>Reply-To: marxism at lists.panix.com
>To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:@ns.hcr.net;>
>Subject: The Global Empire Strikes Back
>Date: Mon, 8 May 2000 21:46:24 -0400
>
>The Global Empire Strikes Back
>Sunday Herald [Glasgow, UK]
>May 7, 2000
>
>
>Last week's riots in London didn't just upset Middle England. The
>multinationals who were the targets of demonstrators' anger can no longer
>dismiss such action as the deeds of the lunatic fringe. Big business is
>retaliating with touchy-feely gestures, but will all its talk of a new
>eco-capitalism placate the movement against it?
>
>It wasn't the lecture you might have expected from the chief executive of
>one of the world's largest and richest petro-chemical companies. When
>BPAmoco's Sir John Browne took to the rostrum for his Reith lecture in
>Edinburgh last month, at the top of his agenda was the fight against world
>poverty and the need to preserve the world's natural resources.
>
>Browne isn't the only global capitalist to apparently discover a new social
>conscience and an interest in green concerns. American coffee giants
>Starbucks, for instance, last month agreed to sell brands which guarantee a
>fair price to coffee bean farmers.
>
>Not everyone, however, is convinced. The thousands who took to the streets
>in London's anti-capitalist demonstrations last week, and others who took
>part in smaller marches in Glasgow and Man chester, are in no doubt that
>BPAmoco, Starbucks and McDonald's are the enemy.
>
>While Middle England was outraged by violence at the demonstrations, and
>particularly by the image of Sir Winston Churchill's daubed statue, don't
>be
>fooled into thinking the guardians of capitalism dismiss such actions as
>those of a harmless lunatic fringe.
>
>"Capitalism is running scared and big companies are desperately trying to
>change their image," says Mark Lynas of Corporate Watch, which investigates
>the less salubrious activities of multinational firms such as BP,
>McDonald's, Gap and Nike. "BP, for example, which is one of the main
>corporations causing catastrophic global climate change, is now putting a
>device on top of petrol stations to generate solar power in order to put
>petrol into the car. That's a joke if ever there was."
>
>Sir John Browne's speech certainly raised hackles throughout the growing
>dissident movement. But for Dr Iain Ferguson, a lecturer in the department
>of applied social studies at Paisley University, the choice of subject
>matter was highly significant. "The fact BP feel obliged to stand up and
>say
>they'll fight poverty and tackle environment damage shows they are indeed
>very sensitive to pressures," says Ferguson. "Com panies such as BP are
>concerned and are trying to change their image and make minor adjustments
>to
>the way they do business. But there is also a concern that people are
>beginning to ask questions about the conditions under which goods are
>produced."
>
>Anyone who doubts how seriously corporations are taking the threat posed by
>the anti-capitalist movement need look no further than a book produced by
>Burson-Marsteller, a leading public relations firm in Washington DC. The
>publication, which was distributed to the firm's clients less than three
>months after violent demonstrations at the World Trade Organisation's
>Seattle summit last year, included profiles of dozens of groups who took
>part. It named leaders, gave website addresses, and outlined the aims and
>methods of individual organisations and sold itself as a "must have" for
>company executives with an eye on future world developments.
>
>"I don't believe this is simply another youthful movement which is here
>today and gone tomorrow," says Ferguson. "There is a real sense of
>pessimism
>in Britain at the moment. You only have to look at Ken Livingstone's
>victory
>in the London mayoral elections to realise people are looking for
>alternatives." Ferguson adds, though, that the absence of the trade unions
>in Britain from the anti-capitalist movement is still a significant
>feature.
>"If you look at the demonstration in Birmingham a few weeks ago and you
>link
>this with what happened in London on Thursday, what you have is a very high
>level of discontent. Trade unionism and the wider anti-corporate movement
>have not come together yet the way they did in Seattle, but all the
>elements
>are there. And if they do come together, that will be a very powerful force
>indeed."
>
>The majority of the people who took part in the protests were young. Some
>were students, some unemployed. Some belonged to environment groups such as
>Reclaim the Streets and Friends of the Earth, and, of course, some were
>anarchists intending to cause trouble.
>
>Their anger may have shocked political leaders and left the police looking
>unprepared, but it shouldn't have come as a surprise. The anti-capitalist
>movement is far from its infancy. Experts believe its roots lie in the
>Zapatista rebellion of January 1994 in southern Mexico. The rebels, who
>took
>over six towns and declared war on the Mexican government, which they
>accused of genocidal policies, were eventually defeated by the army.
>
>A year later, the remaining rebels were joined by representatives of the
>movement for landless peasants in Brazil to form the People's Global
>Action,
>and from there the message denouncing multi national companies along with
>the World Bank, the WTO and the Inter national Monetary Fund spread
>throughout South America and filtered into the USA. The World Bank, the WTO
>and the IMF had, they argued, propped up corrupt Third World regimes by
>lending billions of pounds to untrustworthy dictators. Not surprisingly,
>the
>elites failed to pay back the money, meaning that the debts were inherited
>by the population.
>
>When the movement arrived in North America it tapped into a zeitgeist of
>anti-consumerism. Third World debt still stands at more than $2 trillion,
>and paying the interest has become the single largest budget expense for
>dozens of poor countries, despite a high-profile campaign of debt
>cancellation backed by rock stars Bono, Sting and Bob Geldof.
>
>The Jubilee 2000 campaign persuaded the G8 to draw up a package reducing
>debt payments. But Oxfam described the initiative as something that would
>make little difference to countries faced with IMF austerity measures
>forcing debtor countries to cut public spending on health, education and
>welfare, devalue their currencies and lower barriers to foreign ownership
>of
>industries, land and assets.
>
>Throughout the late 1990s, opposition to the corporate world developed
>further, attracting a wide range of single-issue groups including small
>farmers, environmentalists, animal rights activists and trade unionists.
>By 1999, dozens of organisations dedicated to exposing multi nationals
>exploiting workers in the developing world and damaging the environment had
>sprung up across the US. They included Public Citizen, Global Exchange and
>the Direct Action Network, which led last year's demon stra tions. Through
>the internet and months touring the USA spreading the word, the groups
>managed to get 50,000 people on to the Seattle streets and claim a
>significant victory. An agreement cutting tariffs and trade barriers failed
>to materialise as negotiations broke down between developing countries and
>the world's wealthier nations.
>
>The movement is already thinking about its next course of action, planing
>to
>target the World Bank's annual meeting in Prague in September. There are
>also those who hope to show their power by shutting down a single
>corporation. Some businesses are retaliating. Yesterday, Nike announced
>withdrawing its sponsorship from American universities because of the
>activities of anti-capitalists.
>
>But why should people in Britain share the concerns about the WTO and World
>Bank felt by South American peasants and students, environmentalists and
>trade unionists in the USA? For Mark Lynas the answer is clear - the world
>is becoming a smaller place. He believes a growing inequality of wealth in
>Britain coupled with unease over GM foods and fears over BSE have fuelled
>distrust towards the government and made people more able to identify with
>the world's poor.
>
>"The gap between rich and poor is growing. In 1890, the pro portion of
>wealth divided between the developing world and the West was one to two, in
>1965 it was one to 30, now its one to 65," he says."I believe there is a
>growing awareness in Britain of people seeing themselves as part of a
>collective global movement. And they realise that if there is going to be
>an
>alternative to capitalism, it's got to be practised globally."
>
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