november 17, 1993
TRANSCRIPT
-
7/24/2019 November 17, 1993
1/5
December6 1993 The Nation.
68
ARTICLES.
AFTER NAFTA
Global Village
or
Global Pillage?
JEREMY BRECHER
or most of the worlds people, the New World
Economy is a disaster that has already happened.
Those it hurts cant escape it. But neither can they
fford to accept it.
So
many are now seeking ways
to reshape it.
When
I
first started writing about the destructive effects
of globalization three years ago, The North American Free
M e greementwas widely regarded s a done deal.The near
defeat of NAFTA reveals pervasive opular doubt about the
wisdom of an unregulated international market. The struggle
against NAFTA represented the first major efforty Americans
who have been urt
by
global economic integrationo do some-
thing about it. Like many mass movements,
t
included con-
tradictory forces, such as the Mexico-bashing bigotry of Pat
Buchanan, the populist grandstanding of
Ross
Perot and the
nationalistic protectionism of some in the labor movement.
But other elements of the struggle against NAFTA prefig-
ure a movement that could radically reshape the New World
Economy. Out of their own experiences and observations,mil-
lions of Americans have constructed a new paradigm for un-
derstanding the global economy. Poor and working people in
large numbers have recognized hat NAFTA s not primarily
about trade; it isabout the ability of capital to move without
regard to national borders. Capital mobility, not trade, is
bringing about the giant sucking ound of jobs going south.
For the first time in many years, substantial numbers of
people mobilizedo act
o
broad class interests. havent seen
a movement for years in whichso many people at the grass
roots took their
own
initiative. Typicalwas the unexpectedly
large, predominantly blue-collar anti-NAFTA rally in New
Haven, where
a
labor leader told me, We didnt turn these
people out.
The
New Global
Pillage
NAlTA became a symbol foran accumulation of fearsand
angers regarding the place of working people
in
the New
World Economy.The NorthAmerican economic integration
that NAFTA
was
intended to facilitate is only one aspect of
the rapid and momentous historical transformation from a
system
of
national economies toward an integrated global
economy. New information, communlcation, transportation
and manufacturing technologies, combined withariff reduc-
tions, have made it possible to coordinate production, com-
merce and finance
o
a world scale. Since
1983
the rate of
Jeremy Brecher isa historian and
o-edltor
of Global Visions:
Beyond the New World Order South End).
world foreign direct investmenthas grown four times as fa
as world output.
This transformation has had devastating consequence
They may be summarized as the seven danger signals o
cancerous, out-of-control globalization:
Race to the bottom.
The recent quantum leap in the abilit
of transnational corporations to
relocate
their facilities roun
the world in effect makes all workers,ommunities and coun
tries competitors for these corporations favor. The conse
quence is a race to the bottom in which wagesand soci
and environmental conditions tend to fall to the level of th
most desperate.This dynamic underlies
U.S.
deindustrializ
tion, declining real wages, eradication of
job
security, an
downward pressureon social spending and investment; it
also largely responsible for themigration of low-wage, en
ronmentally destructive industries to poor countries likeMe
ico and China.
ational governments haveost
much
of theirpower
to
direct their
own
econorniex
Global stagnation. As each work force, community o
country seeks to become more competitive by reducing i
wages and its social and environmental overheads, the resu
is a general downward spiral in incomes and social and m
terial infrastructures.Lower wagesand reduced public spend
mean less buying power, leadingo stagnation, recession an
unemployment. This dynamic is aggravated by the accumu
lation of debt; national economies in poor countries and eve
in
the United States become geared o debt repayment at th
expense of consumption, investment and development. Th
downward fall is reflected inhe slowing of global NP grow
from almost
5
percent per year inhe period
1948-1973
to on
half that in the period
1974-89
and to mere crawl sincehe
Polanzatron
of
haves andhave-nots.
As
a result of glo
alization, the gap between rich and poor is increasing bot
within and between countries around the world. Poor
U.
communities boast world-class unemployment and infan
mortality. Meanwhile, tensof billions of dollars
a
year flo
from poor to rich regions of the world, in the form of deb
repayment and capital flight.
oss of democratic control.National governments have
much of their power to direct their own economies. The abi
ity ofcountriestoapply socialist or even Keynesian echnique
in pursuit of development, full employmentr other nation
economic goals has been undermined by the power ofcapit
to pick up and leave. Governmental economic poweras bee
further weakened throughout the world by neoliberal politi
movements that have dismantled government institutions fo
regulating national economies. Globalization has reduced th
power of individuals and communitles o shape their destini
-
7/24/2019 November 17, 1993
2/5
686 The Nation.
December
6. 1993
Walter Wriston, former chairman of Citicorp, recently
boasted of how 200 000monitors in trading rooms
all
over
the world now conduct a kind of global plebiscite on the
monetary and fiscal policies of he governments issuing ur-
rency.
. .
There is no way for
a
nation to optout. Wriston
recalls the election ofardent socialist FrancoisMitterrand
as French President in
1981.
The market took one look at
his
policies andwit in
ix
months the capital flight forcedim
to reverse course.
Udettemd ttumnational corpotutions.
ransnationals have
become the worlds most powerful economic actors,et there
re
o
international equident s
o
national antitrust,
consum
er
protection and other laws that provide a degree of corpo-
rate accountability.
Unaccountable global institutions.
The loss of national
economic control has been accompanied by a growing con-
centration of unaccountable power in international institu-
tions like the InternationalMonetary Fund, the World Bank
and the General Agreementn Tariffs and h d e
GATT).
For
poor countries, foreign control has been formalized in the
World Banks structural adjustment plans, but I.M.F. de-
cisions and G A m rules affect the economic growth rates of
ll
countries. The decisions of these institutions
also
have
an
enormous impact on the global ecology.
Global
c o f l i c t . Economic globalizations producing chaotic
and destructive rivalries. n a
swirl
of self-contradictory strat-
egies, major powers and transnationals use globalnstitutions
like
GATT
to impose open markets on their rivals; theypur-
sue trade
ars
against one another; and they
t ry
to construct
competing regional blocs likehe European Community and
NAFTA. In past eras, such rivalries have ultimately led to
world war.
In sum the result of unregulated globalizationas been the
pillage of the planet and its peoples.
lhnsnational
Economic Programs
What are the alternatives o destructive globalization?The
right offers racism nd nationalism. Conventional protection-
ism offers no solution. Globalization has also intellectually
disarmed the left and rendered national left programs ounter-
productive. Jimmy Carters sharp turn to the right in
1978;
Francois Mitterrands rapid abandonment of his radicalpro-
g r a m the acceptance of deregulation, privatizationnd trade
ROCKEFELLER RESIDENT
FELLOWSHIPS IN FEMINISM
AND VISUAL CULTURE
We invite proposals for research on the intersec-
tions of race ethnicity and sexuality in visual
representation. One year appointment.
32,000
stipend. Application deadline: February5 1994.
Send project description CV three
letters
of
reference to: Director Susan.Anthony Center
University of Rochester 538 Lattimore Hall
Rochester
NY 14627.
liberalization by poor countries from India to Mexico
and even the decision ofEastern European elites to abandon
Communism-all reflect in part the failure of national lef
policies.
But the beginnings of a new approach emerged from the
anti-NAFTA movement itself. Rather than advocate pro
tectionism-keeping foreign products out-many NAFTA
opponents urged policies that would raise environmental
labor and social standards
in
Mexico,
so
that those standard
would not drag down those in the United States and Cana
da. This approach implied that people indifferent countrie
have common interests in raising he conditions
of
those
a
the bottom.
Those harmed
by
theN ewWorld
Economy need notbepmsive
victim.
Indeed, the struggle against
NAFTA
generated new trans
national networks based
n
such common interests.A North
American Worker-to-Worker Network links grass-rootsabo
activists in Mexico, the United States and Canada via con
ferences, tours, solidarity support and a newsletter. Mujer a
Mujer similarly links womens groups.he Highlander Cen
ter, Southerners for Economic Justice, the Tennessee Indus
trial Renewal Networkand a number of unions have organ
ized meetings and tours to bring together Mexican and U.S
workers. There are similar networks in other parts of the
world, such
as
Peoples Plan
21 in
the Asian-Pacific nd Cen
tral American regions and the Third WorldNetwork n
Malaysia.
These new networks are developing transnational pro
grams to counter the effects of global economic restructur
ing. Representatives from environmental, labor, religious
consumer and farm groups from Mexico, the United State
and Canada have drawn up A Just and Sustainable Trad
and Development Initiative for North America. A paralle
synthesis, From Global Pillage to Global Village, has bee
endorsed by more than sixty grass-roots organizations
Related proposals by the Third World Network have recen
ly been published s Towards a New North-South Econom
ic Dialogue.
Differing in emphasis and details, these emerging alter
native programs are important not only because of the
so
lutions they propose but also because those solutions have
emerged fromadialogue rooted in such diversity of group
and experiences. Some require implementation by nationa
policy; some by international agreement; some can be im
plemented by transnational citizen action. Taken together
they provide what might be described as seven prescrip
tions for the seven danger signals of the unregulated globa
economy:
Internatronal rights and standards.To
prevent competiti
from resulting in race to the ottom, several of theseroup
-
7/24/2019 November 17, 1993
3/5
December 6, 1993 The Ndion. 68
want to establish minimumhuman, labor and environmental
rights and standards, as the European Communitys social
charter
was
designed to do. The nternational Metalworkers
Federation recently proposedten-point World Social har-
ter, which could be incorporated into GATT.
A Just and SustainableTrade and Development Initiative
for North America spells out in some detail
an
alternative
to NAFTA that would protect human and worker rights,
encourage workers incomes o rise in tep with productivity
and establish continental environmental rights, such as the
right to
a
toxics-free workplace and community. Enforce-
ment agencies would be accessibleo citizens and could levy
fines against parties guilty of violations. The initiative espe-
cially emphasizes the rights of immigrants. Activists from
nongovernmental organizations in all three countries have
proposed a citizens commissiono monitor the human, labor
and environmental effects of trade and investment.
Upwardspiral. n the past, government monetary and fis-
cal policy, combined with minimum ages, welfare tate pro-
grams, collectivebargaining and other means of raising the
purchasing power of have-nots, did mucho counter recession
and stagnation within national economies. Similar measures
are now required at international levels to counter he tenden-
cy
toward
a
downward spiral of inadequate demand in the
global economy.The Third World Network calls n the I.M.F.
and World Bank to replace their ruinous structural adjust-
ment plans with policieshat meet the broad goalsof devel-
opment rather than the narrower goal of satisfying the
needs
of
the creditors. It also demands a reduction of de-
veloping country debt. A Just and Sustainable d e nd De-
velopment Initiative proposeshat the remaining debt service
be paid in ocal currency into a democratically administered
development fund. Reversing the downward spiral lso ulti-
matelyr quir sa global Keynesianismn which international
institutions support, rather than discourage, national full-
employment policies.
An upward spiral also requires rising income for those at
the bottom-something that can be encouraged by interna-
tional labor solidarity. Experiments in cross-border organizing
8.P
_
>7 *B
g
by U S unions like the Amalgamated Clothing and Texti
Workers and the United Electrical Workers, in cooperatio
with independent unions in Mexico, aim to defeat transna
tionals whipsawing by improving the wages and condition
of Mexican workers.
Redistribution r o m haves to have-nots.
A
Just andSu
tainable Trade and Deirelopment Initiative calls for com
pensatory financing to correct growing gaps between ric
and
poor.
model would be the
European
Communityfund
that promote development in its poorer members. The Thir
World Network l l s for commodity agreementso correct th
inequities in the Souths terms of trade. It also stresses th
need to continue preferential treatmentor the South
in
GAT
and in intellectual property protection rules.
Strengtheneddemocracy.
NAFTA
GATT and simil
agreements should ot be used-as they now can be-to pre-
empt the rightof localities, states, provincesnd countries t
establish effective labor, health, safety and environment
standards that are higher than the guaranteed minimum i
international agreements.Above all democratizationrequir
a new opportunity for people at the bottom to participate i
shaping their destiny.
Codesof conduct for transnational Corporations.
Sever
transnational grass-roots groups
all
for codes
f
conduct th
would, for example, require orporations to report investme
intentions; disclosehe hazardous materials theymport; ba
employment of children; forbid discharge of pollutants; r
quire advance otification and severance pay when peration
are
terminated; and prohibit company interference with
organizing. UnitedNations discussions
of
such a code, lon
stymied by U.S. ostility, should be revived.
While the ultimate goal is to have such codes mple
mented by agreements among governments, global publ
pressure and cross-border organizing can begin to enforc
them. The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, for e
ample,
a
group of religious, environmental, labor, Latin
and womens organizations in Mexico nd theUnited State
has issued a code of conduct for U.S.corporations in
Me
ico and has used corporate campaign techniques
to
pre
-
7/24/2019 November 17, 1993
4/5
688
The Nation. December 6 199
sure them to abide by its labor and environmental provi-
sions.
Reform of
international institutions. Citizens should call
on theU.N. to convene a second Earth Summit focusing on
democratizing he
I.M.F.
and the World Bank, and consider
formation of new institutions to promote equitable, sustain-
able and participatory development. International citizen
campaigns, perhaps modeled on the Nest16 boycott and the
campaign against World Bank-funded destruction of the
Amazon, could spotlight these institutions.
Multiple-level regulation. In place of rivalrymong coun-
tries and regions, such programs implysystem of democrat-
ically controlled publicnstitutions at every level, rom global
to local.
After NAFTA Globalization From Below
These proposals provide no short-term panacea; they are
objectives to organize around.
The New
World Economy isot
going to vanish from the political agenda. Neither will the
passions and political forces aroused by the
NAFTA
debate.
Many of he same issues will resurfacen connection with the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum and with G AV.
As
the fiftieth anniversaries of the I.M.F. and World Bank
approach, calls for heir reform are beingounded all over he
world.
The struggle against NAFTA has shownhat those harmed
by the New World Economy need not be passive victims.So
many politicians were so unprepared for the strength of the
anti-NAFTA movement because it representedan eruption
into the political arena of people who ave long been demobi-
lized. But to influence their economic destinies effectively,
they needa movement that provides an alternative to the Ross
Perots and
Pat
Buchanans. Such a movement must ct on the
understanding that the unregulated globalization of capital
is really worldwide attack
of
the haves on the have-nots. And
it must bring that understanding to bear on every affected
issue, from local layoffs to the world environment. From
Global Pillage to Global Village suggests
a
vision to guide
such a movement:
The mternationalization of
capital, produalon and labor
is now
being followed
by
the internationalization
f
peoplesmove
mentsandOrganizations.
Building
peoples nternational
organizations and solidaritywll be our revolution
from
with
MOVING?
Send both your old mail-
ing label and your new
address to:
THE NATION
P.O. Box
10763
Des
Moines
IA
50340-0763
Please allow
6
weeks for
processing.
PROBLEMS?
f you have any problems
or questions regarding
your subscription, please
write to
us a t
the address
to the left,
o r
call:
1
8 0 0 ) 333-8536
7 am to 11 00 prn
CST
Monday
to Friday
800am t o600p m CS T
Saturday Sunday
in:
a civil soclety without borders. This internationalism
or
globahzatlon
from
below
will be
the
foundation for turn
ing the global pillage into a participatory and sustainable
lob-
al village.
The organizations that have led he fight againstNAFTA
have a responsibility not to retreat to parochial concerns.The
must regroup nd begin addressing the broader impact oco
nomic globalization on people and planet.
YELTSINS ELECTIONS
Make
Them
Trulv
Democratic
r /
BORIS KAGARLITSKY
E
ections in Russia, which President Boris Yeltsin
has set
or
December, will be conducted accord
to the governments script, nder the government
control and by the governments rules. The Cen
tral Election Commission, appointed by Yeltsin and com
posed mainly ofurncoat former deputies,
is
denying the ri
to participate in its work not just to representatives
of
the op
position but to anyone with any degree of competence.
Throughout October, the commission
as
concerned main
with mapping out electoral districts. This was done in such
a manner that regions that had voted against Yeltsin in th
April 1993 referendum had anaverage of590 000 voters pe
electoral mandate, while in pro-Yeltsin districts the corre
sponding figurewas only 456 000. On the scale of he countr
as a whole, this means that millions of votesast for opposi
tion candidates will simply not count.
In any case, Westernlection observers will watch onlyh
people actually putting their ballots into thebox. The prep
aration for the elections and the formation of local electio
commissions, which will determine the registration of can
didates locally nd are supposed o createa level playing ield
are now under way, but without outside scrutiny. Foreigner
to use a Russian saying,will see how we obble theporridge
but not how It was cooked up. The independence of interna
tional observers will be severely restricted. They must regi
ter with the election commission, which mayt
ny
time stri
them of their authority
or
even deport them.
The present lackof oversightis in itself, sufficient reaso
to refuse to participate in the forthcoming elections, just a
democratic circles in Russia refused in
905
to participate in
the rigged Bulygin Duma. But boycott would make se
only if the majority
f
the opposition were united. On the co
trary, almost all opposition forces, from the Centrists to the
Communists, which criticized Yeltsins plans to elect the il
legal parliament, have already announced their willingnes
to take part in the vote. Only he Federation
of
Independen
~ ~~~
B o r n Kagarlrtsky
s a
political actrvrsl and
founding
mem
ber of Russias Party
of
Labor. He
is
the author of Th
Thinking Reed and Farewell Perestroika both Verso .
-
7/24/2019 November 17, 1993
5/5