I sent a post to Mr Henwood in which I tried to lay out what I found obnoxiously parochial in his green champion of the left. He did not reply. I shall send this post off for your amusement, and then unsubscribe.
It is rather obvious to me that the American left has no intention of disabusing the world proletariat of the belief that Americans are hopelessly chauvinistic. In time, the American left will see that its refusal to take seriously the concerns of third world unionists will have irreparably damaged it.
Of course this list libertarian Mr Heartfield welcomes globalisation as the realization of his utopia on earth. He would then apparently be opposed to the Core Conventions as an unfair impediment though even the issue of a minimum wage is absent.
Most reasonably, Mr Pollak has raised the question of the legitimate use of trade sanctions against a country for its violation of core labor rights--he seems to be the only one with a profound understanding that he lives among other peoples over this earth. But he would have to admit that almost no trade union centre anywhere in the so called third world has called for a linkage between trade and labor rights. We can dismiss this as disgustingly chamcha relations between official labor unionists and third world states--which it certainly often is--or we can see that there is a profound and valid concern over first world protectionism and that third world trade unionists are simply not going to call for trade and labor standards to be linked.
What are the concerns? There are countries where IMF and World Bank structural adjustment programmes, by cutting government spending on infrastructure, welfare benefits and education, have led to increases in unemployment, poverty and child labour. Would it be fair for the WTO to penalise these governments for carrying out measures imposed on them by the IMF and the World Bank? Surely it would make more sense to ensure that all such programmes are cancelled, and leave it at that.
Is it reasonable to penalize third world governments alone if third world subsidiaries of a first world multinational corporation are engaged in union busting, or are using child labour?
Yet despite the complexity of the situation the first world whine for fair trade and trade sanctions still resonates. It seems not even to have occurred to all you brilliant leftists that action against countries violating the core standards does not need to and should not take the form of the trade sanctions, which Milikan-backed Mr Nader, Mr Sweeney, and their chauvinistic followers are screaming for.
It could for example take the form of an embargo on arms sales to states which are repressing trade unionists and workers, or states and movements which are using child soldiers. Or it might mean cancelling all aid to such countries except humanitarian aid and assistance, for eliminating that particular practice--there is precedent here of Myanmar. It could make debt cancellation conditional on the benefits being used mainly to upgrade labour standards. If retailers or transnationals based in developed countries are involved in the violation of the Core Conventions in developing countries, the governments of all countries concerned could be fined, perhaps in proportion to their GDP, and the proceeds used to fund the elimination of child labour and other violations of the Core Conventions.
But Mr Sawicky, Ms Ehrenreich and Mr Henwood obviously thought the right to impose trade sanctions was so important that they helped Mr Bush to come into office by making a symbolic statement on behalf of the hopelessly provincial Mr Nader. Now we have a Bush administration coming into power which roll back any advances made in relation to North Korea, heighten the punishment of the Iraqi people, and put to death more American minorities.
Mr Ingram, once you grow up, you will realize that the American left, not I, should be the object of your derision.
With holiday greetings, Jan
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