PHA-Exchange> Food for a fair and sensitive thought

[Claudio]

Human Rights Reader 105

 
Is there such a thing as a fair and human-rights-sensitive (Capitalist) Globalization?
 

1. Did you know that half the people you know are below average? And that

42.7% of the statistics are made-up on the spot?

 

2. The above not withstanding, a tiny sample of statistics is called-for here to start a discussion on this topic: In 2003, the 400 richest Americans had a total annual income of U$69 billion --more than the economic performance of five African countries combined. (G. Sachs)   The richest one-tenth of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean earn 48% of the total income while the poorest tenth earns 1.6% (World Bank). The income mobility that does exist and has been documented does little to erase this extreme concentration of income and wealth in the hands of a few. The Human Development Index (HDI) has actually gone backwards in 40 countries. [Furthermore, there is evidence now that around U$130 billion has been misappropriated from WB loans since the Bank was established 60 years ago. (As a reference, total ODA in 2003 was U$68 billion). (D+C)].   So, "unless something changes, poverty in sub-Saharan Africa may not be  halved before 2146". (E. Herfkens, Executive Coordinator, MDGs).

 

3. But the main focus of this Reader is human (people's) rights, no? So, let me leave you with one simple additional thought: It is importantly the non-recognition of workers rights that explains why income disparity is as pronounced as it is.  

 

4. But the rich countries are trying to help the poor! --you will say. Well, let's look at another sample here:

-The G8 seem to promote mostly that which costs nothing --such as good governance; 

-they wrongly feel that focusing on politics or human rights (HR) deters attention from getting the macroeconomic fundamentals right;  

-they proclaim the hegemony of economics over other social sciences and over people's rights;

-to prove the above, they carry out econometric studies with a clear neoliberal ideological bias;

-with a 'do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-did' attitude, they impose on poor countries  practices that are the exact opposite of what they historically did to become developed themselves;

-to achieve the above, they use the ethnocentric (pro-G8) approaches of the WB, the IMF and the WTO which have given us Structural Adjustment and TRIPS. [The IMF, the WB and the WTO are actually chosen as avenues by which the business and political elites of the G8 countries operate to rule the global economy and to dictate to the rest of the countries of the world how they should be run]. 

 

5. With all these facts (and this is just a tiny sample), it is just alarming to see how poorly the main theories of established-Northern-development-policy stand up to empirical scrutiny:

-Isn't it thus time, at the WTO for example, that we much more forcibly demand a 'trade-round-for-the-poor-and-the-rightless'?

-Isn't it time we insist that the most effective form to get development going is still the consistent waiver of unpayable debt? 

-Isn't it time governments around the world stop aggravating the 'level-of-social-debt' towards their citizens --especially the 'nothing-holders' among them?

 

6. The neoliberal slogan of 'bad government and good market' at the core of Capitalist Globalization is dead in the words of the latter's own proponents. (F+D 41:1)  [For decades, consumption has been determining not only our daily lives, but also the world economy; for many people, consumption has become their purpose in life]. So, now, other disciplines are being brought-in to inject new life into bare-market-economy-concepts; the role of governments to regulate greedy markets is becoming more accepted. 

 

7. From our perspective, the globalization of the world market economy has failed to defuse existing HR violations --and conservative leaders are still showing an apparent reluctance to de-facto introduce the adjustments needed for decreasing the same violations. In short, in HR terms, the global market integration has proved to be costlier than expected.

 

8. Another ever-recurring issue in the era of Capitalist Globalization is the issue of democracy and governance. Unfortunately, the West (especially  the US administration) has given democracy a bad name.  On the other hand, the introduction of 'good governance' as a conditionality often ends up with a long wish-list doomed to failure. Political elites are resisting changes to the traditional political order they so ably control and fiercely defend --and they are getting away with it --wouldn't you agree?    Good-governance-reforms are thus isolated and more-cosmetic-than-structural with no positive impact on the HR situation. With good or with bad governance, representative democracy (with its veneer of altruism) has simply not been a responsive ground for desperately needed reforms. This is why an analysis of the political system/situation is necessary to begin with --as this Reader so often calls for.

[For us, good governance rather means more equitable and inclusive state-society relations (including the respect of HR!), and not only (vaguely) "the exercise of power to manage a nation's affairs". In the same vein, for us, national liberation is an integral element of any meaningful concept of HR. (Not being facetious, this should remind us that war --internal or external-- does not determine who is right; it determines who is left)]. 

  

9. Moreover, in too many countries, parliaments are dominated by status-quo powers. Political parties have lost their mediating function between state and citizen to be effective allies in the struggle for HR. The interests of markets and those the politicians-in-power are more often than not mutually reinforcing. The great challenge is to win-over/convince (or vote out) these pro-status-quo politicians all over the world --whenever they are holding-up progress in HR work.  For them, a clear conscience on HR issues is often a sign of a bad memory.

 

10.For a couple of decades at least, transnational corporations have been central players in Capitalist Globalization. But, as everybody knows, they do not concern themselves with HR --which they contend governments are supposed to enforce. Some have claimed that these corporations adopting HR positions risks privatizing (sic) HR which could lead them to use HR principles to their advantage --as has been the case with the Global Compact, i.e., the corporate cooperation (?) with the UN. (CETIM)  The non-binding nature of the concept of 'corporate-responsibility' (the latter seldom in HR terms) is basically nothing more than a useful tool for big corporations to polish and beef-up their corporate image. As HR activists, we need to move beyond demanding corporate-social-responsibility and demand full-corporate-social-and-environmental-accountability.

 

11. Finally, the inequality that Capitalist Globalization is bringing about day-in-day-out is the product of powerful economic and political interests and of weak policies for the channeling of the benefits of Capitalist Globalization to those most in need. Inequality is not 'simply happening'; it is a natural consequence of this globalization: inequality is being constructed by powerful economic and political interests and biased public policies. So, because the attainment of equity and HR is ultimately only achievable through social-action-geared-at-forcefully-demanding-needed-changes-in-public-policy, in a nutshell, all the above calls for the victims (nation states, organizations and individuals) to be mobilized in economic and political terms.

 

12. I thus end where I started and ask you: Is there such a thing as a fair and HR-sensitive Capitalist Globalization? I let you be the judge.

 

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City

claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn

____________________________

Mostly adapted from D+C 31:4, Apr, June, July, Aug/Sept and Oct 2004, F&D, 41:1, March 2004 (IMF), and Perspectives in Global Development and Technology, Vol 3, No. 1-2, 2004.
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