Feb/March 2001
It
Does Pay to Fight
by Jackie Alan Guiliano
Bipartisanship
at the Expense of the Citizenry
by Howard Zinn
The
Greens Great Opportunity
by Blair Bobier
DLC
Says Gore's Presidential Bid Ruined by Populist Message: Others Disagree
by Brian Hansen
Letter
from Porto Alegre
by Norman Solomon
Doing
the Right Things, Without Making Someone Wrong
by John Darling
Globalization
From Below
by Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello & Brendan Smith
Book
Review by Suzi Aufderheide
No Logo: Money, Marketing and the Growing Anti-Corporate Movement
by Naomi Klein
Book
Review by Gerry Cavanaugh
Hannibal
by Thomas Harris
Money
Talks
by Kayla Starr
America's
Food Safety Crisis Intensifies
by Ronnie Cummins
Coming
Home
by Jesse Wolf Hardin
The
Secret of the Valentines Angel
by Peter Melton
A
Prescription for Well-Being
by Peter Moore
Age-old
Concepts Benefit Modern Babies
by Pamela Jorrick
Cancer:
An Unexpected Way to the New Being
By Royal E. Alsup, Ph.D.
Book
Review by Kent Shew
Quantum Touch
by Richard Gordon
Cosmic
Calendar
By Salina Rain
(continued)
Globalization From Below
By Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello and Brendan Smith
The movement faces many potential pitfalls, and given the power of those it opposes, there is no guarantee that it can actually modify globalization enough to preserve people and environment, let alone to build a decent world order. But that is more likely to be achieved by means of a movement that is unified across the boundaries of countries, issues and constituencies than by any other approach. Globalization from below has the potential to change the power equation. Rarely in human history have ordinary people had such an opportunity to transform the world for the better.
Draft of an
Alternative Program for the Global Economy
Commenting on the Battle of Seattle, Newsweek wrote, "One of the most
important lessons of Seattle is that there are now two visions of globalization
on offer, one led by commerce, one by social activism." Globalization
from below’s vision has been articulated in scores of international statements
and above all in the movement’s own actions. The following summary is
designed to provide a win-win framework for the many constituencies converging
into globalization from below, providing ways that their needs, concerns,
and interests can be complementary rather than contradictory.
- Level labor,
environmental, social, and human rights conditions upward.
Globalization from above is creating a race to the bottom, an economic war of all against all in which each workforce, community, and country is forced to compete by offering lower labor, social, environmental, and human rights conditions. The result is impoverishment, inequality, volatility, degradation of democracy, and environmental destruction. Halting the race to the bottom requires raising labor, environmental, social, and human rights conditions for those at the bottom. Such upward leveling can start with specific struggles to raise conditions for those who are being driven downward. Ultimately, minimum environmental, labor, social, and human rights standards must be incorporated in national and international law. Such standards protect communities and countries from the pressure to compete by sacrificing their rights and environment. Rising conditions for those at the bottom can also expand employment and markets and generate a virtuous circle of economic growth.
- Democratize
institutions at every level from local to global. Globalization from above
has restricted the power of self-government for people all over the world.
At the heart of globalization from below lies democratization—making
institutions accountable to those they affect.
- Make decisions
as close as possible to those they affect. The movement for globalization
from below should aim to construct a multilevel global economy. In accordance
with the subsidiarity principle, power and initiative should be concentrated
at as low a level as possible, with higher-level regulation established
where and only where necessary. This approach envisions relatively self-reliant,
self-governing communities, states, provinces, countries, and regions, with
global regulation only sufficient to protect the environment, redistribute
resources, block the race to the bottom, and perform other essential functions.
- Equalize global
wealth and power. The current gap between the global rich and poor is unacceptable;
it is unconscionable to act as if it can be a permanent feature of the global
economy. It is equally unacceptable to assume that the rich countries of
the world can call all the shots regarding the global economy’s future.
Policy at every level should prioritize economic advancement of the most
oppressed and exploited people, including women, immigrants, racial and
ethnic minorities, and indigenous peoples. It should increase power, capability,
resources, and income for those at the bottom.
- Convert the
global economy to environmental sustainability. The world is in the midst
of a global environmental catastrophe. Ill-conceived economic activity is
disrupting the basic balances of climate and ecology on which human life
depends. Globalization is rapidly accelerating that ongoing catastrophe.
The sources of environmental destruction lie primarily in the wrongly developed
countries of the North and in the activities of global corporations in the
South. The only way to reverse this catastrophe is to halt the present dynamic
of globalization and meet human needs by technologies and social practices
that progressively reduce the negative impact of the economy on the environment.
- Create prosperity by meeting human and environmental needs. Today, an estimated 1 billion people are unemployed. Millions are forced to leave rural areas and migrate to cities or around the world seeking work. Meanwhile, the world’s vast need for goods and services to alleviate poverty and to reconstruct society on an environmentally sustainable basis goes unmet. A goal of economic policy at every level must be to create a new kind of full employment based on meeting those needs.
- Protect against global boom and bust. The era of globalization has been an era of volatility. Its repeated crises have destroyed local and national economies overnight and driven hundreds of millions of people into poverty. An unregulated global economy has led to huge flows of speculative funds that can swamp national economies. No one country can control these forces on its own. Yet neoliberal economics and the major economic powers have resisted any changes that might restrict the freedom of capital. Economic security for ordinary people requires just such restrictions.
Jeremy Brecher is the author of 8 books on labor and social history, including Strike! Brendan Smith was until recently on the staff of Congressman Bernie Sanders (IND-VT). Tim Costello is head of the Massachusetts Campaign on Contingent Work and author with Brecher of the video documentary Global Village or Global Pillage? (www.villageorpillage.org). This excerpt from the book Globalization from Below: The Power of Solidarity (Cambridge: South End Press, 2000; 800-533-8478; www.southendpress.org/books/global.shtml) originally appeared in The Nation, December 14, 2000.
