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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Human Rights Reader 121</FONT></P>
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size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ERA OF
NEOLIBERAL GLOBAL RESTRUCTURING.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 2in"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">Under capitalism, to lament
the current increase in inequality is to bemoan the economic growth paradigm
itself.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 323.05pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">1. In a world where 51 of
the world’s 100 biggest economies are corporations, capitalist globalization has
led to the urbanization and feminization of poverty and to widespread social
marginalization. One third of urban households worldwide live in absolute
poverty. Many rural households are female-headed.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 323.05pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">2. The international
community will not be able to move effectively against poverty and other human
rights (HR) violations until the neoliberal global restructuring that
Globalization promotes is modified by an ethic about which its proponents
continue to be terribly ambivalent.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 323.05pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">2a. [Pro-market globalizers
tell us: “One cannot throw away the huge gains from Globalization just because
some people are left out”. The easy counter-argument to this is that it is not
just ‘some’ people…Noteworthy also is the fact that books by anti-market,
anti-globalizers seem to have better arguments; but books by pro-market
globalizers seem to have better book sales].<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 323.05pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">3. Capitalist globalization
does not pursue its aims consistently; it tinkers with parts of the economic
system and it determines its means according to its ends, i.e., to maximize
short-term profit. Globalization certainly does not fight the most urgent evils
of society: it is for the good of share-holders, and not stake-holders! It makes
neighboring countries compete for foreign investors rather than foster common
growth strategies. It all boils down to elite pacts: local administrations and
Capital <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>gain from providing
international markets with cheap goods at the expense of workers who hardly earn
enough to survive.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 323.05pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">4. The IMF and the WB
--that pay lip service to be putting-a-human-face-on-globalization-- do not
practice enough self-criticism of the right kind and thus have demonstrated an
inability to learn from their mistakes. As an example, the World Bank’s
Development Policy lending that has replaced Structural Adjustment Programs
still suffers from some of the same major flaws. HR issues are not addressed or
even considered.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 323.05pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">4a. [There have, therefore,
been numerous calls for the democratization of International Financial
Institutions. The more progressive NGOs think that IFIs should at least consider
applying the ‘Double Majority Principle’ in which decisions would need a
majority vote from both the rich and the poor countries voting
separately].<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">5. On assessing progress
towards HR under capitalist globalization, political scientists are as divided
as economists about whether market reforms can be effectively implemented in an
equitable manner in democratic and less than democratic regimes.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The truth of the matter is that behind
free market forces, there are always persons/people biased by an ideology based
on narrow political interests (J. K. Galbraith) …which leave little (if any)
room for equity. Greed also drives these forces to periodic crises and these
crises are often self-fulfilling: they are the reaction to perceived and not
real risks. When risk is perceived, greedy investors ultimately display a ‘herd
behavior’; they panic and ‘run on the bank’ (actually ‘run on the
<U>country</U>’, as was shown in the recent Asian
crisis).<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">5a. [International
commodity prices are also volatile, because they are driven by the same greed
and herd behavior (see oil prices in the last 5 months). Other than herd
behavior, on average, low income countries record a so-called ‘commodity price
shock’ every 3.3 years].<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">In all these cases, common
people’ rights --including the right to health-- are the
losers.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">6. Economists are also fond
of using ‘models’. Often these are econometric. In HR work, we do not use such
models. We think gross abstractions make computer-simulated models irrelevant
--and models usually fit more developed countries; there, they are perhaps
somewhat less irrelevant; but they sure represent a straightjacket when applied
universally. One problem with relying on models is that solutions may seem far
easier than what they really are. Our analysis would be better informed by
assuming a greater anarchic state as a starting point rather than a pristine
world as portrayed by the models. One can only suspect that
elegance-rather-than-relevance is the appeal for the use of these models by our
friends the economists.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">7. Another thing that
irritates HR activists is the current call for ‘evidence-based data’, especially
in health. This concept, imported from clinical sciences, has seen calls to use
it in cases of HR violations…!? Is there a need for more evidence, I ask myself?
‘Evidence-based’ sometimes sounds to me like a collection of anecdotes, and one
could easily share the skeptics’ view that the plural of ‘anecdote’ is ‘no
data’! The naked truth behind many an ‘anecdote’ is that they sound good and
have some superficial plausibility, but, upon reflection and examination, they
are found to be largely devoid of much real substance or of real in-depth
analysis. (Mind you, the press actually has the habit of using such ‘anecdotes’
as an analytic tool of the ‘facts’ to explain away the real negative
consequences of capitalist globalization).<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman">7a. [The above is why, in
the HR domain, handling media contacts clumsily leads to inaccurate reporting;
so, there is a need for periodic, meaningful public relations campaigns by HR
activists].<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
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style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Claudio Schuftan, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City><st1:place>Ho Chi Minh
City</st1:place></st1:City></FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><A
href="mailto:claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>
</FONT></P></DIV><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Mostly
adapted from D+C 31:11, Nov 2004; 31:12, Dec 2004; 32:1, Jan 2005 and 32:3,
March 2005; and F&D, 41:1, March 2004 and 41:3, Sept
2004.</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>