance.. Nuclear weapons always cast a shadow over any crisis or conflict in which the U.S. is engaged. Thus, deterrence through the threat of use of nuclear weapons will continue to be our top military strategy...
"That the U.S. may become irrational and vindictive if its vital interests are attacked should be a part of the national persona we project to all adversaries..." [emphasis added] (47)
Why the Balkans?
How do the Balkans figure in all this? The peoples of this strategically situated region have had the great misfortune of living on real estate coveted by empire after empire, all of which employed classic divide and conquer tactics by pitting one people against another. Not much has changed!
Today, there is determination that the free market and privatization must prevail. Yugoslavia committed the unpardonable sin of putting the brakes on market reforms imposed by the IMF and World Bank including the drive to privatize all public enterprises. Huge strikes by the workers had protested the reforms. President Borisav Jovic who headed the government in 1990-1991 opposed those austerity measures because of the economic havoc they were causing the people. Among others, Slobodan Milosevic, who was president of the Republic of Serbia at the time, backed him in that stance.
Numerous articles in the mainstream press have unveiled this real complaint against Milosevic. The New York Times, for example, says, "there has been little improvement in the Serbian economy, largely because of the determination of Mr. Milosevic, a former Communist, to keep state controls and his refusal to allow privatization."(48) The Christian Science Monitor put it this way: "Milosevic is harking back to the political control promised by that old Communist star on this presidency building...[he] is revoking some privatization and free market measures." (49)
In response to this "stubbornness" by Yugoslavia, the U.S. Congress, on November 5, 1990, passed the 1991 Foreign Operations Appropriations Law 101-513. That law abruptly cut off all aid, credits and loans from the U.S. to Yugoslavia, further demolishing the economy. It also demanded separate elections in each of the six republics making up Yugoslavia and said only those forces defined as "democratic" would receive funding from the U.S. At the time this law was passed the CIA issued an unusual public report described in the New York Times in which it "predicted that the federated Yugoslavia will break apart most probably in the next 18 months and that civil war is highly likely." The article spoke of the expected impact of cutting all funds to the government as the basis of impending civil war. (50) This was one year before it actually happened and before there were any indications in the press of the impending trouble. Coupled with the increasing economic suffering of the people, this law fueled ethnic strife by providing backing for right-wing and nationalist elements. In this way, the full onslaught for the dismantling of Yugoslavia was launched.
The Allure of Rich Resources and Cheap Labor
The determination by the U.S and NATO, at all costs, to occupy Kosovo and virtually all of Yugoslavia, is spurred on by the enticement of abundant natural resources. Kosovo alone has the richest mineral resources in all of Europe west of Russia. The New York Times observed that "the sprawling state-owned Trepca mining complex, the most valuable piece of real estate in the Balkans, is worth at least $5 billion." producing gold, silver, pure lead, zinc, cadmium, as well as tens of millions of dollars in profits annually. (51)"Kosovo also possesses 17 billion tons of coal reserves and Kosovo ( like Serbia and Albania) also has oil reserves. (52)
"A number of unofficial partition plans have been drawn up for Kosovo all raising the question of who would control an important northern mining region," the New York Times revealed. (53) Trepca was also a "glittering prize" taken over by Hitler to fuel the Nazi war machine during WWII.
Serbia as a whole is rich in minerals and oil including in Vojvodina, the northern part of the FRY. That coveted area of Vojvodina is also extremely fertile land–a major "breadbasket" for Europe. Then there is the allure of enterprises to be privatized at bargain prices, and the anticipation of exploiting very cheap and highly skilled labor potentially available to work in sweatshop conditions.
Chapter 4 of the outrageous 85-page Rambouillet "agreement" deals with plans for the economic assets of Kosovo. Article
1 calls for the privatization of the whole economy. (54)
This meant that private Western corporations would have been allowed to easily plunder the large industries in this Serbian province which are almost entirely state-owned.
Similarly, a major aspect of the implementation of the Dayton Accords on Bosnia is overseeing the publicly owned enterprises and their privatization. (55)
Perhaps most significantly, Yugoslavia has strong elements of a socialist economy —the last in Europe-- however tattered it may have become by years of economic destabilization by the West and international financial institutions. Sixty-five percent of all firms are either state-owned or self-managed cooperatives. Most heavy industry is state-owned. Factories bombed during the 79 days of NATO attacks were exclusively state-owned. The banking and financial system is also state-controlled. Only 20 percent of the workforce is in the private sector. (56) Yet like scores of nations around the globe, Yugoslavia fell prey to the international financial institutions.
The U.S. had joined Belgrade’s other international creditors in imposing a first round of macroeconomic reforms in 1980, shortly before the death of Marshal Tito. "Successive IMF-sponsored programs since then continued the disintegration of the industrial sector and the piecemeal dismantling of the Yugoslav welfare state. Debt restructuring agreements increased foreign debt and mandated currency devaluation also hit hard at Yugoslavia’s standard of living...[the] IMF prescribed further doses of its bitter economic medicine periodically...Industrial production declined to a negative 10 percent growth rate in 1990- with all its predictable social consequences,." (57)
In autumn of 1989, Yugoslavia agreed to even more sweeping economic reforms, including a new devalued currency, another wage freeze, sharp cuts in government spending and the elimination of socially-owned worker-managed companies. (58)
Workers from all national communities protested and the government began to reject these structural adjustment requirements. In later years, as President of the FRY, Slobodan Milosevic again moved away from privatization. This, of course, outraged the U.S. and its partners.
On top of all of this, harsh economic sanctions were then imposed against Yugoslavia.
The targeting of the Yugoslav economy can be traced back to a ‘Secret Sensitive" 1984 National Security Decision Directive (NSDD 133), United States Policy toward Yugoslavia."). A censored version declassified in 1990 largely elaborated on NSDD 54 on East Europe issued in 1982. The latter advocated "expanded efforts to promote a ‘quiet revolution’ to overthrow Communist governments and parties" while reintegrating the countries of Eastern Europe into a market-oriented economy.(59)
Is Montenegro Next?
Even though a referendum in Montenegro had rejected seceding from Yugoslavia, there continue to be very strong efforts to tear Montenegro away from the FRY. Montenegro, under U.S.-supported leadership has privatized 95% percent of its economy, unlike Serbia. In 1992, Montenegro received a pledge from Secretary of State Madeline Albright to "shield" it from the sanctions (imposed seven years ago on Yugoslavia). Montenegro was receiving $5.9 million in aid from the U.S. and $4.4 million from the European Union. (60)
Montenegro is a coveted prize also because of its extremely valuable port of Bar –a deep water port which provides the cheapest route for commerce in and out of Eastern Europe and beyond. (Lituchy) Its beautiful seacoast is a haven for tourists.
In the coming months, there are sure to be further efforts to dismantle Yugoslavia by peeling away Montenegro and Sandjak, (a region connecting Kosovo to Bosnia-Herzegovina ) as well as the Northern province of Vojvodina.
Those machinations are already well underway. Talks began in mid- July between delegations from the two republics–Montenegro and Serbia. "Montenegro’s pro-Western government hopes the talks might lead to Yugoslavia becoming a looser federation," says an Associated Press dispatch, "The threat of a split puts pressure on Serb officials to consider ousting Milosevic. .. Serb-born American millionaire, Milan Panic, who served [briefly] as federal premier...told Belgrade daily Blic that, if Milosevic remains in power, ‘everything has been prepared for Montenegro to secede.’" (61)
Sanctions: War Against the People
Yugoslavia has been suffering under severe sanctions for seven years and now, as it tries to recover from the vast destruction of the country, there promises to be no let up in those sanctions.
Senate Bill 1234,(and its counterpart in the House HR 2606) not only declared Yugoslavia a "terrorist state" along with Cuba, Iraq, Libya ,North Korea, Iran, Sudan an Syria. In Section 578 it called for keeping in place sanctions against Yugoslavia. (62) As has happened in Iraq, this will likely result in the deaths of additional thousands of people in a nation where, 90 percent are unemployed due to the U.S/NATO bombing and where the infrastructure has been demolished.
This section stipulates that sanctions will remain in place, until the President certifies that "... successor states to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia [the former Yugoslavia] have successfully negotiated the division of assets and liabilities and all other succession issues... Serbia-Montenegro is fully complying with its obligations as a signatory to the... [Dayton Accords];...fully cooperating with and providing unrestricted access to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, including surrendering persons indicted for war crimes who are within the jurisdiction of the territory of Serbia-Montenegro, and with the investigations...of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosova [sic]:...instituting democratic reforms; and Serbian-Montenegrin federal governmental officials, and representatives of the ethnic Albanian community in Kosova [sic] have agreed on, signed and begun implementation of a negotiated settlement on the future of Kosova [sic]." (63)
The Lucrative Business of Destroying and Rebuilding
Another goal is to create a "Marshall Plan" for the Balkans. Though this sounds benevolent–-and certainly reconstruction is desperately needed--it means using public funds to underwrite the profits of corporations to rebuild the infrastructure and entrench themselves in Yugoslavia. This amounts to corporate welfare paid for by the workers. It also provides easy access into the region for Western corporations and gives impetus to the establishment of a "free" market economy and massive privatization. Destroying and rebuilding is enormously lucrative!
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told Congress in mid-April that the Clinton administration envisioned a plan to reconstruct Kosovo, create a common Balkan currency and forge new trade relationships. She assured Congress that Europeans were prepared to pay for most of it.
Subsequently, NATO finance ministers met with the World Bank and IMF to "explore aggressive ways for us to help," in Clinton’s words. Later a conference was held in Bonn to plan for ways to come up with the billions needed for reconstruction of the Balkans. (64)
Other countries have been hard hit by the NATO war against Yugoslavia. They too will need "rebuilding." The bulk of commerce for Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania went either to or through Yugoslavia. This was substantially destroyed by the NATO attack. The World Bank and IMF issued a report in April which said that over five percent of the gross domestic product will be wiped out for the Balkans this year plunging their economies into recession and unemployment.(65)
Debt-ridden and impoverished Albania and Macedonia both of which gave NATO free-rein to use their territories, and to a lesser extent, Bosnia-Herzogovina, Croatia and Slovenia will need to be "rejuvenated," as well.
The U.S. dominated South East European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), in which Milosevic refuses to participate, has been very active in this picture.
Though U.S. officials insist there will be no aid to Serbia so long as Milosevic is in power, Montenegro will receive such "assistance." There have also been promises of aid made to Mayors and city councils of some cities if they oppose the Milosevic government.
Basically, Serbia is now susceptible to the whetted appetites of the TNCs who are eager to invest and rebuild on their own terms.
Special task forces have been set up in Britain, Germany and France made up of companies who want to go after reconstruction contracts. There is considerable hustle and bustle by these companies as they seek to avoid being outdone by competitors in the U.S. and other countries. The U.S. Undersecretary for Trade, David Aaron announced on June 15 that the U.S. is demanding a share of the Kosovo contracts, saying 100 companies want to participate. (66)
Above All its About Oil!
Perhaps above all, this U.S.-led NATO onslaught is about oil. It is related to the drive to extend and protect the investments of the transnational corporations in the Caspian Sea region, especially the oil corporations.
The Balkans are strategic for the transshipment of oil and gas to Europe and beyond. They are critical in the competition between Europe and the U.S. over these riches.
Time is of the essence. The first tanker shipment from the port of Supsa in Georgia on the eastern Black sea coast -- the terminus of a pipeline from the Caspian sea oil fields–-took place recently. Another pipeline passing through Russia and Chechnya, also ending at the eastern shore of the Black Sea at Novorossiisk, will add to the tanker traffic.
The predicament is how to get that oil beyond the Black Sea. The Bosporus straits, at Istanbul, are narrow and pose considerable hazards, especially for the tremendously heavy tanker traffic expected. And so far plans to build a pipeline through Turkey (Kurdistan) are thwarted by the struggles of the Kurds and by competing interests. Hopes for a pipeline through Iran are also on hold. Though preferred for several reasons, those routes would not provide the best access to Europe and the Western Hemisphere. The oil can be shipped by tanker up the Danube River, a waterway crossing Europe from the Black Sea where a short canal connects it to the port of Constanza in Romania. The Danube runs through Belgrade and Novi Sad in Yugoslavia. The recent completion of a grand canal-- about the time the turmoil started in the former Yugoslavia--- between the Danube and Rhine Rivers now makes it possible to ply those waters through a great inland system of canals and waterways to the industrial Ruhr Valley and clear to the North Sea. Undoubtedly this route is favored by the Europeans in the competition over the Caspian Sea treasure chest.
Pipelines Across the Balkans
There are also plans to build pipelines across the Balkans. One from Romania-- which, incidentally, has considerable oil wealth itself–would extend from Constanza to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. At Trieste the oil would be piped northward or shipped westward out of Europe by tanker.(67)
There are also plans for a pipeline through Bulgaria from the port of Bourgas on the Black Sea, to the Vlore port on the Adriatic in Albania. This is a project of the U.S.-owned Albanian, Macedonian and Bulgarian Oil Corporation (AMBO) (68)
These would be part of a multiple pipeline system in the Balkans some connecting
with existing "Soviet-era" pipelines from Russia that would need upgrading. But these oil and gas pipelines extending through Serbia from Russia to Central Europe are extremely valuable. (69)
In the competition with European- based companies, the U.S. backs the Caspian Pipeline consortium led by Mobil. (70)
Also, Kosovo is in a corridor used for centuries, including during the Crusades, as a route between Europe and the Middle East. The route follows river valleys connecting with the Danube River Valley near Belgrade. The southern arm of the transbalkan railway runs along these valleys. Control of this overland passageway was critical to the German fascist war machine in World War II, and to other conquerors. It remains vital to getting the oil riches into Europe from the Middle East and for other two-way commerce.
Neighboring Albania, whose economy has been completely transformed to the "free-market" and domination by western transnational corporations and banks, has vast untapped mineral resources including oil reserves. These are already being gobbled up by transnationals including the major oil companies. (71)
The application of strong structural adjustment policies imposed by the World Bank and IMF "had contributed to wrecking Albania`s banking system and precipitating the collapse of the Albanian economy, says Chossudovsky. The resulting chaos enabled American and European transnationals to carefully position themselves. Several Western oil companies including Occidental, Shell and British Petroleum had their eyes riveted on Albania`s abundant and unexplored oil-deposits. Western investors were also gawking Albania`s extensive reserves of chrome, copper, gold, nickel and platinum.. The Adenauer Foundation had been lobbying in the background on behalf of German mining interests." (72)
So this entire region is broiling with activities over the profits to be had particularly from oil.
Stoking Conflict in the Caucuses /Caspian Sea Region
There is a growing contention between Russia and the West over the oil wealth of the Caspian Sea basin. This was manifested not only in the NATO war against Yugoslavia, but also increasingly in the Baltics, the Ukraine, the region of the Caucuses Mountains and among all the littoral nations of the Caspian Sea. The main pipelines for the Central Asian oil, the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline and the Baku-Supsa pipeline, pass through the Caucasus. In the mounting disputes, Russia allies itself with Armenia and, it is suspected, with the Abkhaz separatists to "counterbalance NATO influence in Azerbaijan and Georgia". Chechnya and Dagestan are also critical in this struggle as the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline passes through its territory.(73) That pipeline also passes through Dagestan which is located between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea and where conflict has exploded recently between secessionists and Russia.
"For Russia, Dagestan retains an important strategic value. Dagestan commands 70 percent of Russia’s shoreline to the oil-producing Caspian Sea and its only all-weather Caspian port at Makhachkala. It provides the crucial pipeline links from Azerbaijan, where Russia maintains important oil interests..." (74)
The recently opened Baku-Supsa route through Georgia, favored by the West, by-passes Russia altogether,"undermining Russian influence on the region’s oil and Russian revenue from that oil. This route was opened following military maneuvers for training to defend the line by Ukrainian, Georgian and Azeri troops, as part of the GUUAM alliance.
Intensifying competition between Russia and NATO has escalated after a battle with heavy losses, June 14, between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. (75)
Another pipeline route favored by the U.S. is between Baku and Ceyhan passing through Turkey. However this is more expensive and transverses the area of intense struggles by the Kurdish people. This is leading the U.S. oil companies to revive their interest in other routes. One of these is through western Afghanistan, the other, south through Iran. (76)
Richard Morningstar, special advisor to the U.S. President and Secretary of State for Caspian Issues, said it was essential that the two Caspian states--Azerbaijan and
Turkmenistan--
agree as soon as possible about a transcaspian gas pipeline to transport oil from Turkmenistan to Turkey via the Caspian Sea. Washington has urged them to ignore Russian and Iranian hostility and move ahead with this pipeline even if it means violating the existing legal status of the Caspian Sea in which all the littoral states are to be consulted about its future. Russia and Iran " feel increasingly irritated by the U.S. activities in Central Asia, aimed at preventing Moscow and Teheran from reasserting their economic and political grip over the former Soviet republics in the Caspian region," according to a Stratfor article. (77)
Also at stake in this region is the growing competition from China which recently has established significant military and economic ties with Turkmenistan. China’s National Petroleum Company has helped rebuild over100 wells in Turkmenistan resulting in an increase in the nation’s export production. It is estimated that Turkmenistan soon will be the third largest gas exporter in the world. (78)
China, the second largest energy consumer in the world, is expected to require 40 percent of its oil through imports by 2010 up from less than 20 percent today. (79).
According to a report in the Journal of Commerce, June 25, 1998, by Michael S. Lellyveld, entitled, Trade bill embroils Senate in the Caucasus’ problems; Measure would authorize fund to all 8 former Soviet republics:
"A bitter ethnic battle in the Caucasus spilled over into Congress this week as U.S. corporate and oil interests won a key vote on aid to the region in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"The panel approved the Silk Road Strategy Act...[which] would ‘target assistance to support the economic and political independence of the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia.’ But behind the measure’s bland title is a widening web of international and U.S. business alliances with stakes in the outcome of a 10-year old war..."(80)
So once again oil interests lead to interventions predicated on "national liberation" or "human rights concerns."
Stirring Things Up in East Asia
Steps are well underway for new relations with Southeast Asia in which the U.S. is acquiring access to military bases in Asian countries in exchange for financial help to buy U.S. arms. The Pentagon’s East Asian Strategy Report defines this program as offering the United States "a credible power projection capability in the region and beyond."
Dr. Joseph Gerson, Program Director at the New England Region of the American Friends Service Committee, puts it succinctly: "In the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. is enforcing its 21st century "Open Door" policy by means of the IMF, the World Bank, APEC, bases and forward deployments, the Seventh Fleet and its nuclear arsenal; as it seeks to simultaneously contain and engage China, to dominate the sea lanes and straits through which the region’s trade and supplies of oil must travel (the ‘jugular vein’ of Asia Pacific economies), and to ‘cap’ Japanese militarism and nationalism.
"Since 1951, the hub of this strategic architecture has been the Mutual Security Treaty (MST) with Japan. During the Clinton years, the MST has been ‘redefined’ to reconsolidate U.S., and to a lesser extent, Japanese power. (81)
A "US -Japan Joint Declaration on Security Alliance for the 21st Century" proclaimed at the Summit between President Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Hashimoto, cited "the alliance’s, new enemies and public rationales: tensions and instability on the Korean Peninsula, China’s nuclear arsenal, and territorial disputes with China."
The regular gigantic "war games" conducted in the Korean region by the U.S., and South Korea, have been stepped substantially up in the recent period.
Echoing the Gulf of Tonkin provocation used to justify U.S. intervention in Vietnam, South Korean warships sank a North Korean boat and badly damaged another allegedly over a dispute about a crab-fishing area of the Yellow Sea. (82)
Plans for U.S. deployment of Theater Missile Defenses (TMDs) around China, sensationalized and unproven allegations of Chinese nuclear spying, claims of Chinese nuclear parity with the U.S., the blocking of China’s entry to the WTO; the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and recent independence moves by Taiwan encouraged by U.S. Congress members, place the world on the brink of a U.S.-orchestrated confrontation with that nation. Taiwan is "the most likely trigger for U.S.-Chinese nuclear confrontation and war," according to Gerson.(83)
A backdrop to these developing tensions is the Taiwan Relations Act which closely links the U.S. and Taiwan economically and militarily. (84)
With the bombing of Yugoslavia barely over and with continuing and escalating air strikes against Iraq, the U.S. appears to be moving rapidly toward such a confrontation with China over Taiwan. In mid-July, Taiwan’s President, Lee Teng-hui, announced the island wants "special state-to-state relations" with China, meaning a rejection of the "one China" policy that has kept the peace for many years. This led Chinese President Jiang Zemin to tell President Clinton, July 18, that China would not rule out using force regarding Taiwan.(85)
Washington is regaining even greater access to ports and bases throughout the Phillippines under the "Visiting Forces Agreement." Considerable attention is also being focused on Indonesia, to prevent the U.S. loss of access to its natural resources, markets and its control of the strategically important shipping lanes. (86)
A Military NAFTA
The Americas are not to escape this buildup of U.S.-controlled military alliances. The U.S. Army War College has urged a "NAFTA for the military "with joint command between Canada, M
Doch seltsam, wenn über Filme wie " Soylent Green " " laut nachgedacht " wird, wie man dann doch feststellt, dass man nicht allein ist, mit solchen Gedankengängen !
Ich glaube in der Hollywood-Industrie, gibt es viele " Regisseure u. Scriptschreiber, die sich ihre " Ideen " von Ihren zukünftigen " Geldgebern " f. Filme etc. " holen ".
Es liegt in einigen Filmen, die wir heute noch als " utopisch " abtun, mehr als nur ein Quäntchen " Wahrheit.
Seines Zeichens " Orwell " wurde ja auch als hirnrissig abgetan - die Situation heute : man hat ihn x-fach " überholt, er liest sich jetzt schon wie ein " alter Schinken ".
Echelon, Carnivore u. was sonst noch " Hinterfotziges " in den " Schubladen " nicht nur der Zukunft schlummert. Alles natürlich nur zum Wohle d. Volkes. Wie oft dies schon in der Geschichte gesagt wurde.
Man muß verdammt aufpassen !
- - -
Ein andere Seite : T O P - Wochenendlektüre !
Egal welcher politischen Überzeugung man " nachhängt "
Wahrheiten müssen Wahrheiten bleiben !
Hier ein interessanter " Bericht " mit dokumentierten
Quellen-Angaben im Anhang - also kein " Bla-Bla " !
Allen noch ein " schönes Wochenende " und viel Einblick in den " politischen Sumpf ".
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Backing up Globalization with Military Might
--------------------------------------------
New World Order Onslaught
by Karen Talbot
The U.S. and its NATO underlings undoubtedly will be vastly emboldened by their "success" in ensconcing themselves in Kosovo, Bosnia and the other remnants of Yugoslavia--Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia. We can expect rapid steps to further fragment the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). We can also expect the new mission of nuclear-armed NATO -- intervening over so-called "humanitarian concerns" against sovereign nations---to be implemented elsewhere, with great speed, especially in the Caspian Sea/Caucuses areas of the former Soviet Union.
Burgeoning military alliances, with the U.S. at the helm, are likely to try intervening in a similar way against North Korea, China -- any country refusing to be a "New World Order" colony by allowing its wealth and labor power to be plundered by the TNCs. The assault against Yugoslavia threw open the floodgates for new wars including wars of competition among the industrial powers, with nuclear weapons part of the equation.
President Bill Clinton recently praised NATO for its campaign in Kosovo saying the alliance could intervene elsewhere in Europe or in Africa to fight repression."We can do it now. We can do it tomorrow, if it is necessary, somewhere else," he told U.S. troops gathered at the Skopje, Macedonia airport. (1)
Given these scenarios, it is hardly surprising that Clinton and the leaders of the other NATO countries continue to glorify the aggression against Yugoslavia as "preventing a humanitarian catastrophe," "promoting democracy" and "keeping the peace "against a Hitler-like dictator who would not adhere to "peace" agreements. The public is being repeatedly assured that the means –the bombing of the people of Yugoslavia–were justified by the ends.
The ongoing media hype, including the unprecedented demonization of the Serbs, is designed to continue molding public opinion to accept the "justice" of the war. The unmistakable message is that the "Serbs got what they deserve." It also masterfully conceals, and therefore allows unimpeded momentum toward, the true goals behind the stepped-up saber-rattling of the world’s super-power and its allies. This skillful disinformation campaign has been spectacularly successful in derailing sections of the traditional peace and progressive movement.
But, today, as never before, we need to tear away the mask of lies and disclose the real goals of this "new world order" imperialism and see clearly how it hurts workers and the poor within our own borders and globally. We need to see the ways in which military dominance increasingly works in close tandem with economic globalization, privatization and the drive for corporate super profits.
This basic understanding is essential for paving the road to a powerful united worldwide resistence movement. Already, the U.S./NATO war against Yugoslavia has awakened millions of people to the ferocious nature of the U.S. corporate drive for world dominance. That process needs to be accelerated by exposing the palliatives designed to mislead the public and getting down to a true diagnosis which can help lead the peace and justice movement to an effective response. So let’s examine some of the rationales for the war and then look at some of the real motives.
The Real Terrorists
Adding to the barrage or propaganda, the U.S. Senate recently labeled Serbia a "terrorist state." (2) What obscene hypocrisy! Yet another case of blaming the victim for the crimes of the perpetrator.
What could be more "terrorist" than the relentless blitzkrieg with 23,000 "dumb" bombs and "smart" missiles rained upon Yugoslavia for 79 days by U.S.- led NATO forces? Is it not terrorism to casually drop upon civilians, from the sanctuary of thousands of feet in the air, or with terrain-hugging computer-guided missiles, radioactive depleted uranium weapons and outlawed cluster bombs designed to rip human flesh to shreds? Is it not terrorism to deliberately target the entire infrastructure of this small nation including the electrical and water filtration systems critical to the survival of civilians?
Is it not terrorism to ferociously obliterate 200 factories destroy the jobs of millions of workers? What of the constant air assault–"fire from the sky"–against cities, villages, schools, hospitals, senior residences, TV towers and studios, oil refineries, chemical plants, electrical power plants, transmission towers, gas stations, homes, farms, marketplaces, buses, trains, railroad lines, bridges, roads, medieval monasteries, churches, historic monuments— destruction amounting to more than $100 billion dollars?
What of the eco-terrorism, biological and chemical warfare, resulting from the incalculable destruction of the environment including the deliberate bombardment of chemical plants. Above all, is it not terrorism to kill, maim, traumatize, impoverish, or render homeless tens of thousands of men, women and children?
Not only was NATO’s war a reprehensible act of inhumanity, it was in contravention of all norms of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations.
It was an unprecedented war by the most powerful military force in history involving the 19 wealthiest nations with 95% of the world’s armaments against a small sovereign nation that ultimately had little chance of countering such an attack. Given that reality, it was awe-inspiring to see the heroism of the peoples of Yugoslavia–a population of 10 million-- standing up to such a mighty juggernaut.
"Humanitarian Crisis" Crusade
We were told this inhuman blitzkrieg was necessary to protect the human rights of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. People everywhere wanted to believe this noble purpose. Yet the most obvious and glaring contradiction was the absence of any similar concerns about hundreds of thousands of Serbs expelled from the Krajina region of Croatia by the Croatian military, in 1995–described in the press as "the largest ethnic cleansing" of the Yugoslav civil war. (3)
Thousands died in that "Operation Storm." Not only did the United States not express compassion or offer to defend those refugees, the massive assault was carried out with the aid of "retired" U.S. military officers belonging to a "private" organization, Military, Professional Resources, Inc. (MPRI) with the help of U.S./NATO planes and weaponry. (4)
In fact, Agim Ceku, a brigadier general from the Croatian Army who presided over that colossal bombing and expulsion of Serbs from Krajina, beginning in 1993, took over command of the KLA in recent months, according to Jane Defense Weekly. Licensed by the U.S. State Department and Pentagon, the MPRI also had been operating in Kosovo training the KLA, beginning several weeks before the air strikes began. (5)
Rick Rowden, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, said "Americans should question the administration’s stated objective to ‘stop the killing’ in Kosovo. [It] should give us reason to ask "Why can the U.S. support Croatian ethnic cleansing in Croatia but oppose Serbian ethnic cleansing in Kosovo? The answer likely has little to do with ‘stopping the killing’ and much to do with the expansion of NATO and its post-Cold War global role." (6)
There were a million Serb refugees even before the bombing began. This terrible flood of human suffering was greatly augmented by refugees who fled Kosovo after the NATO attack was launched–Albanians, but also, Turks, Romas, Goranies, and Serbs (many of whom were refugees from Bosnia and Krajina, once again uprooted.) Now there is a vast exodus particularly of Serbs as the KLA’s drive for an ethnically pure Kosovo is being played out swiftly while NATO troops stand by and take no steps to prevent it.
What of the human rights of the population of Yugoslavia which is confronted by appalling conditions following the U.S./NATO attack? People have no jobs, often no water and electricity, and face desperate circumstances in the coming winter, according to Jim Carlton, Secretary-General of the Australian Red Cross, who inspected the devastation in June. He said that NATO’s air war had destroyed the basic industry resulting in massive unemployment and caused a serious refugee situation. "The humanitarian assistance that the Red Cross can get into Serbia is minuscule compared to the need," he said. (7)
In fact, there was no "humanitarian crisis" until NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, (including Kosovo) over an alleged "humanitarian crisis."
If protecting human rights was the purpose behind the bombardment why were there no similar actions, for example, over the genocide in Rwanda, or the tens of thousands killed in Angola, Mozambique, Guatemala, El Salvador or among the Kurds of Turkey? There were no threats to bomb on their behalf. What of millions of victims of the bombings and continuing sanctions–using the withholding of food and medicines as a weapon of war–against the people of Iraq? What of the embargo against the people of Cuba?
KLA Steps up Terrorist Attacks
The U.S. and NATO’s hypocrisy over human rights is exposed especially since the occupation of Kosovo began on June 8. There has been intense persecution and expulsion of tens of thousands of Serbs, Romas, pro-Yugoslav ethnic Albanians and anyone targeted by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). This has included attacks on Serbian monasteries and churches, and assaults carried out while NATO troops watch and do nothing, which amounts to helping the KLA. The separatist KLA whose goal is an ethnically pure "Greater Albania." has been further entrenched–not "demilitarized" as required in UN Security Council resolution 1244 ending the bombing. Yet, out of a total of $150 million appropriated for assistance for Kosovo, the Senate earmarked $20 million for training and equipping a security force "that its authors say could include the KLA," (8)
By the first of September, NATO and UN officials had agreed to the civilian force made up of "the remnants of the KLA." It will have 3,000 members with a military structure formed from the core KLA commanders. Gen. Agim Ceku, who makes no secret about this force as essential to achieving independence from Yugoslavia, said "We will build a new army in the future and the Kosovo Corps will be one part of it."
According to the UN Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly one third of the Serbs in Kosovo had fled by early July. No longer are there any Serbo-Croat language television or radio programs. Broadcasting studios have been taken over by the KLA. Albanian and German currencies have replaced the Yugoslav dinar, postal links have been cut and a legal system is being set up without Belgrade’s involvement. (9)
Human Rights Watch reported, "well over 164,000 Serbs have now fled Kosovo with a significant number of Romas. The intent behind many of the killings and abductions..appears to be the expulsion of Kosovo’s Serb and Roma population." It said NATO and the UN "seem ill-equipped to stop the violence." (10) That number has escalated greatly in the interim, reaching proportions approaching the ejection of the entire Serb population.
A media release by UNCHR said "If emergency aid is not immediately provided to these people, 40-50 percent of whom are children under 16 years of age, UNCHR believes their situation could turn desperate when winter comes." (11)
There are myriad examples of the ongoing KLA rampage such as the plundering of Belo Polje which had been an entirely Serb village. Today it is in ruins. Soldiers wearing KLA uniforms murdered Serb civilians, then looted and torched the entire village, according t a reporter at the scene. NATO soldiers did nothing to stop the mayhem. (12)
Three hundred and fifty armed KLA troops seized the Belavic coal mine in Dobro Selo near Pristina—a mine that provides for much of Serbia—and KFOR took no action (13)
"Violence has been rising steadily, against the remaining pockets of Serb civilians. The looting and burning of Serb homes, as well as dozens of assassinations and kidnapings of Serbs—including the massacre of 14 Serb farmers...are reminiscent of the gun-slinging and anarchy that have characterized Albania in the last few years." (14)
Congress member Dennis J. Kucinich, said: "I read the latest reports concerning a recent Executive Order that hands the CIA a black bag in the Balkans for engineering a military coup in Serbia, for interrupting communications, for tampering with bank accounts, freezing assets abroad and training the Kosovo Liberation Army in terrorist tactics, such as how to blow up buildings.
"How this is intended to help establish a democracy in Serbia or Kosovo hasn’t been explained. Nor has the failure to substantially demilitarize the KLA been explained. Nor has the reverse ethnic cleansing taking place in Kosovo by the KLA while NATO rules the province been explained." (15)
KLA’s Fascist Roots
The fascist roots of the KLA were detailed even in a New York Times story by Chris Hedges. (16) He speaks of the leadership faction as having "hints of fascism" and being comprised of the "sons and grandsons of those who fought in the World War II fascist militias and the Nazi Skanderberg SS Division" or descendants of the rightist Albanian Kacak rebels who fought against Serbs 80 years ago. They wear black fatigues and had ordered their fighters to salute with a clenched fist to the forehead, as did their fascist antecedents. (17)
The 1941, German and Italian fascist invaders of Kosovo called for turning multi-ethnic Kosovo into a "pure" Albanian State. A "greater Albania" only existed during the administration by the Nazis who linked Albania and Kosovo as a single unit.
The CIA and BND of Germany had been covertly training and supplying the KLA since the mid 1990s. (18)
German NATO troops–the first German forces in Yugoslavia in 54 years– were enthusiastically welcomed by KLA supporters. Western journalists seemed to be startled by this. "This is a second liberation," Ali Majo, 68, a native of Prizren told Los Angeles Times staff writer Marjorie Miller on June 17. "I can’t describe how it felt when we saw German soldiers come here again." Majo told the reporter how he had first seen the Nazi forces bomb Partisan guerrilla positions. "After that...we all shouted ‘Hitler.’ We were proud of the German soldiers because they liberated us from the Serbs." (19)
The U.S. and NATO Prevented a Peace Agreement
The key reason used to justify the NATO attack was that Milosevic refused to sign the Rambouillet "peace agreement." Actually, the chance to arrive at a peaceful settlement of the crisis during the talks in Rambouillet and Paris, last February and March, was thwarted. Even the short time initially allotted to "negotiate" this complex question showed a lack of seriousness. It becomes clear by perusing the text of the Rambouillet "agreement" (20) that the Contact Group, especially the U.S., did not want a peace agreement because no nation would have signed away its sovereignty as required in that document. It was accompanied by an ultimatum to sign or be bombed. This was déjà vu for the Yugoslavs. In 1941, Hitler had ordered them to capitulate to his pact or be bombed. Then as now, they refused and were bombed. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, in its thrust toward World War I, inflicted a similar edict on Serbia, in 1914.
In Rambouillet, the delegation from the FRY, made up of representatives of every nationality of Serbia including ethnic Albanians, had agreed to the ten original political points decreed by the U.S. and the Contact Group, including autonomy for Kosovo. However they rejected the added demand for the deployment of NATO troops in the province, maintaining that if the parties agreed to the ten points, there would be no need for a heavily armed force in Kosovo. (21)
The acquiescence of the Yugoslavs to the political points provided an opening for a successful peaceful settlement of the crisis. It contrasted sharply with rejection of this document by the KLA, causing considerable consternation among U.S. officials. Press accounts were full of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s open apprehension that NATO would not be able to bomb if the KLA refused to sign. After a flurry of activity over several days, a signature was obtained on the greatly altered Rambouillet accords with 56 added pages. It was then presented to the FRY delegation when the talks resumed in Paris. This virtually new document, totally contravening the 10 Contact Group principles, had never been negotiated. In fact, there never were real negotiations.
Aside from the other blatant violations of the sovereignty of Yugoslavia contained in the Rambouillet "accords, there was a provision that after a three year period, a new international meeting would be held to "take into account the will of the people" in Kosovo. This was clearly meant to open the way to independence even though the U.S. and the other Contact Group members had repeatedly assured the world they only favored autonomy, not independence, for Kosovo-Metojia. (22)
The refusal of the FRY to sign the fraudulent Rambouillet document provided the desired go-ahead for NATO to begin bombing with all its terrible consequences for civilians, refugees-- Serbs, Albanians and all the people of Yugoslavia. NATO’s ultimate goal of establishing itself in Kosovo was also accomplished.
These few simple and obvious facts cut through the lies used to justify the war against Yugoslavia. What then are the real objectives of the U.S. and NATO?
McDonald`s Needs McDonnell Douglas to Flourish
An article by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times entitled "What the World Needs Now" tells it all. Illustrated by an American Flag on a fist it said, among other things: "For globalism to work, America can`t be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is....The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist—McDonald`s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley`s technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps." (23)
There could not be a better description of how the U.S. armed forces are seen as the military arm of the globalizing transnational corporations (TNCs).
President Clinton said in a speech delivered the day before his televised address to Americans about Kosovo: "If we`re going to have a strong economic relationship that includes our ability to sell around the world, Europe has got to be a key....That`s what this Kosovo thing is all about." (24)
Defense Secretary William Cohen, in remarks to reporters prior to his speech at Microsoft Corporation in Seattle, put it this way, "[T]he prosperity that companies like Microsoft now enjoy could not occur without having the strong military that we have."
"The defense secretary is making the case that conflicts in faraway lands such as Bosnia, Korea and Iraq have a direct effect on the U.S. economy. The billions it costs to keep 100,000 American troops in South Korea and Japan, for example, makes Asia more stable--and thus better markets for U.S. goods. The military`s success in holding Iraq in check ensures a continued flow of oil from the Persian Gulf," concluded the Associated Press dispatch reporting on Cohen`s Seattle appearance.(25)
In today`s world, TNCs, and governments running interference for them, are pushing relentlessly for an end to national sovereignty and democratic rights in order to achieve total unimpeded access to acquire investments, cheap labor and consumers in every nook and cranny of the globe. This is being accomplished particularly through mechanisms such as multilateral agreements on investment, NAFTA-type free trade agreements, and the dictates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO).
The globalization fever is running rampant. It is epitomized in the feeding frenzy taking place across the Asia-Pacific region where U.S.-based transnationals and banks are gobbling up assets at bargain basement prices in nations stricken by the Asian economic crisis. In the early weeks of that economic tsunami, the New York Times , described U.S. banks and corporations as poised to "snap up some corporate bargains...Chase Manhattan, General Electric, General Motors and J.P. Morgan are all said to be looking at ailing companies in the region."(26)
Corporations will stop at nothing
To achieve maximum profits these transnationals will stop at nothing. After all, they are non-human institutions that must expand through ever-greater profits, or go out of business. In so doing they have shown willingness to violate human rights–particularly workers` rights--to throw millions out of work, eliminate unions, use sweat-shops and slave labor, destroy the environment, destabilize governments, install or bolster tyrants who oppress, repress, torture and kill with impunity.
Is it surprising, then, that wars and military intervention, including attacks on civilians, are waged on behalf of corporations? It has been an integral part of the history of imperialist powers. Why should we believe it is any different today? Yugoslavia is but the most recent victim of this process.
But the targeting of Yugoslavia did not begin with the bombing. Economic destabilization of that nation began in the 1980`s with IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programs (SAPs). As happens throughout the world where such SAPs are imposed as conditions for debt relief, they devastated the economy, laying the groundwork for the break-up of Yugoslavia.
Political destabilization through the years against Yugoslavia was equally intense. Today, there are amazingly open pronouncements about deposing Milosevic. The funding and organizing of opposition groups is openly espoused and carried out.
Those endeavors by the U.S. have included a meeting held the end of June organized by President Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro, attended by Prince Alexander, self-declared heir to the Yugoslav "throne," and Serbian Democratic Party President Zoran Djindjic. Djindjic has taken the lead in organizing U.S.-orchestrated efforts to get rid of Milosevic. To this end he formed the Alliance for Change.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funded by the U.S. government in what Republican Congressman Chris Smith defined as "the most cost-effective item in the budget" (NED Press Release, March 5, 1999) has been pouring millions of dollars into Yugoslavia for years.* (27)
*(Statement by Paul B. McCarthy, National Endowment for Democracy (NED Press Release, March 5, 1999) : Hearing of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe "The Milosevic Regime Versus Serbian Democracy and Balkan Stability, December Paul B. McCarthy, said "past grantees have included the newspapers Nasa Borba, Vreme, and Danas, an independent TV station in eastern Serbia, TV Negotin, the prominent news agency BETA, and...Radio B-92....the Association for Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)....and Dnevni Telegraf." ( 10,1998, 2172 Rayburn House Office
Building)
Among other things, McCarthy praised the "Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations held in Belgrade in June (1998) and encouraged U.S. organizations "to provide opposition political parties with expertise.." He said western funders should support organizations like the Alternative Academic Network, the Anti-War Campaign which "protested the war in Kosovo." NED funding also is going to the Humanitarian Law Center, the Center for Democracy Foundation, the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, the Center for International Private Enterprise the European Movement of Serbia and the G-17 group of economists as well as the American Center for International Labor Solidarity which continues to assist UGS Nezavisnost, a trade union confederation which opposes Milosevic., among others, according to McCarthy. )
Profits for the Military-Industrial Complex
Clearly, a related major objective behind the NATO action was to add more billions to the already bloated U.S. military budget and to fill the coffers of the military-industrial corporations with super profits acquired from the hard-earned tax dollars of American workers. After all, the stocks of Tomahawk Cruise missiles must be replenished. Congress, with great bi-partisan fervor, is approving an increase for the Pentagon of $20 billion adding up to $288.8 billion for FY 2000. By contrast, all other domestic discretionary spending, including for education, job-training, housing, environment and health programs, totals $245 billion-- "the biggest disparity in modern times," according to the Center for Defense Information. More food and education being taken from children to feed the war machine.
If that were not enough, President Clinton signed a bill appropriating $15 billion above the current Pentagon budget to wage the war against Yugoslavia. Most of that will be siphoned out of the Social Security surplus fund.
The Pentagon is not satisfied with all this largess but apparently finds it necessary to divert hundreds of millions of dollars into projects never authorized by Congress including a "super-secret" Air Force "black program," and "illegally spent hundreds of millions to update its C-5 transport planes; and millions on a previously canceled ‘Star Wars’ missile defense program."(28)
Tapping into this lucrative bottomless well of funds, the "Big Three" weapons makers—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon-- now receive among themselves over $30 billion per year in Pentagon contracts. Companies like Lockheed Martin are actively engaged in shaping U.S. foreign and military policies. Their efforts have yielded among other things: the "payoffs for layoffs" subsidies for defense industry mergers such as the Lockheed/Martin Marietta merger; the elimination of royalty fees that foreign arms customers had been paying to reimburse the U.S. Treasury for the cost of weapons developed at taxpayer expense (this adds up to a loss for taxpayers of roughly $500 million per year); and the creation of billions of dollars of new grants and government-guaranteed loans to support the export of U.S. weaponry. These Pentagon contractors, conservative think tanks and advocacy groups lobbied heavily and successfully for the "Star Wars" missile defense program.(29)
War Profiteering
The bombing and missile strikes are, more than ever, giant bazaars for selling the wares of the armaments manufacturers. An article in USA Today said: "The USA`s defense equipment, such as the satellite-guided smart bombs, has stolen the international spotlight as NATO air forces pound Serbian forces. That could mean increased foreign interest in U.S. military equipment..." (30) Raytheon spokesperson, David Shea, said: "We are expecting the Kosovo conflict to result in new orders downstream." Officials at Raytheon announced that replacing munitions used in the Balkans could lead to about $1 billion in new contracts. (31)
Jaynatha Dhanapala, UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs, said recently that "television coverage of modern warfare has effectively created an ‘advertising dividend’ for the manufacturers of high-tech weaponry and the countries and alliances that use such weapons..." He observed that during the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf and the recent NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, tiny video cameras enabled hundreds of millions of viewers to "experience vicariously" the flight paths of attacking missiles to their intended targets. (32)
No wonder stock prices of the large military manufacturers shot up. Since the beginning of the war against Yugoslavia, March 24, 1999, the stocks of Rockwell International (maker of the Lancer, B-1 bomber, etc.) was up +48 percent; Boeing Aircraft (maker of the B-52 Stratofortress, etc.) up +30 percent; Raytheon Systems (maker of the Tomahawk cruise missile, HARM missile, etc) up +37 percent; Lockheed Martin (maker of the F-117 Nighthawk, F-16 Falcon, etc.), up +18 percent; and Northrop Grumman (maker of the B-2 bomber, etc.) up +16 percent. (33)
Defense and aerospace companies have either announced or completed mergers and acquisitions amounting to nearly $60 billion just in the first half of 1999. That amount is already well above the total for all of 1998. (34)
The New NATO
The giant corporations–especially the military-industrial corporations--have been pushing vigorously for expanding and extending the role of NATO. Their blatant salivating over potential profits was indisputable during NATO`s 50th Anniversary celebrations which became "the ultimate marketing opportunity," as described in the Washington Post. The host committee included the chief executives of Ameritech, DamilerChrysler, Boeing, Ford Motor, General Motors, Honeywell, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nextel, SBC Communications, TRW and United Technologies. (35) These companies sell weapons but also other products. They have been busy lobbying for the expansion of NATO to avail themselves of the lucrative markets in Eastern European nations which have been pressed to join NATO. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary have already been admitted. In order to be a part of the Alliance these nations must spend billions to upgrade their military forces.
Even the Ukraine, part of the NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace, held joint naval exercises with the United States in July. Perceiving this as a threat, Russian Prime Minster Sergei Stepashin was quoted by Interfax Ukraine news agency as telling the officers and men of Russia’s Black Sea fleet to prepare for a naval exercise to imitate the military action in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo crisis. (36)
The Ukraine along with Georgia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldava are members of GUUAM, a bloc of "Western-oriented" Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) members, according to a dispatch from "Global Intelligence Updates." (37) Moldava and Uzbekistan joined during the NATO anniversary Summit in April, and a charter was established encompassing military cooperation within the group and with NATO. GUUAM members have opted out of the CIS Collective Security Treaty. (38)
"The pendulum of Ukrainian foreign policy swung closest to the West on June 12, when Kiev briefly closed Ukrainian airspace to Russian aircraft trying to reinforce Russian troops at Slatina airbase in Kosovo... Russia’s military commanders were furious. It was bad enough that NATO convinced ostensibly neutral Romania and Bulgaria to deny their airspace to Russian aircraft, but Ukraine was a step too far. Ukraine had to clarify its relationship with NATO and with Russia," said the dispatch. (39)
Moreover, NATO has repeatedly deflected protest over its possession of nuclear armaments and its refusal to renounce first use of these weapons.
At all costs then, NATO is projecting its new role as acting "out of area" and intervening anywhere on the basis of "humanitarian concerns" regardless of national sovereignty and international law. The purpose is to send a message to nations of the entire world that if they do not do the U.S. bidding, they too could be a victim of the kind of devastation unleashed upon Yugoslavia and Iraq. They too could be divided up, balkanized, turned into banana republics or emirates. Especially vulnerable are those countries involved over the oil riches of the Caspian Sea basin--Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazahkstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia–and where there are already related conflicts including over Dagestan, Chechnya, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Abhkazia.
Intensifying Antagonisms Between the U.S. and Europe
Another factor driving U.S. policies is economic competition with the European Union which is surfacing increasingly in spite of cooperation and commonality of interests on other levels. This is epitomized by: the recent banana trade wars in which the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of U.S. TNCs; the rivalry over such prizes as the oil riches of the Caspian sea basin and access to the labor, market and resources of Eastern Europe.
The U.S. has warned openly that it will not tolerate a purely European military alliance to take the place of NATO. The military might of the U.S. must prevail.
This was clearly spelled out in "The Defense Planning Guide," excerpted in the New York Times , which said, among other things: "We must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order. ... we must [deter] potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role... We must seek to prevent the emergence of European-only security arrangements which would undermine NATO."(40)
Nevertheless, on the very day that Yugoslavia adhered to the G-8 agreement, the leaders of 15 European countries announced the European Union will establish an independent military force.
Commerce up the Danube was disrupted by the bombing of bridges in Novi Sad which infuriated Europeans whose economies continue to be adversely affected. It was perceived as a manifestation of the intensifying economic rivalry between the U.S. and Europe.
Alarm bells should remind us that two world wars were ignited by such competition
At the same time, rivalry is tempered increasingly by the the corporate imperative to survive at all costs and to make maximum profits including through mergers and partnerships. Lockheed Martin, maker of missiles and high tech weaponry, has created Lockheed Martin UK Limited, based in London. Its largest UK operation is the Royal Navy Merlin helicopter program among many other military programs. In fact, Lockheed Martin has more than 200 international partnerships around the world. (41)
U.S. aerospace companies are determined not to be locked out of the lucrative profits to be had from the establishment of a separate European military alliance. This pressure has led to a shift in policy by the Pentagon. Mergers between U.S. and European defense contractors are being given the go-ahead. "U.S. Undersecretary for Defense Jacques Gansler has admitted being in talks not only with European Governments such as the UK, Germany, France and Italy but also with leading defense companies including British Aerospace (Bae), France’s Aerospatiale Matra SA and Germany’s Dasa," (42)
Girdling the Globe with U.S.-led Military Alliances
NATO expansion pertains to what Washington calls a "new strategic concept," an expensive new program to have NATO, under U.S. leadership, become the key player globally. This new blueprint for NATO not only sees it extending throughout Eastern and Baltic Europe, possibly taking in Russia itself, it goes considerably beyond this, as indicated by Zbigniew Brzezinski in his new book ("The Grand Chessboard"). He defines the alliance as part of an "integrated, comprehensive and long-term geostrategy for all of Eurasia," in which NATO would eventually reach Asia, where another U.S. led military alliance would connect Pacific and Southeast Asian states.
The unfolding events in Indonesia and East Timor appear to be closely related to plans for establishing a U.S.-controlled NATO-type military alliance in that region and to counter a purely Asian military association.
"Control of Space Means Control of Earth"
The Pentagon is convinced that control of space means control of Earth. It is working non-stop to deploy anti-satellite weapons (ASAT’s) to enable the U.S. to knock out competitors’ "eyes in the sky," according to Bruce Gagnon, Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. (43)
The Persian Gulf war convinced the U.S. military that "space dominance and space control" are essential. The war in Kosovo was used "to show the world that they have achieved their goal," says Gagnon. In a news release, June 17, 1999, the U.S. Space Command proclaimed: "Any questions about the role or effectiveness of the use of space for military operations have been answered by NATO’s operation Allied Force." (44)
The recent go-ahead given by Congress for Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) is integral to this strategy. Though BMD is touted as being "defensive," Col. Tom Clark, speaking at the 36th Space Congress at Cape Canaveral, Florida, said it is "obvious that dual use is clear", referring to the ability of lasers in space to fire either defensively or offensively. (45)
Russia and China are deeply concerned over this drive for space dominance and the flouting by the U.S. of the ABM and Outer Space Treaties. They have both called for the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) to establish an ad hoc committee to negotiate a treaty for the "prevention of an arms race in outer space." The U.S. has consistently blocked this in the CD for two decades. Furthermore, the U.S. has been virtually the only member state of the UN to vote "no" time and again opposing UN General Assembly resolutions calling for preventing an arms race in outer space. (46)
Becoming ‘Irrational," "Vindictive" and Threatening Nuclear Attack
Nothing could describe U.S. military goals better than the British American Security Information Council’s recently published, partially declassified, text of the U.S. Strategic Command’s 1995 "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence:
"[T]he United States should have available the full range of responses, conventional weapons, special operations, and nuclear weapons. Unlike chemical or biological weapons, the extreme destruction from a nuclear explosion is immediate, with few if any palliatives to reduce its effect. Although we are not likely to use nuclear weapons in less than matters of the greatest national importance.. Nuclear weapons always cast a shadow over any crisis or conflict in which the U.S. is engaged. Thus, deterrence through the threat of use of nuclear weapons will continue to be our top military strategy...
"That the U.S. may become irrational and vindictive if its vital interests are attacked should be a part of the national persona we project to all adversaries..." [emphasis added] (47)
Why the Balkans?
How do the Balkans figure in all this? The peoples of this strategically situated region have had the great misfortune of living on real estate coveted by empire after empire, all of which employed classic divide and conquer tactics by pitting one people against another. Not much has changed!
Today, there is determination that the free market and privatization must prevail. Yugoslavia committed the unpardonable sin of putting the brakes on market reforms imposed by the IMF and World Bank including the drive to privatize all public enterprises. Huge strikes by the workers had protested the reforms. President Borisav Jovic who headed the government in 1990-1991 opposed those austerity measures because of the economic havoc they were causing the people. Among others, Slobodan Milosevic, who was president of the Republic of Serbia at the time, backed him in that stance.
Numerous articles in the mainstream press have unveiled this real complaint against Milosevic. The New York Times, for example, says, "there has been little improvement in the Serbian economy, largely because of the determination of Mr. Milosevic, a former Communist, to keep state controls and his refusal to allow privatization."(48) The Christian Science Monitor put it this way: "Milosevic is harking back to the political control promised by that old Communist star on this presidency building...[he] is revoking some privatization and free market measures." (49)
In response to this "stubbornness" by Yugoslavia, the U.S. Congress, on November 5, 1990, passed the 1991 Foreign Operations Appropriations Law 101-513. That law abruptly cut off all aid, credits and loans from the U.S. to Yugoslavia, further demolishing the economy. It also demanded separate elections in each of the six republics making up Yugoslavia and said only those forces defined as "democratic" would receive funding from the U.S. At the time this law was passed the CIA issued an unusual public report described in the New York Times in which it "predicted that the federated Yugoslavia will break apart most probably in the next 18 months and that civil war is highly likely." The article spoke of the expected impact of cutting all funds to the government as the basis of impending civil war. (50) This was one year before it actually happened and before there were any indications in the press of the impending trouble. Coupled with the increasing economic suffering of the people, this law fueled ethnic strife by providing backing for right-wing and nationalist elements. In this way, the full onslaught for the dismantling of Yugoslavia was launched.
The Allure of Rich Resources and Cheap Labor
The determination by the U.S and NATO, at all costs, to occupy Kosovo and virtually all of Yugoslavia, is spurred on by the enticement of abundant natural resources. Kosovo alone has the richest mineral resources in all of Europe west of Russia. The New York Times observed that "the sprawling state-owned Trepca mining complex, the most valuable piece of real estate in the Balkans, is worth at least $5 billion." producing gold, silver, pure lead, zinc, cadmium, as well as tens of millions of dollars in profits annually. (51)"Kosovo also possesses 17 billion tons of coal reserves and Kosovo ( like Serbia and Albania) also has oil reserves. (52)
"A number of unofficial partition plans have been drawn up for Kosovo all raising the question of who would control an important northern mining region," the New York Times revealed. (53) Trepca was also a "glittering prize" taken over by Hitler to fuel the Nazi war machine during WWII.
Serbia as a whole is rich in minerals and oil including in Vojvodina, the northern part of the FRY. That coveted area of Vojvodina is also extremely fertile land–a major "breadbasket" for Europe. Then there is the allure of enterprises to be privatized at bargain prices, and the anticipation of exploiting very cheap and highly skilled labor potentially available to work in sweatshop conditions.
Chapter 4 of the outrageous 85-page Rambouillet "agreement" deals with plans for the economic assets of Kosovo. Article
1 calls for the privatization of the whole economy. (54)
This meant that private Western corporations would have been allowed to easily plunder the large industries in this Serbian province which are almost entirely state-owned.
Similarly, a major aspect of the implementation of the Dayton Accords on Bosnia is overseeing the publicly owned enterprises and their privatization. (55)
Perhaps most significantly, Yugoslavia has strong elements of a socialist economy —the last in Europe-- however tattered it may have become by years of economic destabilization by the West and international financial institutions. Sixty-five percent of all firms are either state-owned or self-managed cooperatives. Most heavy industry is state-owned. Factories bombed during the 79 days of NATO attacks were exclusively state-owned. The banking and financial system is also state-controlled. Only 20 percent of the workforce is in the private sector. (56) Yet like scores of nations around the globe, Yugoslavia fell prey to the international financial institutions.
The U.S. had joined Belgrade’s other international creditors in imposing a first round of macroeconomic reforms in 1980, shortly before the death of Marshal Tito. "Successive IMF-sponsored programs since then continued the disintegration of the industrial sector and the piecemeal dismantling of the Yugoslav welfare state. Debt restructuring agreements increased foreign debt and mandated currency devaluation also hit hard at Yugoslavia’s standard of living...[the] IMF prescribed further doses of its bitter economic medicine periodically...Industrial production declined to a negative 10 percent growth rate in 1990- with all its predictable social consequences,." (57)
In autumn of 1989, Yugoslavia agreed to even more sweeping economic reforms, including a new devalued currency, another wage freeze, sharp cuts in government spending and the elimination of socially-owned worker-managed companies. (58)
Workers from all national communities protested and the government began to reject these structural adjustment requirements. In later years, as President of the FRY, Slobodan Milosevic again moved away from privatization. This, of course, outraged the U.S. and its partners.
On top of all of this, harsh economic sanctions were then imposed against Yugoslavia.
The targeting of the Yugoslav economy can be traced back to a ‘Secret Sensitive" 1984 National Security Decision Directive (NSDD 133), United States Policy toward Yugoslavia."). A censored version declassified in 1990 largely elaborated on NSDD 54 on East Europe issued in 1982. The latter advocated "expanded efforts to promote a ‘quiet revolution’ to overthrow Communist governments and parties" while reintegrating the countries of Eastern Europe into a market-oriented economy.(59)
Is Montenegro Next?
Even though a referendum in Montenegro had rejected seceding from Yugoslavia, there continue to be very strong efforts to tear Montenegro away from the FRY. Montenegro, under U.S.-supported leadership has privatized 95% percent of its economy, unlike Serbia. In 1992, Montenegro received a pledge from Secretary of State Madeline Albright to "shield" it from the sanctions (imposed seven years ago on Yugoslavia). Montenegro was receiving $5.9 million in aid from the U.S. and $4.4 million from the European Union. (60)
Montenegro is a coveted prize also because of its extremely valuable port of Bar –a deep water port which provides the cheapest route for commerce in and out of Eastern Europe and beyond. (Lituchy) Its beautiful seacoast is a haven for tourists.
In the coming months, there are sure to be further efforts to dismantle Yugoslavia by peeling away Montenegro and Sandjak, (a region connecting Kosovo to Bosnia-Herzegovina ) as well as the Northern province of Vojvodina.
Those machinations are already well underway. Talks began in mid- July between delegations from the two republics–Montenegro and Serbia. "Montenegro’s pro-Western government hopes the talks might lead to Yugoslavia becoming a looser federation," says an Associated Press dispatch, "The threat of a split puts pressure on Serb officials to consider ousting Milosevic. .. Serb-born American millionaire, Milan Panic, who served [briefly] as federal premier...told Belgrade daily Blic that, if Milosevic remains in power, ‘everything has been prepared for Montenegro to secede.’" (61)
Sanctions: War Against the People
Yugoslavia has been suffering under severe sanctions for seven years and now, as it tries to recover from the vast destruction of the country, there promises to be no let up in those sanctions.
Senate Bill 1234,(and its counterpart in the House HR 2606) not only declared Yugoslavia a "terrorist state" along with Cuba, Iraq, Libya ,North Korea, Iran, Sudan an Syria. In Section 578 it called for keeping in place sanctions against Yugoslavia. (62) As has happened in Iraq, this will likely result in the deaths of additional thousands of people in a nation where, 90 percent are unemployed due to the U.S/NATO bombing and where the infrastructure has been demolished.
This section stipulates that sanctions will remain in place, until the President certifies that "... successor states to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia [the former Yugoslavia] have successfully negotiated the division of assets and liabilities and all other succession issues... Serbia-Montenegro is fully complying with its obligations as a signatory to the... [Dayton Accords];...fully cooperating with and providing unrestricted access to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, including surrendering persons indicted for war crimes who are within the jurisdiction of the territory of Serbia-Montenegro, and with the investigations...of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosova [sic]:...instituting democratic reforms; and Serbian-Montenegrin federal governmental officials, and representatives of the ethnic Albanian community in Kosova [sic] have agreed on, signed and begun implementation of a negotiated settlement on the future of Kosova [sic]." (63)
The Lucrative Business of Destroying and Rebuilding
Another goal is to create a "Marshall Plan" for the Balkans. Though this sounds benevolent–-and certainly reconstruction is desperately needed--it means using public funds to underwrite the profits of corporations to rebuild the infrastructure and entrench themselves in Yugoslavia. This amounts to corporate welfare paid for by the workers. It also provides easy access into the region for Western corporations and gives impetus to the establishment of a "free" market economy and massive privatization. Destroying and rebuilding is enormously lucrative!
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told Congress in mid-April that the Clinton administration envisioned a plan to reconstruct Kosovo, create a common Balkan currency and forge new trade relationships. She assured Congress that Europeans were prepared to pay for most of it.
Subsequently, NATO finance ministers met with the World Bank and IMF to "explore aggressive ways for us to help," in Clinton’s words. Later a conference was held in Bonn to plan for ways to come up with the billions needed for reconstruction of the Balkans. (64)
Other countries have been hard hit by the NATO war against Yugoslavia. They too will need "rebuilding." The bulk of commerce for Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania went either to or through Yugoslavia. This was substantially destroyed by the NATO attack. The World Bank and IMF issued a report in April which said that over five percent of the gross domestic product will be wiped out for the Balkans this year plunging their economies into recession and unemployment.(65)
Debt-ridden and impoverished Albania and Macedonia both of which gave NATO free-rein to use their territories, and to a lesser extent, Bosnia-Herzogovina, Croatia and Slovenia will need to be "rejuvenated," as well.
The U.S. dominated South East European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), in which Milosevic refuses to participate, has been very active in this picture.
Though U.S. officials insist there will be no aid to Serbia so long as Milosevic is in power, Montenegro will receive such "assistance." There have also been promises of aid made to Mayors and city councils of some cities if they oppose the Milosevic government.
Basically, Serbia is now susceptible to the whetted appetites of the TNCs who are eager to invest and rebuild on their own terms.
Special task forces have been set up in Britain, Germany and France made up of companies who want to go after reconstruction contracts. There is considerable hustle and bustle by these companies as they seek to avoid being outdone by competitors in the U.S. and other countries. The U.S. Undersecretary for Trade, David Aaron announced on June 15 that the U.S. is demanding a share of the Kosovo contracts, saying 100 companies want to participate. (66)
Above All its About Oil!
Perhaps above all, this U.S.-led NATO onslaught is about oil. It is related to the drive to extend and protect the investments of the transnational corporations in the Caspian Sea region, especially the oil corporations.
The Balkans are strategic for the transshipment of oil and gas to Europe and beyond. They are critical in the competition between Europe and the U.S. over these riches.
Time is of the essence. The first tanker shipment from the port of Supsa in Georgia on the eastern Black sea coast -- the terminus of a pipeline from the Caspian sea oil fields–-took place recently. Another pipeline passing through Russia and Chechnya, also ending at the eastern shore of the Black Sea at Novorossiisk, will add to the tanker traffic.
The predicament is how to get that oil beyond the Black Sea. The Bosporus straits, at Istanbul, are narrow and pose considerable hazards, especially for the tremendously heavy tanker traffic expected. And so far plans to build a pipeline through Turkey (Kurdistan) are thwarted by the struggles of the Kurds and by competing interests. Hopes for a pipeline through Iran are also on hold. Though preferred for several reasons, those routes would not provide the best access to Europe and the Western Hemisphere. The oil can be shipped by tanker up the Danube River, a waterway crossing Europe from the Black Sea where a short canal connects it to the port of Constanza in Romania. The Danube runs through Belgrade and Novi Sad in Yugoslavia. The recent completion of a grand canal-- about the time the turmoil started in the former Yugoslavia--- between the Danube and Rhine Rivers now makes it possible to ply those waters through a great inland system of canals and waterways to the industrial Ruhr Valley and clear to the North Sea. Undoubtedly this route is favored by the Europeans in the competition over the Caspian Sea treasure chest.
Pipelines Across the Balkans
There are also plans to build pipelines across the Balkans. One from Romania-- which, incidentally, has considerable oil wealth itself–would extend from Constanza to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. At Trieste the oil would be piped northward or shipped westward out of Europe by tanker.(67)
There are also plans for a pipeline through Bulgaria from the port of Bourgas on the Black Sea, to the Vlore port on the Adriatic in Albania. This is a project of the U.S.-owned Albanian, Macedonian and Bulgarian Oil Corporation (AMBO) (68)
These would be part of a multiple pipeline system in the Balkans some connecting
with existing "Soviet-era" pipelines from Russia that would need upgrading. But these oil and gas pipelines extending through Serbia from Russia to Central Europe are extremely valuable. (69)
In the competition with European- based companies, the U.S. backs the Caspian Pipeline consortium led by Mobil. (70)
Also, Kosovo is in a corridor used for centuries, including during the Crusades, as a route between Europe and the Middle East. The route follows river valleys connecting with the Danube River Valley near Belgrade. The southern arm of the transbalkan railway runs along these valleys. Control of this overland passageway was critical to the German fascist war machine in World War II, and to other conquerors. It remains vital to getting the oil riches into Europe from the Middle East and for other two-way commerce.
Neighboring Albania, whose economy has been completely transformed to the "free-market" and domination by western transnational corporations and banks, has vast untapped mineral resources including oil reserves. These are already being gobbled up by transnationals including the major oil companies. (71)
The application of strong structural adjustment policies imposed by the World Bank and IMF "had contributed to wrecking Albania`s banking system and precipitating the collapse of the Albanian economy, says Chossudovsky. The resulting chaos enabled American and European transnationals to carefully position themselves. Several Western oil companies including Occidental, Shell and British Petroleum had their eyes riveted on Albania`s abundant and unexplored oil-deposits. Western investors were also gawking Albania`s extensive reserves of chrome, copper, gold, nickel and platinum.. The Adenauer Foundation had been lobbying in the background on behalf of German mining interests." (72)
So this entire region is broiling with activities over the profits to be had particularly from oil.
Stoking Conflict in the Caucuses /Caspian Sea Region
There is a growing contention between Russia and the West over the oil wealth of the Caspian Sea basin. This was manifested not only in the NATO war against Yugoslavia, but also increasingly in the Baltics, the Ukraine, the region of the Caucuses Mountains and among all the littoral nations of the Caspian Sea. The main pipelines for the Central Asian oil, the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline and the Baku-Supsa pipeline, pass through the Caucasus. In the mounting disputes, Russia allies itself with Armenia and, it is suspected, with the Abkhaz separatists to "counterbalance NATO influence in Azerbaijan and Georgia". Chechnya and Dagestan are also critical in this struggle as the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline passes through its territory.(73) That pipeline also passes through Dagestan which is located between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea and where conflict has exploded recently between secessionists and Russia.
"For Russia, Dagestan retains an important strategic value. Dagestan commands 70 percent of Russia’s shoreline to the oil-producing Caspian Sea and its only all-weather Caspian port at Makhachkala. It provides the crucial pipeline links from Azerbaijan, where Russia maintains important oil interests..." (74)
The recently opened Baku-Supsa route through Georgia, favored by the West, by-passes Russia altogether,"undermining Russian influence on the region’s oil and Russian revenue from that oil. This route was opened following military maneuvers for training to defend the line by Ukrainian, Georgian and Azeri troops, as part of the GUUAM alliance.
Intensifying competition between Russia and NATO has escalated after a battle with heavy losses, June 14, between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. (75)
Another pipeline route favored by the U.S. is between Baku and Ceyhan passing through Turkey. However this is more expensive and transverses the area of intense struggles by the Kurdish people. This is leading the U.S. oil companies to revive their interest in other routes. One of these is through western Afghanistan, the other, south through Iran. (76)
Richard Morningstar, special advisor to the U.S. President and Secretary of State for Caspian Issues, said it was essential that the two Caspian states--Azerbaijan and
Turkmenistan--
agree as soon as possible about a transcaspian gas pipeline to transport oil from Turkmenistan to Turkey via the Caspian Sea. Washington has urged them to ignore Russian and Iranian hostility and move ahead with this pipeline even if it means violating the existing legal status of the Caspian Sea in which all the littoral states are to be consulted about its future. Russia and Iran " feel increasingly irritated by the U.S. activities in Central Asia, aimed at preventing Moscow and Teheran from reasserting their economic and political grip over the former Soviet republics in the Caspian region," according to a Stratfor article. (77)
Also at stake in this region is the growing competition from China which recently has established significant military and economic ties with Turkmenistan. China’s National Petroleum Company has helped rebuild over100 wells in Turkmenistan resulting in an increase in the nation’s export production. It is estimated that Turkmenistan soon will be the third largest gas exporter in the world. (78)
China, the second largest energy consumer in the world, is expected to require 40 percent of its oil through imports by 2010 up from less than 20 percent today. (79).
According to a report in the Journal of Commerce, June 25, 1998, by Michael S. Lellyveld, entitled, Trade bill embroils Senate in the Caucasus’ problems; Measure would authorize fund to all 8 former Soviet republics:
"A bitter ethnic battle in the Caucasus spilled over into Congress this week as U.S. corporate and oil interests won a key vote on aid to the region in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"The panel approved the Silk Road Strategy Act...[which] would ‘target assistance to support the economic and political independence of the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia.’ But behind the measure’s bland title is a widening web of international and U.S. business alliances with stakes in the outcome of a 10-year old war..."(80)
So once again oil interests lead to interventions predicated on "national liberation" or "human rights concerns."
Stirring Things Up in East Asia
Steps are well underway for new relations with Southeast Asia in which the U.S. is acquiring access to military bases in Asian countries in exchange for financial help to buy U.S. arms. The Pentagon’s East Asian Strategy Report defines this program as offering the United States "a credible power projection capability in the region and beyond."
Dr. Joseph Gerson, Program Director at the New England Region of the American Friends Service Committee, puts it succinctly: "In the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. is enforcing its 21st century "Open Door" policy by means of the IMF, the World Bank, APEC, bases and forward deployments, the Seventh Fleet and its nuclear arsenal; as it seeks to simultaneously contain and engage China, to dominate the sea lanes and straits through which the region’s trade and supplies of oil must travel (the ‘jugular vein’ of Asia Pacific economies), and to ‘cap’ Japanese militarism and nationalism.
"Since 1951, the hub of this strategic architecture has been the Mutual Security Treaty (MST) with Japan. During the Clinton years, the MST has been ‘redefined’ to reconsolidate U.S., and to a lesser extent, Japanese power. (81)
A "US -Japan Joint Declaration on Security Alliance for the 21st Century" proclaimed at the Summit between President Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Hashimoto, cited "the alliance’s, new enemies and public rationales: tensions and instability on the Korean Peninsula, China’s nuclear arsenal, and territorial disputes with China."
The regular gigantic "war games" conducted in the Korean region by the U.S., and South Korea, have been stepped substantially up in the recent period.
Echoing the Gulf of Tonkin provocation used to justify U.S. intervention in Vietnam, South Korean warships sank a North Korean boat and badly damaged another allegedly over a dispute about a crab-fishing area of the Yellow Sea. (82)
Plans for U.S. deployment of Theater Missile Defenses (TMDs) around China, sensationalized and unproven allegations of Chinese nuclear spying, claims of Chinese nuclear parity with the U.S., the blocking of China’s entry to the WTO; the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and recent independence moves by Taiwan encouraged by U.S. Congress members, place the world on the brink of a U.S.-orchestrated confrontation with that nation. Taiwan is "the most likely trigger for U.S.-Chinese nuclear confrontation and war," according to Gerson.(83)
A backdrop to these developing tensions is the Taiwan Relations Act which closely links the U.S. and Taiwan economically and militarily. (84)
With the bombing of Yugoslavia barely over and with continuing and escalating air strikes against Iraq, the U.S. appears to be moving rapidly toward such a confrontation with China over Taiwan. In mid-July, Taiwan’s President, Lee Teng-hui, announced the island wants "special state-to-state relations" with China, meaning a rejection of the "one China" policy that has kept the peace for many years. This led Chinese President Jiang Zemin to tell President Clinton, July 18, that China would not rule out using force regarding Taiwan.(85)
Washington is regaining even greater access to ports and bases throughout the Phillippines under the "Visiting Forces Agreement." Considerable attention is also being focused on Indonesia, to prevent the U.S. loss of access to its natural resources, markets and its control of the strategically important shipping lanes. (86)
A Military NAFTA
The Americas are not to escape this buildup of U.S.-controlled military alliances. The U.S. Army War College has urged a "NAFTA for the military "with joint command between Canada, M
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A Military NAFTA
The Americas are not to escape this buildup of U.S.-controlled military alliances. The U.S. Army War College has urged a "NAFTA for the military "with joint command between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. (87)
Also, there is every likelihood of an imminent, all-out U.S. military intervention in Columbia on the pretext of drug interdiction. The people of Columbia could well be the next victims of U.S. military attack.
Globalization onslaught of TNCs
This information age of high technology communications and transportation is catapulting globalization forward at warp speed. A borderless world is increasingly attractive to profit-driven corporations seeking to extend their tentacles without impediment into every conceivable niche on Planet Earth. Indeed the pundits of the "new world order" speak openly now about the demise of national sovereignty as necessary and inevitable to permit capital to flow anywhere free of restrictions. The U.S./NATO destruction of Yugoslavia established the desired precedent for military attack, cloaked in a democracy and human rights disguise, against any sovereign country that might have the temerity to stand up to the encroachment of the TNCs.
But in this brave new corporate world all will not be well. The multitudes will suffer increasingly. Already, there are 1.5 billion people living on less than $1 per day and 1 billion are unemployed or under-employed (ILO ). (88)
"Thirty percent of the world economy is now in recession, according to the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC), made up of 55 European union federations. (89) "Only the United States has a buoyant economy." the TUAC statement said.
In the U.S., too, one must ask: "economic boom for whom?" Child poverty in the U.S. remains the highest for any industrialized country. That figure stands at 22 percent in 1997 or 5.2 million children living below the poverty line including 2.5 million who were "extremely poor," living below half the poverty line. (90)
More than one million children in America are homeless. "Some 40 percent of America’s homeless are now women and their children–the fastest growing homeless group." (91)
The structural adjustment policies of the IMF and World Bank and the accelerating brutal economic globalization and privatization drive by the transnational corporations are creating divisive conflicts and assaults upon the living standards of hundreds of millions on our planet. In the process, national sovereignty, democratic and genuine human rights are being trampled on in scores of countries.
This great momentum toward destroying sovereignty and democratic rights is beginning to impact the people of the U.S. Laws protecting workers, consumers and the environment increasingly are being rendered null and void by NAFTA and other international agreements.
At the same time, the megacorps depend on the sovereign muscle of the major industrial powers who increasingly are headed toward direct confrontation with each other. Above all, these megacorps rely on the might, including military might of the United States to act in their behalf around the world. Business Week’s listing of the world’s 1,000 largest corporations shows that half of them are American. The market value of the U.S. corporations on the list, totaling $ll.3 trillion is more than double the total value of the next four countries’ corporations combined: Britain, Germany, Japan and France," according to economist Victor Perlo. "Where U.S. armed forces penetrate and establish bases, American corporations, protected by the military, follow," says Perlo. (92)
"The technological superiority of the U.S. megacorps is also related to the vast resources [largely from the taxpayers] devoted to the development of new U.S. weapons, and the exclusive availability of the relevant discoveries to U.S. corporations.
"Equally important, U.S. megacorps realize a much higher rate of exploitation of labor than the domestic British, German, Japanese and French companies. American workers toil longer hours, have shorter vacations, lower pensions, less unemployment insurance and other social benefits of all kinds. The decisive factor here is the much smaller proportion of U.S. workers organized into trade unions, and the relative weakness of U.S. trade unions. ..." says Perlo. (93)
Corporations Seek to Rule the World
It is highly likely that the economic globalization onslaught will be propelled forward exponentially at the meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle at the end of November."Europe, the U.S. and the WTO are devising agreements that will remove the final obstacles to the free play of ‘market forces’ and require countries to submit to the unfettered expansion of the multinationals. Learning from the failure of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), big business and technocrats are trying to force through a decision before the end of 1999," according to Christian de Brie writing in Le Monde Diplomatique. The MAI had been "stopped" in the OECD. Again, as in the case of the MAI, secret talks have been taking place on a MAI clone-–this time by the Transatlantic Economic Partnership (TEP) and the Millennium Round of the WTO. The first of these meetings, which opened on September 16, 1998, dealt with "the favorite project of the British and Americans–seeing the European Union dissolved in a free trade area with the United States." says de Brie.
The article points out that:
"On the pretext of removing ‘technical barriers to trade,’which include health, social and environmental protection regulations, the ultimate aim is to ‘reach a general commitment to unconditional access to the market in all sectors and for all methods of supply’ of products and services, including health, education and public contracts. ...states and local authorities are required to make ‘all derogations explicit in the form of ‘a negative freedom that the agreements negotiated apply to all the territory of the parties, regardless of their constitutional structures, at all levels of authority. ...
[T]alks proceed behind closed doors, using ..tactics to avoid alerting public opinion, so everything can be sewn up by December 1999. Industrial goods, services, public contracts, intellectual property, etc. - in a dozen fields, slice by slice, ‘mutual recognition agreements (MRAs)’ ...seek to reduce standards and regulations to the lowest common denominator. The outcome is that the safeguards that Europe has built up, in food, the environment and health in particular are being dismantled.
"Once agreement has been reached, governments will be obliged to abolish any laws that conflict with the MRAs....the TEP follows the same aims as the MAI - to hand over all human activities to capital, without let or hindrance, thereby stripping the EU, member governments and local authorities of their ability to pursue their own policies....
"But the document...has another aim: to establish a US-EU condominium capable of imposing its will on the rest of the world, and in particular the countries of the South in the [WTO] talks....The war being prosecuted, with the support of their governments, by the transnational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic for the conquest and domination of world markets is becoming increasingly brutal and has no regard for laws. Witness America’s ...Helms-Burton and D’AMATO-Gilman acts that are contrary to international law; the banana war lost by the EU....the disputes over hormone-contaminated meat and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that contravene health regulations....
"[T]here seems to be nothing to prevent the transnational corporations taking possession of the planet and subjecting humanity to the dictatorship of capital....
"In order to crush any thought of organized resistance to the supporters of the new world order, tremendous police and military forces are being used to establish a doctrine of repression..." (94)
The provisions of the MAI are finding there way into many agreements, such as the "African Growth and Opportunity Act"–the NAFTA for Africa bill recently passed by Congress. Even NAFTA, though purporting to deal only with trade issues, has a section on investments which is now being evoked in a suit by Canada, (on behalf of a corporation) challenging recently- adopted California environmental legislation banning the gasoline additive MTBE. If the suit prevails, California will have to abolish the law or pay large penalties.
The original draft of the MAI and its clones are written to have a dual effect: threatening social programs, while protecting and enhancing military spending and arms trade. (95) The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), also exempts military spending from its proscriptions against government subsidies. This gives U.S. corporations a great advantage over other countries because of the trillions already being spent on the Pentagon. In fact, the high tech industry got a its start and continues to benefit from the research conducted by the military with taxpayer dollars.
So while the MAI- and now its clones-- would threaten nearly every public sector of national economies such as health care, education and culture, government spending for the military, weapons, development and production and direct support for weapons corporations are excluded from the liberalizing demands of such an agreement. (96) This will give free rein for the Pentagon to continue to abscond with the tax dollars of U.S. workers.
The purpose of MAI-type agreements is to remove virtually all barriers to investment by corporations. Foreign investors would be required to be treated the same as domestic investors. Governments would be denied much of their power to intervene in the economy to promote social goals. (97) Thus, not only national sovereignty but also the democratic rights of the people would be usurped.
NAFTA mechanisms, as well as the WTO, IMF and World Bank are totally undemocratic, with no access by the people. They are run by the nations with the greatest wealth, the U.S. in the first place-- with the corporations and banks pulling the strings.
The Fightback
The fightback against war and the corporate globalization offensive and its manifestations at home is needed today, more than ever in history, as events move at astounding speed. Such a movement is bound to grow every day. Multitudes of the world’s poor and working people are resisting in rapidly growing numbers. In the process they are coming to understand the commonality of interests they share with all those victimized by the corporations and the policies of the U.S. and other powerful governments--the U.S. sword and dollar marching hand in glove-- in the brutal, relentless drive for ever-higher profits. Nothing is more important than to quicken the pace and strengthen the unity to resist this imperialist onslaught toward global corporate rule.
Footnotes ( Quellen )
1. "Clinton Says NATO is ready to fight repression in Europe, Africa," Agence France Presse, June 22, 1999.
2. "Aid Bill Listing Yugoslavia as Terrorist Passes," Tim Weiner, New York Times, July 1, 1999.
The Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2000 passed on June 30, 1999, with only 2 dissenting votes. This foreign aid bill not only designates Yugoslavia as a terrorist state, a function typically left to the State Department, it also bars U.S. aid to Yugoslavia and permits Kosovars [sic] to sue President Slobodan Milosevic for damages in U.S. Courts. It includes $20 million for training and equipping a Kosovo security force that its authors say would include members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The bill includes $150 million in aid to Kosovo, $85 million for Macedonia, $45 million for Bulgaria and $35 million for Montenegro.
3. San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 1999.
4. The Nation, 7/28-8/4,1997 and San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 1999.
5. "Secret U.S. Training Approved for KLA Troops," By Paul Beaver, The Scotsman, April,5 1999.
6. "Clinton to Bomb Again," By Rick Rowden, San Francisco Chronicle, March 24, 1999.
7. "Red-Cross reports economic disaster in Yugoslavia," by Mike Head and Michael Conachy, World Socialist Web Site, July 22, 1999.
8. "Aid Bill Listing Yugoslavia as Terrorist Passes ," by Tim Weiner, New York Times, July 1, 1999.
9. "Kosovo Links with Belgrade ‘Severed,’ " by Eve-Ann Prentice, Sunday Times, July 5, 1999.
10. AP article by Tom Cohen, August 3, 1999.
11. "Red-Cross reports economic disaster in Yugoslavia," by Mike Head and Michael Conachy, World Socialist Web Site, July 22, 1999.
12. San Francisco Chronicle, June 28, 1999.
13. Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1999.
14. "Guerillas Take Charge in Kosovo," by Chris Hedges, New York Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 1999.
15. What I Learned from the War, by Dennis J. Kucinich, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
16. Chris Hedges, New York Times, June 25.
17. Foreign Affairs, May/June, 1999.
18. "NATO’s War Against Yugoslavia–An Overview," by Michel Chossudovsky, June 1999.
19. Marjorie Miller, Los Angeles Times, June 17.
20. Website of LeMonde Diplomatique
21. "Continuation on 15 March in France," Serbia in the World, February, 1999.
22. The formulation in the UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo could be interpreted as embracing this wording.
Point 11-e of that resolution reads: "facilitating a political process designed to determine Kosovo’s future status, taking full account of the Rambouillet Accords"-- S/1999/648.
23. "What the World Needs Now", by Thomas Friedman, New York Times, March 28,1999.
24. "The Case Against Intervention in Kosovo", by Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne, The Nation, April 19, 1999.
25. Associated Press dispatch reporting on Defense Secretary William Cohen`s Seattle appearance, February 18, 1999.
26. New York Times , December 27, 1997.
27. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Press Release, March 5, 1999, NED web site.
28. "Pentagon Misused Millions in Funds, House Panel Says," by Tom Weiner, New York Times, July 22, 1999.
29. "Military Industrial Complex Revisited,"by William Hartung, The Progressive Response, July 2, 1999.
30. USA Today, April 15, 1999.
31. "Balkan War to Bolster Defense Firms’ Sales," San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 1999.
32. "Disarmament: UN Calls for New Partnership with Arms Industry," Inter Press Service, July 9, 1999,
33. U.S. Department of Defense, May 26, 1999, and New York Stock Exchange daily data, 1999.
34. Ibid.
35. "Count Corporate America Among NATO’s Staunchest Allies," by Tim Smart, Washington Post page E1, April 13, 1999.
36. "Ukraine, U.S. To Hold Navy Exercise This Month", Reuters, July 18, 1999.
37. "Russia Flexes Muscles in Caucasus," Global Intelligence Updates, Stratfor, June 21, 1999.
38. "Conflict Threatens Caucasus Pipelines," Global Intelligence Updates, Stratfor, June 14, 1999.
39. Ibid.
40. New York Times , March 8, 1992.
41. "Lockheed Martin creates new UK company," International Network on Disarmament and Globalization, July 1, 1999,sstaples@canadians.org.
42. "Pentagon sees US-European defense company mergers as inevitable", International Network on Disarmament and Globalization, July 8, 1999, sstaples@canadians.org.
43. Global Network Space UpDates Newsletter #6, July 17, 1999., posted on Abolition 2000 network– abolition caucus@igc.org.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. The United Nations: Who Supports, Who Opposes Disarmament?, by Karen Talbot, WPC Information Center.
47. "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence," British American Security Information Council, a partially declassified text of the U.S. Strategic Commands 1995.
48. New York Times ,July 18, 1996.
49. Christian Science Monitor, June 6, 1996.
50. New York Times, November 28, 1990.
51. New York Times,
52. "American Barbarism and the Big Lie Technique Are the Winners in Kosovo," by Barry Lituchy, June 1999 Posted on Prime.
53. "The Prize: Issue of Who Controls Kosovo’s Rich Mines,"New York Times, June 2, 1999.
54. The Rambouillet Agreement, page 45, posted on web site of Le Monde Diplomatique.
55. Gennady Shabonnikov, Deputy in the Office of the High Representative in Brcko (Bosnia) in an interview with the author, December 29, 1998.
56. Op. cit. , n. 52.
57. "Dismantling Yugoslavia, Colonizing Bosnia," by Michel Chossudovsky, Department of Economics University of Ottawa, Covert Action Quarterly, No. 56, Spring 1996.
58. Ibid.
59. Ibid.
60. Reuters, April 22, 1998 and Agence France-Presse, August 17, 1998.
61. Associated Press dispatch, July 17, 1999.
62. Op.cit., n. 2.
63. Ibid.
64. "Destroying the Balkans to save it," by Sid Balman, Jr.,UPI, April 25,1999.
65. "Economic Consequences of the Kosovo Crisis", World Bank and IMF report, April, 1999.
66. "NATO members squabble over war profits," by William Pomeroy, Peoples Weekly World, July 3, 1999.
67. U.S. Energy Information Administration, December, 1998.
68. Ibid.
69. Op. cit. n. 51
70. Joint U.S.-EU Statement-6th Annual Summit
71. "Kosovo ‘Freedom Fighters’ Financed by Organized Crime," by Michel Chossudovsky.
72. Ibid.
73. "Conflict Threatens Caucasus Pipelines," by Global Intelligence Updates,, Stratfor, June 14, 1999.
74. "Dagestan Skirmish is big Russian Risk," by Carlotta Gall, New York Times, August 13, 1999.
75. Op. cit. n.73.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. Global Intelligence Updates, Stratfor, September 17, 1999.
79. "Beijing anxious to ensure oil supplies are more secure",by James Kynge, Financial Times, May 6, 1999.
80. "Trade bill embroils Senate in the Caucasus’ problems; Measure would authorize fund to all 8 former Soviet republics," by Michael S. Lellyveld,Journal of Commerce, June 25, 1998.
81. "U.S. Asia-Pacific Hegemony and Possibilities of Popular Solidarity," delivered at a conference in Seoul, South Korea, June 26-27, 1999–Fresh Look: Re-examining the role and impact of US bases in Asia-Pacific-- by Dr. Joseph Gerson, Director of Programs at the New England Region of the American Friends Service Committee, 1651 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge Mass. 02140.
82. "South Korea Sinks North’s Torpedo Boat," by Paul Shin, San Francisco Chronicle, p1, June 15, 1999.
83. Op cit. n. 8.
84. "Taiwan’s Defiant Stand Challenges ‘Clinton Doctrine,’" James Gregor, San Francisco Chronicle, July 26, 1999.
85. "Chinese Leader Talks Tough on Taiwan," John Pomfret, Washington Post, July 19.
86. Op. cit. n. 81.
87. "NAFTA for the Military Proposed," by Linda Diebel, Toronto Star, July 23, 1999.
88. Human Development Report-1999, United Nations Development Program.
89. The TUAC is an advisory committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
90. Columbia University’s Center for Children in Poverty report, as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, June 18, 1999.
91. "The New Face of Homelessness is Youthful", San Francisco Chronicle, p A10, July 1, 1999.
92. "On Globalization," by Victory Perlo, People’s Weekly World, July 10, 1999.
93. Ibid.
94. "Transatlantic Wheeling and Dealing- Watch out for MAI Mark Two," by Christian de Brie, Le Monde Diplomatique, May 1999.
95. "Protecting War, Militarism and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment," by Steven Staples, former Coordinator of End the Arms Race, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
96. Ibid.
97. Ibid.
-
Gruß
HJL
Nachtrag :
Der " verlorengegangene " Rest
A Military NAFTA
The Americas are not to escape this buildup of U.S.-controlled military alliances. The U.S. Army War College has urged a "NAFTA for the military "with joint command between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. (87)
Also, there is every likelihood of an imminent, all-out U.S. military intervention in Columbia on the pretext of drug interdiction. The people of Columbia could well be the next victims of U.S. military attack.
Globalization onslaught of TNCs
This information age of high technology communications and transportation is catapulting globalization forward at warp speed. A borderless world is increasingly attractive to profit-driven corporations seeking to extend their tentacles without impediment into every conceivable niche on Planet Earth. Indeed the pundits of the "new world order" speak openly now about the demise of national sovereignty as necessary and inevitable to permit capital to flow anywhere free of restrictions. The U.S./NATO destruction of Yugoslavia established the desired precedent for military attack, cloaked in a democracy and human rights disguise, against any sovereign country that might have the temerity to stand up to the encroachment of the TNCs.
But in this brave new corporate world all will not be well. The multitudes will suffer increasingly. Already, there are 1.5 billion people living on less than $1 per day and 1 billion are unemployed or under-employed (ILO ). (88)
"Thirty percent of the world economy is now in recession, according to the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC), made up of 55 European union federations. (89) "Only the United States has a buoyant economy." the TUAC statement said.
In the U.S., too, one must ask: "economic boom for whom?" Child poverty in the U.S. remains the highest for any industrialized country. That figure stands at 22 percent in 1997 or 5.2 million children living below the poverty line including 2.5 million who were "extremely poor," living below half the poverty line. (90)
More than one million children in America are homeless. "Some 40 percent of America’s homeless are now women and their children–the fastest growing homeless group." (91)
The structural adjustment policies of the IMF and World Bank and the accelerating brutal economic globalization and privatization drive by the transnational corporations are creating divisive conflicts and assaults upon the living standards of hundreds of millions on our planet. In the process, national sovereignty, democratic and genuine human rights are being trampled on in scores of countries.
This great momentum toward destroying sovereignty and democratic rights is beginning to impact the people of the U.S. Laws protecting workers, consumers and the environment increasingly are being rendered null and void by NAFTA and other international agreements.
At the same time, the megacorps depend on the sovereign muscle of the major industrial powers who increasingly are headed toward direct confrontation with each other. Above all, these megacorps rely on the might, including military might of the United States to act in their behalf around the world. Business Week’s listing of the world’s 1,000 largest corporations shows that half of them are American. The market value of the U.S. corporations on the list, totaling $ll.3 trillion is more than double the total value of the next four countries’ corporations combined: Britain, Germany, Japan and France," according to economist Victor Perlo. "Where U.S. armed forces penetrate and establish bases, American corporations, protected by the military, follow," says Perlo. (92)
"The technological superiority of the U.S. megacorps is also related to the vast resources [largely from the taxpayers] devoted to the development of new U.S. weapons, and the exclusive availability of the relevant discoveries to U.S. corporations.
"Equally important, U.S. megacorps realize a much higher rate of exploitation of labor than the domestic British, German, Japanese and French companies. American workers toil longer hours, have shorter vacations, lower pensions, less unemployment insurance and other social benefits of all kinds. The decisive factor here is the much smaller proportion of U.S. workers organized into trade unions, and the relative weakness of U.S. trade unions. ..." says Perlo. (93)
Corporations Seek to Rule the World
It is highly likely that the economic globalization onslaught will be propelled forward exponentially at the meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle at the end of November."Europe, the U.S. and the WTO are devising agreements that will remove the final obstacles to the free play of ‘market forces’ and require countries to submit to the unfettered expansion of the multinationals. Learning from the failure of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), big business and technocrats are trying to force through a decision before the end of 1999," according to Christian de Brie writing in Le Monde Diplomatique. The MAI had been "stopped" in the OECD. Again, as in the case of the MAI, secret talks have been taking place on a MAI clone-–this time by the Transatlantic Economic Partnership (TEP) and the Millennium Round of the WTO. The first of these meetings, which opened on September 16, 1998, dealt with "the favorite project of the British and Americans–seeing the European Union dissolved in a free trade area with the United States." says de Brie.
The article points out that:
"On the pretext of removing ‘technical barriers to trade,’which include health, social and environmental protection regulations, the ultimate aim is to ‘reach a general commitment to unconditional access to the market in all sectors and for all methods of supply’ of products and services, including health, education and public contracts. ...states and local authorities are required to make ‘all derogations explicit in the form of ‘a negative freedom that the agreements negotiated apply to all the territory of the parties, regardless of their constitutional structures, at all levels of authority. ...
[T]alks proceed behind closed doors, using ..tactics to avoid alerting public opinion, so everything can be sewn up by December 1999. Industrial goods, services, public contracts, intellectual property, etc. - in a dozen fields, slice by slice, ‘mutual recognition agreements (MRAs)’ ...seek to reduce standards and regulations to the lowest common denominator. The outcome is that the safeguards that Europe has built up, in food, the environment and health in particular are being dismantled.
"Once agreement has been reached, governments will be obliged to abolish any laws that conflict with the MRAs....the TEP follows the same aims as the MAI - to hand over all human activities to capital, without let or hindrance, thereby stripping the EU, member governments and local authorities of their ability to pursue their own policies....
"But the document...has another aim: to establish a US-EU condominium capable of imposing its will on the rest of the world, and in particular the countries of the South in the [WTO] talks....The war being prosecuted, with the support of their governments, by the transnational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic for the conquest and domination of world markets is becoming increasingly brutal and has no regard for laws. Witness America’s ...Helms-Burton and D’AMATO-Gilman acts that are contrary to international law; the banana war lost by the EU....the disputes over hormone-contaminated meat and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that contravene health regulations....
"[T]here seems to be nothing to prevent the transnational corporations taking possession of the planet and subjecting humanity to the dictatorship of capital....
"In order to crush any thought of organized resistance to the supporters of the new world order, tremendous police and military forces are being used to establish a doctrine of repression..." (94)
The provisions of the MAI are finding there way into many agreements, such as the "African Growth and Opportunity Act"–the NAFTA for Africa bill recently passed by Congress. Even NAFTA, though purporting to deal only with trade issues, has a section on investments which is now being evoked in a suit by Canada, (on behalf of a corporation) challenging recently- adopted California environmental legislation banning the gasoline additive MTBE. If the suit prevails, California will have to abolish the law or pay large penalties.
The original draft of the MAI and its clones are written to have a dual effect: threatening social programs, while protecting and enhancing military spending and arms trade. (95) The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), also exempts military spending from its proscriptions against government subsidies. This gives U.S. corporations a great advantage over other countries because of the trillions already being spent on the Pentagon. In fact, the high tech industry got a its start and continues to benefit from the research conducted by the military with taxpayer dollars.
So while the MAI- and now its clones-- would threaten nearly every public sector of national economies such as health care, education and culture, government spending for the military, weapons, development and production and direct support for weapons corporations are excluded from the liberalizing demands of such an agreement. (96) This will give free rein for the Pentagon to continue to abscond with the tax dollars of U.S. workers.
The purpose of MAI-type agreements is to remove virtually all barriers to investment by corporations. Foreign investors would be required to be treated the same as domestic investors. Governments would be denied much of their power to intervene in the economy to promote social goals. (97) Thus, not only national sovereignty but also the democratic rights of the people would be usurped.
NAFTA mechanisms, as well as the WTO, IMF and World Bank are totally undemocratic, with no access by the people. They are run by the nations with the greatest wealth, the U.S. in the first place-- with the corporations and banks pulling the strings.
The Fightback
The fightback against war and the corporate globalization offensive and its manifestations at home is needed today, more than ever in history, as events move at astounding speed. Such a movement is bound to grow every day. Multitudes of the world’s poor and working people are resisting in rapidly growing numbers. In the process they are coming to understand the commonality of interests they share with all those victimized by the corporations and the policies of the U.S. and other powerful governments--the U.S. sword and dollar marching hand in glove-- in the brutal, relentless drive for ever-higher profits. Nothing is more important than to quicken the pace and strengthen the unity to resist this imperialist onslaught toward global corporate rule.
Footnotes ( Quellen )
1. "Clinton Says NATO is ready to fight repression in Europe, Africa," Agence France Presse, June 22, 1999.
2. "Aid Bill Listing Yugoslavia as Terrorist Passes," Tim Weiner, New York Times, July 1, 1999.
The Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2000 passed on June 30, 1999, with only 2 dissenting votes. This foreign aid bill not only designates Yugoslavia as a terrorist state, a function typically left to the State Department, it also bars U.S. aid to Yugoslavia and permits Kosovars [sic] to sue President Slobodan Milosevic for damages in U.S. Courts. It includes $20 million for training and equipping a Kosovo security force that its authors say would include members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The bill includes $150 million in aid to Kosovo, $85 million for Macedonia, $45 million for Bulgaria and $35 million for Montenegro.
3. San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 1999.
4. The Nation, 7/28-8/4,1997 and San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 1999.
5. "Secret U.S. Training Approved for KLA Troops," By Paul Beaver, The Scotsman, April,5 1999.
6. "Clinton to Bomb Again," By Rick Rowden, San Francisco Chronicle, March 24, 1999.
7. "Red-Cross reports economic disaster in Yugoslavia," by Mike Head and Michael Conachy, World Socialist Web Site, July 22, 1999.
8. "Aid Bill Listing Yugoslavia as Terrorist Passes ," by Tim Weiner, New York Times, July 1, 1999.
9. "Kosovo Links with Belgrade ‘Severed,’ " by Eve-Ann Prentice, Sunday Times, July 5, 1999.
10. AP article by Tom Cohen, August 3, 1999.
11. "Red-Cross reports economic disaster in Yugoslavia," by Mike Head and Michael Conachy, World Socialist Web Site, July 22, 1999.
12. San Francisco Chronicle, June 28, 1999.
13. Los Angeles Times, June 14, 1999.
14. "Guerillas Take Charge in Kosovo," by Chris Hedges, New York Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 1999.
15. What I Learned from the War, by Dennis J. Kucinich, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
16. Chris Hedges, New York Times, June 25.
17. Foreign Affairs, May/June, 1999.
18. "NATO’s War Against Yugoslavia–An Overview," by Michel Chossudovsky, June 1999.
19. Marjorie Miller, Los Angeles Times, June 17.
20. Website of LeMonde Diplomatique
21. "Continuation on 15 March in France," Serbia in the World, February, 1999.
22. The formulation in the UN Security Council resolution on Kosovo could be interpreted as embracing this wording.
Point 11-e of that resolution reads: "facilitating a political process designed to determine Kosovo’s future status, taking full account of the Rambouillet Accords"-- S/1999/648.
23. "What the World Needs Now", by Thomas Friedman, New York Times, March 28,1999.
24. "The Case Against Intervention in Kosovo", by Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne, The Nation, April 19, 1999.
25. Associated Press dispatch reporting on Defense Secretary William Cohen`s Seattle appearance, February 18, 1999.
26. New York Times , December 27, 1997.
27. National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Press Release, March 5, 1999, NED web site.
28. "Pentagon Misused Millions in Funds, House Panel Says," by Tom Weiner, New York Times, July 22, 1999.
29. "Military Industrial Complex Revisited,"by William Hartung, The Progressive Response, July 2, 1999.
30. USA Today, April 15, 1999.
31. "Balkan War to Bolster Defense Firms’ Sales," San Francisco Chronicle, June 9, 1999.
32. "Disarmament: UN Calls for New Partnership with Arms Industry," Inter Press Service, July 9, 1999,
33. U.S. Department of Defense, May 26, 1999, and New York Stock Exchange daily data, 1999.
34. Ibid.
35. "Count Corporate America Among NATO’s Staunchest Allies," by Tim Smart, Washington Post page E1, April 13, 1999.
36. "Ukraine, U.S. To Hold Navy Exercise This Month", Reuters, July 18, 1999.
37. "Russia Flexes Muscles in Caucasus," Global Intelligence Updates, Stratfor, June 21, 1999.
38. "Conflict Threatens Caucasus Pipelines," Global Intelligence Updates, Stratfor, June 14, 1999.
39. Ibid.
40. New York Times , March 8, 1992.
41. "Lockheed Martin creates new UK company," International Network on Disarmament and Globalization, July 1, 1999,sstaples@canadians.org.
42. "Pentagon sees US-European defense company mergers as inevitable", International Network on Disarmament and Globalization, July 8, 1999, sstaples@canadians.org.
43. Global Network Space UpDates Newsletter #6, July 17, 1999., posted on Abolition 2000 network– abolition caucus@igc.org.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid.
46. The United Nations: Who Supports, Who Opposes Disarmament?, by Karen Talbot, WPC Information Center.
47. "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence," British American Security Information Council, a partially declassified text of the U.S. Strategic Commands 1995.
48. New York Times ,July 18, 1996.
49. Christian Science Monitor, June 6, 1996.
50. New York Times, November 28, 1990.
51. New York Times,
52. "American Barbarism and the Big Lie Technique Are the Winners in Kosovo," by Barry Lituchy, June 1999 Posted on Prime.
53. "The Prize: Issue of Who Controls Kosovo’s Rich Mines,"New York Times, June 2, 1999.
54. The Rambouillet Agreement, page 45, posted on web site of Le Monde Diplomatique.
55. Gennady Shabonnikov, Deputy in the Office of the High Representative in Brcko (Bosnia) in an interview with the author, December 29, 1998.
56. Op. cit. , n. 52.
57. "Dismantling Yugoslavia, Colonizing Bosnia," by Michel Chossudovsky, Department of Economics University of Ottawa, Covert Action Quarterly, No. 56, Spring 1996.
58. Ibid.
59. Ibid.
60. Reuters, April 22, 1998 and Agence France-Presse, August 17, 1998.
61. Associated Press dispatch, July 17, 1999.
62. Op.cit., n. 2.
63. Ibid.
64. "Destroying the Balkans to save it," by Sid Balman, Jr.,UPI, April 25,1999.
65. "Economic Consequences of the Kosovo Crisis", World Bank and IMF report, April, 1999.
66. "NATO members squabble over war profits," by William Pomeroy, Peoples Weekly World, July 3, 1999.
67. U.S. Energy Information Administration, December, 1998.
68. Ibid.
69. Op. cit. n. 51
70. Joint U.S.-EU Statement-6th Annual Summit
71. "Kosovo ‘Freedom Fighters’ Financed by Organized Crime," by Michel Chossudovsky.
72. Ibid.
73. "Conflict Threatens Caucasus Pipelines," by Global Intelligence Updates,, Stratfor, June 14, 1999.
74. "Dagestan Skirmish is big Russian Risk," by Carlotta Gall, New York Times, August 13, 1999.
75. Op. cit. n.73.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid.
78. Global Intelligence Updates, Stratfor, September 17, 1999.
79. "Beijing anxious to ensure oil supplies are more secure",by James Kynge, Financial Times, May 6, 1999.
80. "Trade bill embroils Senate in the Caucasus’ problems; Measure would authorize fund to all 8 former Soviet republics," by Michael S. Lellyveld,Journal of Commerce, June 25, 1998.
81. "U.S. Asia-Pacific Hegemony and Possibilities of Popular Solidarity," delivered at a conference in Seoul, South Korea, June 26-27, 1999–Fresh Look: Re-examining the role and impact of US bases in Asia-Pacific-- by Dr. Joseph Gerson, Director of Programs at the New England Region of the American Friends Service Committee, 1651 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge Mass. 02140.
82. "South Korea Sinks North’s Torpedo Boat," by Paul Shin, San Francisco Chronicle, p1, June 15, 1999.
83. Op cit. n. 8.
84. "Taiwan’s Defiant Stand Challenges ‘Clinton Doctrine,’" James Gregor, San Francisco Chronicle, July 26, 1999.
85. "Chinese Leader Talks Tough on Taiwan," John Pomfret, Washington Post, July 19.
86. Op. cit. n. 81.
87. "NAFTA for the Military Proposed," by Linda Diebel, Toronto Star, July 23, 1999.
88. Human Development Report-1999, United Nations Development Program.
89. The TUAC is an advisory committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
90. Columbia University’s Center for Children in Poverty report, as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, June 18, 1999.
91. "The New Face of Homelessness is Youthful", San Francisco Chronicle, p A10, July 1, 1999.
92. "On Globalization," by Victory Perlo, People’s Weekly World, July 10, 1999.
93. Ibid.
94. "Transatlantic Wheeling and Dealing- Watch out for MAI Mark Two," by Christian de Brie, Le Monde Diplomatique, May 1999.
95. "Protecting War, Militarism and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment," by Steven Staples, former Coordinator of End the Arms Race, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
96. Ibid.
97. Ibid.
-
Gruß
HJL
INTERNATIONALE des PROTESTS
Italien
Giorgio Armani, Modedesigner
Sieht so ein Sympathisant aus?
"Ich sympathisiere mit den Demonstranten, die in Genua gegen die Globalisierung auf die Straße gehen. Auch ich will nicht, dass die Welt von einer kleinen Gruppe von Leuten beherrscht wird. Die Herren des G8-Gipfels machen Angst, weil sie nur an sich denken und wenig an die normalen Menschen."
Irland
Bono, Sänger U 2
Ist das der typische Chaot?
"Die acht Regierungschefs müssen den Weltwährungsfonds und die Weltbank auffordern, die Schulden der unterentwickelten Länder total zu erlassen. Einige der ärmsten Länder der Welt geben noch heute mehr Geld für ihren Schuldenabbau aus als für ihr Gesundheitssystem. Es sind dieselben Länder, die gegen Aids zu kämpfen haben. Dieser Wahnsinn muss aufhören."
Portugal
Jose Saramago, Literatur-Nobelpreisträger
.jpg)
Sieht dieser Mann wie ein Chaot aus?
"Welchen Sinn hat es, Sonden zur Erforschung von Wasservorkommen auf den Mars zu schicken, während die Verschmutzung von Flüssen und Meeren ein extremes Ausmaß angenommen hat. Wir sind in den Händen entfesselter Konzerne, die nur auf schnellen Gewinn und zerstörerische Ausbeutung aus sind. Wenn wir uns nicht verteidigen, wird der Wolf Globalisierung die Menschenrechte wie Lämmer verschlingen."
Brasilien
Sebastiao Salgado, Fotograf
"Wo ich aufwuchs, war mehr als die Hälfte des Landes Regenwald. Heute haben die wenigen Besitzer riesiger Farmen den Wald für Rinderzucht, Soja- und Orangen-anbau gerodet. Die einstigen Kleinbauern arbeiten dort als Tagelöhner. Verschwunden sind Natur und Kultur im Dienste der globalisierten Weltwirtschaft. Einige werden immer ärmer, während andere immer reicher werden."
Frankreich
Viviane Forrester, Autorin von "Der Terror der Ökonomie"
Sieht diese Frau wie eine Chaotin aus?
"Nicht die Globalisierung muss man infrage stellen. Widerstand ist nötig gegen das ultraliberale Management der Globalisierung. Die Allmacht des Profits führt dazu, dass wir uns das Recht auf Leben verdienen müssen, und zwar nicht, indem wir nützlich für die Gesellschaft sind, sondern rentabel. So zerstört der Ultraliberalismus unsere Zivilisation."
Frankreich
Jose Bove, Bauer
Dieser Bauer machte in Frankreich eine McDoof-Bude platt.
"Ich bin seit 26 Jahren Bauer und habe das Gefühl, zu einer aussterbenden Art zu gehören. Übrig bleiben nur die Giganten, die auf Kosten von Umwelt und Qualität den Weltmarkt überschwemmen. Die 800 Millionen Menschen, die auf der Erde hungern, sind ein Resultat dieser Entwicklung."
Deutschland
Florian, Student
"Ich habe die Vision einer Welt, in der menschliche Bedürfnisse vor Profitinteressen gestellt werden. Die Feinde dieser Vision kommen in Genua zusammen. Mit denen zu reden hat keinen Sinn. Ich glaube zwar nicht, dass es viel bringt, Scheiben einzuschmeißen. Aber wenn die Polizei Gewalt anwendet, dann wende auch ich Gewalt an."
Deutschland
Susanne Kim, Studentin
"Bei den Demonstrationen gegen Weltwährungsfonds und Weltbank in Prag haben wir uns die Stadt einfach genommen. Es war wichtig, uns nicht einschüchtern zu lassen. Ich verstehe, wenn Leute Steine werfen. Aber das ist nicht unsere Strategie. Wir setzen in Genua auf den Druck der Masse."
USA
Noam Chomsky, Linguist
"Globalisierung überträgt das Modell der Dritten Welt auf die Industrienationen. Eine Zwei-KlassenGesellschaft - ein Sektor extrem reich, der andere besteht aus überflüssigen Menschen, die in Armut und Verzweiflung leben. Die wahren Entscheidungen werden in den Konzernen getroffen. Parlamente und Bürger haben weniger Einfluss."
USA
Lori Wallach, Juristin
"Unsere Mobilisierung gegen die Welthandels-konferenz in Seattle 1999 sollte deutlich machen, dass die gegenwärtige Form der Globalisierung nicht von Gott geschaffen ist, sondern ein von langer Hand geplantes Szenario. Wenn die wenigen, die von diesem System profitieren, weiter so dickköpfig sind, werden die Menschen rebellieren."
Mexiko
Marcos, Rebellenchef
"Seattle, Prag oder unsere Bewegung in Chiapas, das sind Symptome, Eruptionen. Ausdrucksformen eines Neins zur Globalisierung. Unsere Neins sollten sich auf der Weltebene einen. Die Jas aber müssen ganz individuell aussehen."
Italien
Giordano Luparelli, Aktivist
"Ohne Internet hätte die Bewegung nicht so schnell Verbreitung gefunden. Um das Gipfeltreffen zu stören, brauchen wir von den Tute Bianche (Weiße Overalls) viel Adrenalin, Fantasie und einen guten Schutzpanzer. Denn heute hast du Robocops vor dir, keine Polizisten."
Capoon
Italien
Giorgio Armani, Modedesigner
Sieht so ein Sympathisant aus?
"Ich sympathisiere mit den Demonstranten, die in Genua gegen die Globalisierung auf die Straße gehen. Auch ich will nicht, dass die Welt von einer kleinen Gruppe von Leuten beherrscht wird. Die Herren des G8-Gipfels machen Angst, weil sie nur an sich denken und wenig an die normalen Menschen."
Irland
Bono, Sänger U 2
Ist das der typische Chaot?
"Die acht Regierungschefs müssen den Weltwährungsfonds und die Weltbank auffordern, die Schulden der unterentwickelten Länder total zu erlassen. Einige der ärmsten Länder der Welt geben noch heute mehr Geld für ihren Schuldenabbau aus als für ihr Gesundheitssystem. Es sind dieselben Länder, die gegen Aids zu kämpfen haben. Dieser Wahnsinn muss aufhören."
Portugal
Jose Saramago, Literatur-Nobelpreisträger
Sieht dieser Mann wie ein Chaot aus?
"Welchen Sinn hat es, Sonden zur Erforschung von Wasservorkommen auf den Mars zu schicken, während die Verschmutzung von Flüssen und Meeren ein extremes Ausmaß angenommen hat. Wir sind in den Händen entfesselter Konzerne, die nur auf schnellen Gewinn und zerstörerische Ausbeutung aus sind. Wenn wir uns nicht verteidigen, wird der Wolf Globalisierung die Menschenrechte wie Lämmer verschlingen."
Brasilien
Sebastiao Salgado, Fotograf
"Wo ich aufwuchs, war mehr als die Hälfte des Landes Regenwald. Heute haben die wenigen Besitzer riesiger Farmen den Wald für Rinderzucht, Soja- und Orangen-anbau gerodet. Die einstigen Kleinbauern arbeiten dort als Tagelöhner. Verschwunden sind Natur und Kultur im Dienste der globalisierten Weltwirtschaft. Einige werden immer ärmer, während andere immer reicher werden."
Frankreich
Viviane Forrester, Autorin von "Der Terror der Ökonomie"
Sieht diese Frau wie eine Chaotin aus?
"Nicht die Globalisierung muss man infrage stellen. Widerstand ist nötig gegen das ultraliberale Management der Globalisierung. Die Allmacht des Profits führt dazu, dass wir uns das Recht auf Leben verdienen müssen, und zwar nicht, indem wir nützlich für die Gesellschaft sind, sondern rentabel. So zerstört der Ultraliberalismus unsere Zivilisation."
Frankreich
Jose Bove, Bauer
Dieser Bauer machte in Frankreich eine McDoof-Bude platt.
"Ich bin seit 26 Jahren Bauer und habe das Gefühl, zu einer aussterbenden Art zu gehören. Übrig bleiben nur die Giganten, die auf Kosten von Umwelt und Qualität den Weltmarkt überschwemmen. Die 800 Millionen Menschen, die auf der Erde hungern, sind ein Resultat dieser Entwicklung."
Deutschland
Florian, Student
"Ich habe die Vision einer Welt, in der menschliche Bedürfnisse vor Profitinteressen gestellt werden. Die Feinde dieser Vision kommen in Genua zusammen. Mit denen zu reden hat keinen Sinn. Ich glaube zwar nicht, dass es viel bringt, Scheiben einzuschmeißen. Aber wenn die Polizei Gewalt anwendet, dann wende auch ich Gewalt an."
Deutschland
Susanne Kim, Studentin
"Bei den Demonstrationen gegen Weltwährungsfonds und Weltbank in Prag haben wir uns die Stadt einfach genommen. Es war wichtig, uns nicht einschüchtern zu lassen. Ich verstehe, wenn Leute Steine werfen. Aber das ist nicht unsere Strategie. Wir setzen in Genua auf den Druck der Masse."
USA
Noam Chomsky, Linguist
"Globalisierung überträgt das Modell der Dritten Welt auf die Industrienationen. Eine Zwei-KlassenGesellschaft - ein Sektor extrem reich, der andere besteht aus überflüssigen Menschen, die in Armut und Verzweiflung leben. Die wahren Entscheidungen werden in den Konzernen getroffen. Parlamente und Bürger haben weniger Einfluss."
USA
Lori Wallach, Juristin
"Unsere Mobilisierung gegen die Welthandels-konferenz in Seattle 1999 sollte deutlich machen, dass die gegenwärtige Form der Globalisierung nicht von Gott geschaffen ist, sondern ein von langer Hand geplantes Szenario. Wenn die wenigen, die von diesem System profitieren, weiter so dickköpfig sind, werden die Menschen rebellieren."
Mexiko
Marcos, Rebellenchef
"Seattle, Prag oder unsere Bewegung in Chiapas, das sind Symptome, Eruptionen. Ausdrucksformen eines Neins zur Globalisierung. Unsere Neins sollten sich auf der Weltebene einen. Die Jas aber müssen ganz individuell aussehen."
Italien
Giordano Luparelli, Aktivist
"Ohne Internet hätte die Bewegung nicht so schnell Verbreitung gefunden. Um das Gipfeltreffen zu stören, brauchen wir von den Tute Bianche (Weiße Overalls) viel Adrenalin, Fantasie und einen guten Schutzpanzer. Denn heute hast du Robocops vor dir, keine Polizisten."
Capoon
Das sind ja tolle Kommentare. Giorgio Armani verkauft weltweit seine Sachen und ist gegen die Globalisierung. Das nenne ich Scheinheilig. Jose Bove, ein verurteilter Verbrecher, will den Menschen verbieten, das zu essen was sie wollen. Ich habe noch nie gehört, das McDonalds die Leute zwingt in ihren Lokalen zu essen. Leute wie Jose Bove Schreinen laut gegen die Globalisierung, weil sie "schlecht" ist, dabei sind es gerade ihre Handlungen, die dafür sorgen, dass die armen Länder arm bleiben. durch das Abschotten der märkte für landwirtschaftliche Produkte wird den Entwicklungsländern die Möglichkeit genommen, auf eigenen Beinen zu stehen. Jose Bove bekommt Subventionen, wir zahlen Mondpreise für Lebensmittel und die Entwicklungsländer kommen nicht aus dem Dreck. Aber wahrscheinlich spendet er für die 3.Welt und kommt sich dabei richtig nobel vor. Brot für die Welt, aber die Wurst bleibt hier.
Und das ewige Geschrei über die Macht der Konzerne hängt mir zum Hals hinaus. Wir Verbraucher sind mächtiger, wenn wir es wollen. Ich sage nur Shell oder Genfood. Also wenn es jemanden nicht, wie eine Firma produziert, dann sollte er keine Produkte dieser Firma kaufen und wenn er genügent Gleichgesinnte findet, wird er auch was ändern können.
Ich glaube das die Globalisierung gut für alle ist, wenn endlich die Entwicklungsländer freien Zugang zu allen Märkten in der Welt hätten.
CU
Neonjaeger
Und das ewige Geschrei über die Macht der Konzerne hängt mir zum Hals hinaus. Wir Verbraucher sind mächtiger, wenn wir es wollen. Ich sage nur Shell oder Genfood. Also wenn es jemanden nicht, wie eine Firma produziert, dann sollte er keine Produkte dieser Firma kaufen und wenn er genügent Gleichgesinnte findet, wird er auch was ändern können.
Ich glaube das die Globalisierung gut für alle ist, wenn endlich die Entwicklungsländer freien Zugang zu allen Märkten in der Welt hätten.
CU
Neonjaeger
TEIL 1
KAPITALISMUS über ALLES!
Ich möchte hier mal einige Vertreter der reinen kapitalistischen Lehre vorstellen.
1962 erschien das Buch des Chicagoer Professors Milton Friedman mit dem programmatischen Titel "Kapitalismus und Freiheit"
FRIEDMAN, dieser extreme Vertreter einer reinen Marktlehre stand im Widerspruch mit John Maynard Keynes. Keynes hatte aus der Weltwirtschaftskrise die Erkenntnis gewonnen, daß Märkte keineswegs immer nach klassischer Lehre zu den besten Ergebnissen führen. Keynes trat dafür ein, daß der Staat bei hoher Arbeitslosigkeit und Stagnation regulierend eingreifen muß, um die Wirtschaft mit zusätzlichen Ausgabenprogrammen anzukurbeln. Dafür muß der Staat auch ein Haushalts-Defizit in Kauf nehmen, das dann bei guter Konjunktur wieder zurückzuführen sei.
Gegen staatliche Einmischung
Friedman und die Jünger der reinen kapitalistischen Lehre sind gegen jegliche staatliche Einmischung. Die Effizienz das kapitalistischen Systems würde dadurch verringert. Hayek ein Wegbereiter dieser extremen Marktlehre war natürlich gegen die keynesianischen Interventionen. Staatliche Interventionspolitik wurde kackfrech als sozialistischer Kollektivismus gebranntmarkt. 1944 erschien das Buch „Der Weg zur Knechtschaft“
In der Nachkriegszeit wurde der keynesianische Wohlfahrtsstaat zum Modell der Industrienationen. Diese staatlichen Regulierungsinstrumente scheinen nun auch in Europa allmählich ausgedient zu haben. Aufgrund der miesen amerikanischen Verhältnisse, sollten wir wachsam sein und rechtzeitig diese darwinistische Entwicklung bekämpfen.
Bei Friedman ging die Freiheit des Marktes über alles, nicht allein wegen der amtlichen Effizienz, sondern weil er die Werte dieses Systems verehrte: „Wahlfreiheit, Herausforderung, Risiko“.
Sein Wahlspruch. "money matters" – Geld zählt – war sowohl praktisch wie theoretisch gemeint.
Mit seiner Geldtheorie griff Friedman die herrschende Lehre von Keynes an. Das berühmte "Deficit-spending" des Staates in Zeiten schwacher Konjunktur behindere in Wahrheit das Wirtschaftswachstum, weil die öffentliche Kreditaufnahme letztlich die privaten Investoren auf den Kapitalmärkten verdränge. Nur eine regelmäßige Ausweitung der Geldmenge in Höhe der langfristig erreichbaren Wachstumsraten von zwei bis drei Prozent wirkt nach Friedmans Untersuchungen dauerhaft expansiv.
Für den Staat bleibt nicht mehr viel zu tun, als für dieses Geldmengen-Wachstum zu sorgen. Nur der Schutz des Privateigentums, die Landesverteidigung und ein gesichertes Lebensminimum für die Ärmsten sind für Friedman echte Staatsaufgaben.
FRIEDMAN schon fast ein ANARCHIST?
Nein, so weit gehen diese Befürworter eines total freien Marktes nicht. Der Chicagoer Monetarist, wie er bald genannt wurde, schockte mit seiner radikalen Freiheitsdoktrin auch gute Konservative. Nicht nur die Löhne müßten sich völlig frei ohne die Gewerkschaften am Markt bilden - auch die staatlichen Führerscheine, Ärzte-Approbationen, die Sozialversicherungen, die Schulpflicht, das Abtreibungsverbot und sogar die Drogengesetze will der Professor abschaffen. Das alles sind für ihn "letztlich sozialistische Lösungen für die Produktion und Verteilung.
Erst fand Friedman mit seiner extremen Lehre nur beim [/b]chilenischen Diktator Angusto Pinochet[/b] Anklang, den seine "Chicago Boys" berieten. Dann setzten Ronald Reagan in den USA und Margaret Thatcher in England das Gedankengut der Chicago School in die politische Praxis um. Hayek und die englische Lady fanden besonderes Gefallen aneinander. "Sie ist schön“, sagte der damals 76jährige nach einem Treffen 1975, und die Schöne erklärte sein Werk "Die Verfassung der Freiheit" zur Bibel der Tories: "Daran glauben wir."
ALLES für die UNTERNEHMER – eine Kriegserklärung an die Lohnabhängigen
Vieles an Hayeks und Friedmans Programmatik entsprach einfach dem Interesse und der schlichten Ideologie vieler Unternehmer: die Freigabe der Löhne, die Entmachtung der Gewerkschaften, die Steuersenkungen und überhaupt das Zurückrängen des Staates, der sich mit Vorschriften für alles und jedes in die Geschäfte einmischte. Die ökonomische Gegenrevolution wurde denn auch vom Geld kräftig gefördert, wie der Brite Richard Cockett in seiner Studie "Das Undenkbare denken" zeigte.
Einen besonders bizarren Erfolg hatten Friedmans Ratschläge in den USA. Präsident Ronald Reagan senkte die Steuern, ohne die Ausgaben entsprechend zu kürzen. So kam das Land zu einem der größten Deficit-spending-Programme seiner Geschichte. An den Schulden von 17oo Milliarden Dollar >Stand 1997< trägt die Regierung Bush] noch heute.
Durch radikale Steuersenkungen können wichtige staatliche Aufgaben, wie der Ausbau der Infrastruktur nur noch mangelhaft ausgeführt werden. In den USA und England sind die Spuren dieser Politik schon sichtbar.
Im GRUNDGESETZT steht: Eigentum verpflichtet!
Davon wollen aber diese profitgierigen Strategen und die glühenden Verfechter des Manchesterkapitalismus nicht wissen. Dies hat nichts mehr mit „Sozialer Marktwirtschaft zu tun. Schon beim Schröder/Blair-Papier wurden die alten sozialdemokratischen Prinzipien über Bord geworfen.
Noch scheuen sich die Sozialdemokraten das Grundfundament der sozialen Absicherung anzutasten.
Christdemokraten und Freidemokraten sind da mit der reinen Marktlehre schon weiter. Wer bei uns keine amerikanische Verhältnisse wünscht, der muß kompromißlos gegen diesen extremen Marktfetischismus kämpfen.
Capoon
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TEIL 2
Wirtschaftliche Globalisierung der Welt erfordert eine Internationalisierung des Widerstands!
Mit dem Knüppel der Globalisierung wird Sozial- und Lohndumping propagiert.
Vorweg: Ich lehne die „Soziale Marktwirtschaft“ nicht grundsätzlich ab, aber ich bin radikal gegen die neoliberalen Auswüchse und bin ein Anhänger des linken Keynesianismus und lasse mich nicht vom Mainstream aufzwingen wie ich zu denken habe. Solange wir noch keine echte Alternativen zur „Sozialen Marktwirtschaft“ haben, bleiben alle anderen Theorien nur unausgegorenes Flickwerk.
Einige kritische Anmerkungen zum Neoliberalismus
Auf eine einfache Formel gebracht: Der Neoliberalismus macht die Reichen reicher und die Armen ärmer. Dieser gewaltige Angriff auf die Lohnabhängigen darf nicht einfach so hingenommen werden und muß konsequent bekämpft werden.
Wer laufend von Rationalisierungen spricht, kann auf Dauer keine Vollbeschäftigung erwarten, denn zu groß ist der Widerspruch.
Wir erleben eine neoliberale Revolution auf leisen Pfoten, die den wilden, ursprünglichen Kapitalismus in neuem Gewand wiederaufleben lassen will. Die Lohnabhängigen werden momentan mit drei Worten konfrontiert: Globalisierung, Deregulisierung, Flexibilisierung. Im Klartext: Mehr Konkurrenz, weniger Sozialstaat, mehr Entlassungen.
Nach den Lehrbüchern der Neoliberalen sind wirtschaftliche Ungleichheiten und soziale Unsicherheit notwendig, um eine signifikante Beschleunigung des Wachstums hervorzubringen. Außerdem propagierten die Neoliberalen ein schlichtes Gewährenlassen wirtschaftlicher Kräfte. Dies alles erwies sich als ein Trugschluß, wie uns die jüngsten Krisen wieder zeigen.
Der erste Versuch einer brutalen neoliberalen Austeritätspolitik wurde 1973, nach den gewaltsamen Sturz von Allende gestartet. Pinochet handelte dabei nach den Vorgaben der USA und dieser von der CIA unterstützte amerikanische Statthalter ließ mehrere 10 000 Menschen verschwinden, foltern und ermorden. Sämtliche staatlichen Kontrollmechanismen wurden für eine sehr günstige Kapitalakkumulation aufgehoben oder stark abgeschwächt. Kurzum, das keynesianistische Modell wurde aus den Angel gehoben. Endlich hatte das Kapital freie Hand und brauchte sich z. B. nicht mehr mit einer engagierten Gewerkschaftsbewegung rumschlagen.
Dies war genau nach dem Geschmack der Unternehmer vor allem der Multis. Ronald Reagan und Magaret Thatcher führten diese neoliberale Politik, allerdings ohne terroristische Exzesse weiter. Die ehemals starken englischen Gewerkschaften wurden geschleift und zu zahnlosen Kätzchen. Hinter Ronald Reagan stand eine starke Wirtschaftslobby und die Geschenke für diese Spezies blieben nicht aus. Radikale Steuersenkungen und der Abbau von Sozialleistungen kennzeichneten die Wege dieser neoliberalen Politik. Außerdem wurden die US-Interessen rigoros in der Außenpolitik umgesetzt. Die ohnehin schon traditionell schwachen US-Gewerkschaften verloren weiter an Anhänger. Das Lohnniveau sank und die Profite der Unternehmer sprudelten wie nie zuvor. Diese neoliberale Medizin wurde plötzlich von den neoliberalen Vordenkern als das Wundermittel für den modernen Kapitalismus gepriesen.
Durch Deregulierung und Flexibilisierung auf den Arbeitsmärkten sind allein in Deutschland Millionen von gut bezahlten, sozial- und arbeitsrechtlich geschützten Arbeitsplätzen in der verarbeitenden Industrie verloren gegangen. Parallel dazu nahm die Zahl der Zeitarbeitsfirmen und die prekären Arbeitsverhältnisse sprunghaft zu. Die Tendenz Kranke und weniger leistungsstarke Menschen auszugrenzen, ist in der heutigen Gesellschaft Mode geworden und ist besonders pervers. Dabei können die Siegertypen von heute schon morgen die Verlierertypen sein.
Es darf nicht zur einer Diktatur der multinationalen Konzernen kommen!
Es ist eine echte Gefahr für die Demokratie, wenn sich die transnationalen Konzerne der staatlichen Kontrolle mehr und mehr entziehen. Letztlich läuft diese Entwicklung auf die Diktatur der Konzerne hinaus. Die Theoretikern des Neoliberalismus sind stets mit Vehement‘s gegen staatliche Eingriffe zur Felde gezogen. In den klassischen Länder wie die USA oder England, wo der Neoliberalismus schon am weitestem fortgeschritten ist, möchten die Aposteln des Neoliberalismus die Attribute „sozial“ und „ökologisch“ am liebsten in die Versenkung schicken.
Warum ein Bückling vor den Mainstream-Medien machen?!?
Eine effektive soziale und ökologische Bewegung kann nur dann erfolgreich agieren, wenn sie sich national und international bewegt. Sie muß auch imstande sein, die unterschiedlichsten Bewegungen zu integrieren. Die Frage der Militanz darf uns nicht von den Herrschenden aufoktroyiert werden. Militanz ist auch ein Ausdruck einer radikalen Kritik an den bestehenden Verhältnissen.
Capoon
KAPITALISMUS über ALLES!
Ich möchte hier mal einige Vertreter der reinen kapitalistischen Lehre vorstellen.
1962 erschien das Buch des Chicagoer Professors Milton Friedman mit dem programmatischen Titel "Kapitalismus und Freiheit"
FRIEDMAN, dieser extreme Vertreter einer reinen Marktlehre stand im Widerspruch mit John Maynard Keynes. Keynes hatte aus der Weltwirtschaftskrise die Erkenntnis gewonnen, daß Märkte keineswegs immer nach klassischer Lehre zu den besten Ergebnissen führen. Keynes trat dafür ein, daß der Staat bei hoher Arbeitslosigkeit und Stagnation regulierend eingreifen muß, um die Wirtschaft mit zusätzlichen Ausgabenprogrammen anzukurbeln. Dafür muß der Staat auch ein Haushalts-Defizit in Kauf nehmen, das dann bei guter Konjunktur wieder zurückzuführen sei.
Gegen staatliche Einmischung
Friedman und die Jünger der reinen kapitalistischen Lehre sind gegen jegliche staatliche Einmischung. Die Effizienz das kapitalistischen Systems würde dadurch verringert. Hayek ein Wegbereiter dieser extremen Marktlehre war natürlich gegen die keynesianischen Interventionen. Staatliche Interventionspolitik wurde kackfrech als sozialistischer Kollektivismus gebranntmarkt. 1944 erschien das Buch „Der Weg zur Knechtschaft“
In der Nachkriegszeit wurde der keynesianische Wohlfahrtsstaat zum Modell der Industrienationen. Diese staatlichen Regulierungsinstrumente scheinen nun auch in Europa allmählich ausgedient zu haben. Aufgrund der miesen amerikanischen Verhältnisse, sollten wir wachsam sein und rechtzeitig diese darwinistische Entwicklung bekämpfen.
Bei Friedman ging die Freiheit des Marktes über alles, nicht allein wegen der amtlichen Effizienz, sondern weil er die Werte dieses Systems verehrte: „Wahlfreiheit, Herausforderung, Risiko“.
Sein Wahlspruch. "money matters" – Geld zählt – war sowohl praktisch wie theoretisch gemeint.
Mit seiner Geldtheorie griff Friedman die herrschende Lehre von Keynes an. Das berühmte "Deficit-spending" des Staates in Zeiten schwacher Konjunktur behindere in Wahrheit das Wirtschaftswachstum, weil die öffentliche Kreditaufnahme letztlich die privaten Investoren auf den Kapitalmärkten verdränge. Nur eine regelmäßige Ausweitung der Geldmenge in Höhe der langfristig erreichbaren Wachstumsraten von zwei bis drei Prozent wirkt nach Friedmans Untersuchungen dauerhaft expansiv.
Für den Staat bleibt nicht mehr viel zu tun, als für dieses Geldmengen-Wachstum zu sorgen. Nur der Schutz des Privateigentums, die Landesverteidigung und ein gesichertes Lebensminimum für die Ärmsten sind für Friedman echte Staatsaufgaben.
FRIEDMAN schon fast ein ANARCHIST?
Nein, so weit gehen diese Befürworter eines total freien Marktes nicht. Der Chicagoer Monetarist, wie er bald genannt wurde, schockte mit seiner radikalen Freiheitsdoktrin auch gute Konservative. Nicht nur die Löhne müßten sich völlig frei ohne die Gewerkschaften am Markt bilden - auch die staatlichen Führerscheine, Ärzte-Approbationen, die Sozialversicherungen, die Schulpflicht, das Abtreibungsverbot und sogar die Drogengesetze will der Professor abschaffen. Das alles sind für ihn "letztlich sozialistische Lösungen für die Produktion und Verteilung.
Erst fand Friedman mit seiner extremen Lehre nur beim [/b]chilenischen Diktator Angusto Pinochet[/b] Anklang, den seine "Chicago Boys" berieten. Dann setzten Ronald Reagan in den USA und Margaret Thatcher in England das Gedankengut der Chicago School in die politische Praxis um. Hayek und die englische Lady fanden besonderes Gefallen aneinander. "Sie ist schön“, sagte der damals 76jährige nach einem Treffen 1975, und die Schöne erklärte sein Werk "Die Verfassung der Freiheit" zur Bibel der Tories: "Daran glauben wir."
ALLES für die UNTERNEHMER – eine Kriegserklärung an die Lohnabhängigen
Vieles an Hayeks und Friedmans Programmatik entsprach einfach dem Interesse und der schlichten Ideologie vieler Unternehmer: die Freigabe der Löhne, die Entmachtung der Gewerkschaften, die Steuersenkungen und überhaupt das Zurückrängen des Staates, der sich mit Vorschriften für alles und jedes in die Geschäfte einmischte. Die ökonomische Gegenrevolution wurde denn auch vom Geld kräftig gefördert, wie der Brite Richard Cockett in seiner Studie "Das Undenkbare denken" zeigte.
Einen besonders bizarren Erfolg hatten Friedmans Ratschläge in den USA. Präsident Ronald Reagan senkte die Steuern, ohne die Ausgaben entsprechend zu kürzen. So kam das Land zu einem der größten Deficit-spending-Programme seiner Geschichte. An den Schulden von 17oo Milliarden Dollar >Stand 1997< trägt die Regierung Bush] noch heute.
Durch radikale Steuersenkungen können wichtige staatliche Aufgaben, wie der Ausbau der Infrastruktur nur noch mangelhaft ausgeführt werden. In den USA und England sind die Spuren dieser Politik schon sichtbar.
Im GRUNDGESETZT steht: Eigentum verpflichtet!
Davon wollen aber diese profitgierigen Strategen und die glühenden Verfechter des Manchesterkapitalismus nicht wissen. Dies hat nichts mehr mit „Sozialer Marktwirtschaft zu tun. Schon beim Schröder/Blair-Papier wurden die alten sozialdemokratischen Prinzipien über Bord geworfen.
Noch scheuen sich die Sozialdemokraten das Grundfundament der sozialen Absicherung anzutasten.
Christdemokraten und Freidemokraten sind da mit der reinen Marktlehre schon weiter. Wer bei uns keine amerikanische Verhältnisse wünscht, der muß kompromißlos gegen diesen extremen Marktfetischismus kämpfen.
Capoon
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
TEIL 2
Wirtschaftliche Globalisierung der Welt erfordert eine Internationalisierung des Widerstands!
Mit dem Knüppel der Globalisierung wird Sozial- und Lohndumping propagiert.
Vorweg: Ich lehne die „Soziale Marktwirtschaft“ nicht grundsätzlich ab, aber ich bin radikal gegen die neoliberalen Auswüchse und bin ein Anhänger des linken Keynesianismus und lasse mich nicht vom Mainstream aufzwingen wie ich zu denken habe. Solange wir noch keine echte Alternativen zur „Sozialen Marktwirtschaft“ haben, bleiben alle anderen Theorien nur unausgegorenes Flickwerk.
Einige kritische Anmerkungen zum Neoliberalismus
Auf eine einfache Formel gebracht: Der Neoliberalismus macht die Reichen reicher und die Armen ärmer. Dieser gewaltige Angriff auf die Lohnabhängigen darf nicht einfach so hingenommen werden und muß konsequent bekämpft werden.
Wer laufend von Rationalisierungen spricht, kann auf Dauer keine Vollbeschäftigung erwarten, denn zu groß ist der Widerspruch.
Wir erleben eine neoliberale Revolution auf leisen Pfoten, die den wilden, ursprünglichen Kapitalismus in neuem Gewand wiederaufleben lassen will. Die Lohnabhängigen werden momentan mit drei Worten konfrontiert: Globalisierung, Deregulisierung, Flexibilisierung. Im Klartext: Mehr Konkurrenz, weniger Sozialstaat, mehr Entlassungen.
Nach den Lehrbüchern der Neoliberalen sind wirtschaftliche Ungleichheiten und soziale Unsicherheit notwendig, um eine signifikante Beschleunigung des Wachstums hervorzubringen. Außerdem propagierten die Neoliberalen ein schlichtes Gewährenlassen wirtschaftlicher Kräfte. Dies alles erwies sich als ein Trugschluß, wie uns die jüngsten Krisen wieder zeigen.
Der erste Versuch einer brutalen neoliberalen Austeritätspolitik wurde 1973, nach den gewaltsamen Sturz von Allende gestartet. Pinochet handelte dabei nach den Vorgaben der USA und dieser von der CIA unterstützte amerikanische Statthalter ließ mehrere 10 000 Menschen verschwinden, foltern und ermorden. Sämtliche staatlichen Kontrollmechanismen wurden für eine sehr günstige Kapitalakkumulation aufgehoben oder stark abgeschwächt. Kurzum, das keynesianistische Modell wurde aus den Angel gehoben. Endlich hatte das Kapital freie Hand und brauchte sich z. B. nicht mehr mit einer engagierten Gewerkschaftsbewegung rumschlagen.
Dies war genau nach dem Geschmack der Unternehmer vor allem der Multis. Ronald Reagan und Magaret Thatcher führten diese neoliberale Politik, allerdings ohne terroristische Exzesse weiter. Die ehemals starken englischen Gewerkschaften wurden geschleift und zu zahnlosen Kätzchen. Hinter Ronald Reagan stand eine starke Wirtschaftslobby und die Geschenke für diese Spezies blieben nicht aus. Radikale Steuersenkungen und der Abbau von Sozialleistungen kennzeichneten die Wege dieser neoliberalen Politik. Außerdem wurden die US-Interessen rigoros in der Außenpolitik umgesetzt. Die ohnehin schon traditionell schwachen US-Gewerkschaften verloren weiter an Anhänger. Das Lohnniveau sank und die Profite der Unternehmer sprudelten wie nie zuvor. Diese neoliberale Medizin wurde plötzlich von den neoliberalen Vordenkern als das Wundermittel für den modernen Kapitalismus gepriesen.
Durch Deregulierung und Flexibilisierung auf den Arbeitsmärkten sind allein in Deutschland Millionen von gut bezahlten, sozial- und arbeitsrechtlich geschützten Arbeitsplätzen in der verarbeitenden Industrie verloren gegangen. Parallel dazu nahm die Zahl der Zeitarbeitsfirmen und die prekären Arbeitsverhältnisse sprunghaft zu. Die Tendenz Kranke und weniger leistungsstarke Menschen auszugrenzen, ist in der heutigen Gesellschaft Mode geworden und ist besonders pervers. Dabei können die Siegertypen von heute schon morgen die Verlierertypen sein.
Es darf nicht zur einer Diktatur der multinationalen Konzernen kommen!
Es ist eine echte Gefahr für die Demokratie, wenn sich die transnationalen Konzerne der staatlichen Kontrolle mehr und mehr entziehen. Letztlich läuft diese Entwicklung auf die Diktatur der Konzerne hinaus. Die Theoretikern des Neoliberalismus sind stets mit Vehement‘s gegen staatliche Eingriffe zur Felde gezogen. In den klassischen Länder wie die USA oder England, wo der Neoliberalismus schon am weitestem fortgeschritten ist, möchten die Aposteln des Neoliberalismus die Attribute „sozial“ und „ökologisch“ am liebsten in die Versenkung schicken.
Warum ein Bückling vor den Mainstream-Medien machen?!?
Eine effektive soziale und ökologische Bewegung kann nur dann erfolgreich agieren, wenn sie sich national und international bewegt. Sie muß auch imstande sein, die unterschiedlichsten Bewegungen zu integrieren. Die Frage der Militanz darf uns nicht von den Herrschenden aufoktroyiert werden. Militanz ist auch ein Ausdruck einer radikalen Kritik an den bestehenden Verhältnissen.
Capoon
@capoon
@all - die wie ich, solche Art Globalisierung " schätzen "
Interessantes aus GB z. Thema " MKS ( Maul-u. Klauenseuche ) "
http://www.truefacts.co.uk/cgi-bin/trufax.cgi?a=FM001
Foot & Mouth Disease - Coverup or Natural Crisis?
---------------------------------------------------
The more we investigate this major epidemic, the more suspicious we become.
As I write this at the end of March, the UKs Foot and Mouth epidemic shows no signs of coming to an end. Indeed, as each day goes on, the more the Government appear to be demonstrating that they are losing control.
With each new day, new questions are starting to be asked. Why are farmers not being allowed to vaccinate against infection? Why are vets refused access to farms? Why is this a different, new, strain of F&M? Why is the government desperately trying to destroy evidence and clues? Is there a link with Government biological experiments? Why did the Government know about this outbreak back in December 1999, but keep quiet? Why were officials from MAFF phoning timber merchants, enquiring about burning timber, as far back as November 1999?
Why are homeopathic remedies being suppressed? Why is the Government desperate not to postpone the General Election?
These are just some of the questions that the government would rather are not asked - and yet we are in need of answers. We must support our local farmers and help to spread public awareness, especially if there is a bigger agenda being adhered to....
It has been a Bilderberg agenda since the early 1990`s that national governments want to eliminate small, individual farmers in order for multinational, corporate farming organisations to control the food chain - ultimately leading to control of the public.
Indeed, back in 1995 David Icke wrote in his book "...And the truth shall set you free"[1];
Another aim of the Elite is to control the land and production of food at every level of the process. The natural crop seed varieties are being systematically destroyed and replaced by genetically-engineered seeds, which a handful of Elite-controlled multinational companies are patenting.
Under Plant Breeder`s Rights legislation, anyone using these seeds must pay a royalty to these companies or face a six-month jail sentence or fines of up to $250,000. This applies to anyone from a Western farmer to a poverty-stricken peasant in Bangladesh. The same `patents` are being applied to all plants, animals, fungi, genes, and viruses, that have been genetically tampered with. The Uruguay Round of the GATT agreement has increased the hold that companies like Britain`s ICI (supported by BP) and the U.S. giants have over global seed varieties. This is giving them control over what we eat and even if we eat. This was the GATT agreement that the politicians, the media, and even the big-name news presenters were telling us was so vital to our economic well-being!
The `Green Revolution` of the 1960s and 70s which was sold as a means to feed the poor countries of the world was, in truth, a means to steal the natural plant varieties used there and replace them with hybrids dependent on chemical inputs which the same companies monopolise. Control and dependency was the plan. The Rockefeller Foundation collected the seeds from 95% of the world`s major cereal crops in the years leading up to the GATT Agreement and the Plant Breeder`s Rights Bills. The multinationals are phasing out the varieties they do not have rights to and making the world dependent on those that they do. UN statistics estimate that 75% of genetic diversity in agricultural crops has been lost in this century and what is left is now in great danger. More than 1,500 varieties of vegetable seeds were withdrawn from use in England in the first few years after a national list of `approved` species was established. The costs of registering seed varieties is so high that only the multinationals can do it and yet genetically-engineered varieties forced upon Third World countries are often useless in those environments. This adds to the hunger and debt. In India, a million farmers took to the streets when a U.S. patent was awarded for the active genes of the neem tree, which has been used for centuries as a herbal remedy. No-one should own the patent to any seed or animal and especially not the mindset that controls the multinationals.
The farming policies of the European Community and those demanded by GATT have been designed to destroy the small and medium-sized farmer and allow the land and the market to be taken over almost entirely by the multinational corporations across the world. Over-production in agriculture, the butter `mountains` and the wine `lakes`, has not been caused by stupidity. It has been calculated to destroy smaller farms. What is happening to the smaller farmers in the industrialized countries is only a continuation and expansion of the policies used to steal the land of the Third World farmers. Ninety per cent of the food trade on this planet is in the hands of five multinationals. Half of our supplies are controlled by two of them, the Anglo-Dutch giant, Unilever (controlled by Bilderberg group clones), and the Nestlé corporation in the Elite stronghold of Switzerland.
Once again we see that `free trade` is really cartelism, the means through which the vast destroy the small and get paid for doing so with public money.
As John D.Rockefeller Jr once said, " Competition is a sin"[2] In the European Union it is estimated that the multinationals receive between 10 and 12 billion[3] German marks every year, merely for transporting goods and raw materials across national borders to repackage them and give the goods a `national image`. The biggest beneficiary is Unilever, which has close family ties to the Sainsbury Supermarket Empire. Unilever increased profits in one year by 25.6%, at the same time that farming incomes in Denmark dropped by 35.3% and in Germany by 27.5%. Such are the profits to be made for the corporations that even car companies like Volkswagon and Daimler Benz entered the cattle-breeding market, a business which has led to the destruction of enormous swathes of rainforest.
This all fits into the global plan for dependency and control of every aspect of our lives. They want us to literally be robots, programmed to do as we are told, and the banking/business system is the backbone of this strategy. As with the wars and conflicts, I hope you can see that there is no need for all the poverty and economic suffering that we can hardly bear to witness on our television screens.
This doesn`t have to happen ! We allow it to happen !
There is enough for everyone - enough food, enough warmth, enough for all we need for a good life - yes, even with the number of people currently occupying Planet Earth. The suffering and poverty are there by design to control us, to divide and rule, and to create the fear within us that if we don`t conform and play the game by the rules of the Elite, we will end up in dire straits, also. Everyone for themselves. Winner takes all. It is a battle called survival, a battle to the death. The collective human mind has taken on those thought patterns and created this reality.
But remember, remember, remember. It doesn`t have to be like this. This doesn`t have to be the future. We are creating the future with every thought and act. If what we think and do changes, so will the future. If you summon your courage and get off your knees, we can leave our children a world that is truly, truly, free. There is nothing and no-one who can stop us, if enough people demand an end to this manipulation and are prepared to work unceasingly to that goal. No, not even the Global Elite.
Food for thought. Indeed I first thought that the government were trying to eliminate small farmers with the misinformation and coverups surrounding the BSE crisis - which still continues. The recent outbreak of F&M only serves as yet another nail in the coffins of small, individual farmers.
Cumbrian Sheep???
No - but it`s strikingly similar....
Photo taken from London Conference on CBW, 1968 - Caption: During the recent tests of a new nozzle for the dissemination of nerve gas 6000 sheep were accidentally destroyed on lands adjacent to the Dugway proving ground. This communal grave holds 1200 pregnant ewes.
Could this have a link to the 1967 outbreak?
Another, very worrying piece of evidence that has come my way is that the variant of F&M currently spreading through the UK is a new strain, never seen before `in the wild`. The virus is Pan Asian Type `O` and is alleged to have been created in a laboratory, believed to be Porton Down in Wiltshire. Although this is an even more controversial point, there are undeniable links between Porton Down and the farm at Hebdon on the Wall, Northumberland where the current outbreak was first reported - both sites have a link with Animal Rights and/or ALF activists. Is this why the government is desperate to destroy all evidence by incinerating animals, rather than let vets treat them??
We also know that MAFF officials approached T.G.Norman, Longtown, Carlisle to buy `burn timber`, back in November 1999. Another MAFF official had been contacting timber suppliers in Staffordshire, informing them she was working from the 1967 F&M list, in December 1999.
Why did the EU start checking the F&M vaccine stock levels at the beginning of February 2001 (before any official announcement)? and why did the EU allocate 430,000 Euro to F&M vaccine on February 18th 2001 - just one day before the `official` announcement of the outbreak, on 19th February. Was it because the government could no longer `keep the lid on it`?
It is also believed that F&M can be treated with homeopathic Borax. Indeed, one Cumbrian farmer has already dosed his animals with homeopathic Borax and, despite being downwind and close-by another farm with confirmed F&M, the said farmer has NO F&M amongst his flocks. In which case, why did MAFF issue a directive to vets that they would have their licences withdrawn if they advocated or encouraged the use of homeopathic Borax??
Knowing full well that an Election campaign would exacerbate the risks of the spread of the disease, why are the government running scared of postponing the Election? Could it be that they fear further revelations becoming public knowledge? Either way, it is totally irresponsible of the government to risk spread or re-infection due to an election and the movements created by an election within 3 months of the last case of F&M.
I would urge all readers to do their own research and carry out their own investigations in order to get to the real truth at the bottom of this crisis.
For more facts and first-hand testimony from farmers, please visit the following web sites:-
http://www.truefacts.co.uk/cgi-bin/trufax.cgi?a=FM002 - A Personal account of MAFF incompetence
http://www.truefacts.co.uk/cgi-bin/trufax.cgi?a=FM003 - A personal account by a Cumbrian farmer
http://www.silentmajority.co.uk - A more general site, highlighting many of the issues raised above
http://www.whatareweswallowing.freeserve.co.uk/footandmouthe… - Lots of useful information on F&M
http://www.sheepdrove.com/fam.htm - Why We Have to Vaccinate
*
Gruß
HJL
@all - die wie ich, solche Art Globalisierung " schätzen "
Interessantes aus GB z. Thema " MKS ( Maul-u. Klauenseuche ) "
http://www.truefacts.co.uk/cgi-bin/trufax.cgi?a=FM001
Foot & Mouth Disease - Coverup or Natural Crisis?
---------------------------------------------------
The more we investigate this major epidemic, the more suspicious we become.
As I write this at the end of March, the UKs Foot and Mouth epidemic shows no signs of coming to an end. Indeed, as each day goes on, the more the Government appear to be demonstrating that they are losing control.
With each new day, new questions are starting to be asked. Why are farmers not being allowed to vaccinate against infection? Why are vets refused access to farms? Why is this a different, new, strain of F&M? Why is the government desperately trying to destroy evidence and clues? Is there a link with Government biological experiments? Why did the Government know about this outbreak back in December 1999, but keep quiet? Why were officials from MAFF phoning timber merchants, enquiring about burning timber, as far back as November 1999?
Why are homeopathic remedies being suppressed? Why is the Government desperate not to postpone the General Election?
These are just some of the questions that the government would rather are not asked - and yet we are in need of answers. We must support our local farmers and help to spread public awareness, especially if there is a bigger agenda being adhered to....
It has been a Bilderberg agenda since the early 1990`s that national governments want to eliminate small, individual farmers in order for multinational, corporate farming organisations to control the food chain - ultimately leading to control of the public.
Indeed, back in 1995 David Icke wrote in his book "...And the truth shall set you free"[1];
Another aim of the Elite is to control the land and production of food at every level of the process. The natural crop seed varieties are being systematically destroyed and replaced by genetically-engineered seeds, which a handful of Elite-controlled multinational companies are patenting.
Under Plant Breeder`s Rights legislation, anyone using these seeds must pay a royalty to these companies or face a six-month jail sentence or fines of up to $250,000. This applies to anyone from a Western farmer to a poverty-stricken peasant in Bangladesh. The same `patents` are being applied to all plants, animals, fungi, genes, and viruses, that have been genetically tampered with. The Uruguay Round of the GATT agreement has increased the hold that companies like Britain`s ICI (supported by BP) and the U.S. giants have over global seed varieties. This is giving them control over what we eat and even if we eat. This was the GATT agreement that the politicians, the media, and even the big-name news presenters were telling us was so vital to our economic well-being!
The `Green Revolution` of the 1960s and 70s which was sold as a means to feed the poor countries of the world was, in truth, a means to steal the natural plant varieties used there and replace them with hybrids dependent on chemical inputs which the same companies monopolise. Control and dependency was the plan. The Rockefeller Foundation collected the seeds from 95% of the world`s major cereal crops in the years leading up to the GATT Agreement and the Plant Breeder`s Rights Bills. The multinationals are phasing out the varieties they do not have rights to and making the world dependent on those that they do. UN statistics estimate that 75% of genetic diversity in agricultural crops has been lost in this century and what is left is now in great danger. More than 1,500 varieties of vegetable seeds were withdrawn from use in England in the first few years after a national list of `approved` species was established. The costs of registering seed varieties is so high that only the multinationals can do it and yet genetically-engineered varieties forced upon Third World countries are often useless in those environments. This adds to the hunger and debt. In India, a million farmers took to the streets when a U.S. patent was awarded for the active genes of the neem tree, which has been used for centuries as a herbal remedy. No-one should own the patent to any seed or animal and especially not the mindset that controls the multinationals.
The farming policies of the European Community and those demanded by GATT have been designed to destroy the small and medium-sized farmer and allow the land and the market to be taken over almost entirely by the multinational corporations across the world. Over-production in agriculture, the butter `mountains` and the wine `lakes`, has not been caused by stupidity. It has been calculated to destroy smaller farms. What is happening to the smaller farmers in the industrialized countries is only a continuation and expansion of the policies used to steal the land of the Third World farmers. Ninety per cent of the food trade on this planet is in the hands of five multinationals. Half of our supplies are controlled by two of them, the Anglo-Dutch giant, Unilever (controlled by Bilderberg group clones), and the Nestlé corporation in the Elite stronghold of Switzerland.
Once again we see that `free trade` is really cartelism, the means through which the vast destroy the small and get paid for doing so with public money.
As John D.Rockefeller Jr once said, " Competition is a sin"[2] In the European Union it is estimated that the multinationals receive between 10 and 12 billion[3] German marks every year, merely for transporting goods and raw materials across national borders to repackage them and give the goods a `national image`. The biggest beneficiary is Unilever, which has close family ties to the Sainsbury Supermarket Empire. Unilever increased profits in one year by 25.6%, at the same time that farming incomes in Denmark dropped by 35.3% and in Germany by 27.5%. Such are the profits to be made for the corporations that even car companies like Volkswagon and Daimler Benz entered the cattle-breeding market, a business which has led to the destruction of enormous swathes of rainforest.
This all fits into the global plan for dependency and control of every aspect of our lives. They want us to literally be robots, programmed to do as we are told, and the banking/business system is the backbone of this strategy. As with the wars and conflicts, I hope you can see that there is no need for all the poverty and economic suffering that we can hardly bear to witness on our television screens.
This doesn`t have to happen ! We allow it to happen !
There is enough for everyone - enough food, enough warmth, enough for all we need for a good life - yes, even with the number of people currently occupying Planet Earth. The suffering and poverty are there by design to control us, to divide and rule, and to create the fear within us that if we don`t conform and play the game by the rules of the Elite, we will end up in dire straits, also. Everyone for themselves. Winner takes all. It is a battle called survival, a battle to the death. The collective human mind has taken on those thought patterns and created this reality.
But remember, remember, remember. It doesn`t have to be like this. This doesn`t have to be the future. We are creating the future with every thought and act. If what we think and do changes, so will the future. If you summon your courage and get off your knees, we can leave our children a world that is truly, truly, free. There is nothing and no-one who can stop us, if enough people demand an end to this manipulation and are prepared to work unceasingly to that goal. No, not even the Global Elite.
Food for thought. Indeed I first thought that the government were trying to eliminate small farmers with the misinformation and coverups surrounding the BSE crisis - which still continues. The recent outbreak of F&M only serves as yet another nail in the coffins of small, individual farmers.
Cumbrian Sheep???
No - but it`s strikingly similar....
Photo taken from London Conference on CBW, 1968 - Caption: During the recent tests of a new nozzle for the dissemination of nerve gas 6000 sheep were accidentally destroyed on lands adjacent to the Dugway proving ground. This communal grave holds 1200 pregnant ewes.
Could this have a link to the 1967 outbreak?
Another, very worrying piece of evidence that has come my way is that the variant of F&M currently spreading through the UK is a new strain, never seen before `in the wild`. The virus is Pan Asian Type `O` and is alleged to have been created in a laboratory, believed to be Porton Down in Wiltshire. Although this is an even more controversial point, there are undeniable links between Porton Down and the farm at Hebdon on the Wall, Northumberland where the current outbreak was first reported - both sites have a link with Animal Rights and/or ALF activists. Is this why the government is desperate to destroy all evidence by incinerating animals, rather than let vets treat them??
We also know that MAFF officials approached T.G.Norman, Longtown, Carlisle to buy `burn timber`, back in November 1999. Another MAFF official had been contacting timber suppliers in Staffordshire, informing them she was working from the 1967 F&M list, in December 1999.
Why did the EU start checking the F&M vaccine stock levels at the beginning of February 2001 (before any official announcement)? and why did the EU allocate 430,000 Euro to F&M vaccine on February 18th 2001 - just one day before the `official` announcement of the outbreak, on 19th February. Was it because the government could no longer `keep the lid on it`?
It is also believed that F&M can be treated with homeopathic Borax. Indeed, one Cumbrian farmer has already dosed his animals with homeopathic Borax and, despite being downwind and close-by another farm with confirmed F&M, the said farmer has NO F&M amongst his flocks. In which case, why did MAFF issue a directive to vets that they would have their licences withdrawn if they advocated or encouraged the use of homeopathic Borax??
Knowing full well that an Election campaign would exacerbate the risks of the spread of the disease, why are the government running scared of postponing the Election? Could it be that they fear further revelations becoming public knowledge? Either way, it is totally irresponsible of the government to risk spread or re-infection due to an election and the movements created by an election within 3 months of the last case of F&M.
I would urge all readers to do their own research and carry out their own investigations in order to get to the real truth at the bottom of this crisis.
For more facts and first-hand testimony from farmers, please visit the following web sites:-
http://www.truefacts.co.uk/cgi-bin/trufax.cgi?a=FM002 - A Personal account of MAFF incompetence
http://www.truefacts.co.uk/cgi-bin/trufax.cgi?a=FM003 - A personal account by a Cumbrian farmer
http://www.silentmajority.co.uk - A more general site, highlighting many of the issues raised above
http://www.whatareweswallowing.freeserve.co.uk/footandmouthe… - Lots of useful information on F&M
http://www.sheepdrove.com/fam.htm - Why We Have to Vaccinate
*
Gruß
HJL
@all
Globalisierung / New World Order / etc.
Bereich : Medizin /WHO ...
http://www.allfreewithfreedom.com/fc-lanctot.htm
http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/reviews2.html
http://all-ways-home.com/chi-machine/Chi-Links.html
The Medical Mafia
___________________
How to Get Out of it Alive and Take Back Our Health and Wealth
by Dr Guylaine Lanctôt
Like many other students before her Guylaine Lanctôt entered medical school with the hope of becoming part of a seemingly noble and humanitarian profession dedicated to people`s health needs. She progressed well; she became a specialist in phlebology (treating varicose veins) and established successful clinics in several towns and cities in North America. However, during Lanctôt`s many years of medical practice the realities of medicine`s shortfalls increasingly dawned on her, reaching a point where she became totally disillusioned with the basic tenets of a system that she once had so much faith in.
She questioned: why, despite the vast funds, personnel and resources had the medical system failed to stem the ever-growing tide of so many afflictions plaguing humanity? And why is it that other health modalities, those outside the medical system, despite having enormous health benefits are strongly opposed by the medical establishment and government? Is there an ideal health care system anywhere?
She then decided to investigate the health systems of France, Canada and the United States in order to compare them, but unfortunately found that although the systems differ in appearance, their very essence is the same, as well as their results - too expensive, out of control, and resulting in an increasing incidence of illness.
Lanctôt`s search for the truth led her to questioning who is really running the health care system and for what purpose? Fortunately, her previous entrepreneurial experiences in establishing her phlebology centres in North America, where by force of circumstances she had to grapple with the legality, business and politics of medicine, and thereby rubbing elbows with the medical establishment, helped her to understand the system.
Coupled with her extensive research into many important books and her many years of experience in medical practice, Lanctôt had found the answers she sought. Her conclusion is that the health system is run by an alliance of powerful vested interests that operate as a veritable mafia.
That health problems were, for the most part, social and environmental problems. And that they did not require medical solutions, but rather political solutions, and that this mafia has no intention whatsoever of correcting the problem, but on the contrary, it suits its interests.
Lanctôt describes the players within the "Medical Mafia" and gives a brief history of its domination of the health system. She describes how the healing practices throughout history were always dominated by a minority of privileged people determined in controlling and exploiting the majority.
More recently, during the period 1910-25 in North America the world financiers Rockefeller and Carnegie by backing the Flexner Report, whose rules and recommendations imposed strict "scientific" guidelines amiable to their interests, caused the elimination of the vast majority of natural therapists and forced the number of medical schools to be slashed from 650 to 50. And all in the name of "medical reform".
The monopolising of the health system proceeded on a global level, and during the last two decades it continued under the auspices of the world financiers` World Health Organisation.
"In 1977. The Declaration of Alma Ata gave to the World Health Organization (WHO) the means to extend the Flexner Report not only in North America, but throughout the entire world. Again, in the name of health and the well-being of the populations of the world, and in respect of the right of `health for all`, international criteria and rules were established for practicing medicine.
Control of health, therefore, was transferred from national governments to a world government. A world government that is non-elected. And of which its `Surgeon General` in charge of health is the WHO.
"And what does this right to health mean? It means the right to medicalization. It opens the doors wide to a medicine of global sickness, whether we want it or not. Vaccinations and medications are imposed on people around the world....
"But who actually controls that the WHO? That is the question. And also the answer. The United Nations (UN), the political arm of the world financiers, that includes those who backed the Flexner Report and its application.
More and more subtly, the medical and political authorities are robbing us of what is ours, as well as our rights. They establish the rules and make the laws that exploit us. It is a regime of medical terror. It is a world monopoly. Beware those who oppose it. The witch-hunt continues, but now on a global scale!"
The author also dedicates chapters to the issues of vaccinations, cancer and AIDS, uncovering a great deal of damning information. However, the book is not all doom and gloom, it also offers sensible and practical advice for citizens in taking back control of their health and lives.
*
Another Upcoming Story
http://www.freeworldnews.com/1997/flash.html
SWEDEN - National Board of Health and Welfare
Medical Mafia gets tough in Sweden
The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and the medical mafia are trying to get a law through parliament which will make it illegal for parents with children under the age of 15 years, to seek alternative medical services for their children.
If the law is accepted, both parents and the practitioner risk fines or jail for one year. The practitioners are working hard to raise public opinion against this law and we hope that such a violation of human rights will be impossible. Please let the world know about our struggle.
Bengt Jacobsson bengt.jacobsson@lidingo.mail.telia.com
- - -
Other Sources :
http://www.freeworldalliance.com/medicalmafia.htm
http://www.infojustice.com/beat%20the%20press.html
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000/MedicalFiles1.htm
http://www.consumerhealthbooks.com/ctlg/2647.html
http://zolatimes.com/V2.6/antidotetext.html
http://all-ways-home.com/chi-machine/Chi-Links.html
http://www.unc.edu/~aphillip/www/vaccine/resrcntr.htm
- - -
http://all-ways-home.com/chi-machine/Chi-Links.html
Monsanto gang -
And then the scurrilous Monsanto gang seem to be even up to something more insidious with Plant Gene control. It appears they are looking to patent genetically altered seeds that will make the plants that come from them unable to reproduce! What a marketing strategy--everybody needs to buy the seeds from them every year. Only thing is, is that they do produce pollen, but any other plants that are pollinated with their pollen also become infertile !
Here are some links to check out the ramifications of that one!
http://www.bio.indiana.edu/people/terminator.html
http://www.rafi.org/translator/termtrans.html
http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
Thanks to Trevor Osborne for passing the information about Aspartame and The Dangers of Plant Gene control along to me.
Trevor Osborne:-Founder - World Harmony Foundation
President - United Health Association
CEO - Technology Assessments Pty Ltd.
PO Box 536, Gosnells, WA 6990, Australia
Email: wharmony@omen.com.au
*
Viel Freude und Erleichterung, dass wir nun endlich " Weltbürger " sein " dürfen ", ohne die vielen regionalen Konfliktherde der einzelnen Nationalstaaten, nicht wahr ?
Oder etwa doch nicht ? ! - Wer " kontrolliert die aus den Fugen geratene Welt-Bürokratie " auf demokratischer Ebene der " Noch-Einzelstaaten " ?
Wie sieht es aus in unserem " Gesundheitssystem " ?
Parallelen ? ! - Mehr als genug !
Gruß
HJL
Globalisierung / New World Order / etc.
Bereich : Medizin /WHO ...
http://www.allfreewithfreedom.com/fc-lanctot.htm
http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/reviews2.html
http://all-ways-home.com/chi-machine/Chi-Links.html
The Medical Mafia
___________________
How to Get Out of it Alive and Take Back Our Health and Wealth
by Dr Guylaine Lanctôt
Like many other students before her Guylaine Lanctôt entered medical school with the hope of becoming part of a seemingly noble and humanitarian profession dedicated to people`s health needs. She progressed well; she became a specialist in phlebology (treating varicose veins) and established successful clinics in several towns and cities in North America. However, during Lanctôt`s many years of medical practice the realities of medicine`s shortfalls increasingly dawned on her, reaching a point where she became totally disillusioned with the basic tenets of a system that she once had so much faith in.
She questioned: why, despite the vast funds, personnel and resources had the medical system failed to stem the ever-growing tide of so many afflictions plaguing humanity? And why is it that other health modalities, those outside the medical system, despite having enormous health benefits are strongly opposed by the medical establishment and government? Is there an ideal health care system anywhere?
She then decided to investigate the health systems of France, Canada and the United States in order to compare them, but unfortunately found that although the systems differ in appearance, their very essence is the same, as well as their results - too expensive, out of control, and resulting in an increasing incidence of illness.
Lanctôt`s search for the truth led her to questioning who is really running the health care system and for what purpose? Fortunately, her previous entrepreneurial experiences in establishing her phlebology centres in North America, where by force of circumstances she had to grapple with the legality, business and politics of medicine, and thereby rubbing elbows with the medical establishment, helped her to understand the system.
Coupled with her extensive research into many important books and her many years of experience in medical practice, Lanctôt had found the answers she sought. Her conclusion is that the health system is run by an alliance of powerful vested interests that operate as a veritable mafia.
That health problems were, for the most part, social and environmental problems. And that they did not require medical solutions, but rather political solutions, and that this mafia has no intention whatsoever of correcting the problem, but on the contrary, it suits its interests.
Lanctôt describes the players within the "Medical Mafia" and gives a brief history of its domination of the health system. She describes how the healing practices throughout history were always dominated by a minority of privileged people determined in controlling and exploiting the majority.
More recently, during the period 1910-25 in North America the world financiers Rockefeller and Carnegie by backing the Flexner Report, whose rules and recommendations imposed strict "scientific" guidelines amiable to their interests, caused the elimination of the vast majority of natural therapists and forced the number of medical schools to be slashed from 650 to 50. And all in the name of "medical reform".
The monopolising of the health system proceeded on a global level, and during the last two decades it continued under the auspices of the world financiers` World Health Organisation.
"In 1977. The Declaration of Alma Ata gave to the World Health Organization (WHO) the means to extend the Flexner Report not only in North America, but throughout the entire world. Again, in the name of health and the well-being of the populations of the world, and in respect of the right of `health for all`, international criteria and rules were established for practicing medicine.
Control of health, therefore, was transferred from national governments to a world government. A world government that is non-elected. And of which its `Surgeon General` in charge of health is the WHO.
"And what does this right to health mean? It means the right to medicalization. It opens the doors wide to a medicine of global sickness, whether we want it or not. Vaccinations and medications are imposed on people around the world....
"But who actually controls that the WHO? That is the question. And also the answer. The United Nations (UN), the political arm of the world financiers, that includes those who backed the Flexner Report and its application.
More and more subtly, the medical and political authorities are robbing us of what is ours, as well as our rights. They establish the rules and make the laws that exploit us. It is a regime of medical terror. It is a world monopoly. Beware those who oppose it. The witch-hunt continues, but now on a global scale!"
The author also dedicates chapters to the issues of vaccinations, cancer and AIDS, uncovering a great deal of damning information. However, the book is not all doom and gloom, it also offers sensible and practical advice for citizens in taking back control of their health and lives.
*
Another Upcoming Story
http://www.freeworldnews.com/1997/flash.html
SWEDEN - National Board of Health and Welfare
Medical Mafia gets tough in Sweden
The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and the medical mafia are trying to get a law through parliament which will make it illegal for parents with children under the age of 15 years, to seek alternative medical services for their children.
If the law is accepted, both parents and the practitioner risk fines or jail for one year. The practitioners are working hard to raise public opinion against this law and we hope that such a violation of human rights will be impossible. Please let the world know about our struggle.
Bengt Jacobsson bengt.jacobsson@lidingo.mail.telia.com
- - -
Other Sources :
http://www.freeworldalliance.com/medicalmafia.htm
http://www.infojustice.com/beat%20the%20press.html
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000/MedicalFiles1.htm
http://www.consumerhealthbooks.com/ctlg/2647.html
http://zolatimes.com/V2.6/antidotetext.html
http://all-ways-home.com/chi-machine/Chi-Links.html
http://www.unc.edu/~aphillip/www/vaccine/resrcntr.htm
- - -
http://all-ways-home.com/chi-machine/Chi-Links.html
Monsanto gang -
And then the scurrilous Monsanto gang seem to be even up to something more insidious with Plant Gene control. It appears they are looking to patent genetically altered seeds that will make the plants that come from them unable to reproduce! What a marketing strategy--everybody needs to buy the seeds from them every year. Only thing is, is that they do produce pollen, but any other plants that are pollinated with their pollen also become infertile !
Here are some links to check out the ramifications of that one!
http://www.bio.indiana.edu/people/terminator.html
http://www.rafi.org/translator/termtrans.html
http://www.rafi.org/usda.html
Thanks to Trevor Osborne for passing the information about Aspartame and The Dangers of Plant Gene control along to me.
Trevor Osborne:-Founder - World Harmony Foundation
President - United Health Association
CEO - Technology Assessments Pty Ltd.
PO Box 536, Gosnells, WA 6990, Australia
Email: wharmony@omen.com.au
*
Viel Freude und Erleichterung, dass wir nun endlich " Weltbürger " sein " dürfen ", ohne die vielen regionalen Konfliktherde der einzelnen Nationalstaaten, nicht wahr ?
Oder etwa doch nicht ? ! - Wer " kontrolliert die aus den Fugen geratene Welt-Bürokratie " auf demokratischer Ebene der " Noch-Einzelstaaten " ?
Wie sieht es aus in unserem " Gesundheitssystem " ?
Parallelen ? ! - Mehr als genug !
Gruß
HJL
GRÜNE VERPISST EUCH, KEINER VERMISST EUCH!
Warnung vor Rattenfänger
Von Rainer Balcerowiak (Junge Welt)
Grüne wollen Antiglobalisierungsbewegung umarmen
Bei ihrer verzweifelten Suche nach einer relevanten politischen Basis in sozialen Bewegungen haben die Grünen nunmehr die Globalisierungsgegner ins Visier genommen. Vorgegangen wird dabei mit der bereits des öfteren praktizierten Taktik des Doppelspiels. Während Außenminister Fischer als staatstragender Funktionär der atlantischen Allianz die neue Bewegung als Ausdruck eines »abgestandenen linksradikalen Antikapitalismus« beschimpft, reklamieren das Vorstandsduo Kuhn/Roth und die graue Frankfurter Eminenz Daniel Cohn-Bendit die Gegner der entfesselten neoliberalen Weltwirtschaft als quasi natürliche Basis der Grünen. Frau Roth kann sich sogar vorstellen, auf der einen Seite des Zaunes bei einem G-8-Gipfel zu stehen, während Fischer auf der anderen die Ausplünderung der Welt mitorganisiert.
Natürlich ist dieses Spielchen ziemlich durchsichtig. Als Allerweltsliberale in der hart umkämpften »politischen Mitte« drohen die Grünen in Bälde im schwarzen 4,9- Prozent-Loch zu verschwinden. Ihr vormaliger politischer Gestaltungsauftrag, die bestmögliche Neutralisierung potentiell widerständiger Gruppen und Menschen, ist inzwischen teilweise der PDS erteilt worden, die ihn auch bereitwillig und machtgierig ausführt.
Für die Aktivisten der Antiglobalisierungsbewegung, sei es bei Attac oder bei anderen Gruppen, ist der grüne Umarmungsversuch auch ein Prüfstein für ihre eigene politische Reife. Das System der politischen und materiellen Bestechung von wichtigen Teilen ehemals oppositioneller, fortschrittlicher Strömungen hat nicht nur in der jüngeren deutschen Geschichte hervorragend funktioniert. Mit gutdotierten Berater- und Mitarbeiterposten kann man eine soziale Bewegung wesentlich effektiver zerstören als durch augenfälligen Polizeiterror wie in Genua. Zwar ist nicht jeder Seitenwechsel so offensichtlich wie der vormaligen Grünen-Sprecherin Gunda Röstel, die nunmehr als PR-Tante für den Atomstromgiganten e.on fungiert, doch auch die gut besoldeten Vorständler der Umweltverbände haben sich in ihrer Mehrheit längst zu Schönrednern der konsequent anti- ökologischen grünen Energiepolitik entwickelt.
Machtgeile Karrieristen wird es immer geben!
Entscheidend ist jedoch etwas anderes. Nur eine Programmatik, die in Kernfragen wie der Führung imperialistischer Angriffskriege, der Zerschlagung sozialer Sicherheitssysteme, der Zerstörung der Umwelt durch kapitalistische Profitgier und der Ausplünderung des größten Teils der Welt durch einige multinatinale Konzerne und ihre politischen Statthalter in den Regierungen der großen Industrieländer keinerlei Schlupflöcher für Anpassung an die neoliberale Regierungspolitik offenläßt, kann eine den Friedens- und Umweltgruppen der 80er Jahre analoge Entwicklung bei der Antiglobalisierungsbewegung verhindern helfen.
Capoon
Warnung vor Rattenfänger
Von Rainer Balcerowiak (Junge Welt)
Grüne wollen Antiglobalisierungsbewegung umarmen
Bei ihrer verzweifelten Suche nach einer relevanten politischen Basis in sozialen Bewegungen haben die Grünen nunmehr die Globalisierungsgegner ins Visier genommen. Vorgegangen wird dabei mit der bereits des öfteren praktizierten Taktik des Doppelspiels. Während Außenminister Fischer als staatstragender Funktionär der atlantischen Allianz die neue Bewegung als Ausdruck eines »abgestandenen linksradikalen Antikapitalismus« beschimpft, reklamieren das Vorstandsduo Kuhn/Roth und die graue Frankfurter Eminenz Daniel Cohn-Bendit die Gegner der entfesselten neoliberalen Weltwirtschaft als quasi natürliche Basis der Grünen. Frau Roth kann sich sogar vorstellen, auf der einen Seite des Zaunes bei einem G-8-Gipfel zu stehen, während Fischer auf der anderen die Ausplünderung der Welt mitorganisiert.
Natürlich ist dieses Spielchen ziemlich durchsichtig. Als Allerweltsliberale in der hart umkämpften »politischen Mitte« drohen die Grünen in Bälde im schwarzen 4,9- Prozent-Loch zu verschwinden. Ihr vormaliger politischer Gestaltungsauftrag, die bestmögliche Neutralisierung potentiell widerständiger Gruppen und Menschen, ist inzwischen teilweise der PDS erteilt worden, die ihn auch bereitwillig und machtgierig ausführt.
Für die Aktivisten der Antiglobalisierungsbewegung, sei es bei Attac oder bei anderen Gruppen, ist der grüne Umarmungsversuch auch ein Prüfstein für ihre eigene politische Reife. Das System der politischen und materiellen Bestechung von wichtigen Teilen ehemals oppositioneller, fortschrittlicher Strömungen hat nicht nur in der jüngeren deutschen Geschichte hervorragend funktioniert. Mit gutdotierten Berater- und Mitarbeiterposten kann man eine soziale Bewegung wesentlich effektiver zerstören als durch augenfälligen Polizeiterror wie in Genua. Zwar ist nicht jeder Seitenwechsel so offensichtlich wie der vormaligen Grünen-Sprecherin Gunda Röstel, die nunmehr als PR-Tante für den Atomstromgiganten e.on fungiert, doch auch die gut besoldeten Vorständler der Umweltverbände haben sich in ihrer Mehrheit längst zu Schönrednern der konsequent anti- ökologischen grünen Energiepolitik entwickelt.
Machtgeile Karrieristen wird es immer geben!
Entscheidend ist jedoch etwas anderes. Nur eine Programmatik, die in Kernfragen wie der Führung imperialistischer Angriffskriege, der Zerschlagung sozialer Sicherheitssysteme, der Zerstörung der Umwelt durch kapitalistische Profitgier und der Ausplünderung des größten Teils der Welt durch einige multinatinale Konzerne und ihre politischen Statthalter in den Regierungen der großen Industrieländer keinerlei Schlupflöcher für Anpassung an die neoliberale Regierungspolitik offenläßt, kann eine den Friedens- und Umweltgruppen der 80er Jahre analoge Entwicklung bei der Antiglobalisierungsbewegung verhindern helfen.
Capoon
@capoon
Vollkommen korrekt ! Die Frage heißt grundsätzlich: Wem kann man überhaupt noch trauen ?
Wer unter den Verantwortlichen will nicht nur "einsacken" ?
Zu viele opportunistische "Wendehälse" in allen Parteien.
Selbst Mr. Goldsmith - der "Führer" der sog. Globalisierungsgegner - mehr als nur ein großes Fragezeichen - lt. div. Quellen wird vermutet, er benutze die GG nur als "Vehikel". Stichwort: Brazil
Das einzige Mittel, was wirklich hilft : DENKEN !Informieren, analysieren, resümieren !
Nicht an ihren Aussagen sollen die Damen u. Herren Politiker gemessen werden, sondern an ihren "TATEN" sprich - Resultaten !
Globalisierung ist ein viel zu heißes Thema, als das man es politischen "Rechts-/Verdrehern" überlassen dürfte.
Offensichtlich ist, dass ganze Völker massivst "dezimiert" werden sollen. Wer gibt diesen Dreckspatzen eigentlich das Recht, zu entscheiden welche Bevölkerung " verschwinden " muss ?
Wenn schon die Welt aus allen Nähten zu platzen droht, dann sollten m. E. die korrupten unehrlichen Schweinepriester zuallererst " gehen müssen ". Das wäre echtes " Fair Play ".
Man sollte einigen dieser " Hoch-Finanz-Mengeles " zuvörderst erst einmal das " Arbeiten " beibringen. Und bitte nicht zu verwechseln m. - Arbeitsessen - a la unserer arbeitsamen dtsch. Politiker ! Was dabei rauskommt, sehen wir jeden Tag.
Vor allem die kleinen Leute, aber auch die heutige Mittelklasse wird noch ihr "blaues Wunder" erleben, wenn das so weitergeht wie bisher. Die "Armut" ist greifbar, m. allen Konsequenzen für uns dem "Fussvolk", auch in den sog. G-7/8 Ländern. Heute noch ein " white collar " und Morgen ein ... lollapaloosa
Die Arbeitslosenzahlen sind nicht zu verachten !
Gruß
HJL
Vollkommen korrekt ! Die Frage heißt grundsätzlich: Wem kann man überhaupt noch trauen ?
Wer unter den Verantwortlichen will nicht nur "einsacken" ?
Zu viele opportunistische "Wendehälse" in allen Parteien.
Selbst Mr. Goldsmith - der "Führer" der sog. Globalisierungsgegner - mehr als nur ein großes Fragezeichen - lt. div. Quellen wird vermutet, er benutze die GG nur als "Vehikel". Stichwort: Brazil
Das einzige Mittel, was wirklich hilft : DENKEN !Informieren, analysieren, resümieren !
Nicht an ihren Aussagen sollen die Damen u. Herren Politiker gemessen werden, sondern an ihren "TATEN" sprich - Resultaten !
Globalisierung ist ein viel zu heißes Thema, als das man es politischen "Rechts-/Verdrehern" überlassen dürfte.
Offensichtlich ist, dass ganze Völker massivst "dezimiert" werden sollen. Wer gibt diesen Dreckspatzen eigentlich das Recht, zu entscheiden welche Bevölkerung " verschwinden " muss ?
Wenn schon die Welt aus allen Nähten zu platzen droht, dann sollten m. E. die korrupten unehrlichen Schweinepriester zuallererst " gehen müssen ". Das wäre echtes " Fair Play ".
Man sollte einigen dieser " Hoch-Finanz-Mengeles " zuvörderst erst einmal das " Arbeiten " beibringen. Und bitte nicht zu verwechseln m. - Arbeitsessen - a la unserer arbeitsamen dtsch. Politiker ! Was dabei rauskommt, sehen wir jeden Tag.
Vor allem die kleinen Leute, aber auch die heutige Mittelklasse wird noch ihr "blaues Wunder" erleben, wenn das so weitergeht wie bisher. Die "Armut" ist greifbar, m. allen Konsequenzen für uns dem "Fussvolk", auch in den sog. G-7/8 Ländern. Heute noch ein " white collar " und Morgen ein ... lollapaloosa
Die Arbeitslosenzahlen sind nicht zu verachten !
Gruß
HJL
@all
Ein weiteres Beispiel z. Thema " Globalisierung "
- Philippinen -
http://www.boondocksnet.com/sctexts/simbulan010323.html
US-led Globalization as Development Aggression:
Effects on Philippine Women`s Health and Development
------------------------------------------------------------
By Roland G. Simbulan
Professor, University of the Philippines
Lecture on the occasion of "Women`s Month" as guest speaker of the forum sponsored by the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies on Health and Development (CEMSHAD) and the Philippine Department of Health before health and women`s program coordinators from Philippine government agencies, private foundations and non-government organizations, Palm Plaza Hotel, Manila, March 23, 2001.
Excerpt :
----------------
. . .
Globalization today is the concerted effort of advanced capitalist countries led by the United States to reshape the world economy through the comprehensive removal of barriers to the free movement of goods, services and capital. This is aimed at easing their crisis of overproduction and surplus capital accumulation by allowing their transnational corporations (TNCs) to have maximum freedom to operate worldwide.
. . .
However, US-led globalization is revealing its real face. Gradually, more and more concerned people are unmasking the development aggression in the name of "development and modernization" which has led to what some globalization scholars like Michel Chossudovsky have called "the globalization of poverty."
...witht the creation of an integrated global economy, a key player has appeared. And unlike other players, this player is not accountable to any group of people recognized by any international body. I am referring to the global corporations, the transnational corporations (TNCs) whose operations go beyond national boundaries and whose assets are greater than the GNPs of many developing countries combined. Scholars are now focusing research on the role of these corporations in the dynamics of global and regional politics. A look at the largest 25 global firms whose capitalization exceeds $86 billion, will show that over 70% are US corporations, 26% are European and 4% are Japanese. The list of top 100 corporations in the world (Fortune Magazine) show that 61% are US, 33% are European and 2% are Japanese.
These facts clearly demonstrate that globalization is not so much about advances in science, telecommunications and technology but a U.S. -led political strategy using the superiority of the U.S. armed forces as a stick or muscle to preserve and expand markets for transnational capital expansion.
Impact of Globalization on Women
--------------------------------------------------
The Philippines is considered as the paradise of sun, sea and sex. Our country is considered one of the international hot spots for prostitution. The export-oriented, import-dependent economic strategy of the government through the years has aggravated the problem of poverty and unemployment. This, in turn, increases the vulnerability of women and children to prostitution. The appalling lack of decent income opportunities forces thousands of Filipino women to sell their bodies and dignity to survive.
With the setting up of so-called regional growth centers came the noticeable rise in establishments catering to the flesh trade. With the appointment of Richard Gordon, former mayor of the base economy of Olongapo City, as tourism secretary, it is expected that sex-tourism will proliferate further nationwide. With the military component of globalization, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in place, the entire country will surely be transformed into a "rest and recreational facility" by the former mayor of Olongapo City.
The ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in May 1999 is expected to open up the floodgates to sexual exploitation of women and children by the 100,000 US troops assigned in the Asia-Pacific. These US troops are either on "military exercises" or on so-called "goodwill visits."
A feminist foundation based in Angeles City, the Ing Makababaying Aksyon Inc. (IMA) for instance, estimates that in August 1998, there were 2,700 registered women entertainers in Angeles City while in December 1999, figures suddenly doubled at 4,778, possibly in anticipation of the arrival of US troops under the VFA.
There are already approximately 600,000 prostitutes in the Philippines-the highest number in the entire Asia-Pacific, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). Young girls are preferred especially by foreign customers. ILO further estimates that there are 75,000 prostitutes of minor age.
Retail and Trade
---------------------------
Children plying their trade--vending cigarettes or sampaguita garlands--in the dangerous path of vehicles in the dirty streets of Metro-Manila. Small hands hauling water or stones in construction sites in different parts of the country or threading beads to make necklaces, and other body accessories for export. Young girls are made to have full make-up and dress sexily to attract customers.
They are just a few of the estimated 3.7 million children who have been forced to make a living at the young age of 17 and below. Despite the so-called economic development, according to a survey conducted by the National Statistics Office, the number of child laborers in the Philippines has increased and is still increasing.
Poverty has pushed many Filipino children to work at a very early age. They intend to help their parents augment their income and pay for the family`s debt. Child labor is widespread in the agricultural sector.
Children work in the farm with their parents or relatives as part of extended, or unpaid family labor. However, there is an alarming increase in the number of children working apart from the family. The seeming dynamism of economic activity in export-oriented countries is accompanied by an increase in the number of children in the labor force.
The increase in child labor in the garments industry can be attributed to the subcontracting policies brought about by stiff competition under globalization. Most are female child workers aged 12 to 17. Subcontracting of child labor enables corporations to gain more profit. In establishments in the export business, children work longer, from 12 to 16 hours a day, everyday, seven days a week. Many receive very low wages or none at all.
Women in Trade and Industry
----------------------------------------
The fierce competition under globalization can be seen as the further reinforcement of the existing unequal international division of labor. This phase of globalization is part of monopoly capital`s drive for more accumulation of profit and domination over the world.
Trade is now being linked to concerns like women`s rights, human rights, environmental standards, etc. The cutthroat competition between labor surplus countries is very favorable to transnational corporations. Comparative advantage means that the country which can offer the lowest wages and the least benefits and welfare for workers will have a bigger advantage in attracting foreign corporations. The cheap and docile labor which is the comparative advantage of the Philippines over other industrialized countries are actually women who are very willing to accept any kind of employment, no matter how oppressive.
Let us look at the situation in the past few years. The majority of women remain invisible in the official labor force statistics of the country. From 1992 to 2000, there was one female out of every two Filipinos 15 years old and above only one female out of every three Filipinos accounted for in the labor force.
Mining Industry
---------------------
The mining industry has traditionally been controlled by U.S. interests. In 1971, of the top 10 mining firms, five were U.S.-owned. These accounted for 75% of total sales, income and equity. U.S. equity dominates four mining companies today--Benguet Consolidated and Benguet Explorations, both in the Cordillera region, for gold production, and Atlas and Marcopper in copper production. However, U.S. equity still controls 40% of the mining industry as a whole (A. Tujan, Globalizing Philippine Mining, 1998).
Generally, mining operations, especially those undertaken by large-scale mining operations, have the following socioeconomic, health and environmental effects:
1. Appropriation of the lands of indigenous peoples, which results in their massive displacement;
2. Large-scale destruction of lands, mountains, forests and agricultural lands, which includes erosion, siltation, deforestation, desertification and flattening of mountains.
3. Pollution of soils and rivers with toxic chemicals used in the extraction and processing of ores and with byproducts of the mining process. Air pollution is generated by dust from continuous bulldozing of the land and the transport of soil and mineral ores.
4. Frequent occurrence of mining accidents, ranging from the collapse of underground tunnels to the bursting or overflowing of mine-tailing dams, which have caused the further pollution of lands, rivers and oceans. The result is a decrease in marine bio-diversity, and the killing of plants, animals and even human beings.
5. The mineworkers, the people in the mining communities, and even those who are at the receiving end of toxic mine-tailings, are faced with serious health problems. These include skin diseases; respiratory diseases like tuberculosis, silicosis and asbestosis; gastrointestinal diseases; cancers; problems in reproduction like frequent abortions and malformed babies; and mental illnesses. Occupational hazards and accidents leading to lifelong physical disabilities are becoming more frequent among mineworkers because of the poor and high-risk working conditions. Child labor has also developed and significantly increased among mining communities.
6. There is a significant erosion or destruction of traditional values and customs that have been crucial in sustaining community, tribal, clan and family solidarity. The consumerist and commodity-oriented economy introduced by mining corporations have introduced many cases of alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, gambling, incest, wife-swapping and infidelity in many mining communities. These have led to cases of domestic violence against women and have resulted in the further commodification of women.
8. Social inequity is exacerbated by large-scale corporate mining operations because in most cases, the original inhabitants of the mineral lands are not even employed. Most miners are easily replaced with machines. When the mineral deposits are exhausted, the communities are left with nothing but heavily devastated lands, some of which are beyond rehabilitation.
On the other hand, transnational mining corporations and major shareholders end up getting richer. In the industrialized countries, mineworkers are also losing their jobs while being asked to lower their labor standards because of competition from Third World workers.
Agriculture
-----------------
The shifting of crops to meet the needs of the international market portends greater hardship for women and their families. Apart from the intensification of landlessness among peasant women and the threat to food security, there are other costs. High-value crops require intensive use of chemicals for increased productivity. Studies reveal that peasant women and their children are most vulnerable to these destructive chemicals.
The women are hired as ground sprayers, harvesters, canners and packers because "women do not smoke" and are "easier to handle." Moreover, as mothers they assume the role of family nurse and become automatic replacements for the unfinished work of their husbands and children.
Finally, the presidential order allowing bio-prospecting in the rural areas is cause for concern. Incidents of groups asking the local people to gather certain plants that are bought at very low prices have been revealed.
The going price for these plants in dried and fresh forms ranges from P3 to P5 or 11 to 19 US cents per kilo. These plants include banaba, sambong, bayabas, damong maria, tsaang gubat and many more. Commonly found in the rural communities, these are valued for their abilities to treat common ailments. There are fears that these plant species will be appropriated, developed and declared as the property of some groups, thereby diminishing access to them by local people.
Values
----------
In the push for globalization, we emerge slowly into a new era where only the material things that can be bought and sold in the market matter.
Increasing commercialization has been teaching people the usefulness of selfishness and looking out for one`s self-interest. It is evident how selfishness is practiced by transnational corporations in this global era. They want the profits and the advantages all to themselves without thought of others.
The next point is the placing of profits as the highest value over nonmaterial things. Present-day TNCs do not value nonmaterial things like love, security, even nationalism. All they want is to make profit and get as much of these as they can. They couldn`t care less about anything.
And most of all, women have been devalued. In certain aspects, women are regarded as second-rate citizens who are good for nothing except sex. Women cease to be regarded as human beings but only as commodities that have value only so long as they can be used again and again.
Conclusion
-----------
In general, globalization results in great wealth for a few, impoverishment and marginalization for many, and polarization between rich and poor.
To conclude, I would like to summarize the impact of globalization on women, women`s health and development:
1. Increased access to lowly paid, labor-intensive, and short-term employment.
...
2. Rising incidence of sexual abuse and violence against women and the further commodification of women.
...
3. Heavier, unpaid women`s reproductive work.
...
4. Discrimination against married and older women and the undermining of the women`s reproductive health rights.
...
5. Over-extension of women`s involvement in the informal or underground economy.
...
6. Erosion of control by women over agricultural production and trading.
...
7. Increasing social family problems and deterioration of values.
...
8. Deterioration of women`s health.
...
Recommendations
...
I also think that educators, meaning the teachers in their respective levels of teaching, must learn the true meaning of "globalization", so that they would not teach ` myths ` about it and rear neo-colonial minds who would follow the dictates of global lords.
The teachers themselves should be enlightened. Imagine what the more than 450,000 public and private school teachers of this country can do if only they were enlightened! They are the ones planting the seeds in the young minds of the children. The seeds that must be planted should, however, be the right ones so that the right plant would grow and bear fruit.
http://www.boondocksnet.com/sctexts/simbulan010323.html
. . .
*
und so weiter ... Es wäre zuviel, hier alles zu posten.
Siehe die vorangegangenen Postings aus anderen Welt-Regionen. Dies müsste doch der " ethische Staat " mit all seinen sog. Geheimdienst-Organisationen u. internationalen Verbindungen viel eher wissen, als wir, die kleinen ` manipulierten Ameisen `.
Wer kann allen Ernstes hier noch „ naiv " glauben, die angehenden „ Weltpolitiker " werden es schon richten, sei es IMF, WB; ADF, WTO, UN ... - wie immer diese „ Makulatur-Organisationen " auch immer heißen mögen, der glaubt zumindest noch an .x. - das „ Gute " in unseren Politikern.
Viel Spass beim „ Informieren / Lernen "
Gruß
HJL
Ein weiteres Beispiel z. Thema " Globalisierung "
- Philippinen -
http://www.boondocksnet.com/sctexts/simbulan010323.html
US-led Globalization as Development Aggression:
Effects on Philippine Women`s Health and Development
------------------------------------------------------------
By Roland G. Simbulan
Professor, University of the Philippines
Lecture on the occasion of "Women`s Month" as guest speaker of the forum sponsored by the Center for Multidisciplinary Studies on Health and Development (CEMSHAD) and the Philippine Department of Health before health and women`s program coordinators from Philippine government agencies, private foundations and non-government organizations, Palm Plaza Hotel, Manila, March 23, 2001.
Excerpt :
----------------
. . .
Globalization today is the concerted effort of advanced capitalist countries led by the United States to reshape the world economy through the comprehensive removal of barriers to the free movement of goods, services and capital. This is aimed at easing their crisis of overproduction and surplus capital accumulation by allowing their transnational corporations (TNCs) to have maximum freedom to operate worldwide.
. . .
However, US-led globalization is revealing its real face. Gradually, more and more concerned people are unmasking the development aggression in the name of "development and modernization" which has led to what some globalization scholars like Michel Chossudovsky have called "the globalization of poverty."
...witht the creation of an integrated global economy, a key player has appeared. And unlike other players, this player is not accountable to any group of people recognized by any international body. I am referring to the global corporations, the transnational corporations (TNCs) whose operations go beyond national boundaries and whose assets are greater than the GNPs of many developing countries combined. Scholars are now focusing research on the role of these corporations in the dynamics of global and regional politics. A look at the largest 25 global firms whose capitalization exceeds $86 billion, will show that over 70% are US corporations, 26% are European and 4% are Japanese. The list of top 100 corporations in the world (Fortune Magazine) show that 61% are US, 33% are European and 2% are Japanese.
These facts clearly demonstrate that globalization is not so much about advances in science, telecommunications and technology but a U.S. -led political strategy using the superiority of the U.S. armed forces as a stick or muscle to preserve and expand markets for transnational capital expansion.
Impact of Globalization on Women
--------------------------------------------------
The Philippines is considered as the paradise of sun, sea and sex. Our country is considered one of the international hot spots for prostitution. The export-oriented, import-dependent economic strategy of the government through the years has aggravated the problem of poverty and unemployment. This, in turn, increases the vulnerability of women and children to prostitution. The appalling lack of decent income opportunities forces thousands of Filipino women to sell their bodies and dignity to survive.
With the setting up of so-called regional growth centers came the noticeable rise in establishments catering to the flesh trade. With the appointment of Richard Gordon, former mayor of the base economy of Olongapo City, as tourism secretary, it is expected that sex-tourism will proliferate further nationwide. With the military component of globalization, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in place, the entire country will surely be transformed into a "rest and recreational facility" by the former mayor of Olongapo City.
The ratification of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in May 1999 is expected to open up the floodgates to sexual exploitation of women and children by the 100,000 US troops assigned in the Asia-Pacific. These US troops are either on "military exercises" or on so-called "goodwill visits."
A feminist foundation based in Angeles City, the Ing Makababaying Aksyon Inc. (IMA) for instance, estimates that in August 1998, there were 2,700 registered women entertainers in Angeles City while in December 1999, figures suddenly doubled at 4,778, possibly in anticipation of the arrival of US troops under the VFA.
There are already approximately 600,000 prostitutes in the Philippines-the highest number in the entire Asia-Pacific, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). Young girls are preferred especially by foreign customers. ILO further estimates that there are 75,000 prostitutes of minor age.
Retail and Trade
---------------------------
Children plying their trade--vending cigarettes or sampaguita garlands--in the dangerous path of vehicles in the dirty streets of Metro-Manila. Small hands hauling water or stones in construction sites in different parts of the country or threading beads to make necklaces, and other body accessories for export. Young girls are made to have full make-up and dress sexily to attract customers.
They are just a few of the estimated 3.7 million children who have been forced to make a living at the young age of 17 and below. Despite the so-called economic development, according to a survey conducted by the National Statistics Office, the number of child laborers in the Philippines has increased and is still increasing.
Poverty has pushed many Filipino children to work at a very early age. They intend to help their parents augment their income and pay for the family`s debt. Child labor is widespread in the agricultural sector.
Children work in the farm with their parents or relatives as part of extended, or unpaid family labor. However, there is an alarming increase in the number of children working apart from the family. The seeming dynamism of economic activity in export-oriented countries is accompanied by an increase in the number of children in the labor force.
The increase in child labor in the garments industry can be attributed to the subcontracting policies brought about by stiff competition under globalization. Most are female child workers aged 12 to 17. Subcontracting of child labor enables corporations to gain more profit. In establishments in the export business, children work longer, from 12 to 16 hours a day, everyday, seven days a week. Many receive very low wages or none at all.
Women in Trade and Industry
----------------------------------------
The fierce competition under globalization can be seen as the further reinforcement of the existing unequal international division of labor. This phase of globalization is part of monopoly capital`s drive for more accumulation of profit and domination over the world.
Trade is now being linked to concerns like women`s rights, human rights, environmental standards, etc. The cutthroat competition between labor surplus countries is very favorable to transnational corporations. Comparative advantage means that the country which can offer the lowest wages and the least benefits and welfare for workers will have a bigger advantage in attracting foreign corporations. The cheap and docile labor which is the comparative advantage of the Philippines over other industrialized countries are actually women who are very willing to accept any kind of employment, no matter how oppressive.
Let us look at the situation in the past few years. The majority of women remain invisible in the official labor force statistics of the country. From 1992 to 2000, there was one female out of every two Filipinos 15 years old and above only one female out of every three Filipinos accounted for in the labor force.
Mining Industry
---------------------
The mining industry has traditionally been controlled by U.S. interests. In 1971, of the top 10 mining firms, five were U.S.-owned. These accounted for 75% of total sales, income and equity. U.S. equity dominates four mining companies today--Benguet Consolidated and Benguet Explorations, both in the Cordillera region, for gold production, and Atlas and Marcopper in copper production. However, U.S. equity still controls 40% of the mining industry as a whole (A. Tujan, Globalizing Philippine Mining, 1998).
Generally, mining operations, especially those undertaken by large-scale mining operations, have the following socioeconomic, health and environmental effects:
1. Appropriation of the lands of indigenous peoples, which results in their massive displacement;
2. Large-scale destruction of lands, mountains, forests and agricultural lands, which includes erosion, siltation, deforestation, desertification and flattening of mountains.
3. Pollution of soils and rivers with toxic chemicals used in the extraction and processing of ores and with byproducts of the mining process. Air pollution is generated by dust from continuous bulldozing of the land and the transport of soil and mineral ores.
4. Frequent occurrence of mining accidents, ranging from the collapse of underground tunnels to the bursting or overflowing of mine-tailing dams, which have caused the further pollution of lands, rivers and oceans. The result is a decrease in marine bio-diversity, and the killing of plants, animals and even human beings.
5. The mineworkers, the people in the mining communities, and even those who are at the receiving end of toxic mine-tailings, are faced with serious health problems. These include skin diseases; respiratory diseases like tuberculosis, silicosis and asbestosis; gastrointestinal diseases; cancers; problems in reproduction like frequent abortions and malformed babies; and mental illnesses. Occupational hazards and accidents leading to lifelong physical disabilities are becoming more frequent among mineworkers because of the poor and high-risk working conditions. Child labor has also developed and significantly increased among mining communities.
6. There is a significant erosion or destruction of traditional values and customs that have been crucial in sustaining community, tribal, clan and family solidarity. The consumerist and commodity-oriented economy introduced by mining corporations have introduced many cases of alcoholism, drug addiction, prostitution, gambling, incest, wife-swapping and infidelity in many mining communities. These have led to cases of domestic violence against women and have resulted in the further commodification of women.
8. Social inequity is exacerbated by large-scale corporate mining operations because in most cases, the original inhabitants of the mineral lands are not even employed. Most miners are easily replaced with machines. When the mineral deposits are exhausted, the communities are left with nothing but heavily devastated lands, some of which are beyond rehabilitation.
On the other hand, transnational mining corporations and major shareholders end up getting richer. In the industrialized countries, mineworkers are also losing their jobs while being asked to lower their labor standards because of competition from Third World workers.
Agriculture
-----------------
The shifting of crops to meet the needs of the international market portends greater hardship for women and their families. Apart from the intensification of landlessness among peasant women and the threat to food security, there are other costs. High-value crops require intensive use of chemicals for increased productivity. Studies reveal that peasant women and their children are most vulnerable to these destructive chemicals.
The women are hired as ground sprayers, harvesters, canners and packers because "women do not smoke" and are "easier to handle." Moreover, as mothers they assume the role of family nurse and become automatic replacements for the unfinished work of their husbands and children.
Finally, the presidential order allowing bio-prospecting in the rural areas is cause for concern. Incidents of groups asking the local people to gather certain plants that are bought at very low prices have been revealed.
The going price for these plants in dried and fresh forms ranges from P3 to P5 or 11 to 19 US cents per kilo. These plants include banaba, sambong, bayabas, damong maria, tsaang gubat and many more. Commonly found in the rural communities, these are valued for their abilities to treat common ailments. There are fears that these plant species will be appropriated, developed and declared as the property of some groups, thereby diminishing access to them by local people.
Values
----------
In the push for globalization, we emerge slowly into a new era where only the material things that can be bought and sold in the market matter.
Increasing commercialization has been teaching people the usefulness of selfishness and looking out for one`s self-interest. It is evident how selfishness is practiced by transnational corporations in this global era. They want the profits and the advantages all to themselves without thought of others.
The next point is the placing of profits as the highest value over nonmaterial things. Present-day TNCs do not value nonmaterial things like love, security, even nationalism. All they want is to make profit and get as much of these as they can. They couldn`t care less about anything.
And most of all, women have been devalued. In certain aspects, women are regarded as second-rate citizens who are good for nothing except sex. Women cease to be regarded as human beings but only as commodities that have value only so long as they can be used again and again.
Conclusion
-----------
In general, globalization results in great wealth for a few, impoverishment and marginalization for many, and polarization between rich and poor.
To conclude, I would like to summarize the impact of globalization on women, women`s health and development:
1. Increased access to lowly paid, labor-intensive, and short-term employment.
...
2. Rising incidence of sexual abuse and violence against women and the further commodification of women.
...
3. Heavier, unpaid women`s reproductive work.
...
4. Discrimination against married and older women and the undermining of the women`s reproductive health rights.
...
5. Over-extension of women`s involvement in the informal or underground economy.
...
6. Erosion of control by women over agricultural production and trading.
...
7. Increasing social family problems and deterioration of values.
...
8. Deterioration of women`s health.
...
Recommendations
...
I also think that educators, meaning the teachers in their respective levels of teaching, must learn the true meaning of "globalization", so that they would not teach ` myths ` about it and rear neo-colonial minds who would follow the dictates of global lords.
The teachers themselves should be enlightened. Imagine what the more than 450,000 public and private school teachers of this country can do if only they were enlightened! They are the ones planting the seeds in the young minds of the children. The seeds that must be planted should, however, be the right ones so that the right plant would grow and bear fruit.
http://www.boondocksnet.com/sctexts/simbulan010323.html
. . .
*
und so weiter ... Es wäre zuviel, hier alles zu posten.
Siehe die vorangegangenen Postings aus anderen Welt-Regionen. Dies müsste doch der " ethische Staat " mit all seinen sog. Geheimdienst-Organisationen u. internationalen Verbindungen viel eher wissen, als wir, die kleinen ` manipulierten Ameisen `.
Wer kann allen Ernstes hier noch „ naiv " glauben, die angehenden „ Weltpolitiker " werden es schon richten, sei es IMF, WB; ADF, WTO, UN ... - wie immer diese „ Makulatur-Organisationen " auch immer heißen mögen, der glaubt zumindest noch an .x. - das „ Gute " in unseren Politikern.
Viel Spass beim „ Informieren / Lernen "
Gruß
HJL
Neoliberalismus - Die pervertierte Auffassung von Demokratie!
In seinem Buch Kapitalismus und Freiheit behauptet Milton Friedman, der Guru der Neoliberalen, daß das Gewinnstreben zum Wesen der Demokratie gehöre., weshalb jede Regierung, die nicht vorbehaltlos auf Marktstrategien setze, antidemokratisch sei, auch wenn sie die Unterstützung einer gut informierten Öffentlichkeit genieße.
Der Faschismus ist rassistisch und nationalistisch, verachtet die formelle Demokratie ebenso wie die sozialen Bewegungen,
Der Neoliberalismus dagegen funktioniert am besten in einer formellen parlamentarischen Demokratie, in der die Bevölkerung zugleich systematisch davon abgehalten wird, sich an den Entscheidungsprozessen sinnvoll beteiligen zu können.
USA – statt Demokratie Konzernherrschaft!
Der Neoliberalismus ist der Demokratie feindlich gesinnt. Oder mit anderen Worten: Demokratie ist zulässig, solange die Wirtschaft von demokratischen Entscheidungsprozessen verschont bleibt, d. h. solange die Demokratie keine ist.
Die USA ist das Mutterland des Neoliberalismus. Es ist eine nicht zu leugnende Tatsache, daß dort die Wirtschaftslobby die Parteien der Demokraten und Republikaner beherrscht. Parteien die eine kritischere Haltung gegenüber den ungezügelten Kapitalismus, oder sogar eine antikapitalistische Haltung einnehmen, werden schon im Vorfeld mit allen Mitteln bekämpft. Großkonzerne besitzen die nötigen Mittel, um Medien zu beeinflussen und die politische Willensbildung nach ihren Vorstellungen zu gestalten. Zum Beispiel bei Wahlen in den USA stammen 80 Prozent der individuellen Spendengelder von dem reichsten Viertel eines Prozents der Amerikaner, und die Konzerne zahlen gegenüber den Gewerkschaften das Zehnfache. Neoliberalistisch betrachtet ist das sinnvoll, denn indem Spenden wie Investitionen behandelt werden, spiegeln auch die Wahlen Marktprinzipien wider. Zudem werden die Wahlen damit für die meisten Bürger bedeutungslos, und die Vorherrschaft der Konzerne bleibt ungebrochen, so Noam Chomsky in seinem Buch ==> Profit over People <==
Die Globalisierung wird von mächtigen Regierungen, insbesondere der US-amerikanischen, betrieben, um internationale Handelsabkommen zu erzwingen, die den Konzernen erleichtern, die Wirtschaftsgefüge anderer Nationen zu kontrollieren, ohne für die Folgen aufkommen zu müssen.
Lauthals und hartnäckig verkünden die Vertreter des Neoliberalismus, daß es keine Alternative zum Status quo gebe und die Menschheit ihren höchsten Stand erreicht habe.
Der beinahe schon religiöse Glauben an die Unfehlbarkeit des unregulierten Marktes ist ein Hirngespinst.
Warum soll es unmöglich sein, eine Gesellschaft anzustreben, deren politische Ökonomie auf Kooperation, Gleichheit, Selbstverwaltung und individueller Freiheit beruht?
Nur alle vier Jahre sein Kreuzchen zu machen ist einfach zu wenig. Die Mitbestimmungsrechte in den Betrieben muß noch weiter ausgebaut werden. Anstelle von privatwirtschaftlich geführten Unternehmen können auch selbstverwaltete Kooperation treten. Die großen Medienbetriebe müssen demokratisiert werden. Bei allen wichtigen Entscheidungsprozesse muß der Bürger mitentscheiden können und bei gravierenden politischen Einschnitten, wie zum Beispiel Währungsumstellungen oder Osterweiterung der EU sind plebiszitäre Elemente (Mitspracherechte) eine Voraussetzung für eine funktionierende Demokratie. Was wir nicht brauchen sind entpolitisierte, von Apathie und Zynisnus befallene Staatsbürger.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
STOIBER
Zur Belebung der Konjunktur hat der CSU-Vorsitzende Edmund Stoiber ein "sofortiges Vorziehen" der nächsten Steuerreformschritte und eine Senkung des Spitzensteuersatzes von derzeit 48,5 auf 40 Prozent gefordert. In der "Bild"-Zeitung verlangte Stoiber außerdem mehr Selbstbeteiligung in der
Gesetzlichen Krankenkasse, um die steigenden Beiträge zu bremsen.
Stoiber hat anscheinend von Bush gelernt und will also steuerliche Erleichterungen für Wohlhabende. Damit kann man die lahmende deutsche Konjunktur auch nicht wieder auf die Beine bringen. Die Wirtschaftspolitik der Spezialdemokraten, Grünen, Liberalen und Konservativen unterscheiden sich sowieso nur geringfügig. Die Nachfrageschwäche beim Konsum ist ja hauptsächlich auch auf die neoliberale Wirtschaftspolitik zurückzuführen, denn Lohn- uns Sozialdumping sind Kennzeichen einer neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik, wie Oskar Lafontaine betont. Statt Neoliberalismus sollte wir auf die altbewährten Rezepte eines Keynes zurückgreifen. Keynesianismus bedeutet konkret: Ein staatliches Konjunkturprogramm muß her, anstatt nach neoliberalistischen Aspekten die Reichen noch reicher und die Armen noch ärmer zu machen. Alles andere ist strenggenommen Augenwischerei.
Capoon
In seinem Buch Kapitalismus und Freiheit behauptet Milton Friedman, der Guru der Neoliberalen, daß das Gewinnstreben zum Wesen der Demokratie gehöre., weshalb jede Regierung, die nicht vorbehaltlos auf Marktstrategien setze, antidemokratisch sei, auch wenn sie die Unterstützung einer gut informierten Öffentlichkeit genieße.
Der Faschismus ist rassistisch und nationalistisch, verachtet die formelle Demokratie ebenso wie die sozialen Bewegungen,
Der Neoliberalismus dagegen funktioniert am besten in einer formellen parlamentarischen Demokratie, in der die Bevölkerung zugleich systematisch davon abgehalten wird, sich an den Entscheidungsprozessen sinnvoll beteiligen zu können.
USA – statt Demokratie Konzernherrschaft!
Der Neoliberalismus ist der Demokratie feindlich gesinnt. Oder mit anderen Worten: Demokratie ist zulässig, solange die Wirtschaft von demokratischen Entscheidungsprozessen verschont bleibt, d. h. solange die Demokratie keine ist.
Die USA ist das Mutterland des Neoliberalismus. Es ist eine nicht zu leugnende Tatsache, daß dort die Wirtschaftslobby die Parteien der Demokraten und Republikaner beherrscht. Parteien die eine kritischere Haltung gegenüber den ungezügelten Kapitalismus, oder sogar eine antikapitalistische Haltung einnehmen, werden schon im Vorfeld mit allen Mitteln bekämpft. Großkonzerne besitzen die nötigen Mittel, um Medien zu beeinflussen und die politische Willensbildung nach ihren Vorstellungen zu gestalten. Zum Beispiel bei Wahlen in den USA stammen 80 Prozent der individuellen Spendengelder von dem reichsten Viertel eines Prozents der Amerikaner, und die Konzerne zahlen gegenüber den Gewerkschaften das Zehnfache. Neoliberalistisch betrachtet ist das sinnvoll, denn indem Spenden wie Investitionen behandelt werden, spiegeln auch die Wahlen Marktprinzipien wider. Zudem werden die Wahlen damit für die meisten Bürger bedeutungslos, und die Vorherrschaft der Konzerne bleibt ungebrochen, so Noam Chomsky in seinem Buch ==> Profit over People <==
Die Globalisierung wird von mächtigen Regierungen, insbesondere der US-amerikanischen, betrieben, um internationale Handelsabkommen zu erzwingen, die den Konzernen erleichtern, die Wirtschaftsgefüge anderer Nationen zu kontrollieren, ohne für die Folgen aufkommen zu müssen.
Lauthals und hartnäckig verkünden die Vertreter des Neoliberalismus, daß es keine Alternative zum Status quo gebe und die Menschheit ihren höchsten Stand erreicht habe.
Der beinahe schon religiöse Glauben an die Unfehlbarkeit des unregulierten Marktes ist ein Hirngespinst.
Warum soll es unmöglich sein, eine Gesellschaft anzustreben, deren politische Ökonomie auf Kooperation, Gleichheit, Selbstverwaltung und individueller Freiheit beruht?
Nur alle vier Jahre sein Kreuzchen zu machen ist einfach zu wenig. Die Mitbestimmungsrechte in den Betrieben muß noch weiter ausgebaut werden. Anstelle von privatwirtschaftlich geführten Unternehmen können auch selbstverwaltete Kooperation treten. Die großen Medienbetriebe müssen demokratisiert werden. Bei allen wichtigen Entscheidungsprozesse muß der Bürger mitentscheiden können und bei gravierenden politischen Einschnitten, wie zum Beispiel Währungsumstellungen oder Osterweiterung der EU sind plebiszitäre Elemente (Mitspracherechte) eine Voraussetzung für eine funktionierende Demokratie. Was wir nicht brauchen sind entpolitisierte, von Apathie und Zynisnus befallene Staatsbürger.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
STOIBER
Zur Belebung der Konjunktur hat der CSU-Vorsitzende Edmund Stoiber ein "sofortiges Vorziehen" der nächsten Steuerreformschritte und eine Senkung des Spitzensteuersatzes von derzeit 48,5 auf 40 Prozent gefordert. In der "Bild"-Zeitung verlangte Stoiber außerdem mehr Selbstbeteiligung in der
Gesetzlichen Krankenkasse, um die steigenden Beiträge zu bremsen.
Stoiber hat anscheinend von Bush gelernt und will also steuerliche Erleichterungen für Wohlhabende. Damit kann man die lahmende deutsche Konjunktur auch nicht wieder auf die Beine bringen. Die Wirtschaftspolitik der Spezialdemokraten, Grünen, Liberalen und Konservativen unterscheiden sich sowieso nur geringfügig. Die Nachfrageschwäche beim Konsum ist ja hauptsächlich auch auf die neoliberale Wirtschaftspolitik zurückzuführen, denn Lohn- uns Sozialdumping sind Kennzeichen einer neoliberalen Wirtschaftspolitik, wie Oskar Lafontaine betont. Statt Neoliberalismus sollte wir auf die altbewährten Rezepte eines Keynes zurückgreifen. Keynesianismus bedeutet konkret: Ein staatliches Konjunkturprogramm muß her, anstatt nach neoliberalistischen Aspekten die Reichen noch reicher und die Armen noch ärmer zu machen. Alles andere ist strenggenommen Augenwischerei.
Capoon
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