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Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble

Our global civilization today is on an economic path that is environmentally unsustainable, a path that is leading us toward economic decline and eventual collapse. China has eclipsed the United States in the consumption of most basic resources, and the western economic model-the fossil-fuel-based, auto-centered, throwaway economy-is not going to work. This book, which is available for download by chapter online, explains why business as usual-Plan A-cannot take us where we want to go. It is time for Plan B, time to build a new economy and a new world. Plan B has three components-(1) a restructuring of the global economy so that it can sustain civilization; (2) an all-out effort to eradicate poverty, stabilize population, and restore hope in order to elicit participation of the developing countries; and (3) a systematic effort to restore natural systems. (Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute, 2006)

http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/Contents.htm

(Added: Thu Nov 16 2006   Hits: 306)

Globalisation: the dangers and the answers

London School of Economics academic David Held is widely acknowledged as a key thinker on Globalisation. In this article he argues that Washington-led neo-liberalism and unilateralism have failed the world. And that it is urgent that we find a way beyond the legacy of these ideas. Held argues that moving beyond the Washington consensus calls for a new model of globalisation; one that works for humans everywhere. This essay is forms part of a larger debate on globalisation hosted on opendemocracy.net. Included in the broader debate are articles (from both the left and right) which dispute Held's findings. There are also several articles in which Held answers his critics.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-vision_reflections/article_1918.jsp

(Added: Mon Feb 13 2006   Hits: 450)

How we shop until Chinese workers drop

In this column in the Independent, English journalist Johann Hari reports on the stifling of nascent worker protection laws in China. The culprits in this being western business groups who successfully lobbied the Chinese communist party to drop legislation designed to aid workers rights.

http://johannhari.com/archive/article.php?id=1107

(Added: Mon May 07 2007   Hits: 205)

A Fair Globalisation: The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization

The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization was established by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in February 2002. The Commission is an independent body. It was initiated to respond to the needs of people as they cope with the unprecedented changes that globalization has brought to their lives, their families, and the societies in which they live. The Commission has looked at the various facets of globalization, the diversity of public perceptions of the process, and its implications for economic and social progress. It has searched for innovative ways of combining economic, social and environmental objectives, based on worldwide expertise. It has made its recommendations seeking to build upon a broad consensus among all key actors.

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/wcsdg/

(Added: Thu Mar 11 2004   Modified: Thu Nov 01 2007   Hits: 340)

A New Revolution? Chinese Working Classes Confront the Globalized Economy

The number of protests in China today, the vast majority of them by the working classes, is quite extraordinary. According to the Chinese government, "mass incidents, or demonstrations and riots," rose to 74,000 in 2004, up from just 10,000 a decade ago, and 58,000 in 2003. (Rob Weil, Oakland Institute, Summer 2006)

http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/?q=node/view/371

(Added: Tue Oct 17 2006   Modified: Thu Jan 18 2007   Hits: 304)

Access to drugs: a suitable case for treatment

This article comments on the recently released WHO report "Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights". While the main message of the report - that governments should do more to increase poor people's access to medicines - will be likely to make much impact, it is in reading between the lines that the great debate of how to make globalisation benefit the poor is revealed. The absence of concrete proposals for change reflects not so much the panelists' lack of commitment as their inability to reach a consensus on how to reach the above goal. On one side are those who believe the solution lies in the hands of pharmaceutical companies, open markets, and governments that believe these should be allowed to operate with minimal interference. On the other are those whose main concern is that the current lack of available and accessible medicines for the poor is clear evidence of market failure and who believe governments have a responsibility to intervene. Such is the disagreement that half the panel's members felt it necessary to publish statements dissociating themselves from some of the report's conclusions. (David Dickson, Sci-Dev Net, 5 April 2006)

http://www.scidev.net/Editorials/index.cfm?fuseaction=readEditorials&itemid=187&language=1

(Added: Mon Apr 10 2006   Hits: 366)

An Agenda for Harnessing Globalization

Globalization reveals the liberating potential of the market for generating unlimited wealth and its blindness as a mechanism for distributing the consequences of this wealth. If world prosperity and security depend on leading the process of globalization toward producing equal opportunity, then creating mechanisms through which all people can participate in global prosperity must move to the forefront of the international agenda. Without such a strategy, there is a risk that the current wave of globalization might fail, a risk that has not been sufficiently emphasized. (Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart, Washington Quarterly, August 2006)

http://www.brookings.edu/views/articles/fellows/ghani20060901.pdf

(Added: Wed Oct 25 2006   Hits: 242)

Arundhati Roy on India, Iraq, U.S. Empire and Dissent

In this interview with Amy Goodman, the Indian writer speaks about nuclear weapons, the crisis in democracy, the war in Iraq, dissent and empire. (Democracy Now, 23 May 2006)

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/23/1358250

(Added: Thu May 25 2006   Hits: 367)

Baobabconnections

Baobabconnections is a website on globalisation made by people from various countries and backgrounds. We need to define problems and solutions together. Awareness is the first step to change, and things need to change...

http://www.baobabconnections.org/

(Added: Fri Aug 23 2002   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 532)

Breaking the cycle of violence - The Global Interconnectedness of Violence in a Globalising World.

Robin Luckham links the tragedy of September 11 and international responses to it to current thinking about 'new wars'. Robin Luckham is a Research Associate at IDS. His interests are around democratisation, military and security institutions and conflict.

http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/news/Archive2001/Luckham.html

(Added: Wed Dec 12 2001   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 572)

Bretton Woods Project

The Bretton Woods Project works as a networker, information-provider, media informant and watchdog to scrutinise and influence the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Through briefings, reports and the bimonthly digest Bretton Woods Update, it monitors projects, policy reforms and the overall management of the Bretton Woods institutions with special emphasis on environmental and social concerns.

http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org

(Added: Mon Aug 26 2002   Modified: Wed Jun 15 2005   Hits: 559)

Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA)

CAFCA promotes the concept of an independent Aotearoa based on policies of economic, military and political self-reliance, using Aotearoa's resources for the benefit of the people of Aotearoa, and refusing involvement in the self-serving military and economic treaties of big foreign countries. We oppose foreign control, irrespective of which country it involves. We oppose the exploitation of Aotearoa's people and resources by foreign companies, and any foreign military or intelligence activities in Aotearoa. CAFCA does not support the replacement of foreign exploiters with local ones. New Zealand big business interests are collaborating with foreign companies in the exploitation of its own country - its only loyalty is to improve profits. CAFCA IS NOT RACIST. We do not oppose the people of foreign countries, only the transnational corporations (TNC's) exploiting the people of New Zealand.

http://canterbury.cyberplace.org.nz/community/CAFCA/

(Added: Thu May 08 2003   Modified: Fri Feb 09 2007   Hits: 471)

Can Globalization Work for the World's Poor? (pdf)

Address by Mary Robinson to the Fifth CIVICUS World Assembly, 24 March 2004, Botswana. "My answer is yes, it can. In fact, I believe that our best hope of a more just world is through more, not less, connections between individuals, economies and cultures. We don’t need more walls of separation between nations and peoples. We know they can’t protect us from global challenges like AIDS or terrorism or global warming. We need instead, more connections, more bridges of understanding and shared responsibility."

http://www.realizingrights.org/?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=108

(Added: Thu May 13 2004   Modified: Thu Sep 21 2006   Hits: 561)

Can We Discern the Effect of Globalization on Income Distribution? (PDF)

By Branko Milanovic for the World Bank - "Here we have tried to discern the effects of globalization by using data from household surveys and by looking at the impact of openness (combined share of exports and imports in country's GDP) and direct foreign investment as a share of country's GDP, on relative income shares of low and high deciles. We find some evidence that at a very low income level, it is the rich who benefit from openness. As income level rises, that is for countries like Colomia, Chile or Czech republic, the situation changes and the relative income of the poor and the middle class rises compared to the rich (top deciles). It seems that openness makes income distribution worse before making it better-or differently that the effect of openness on country's income distribution depends on country's initial income level." (PDF 110Kb)

http://www.worldbank.org/research/inequality/pdf/wp2876.pdf

(Added: Thu Sep 18 2003   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 448)

Center for Economic Justice

Center for Economic Justice's (CEJ) mission is to strengthen international movements that counter corporate-driven globalization and to promote more just policy alternatives. CEJ aims to support, in concrete ways, the people most directly and negatively impacted, especially those in the global South, helping them gain political power and technical and funding support in their struggles for environmentally healthy, human-centered, and sustainable economies. CEJ provides information, analysis, technical support, networking opportunities, and strategy vehicles to empower, unite, and inform citizens' movements for economic justice. CEJ also links global South networks with U.S. community groups, activists, and policy advocates, with the goal of inspiring and strengthening cooperation.

http://www.econjustice.net/

(Added: Mon Jan 13 2003   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 491)

Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG)

An independent research and media group of progressive writers, scholars and activists committed to curbing the tide of "globalisation" and "disarming" the New World Order. The CRG webpage, based in Montréal publishes news articles, commentary, background research and analysis on a broad range of issues, focussing on the interrelationship between social, economic, strategic, geopolitical and environmental processes. The Centre's objective is to unveil the workings of the New World Order. War and globalisation go hand in hand, leading, in the post Cold War era, to the destruction of countries and the impoverishment of hundreds of millions of people.

http://www.globalresearch.ca

(Added: Mon Nov 26 2001   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 646)

Challenging the IFIs: Practical information and strategies for trade union engagement with international financial institutions

Trade imbalances between the North and the South continue to pauperize many developing countries, while austerity measures in the North coupled with the rigid application of market-driven policies have undermined social solidarity. All around the world, unions are facing difficult times, compounded by restrictive legislation introduced by governments to curtail the rights of workers' organizations, who see them as an obstacle to gaining a foothold in the global market. It is still not easy to challenge the IFIs that direct these changes, but it is essential. This 57 page report looks at the problems of economic globalisation and how trade unions can take action. (International Conference of Free Trace Unions (ICFTU, 2006)

http://www.icftu.org/www/PDF/IFIEN.pdf

(Added: Fri Jun 23 2006   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 295)

China Copes with Globalization: a Mixed Reveiw

After 25 years of reforms that have seen it shift towards a free market economy that is more open to foreign investment and trade, China has gained acceptance into the global trading and earned the praise of the World Bank and other economists who herald China as a great success story of economic globalization. As a magnet for foreign investment and an export powerhouse, its strong economic growth (averaging more than 9 percent annually over the past 25 years) has coincided with a dramatic drop in extreme poverty (people living on $1 or less per day), from 250 million people in 1978 to 30 million in 2000.This report argues however that official figures on exports and investments do not give a complete picture of the experience of the Chinese people during this period of rapid social and economic change. It looks at how the free market reforms have affected broader quality of life indicators such as equality, natural resources and the environment, health and education as well as work conditions and poverty. The report claims that many Chinese people are concerned that the leap into the global economic system and the WTO is generating serious problems, and highlights some of the efforts in China calling for alternative models. (Dale Wen, International Forum on Globalization, 2005)

http://www.ifg.org/pdf/FinalChinaReport.pdf

(Added: Wed Apr 19 2006   Modified: Tue Aug 15 2006   Hits: 332)

Citizens Global Platform "Towards Genuine Partnership"

Globalisation has made us globally more interconnected. The corporations operate multinationally and the manner they run their businesses affects not only their employees but also the living conditions of the local community in every business address. Technical development has incensed cross-border interaction of citizens in many different ways. By media and internet ideas from a totally different culture can break through and shape each others own way of life. Globalisation makes it harder and harder to draw the line between things considered of being in my responsibility and things belonging only to others. The CitizensGlobal Platform brings together civil society actors from South and North to find out together practical means to tackle the negative social and political impacts of globalisation and to make the best of it. The CitizensGlobal Platform is a joint initiatiative of the civil society actors of Tanzania and Finland open for all interested in global issues. The platform is a channel for public debate on globalisation and a virtual meeting room for strengthening co-operation between South and North and for planning the future actions. We believe that Finland and Tanzania represent well the problems of the economical globalisation in the North and the South. In both countries globalisation has forced state to cut down the public cervices and adapt to the rules of free trade. The citizens have been made to take more personal responsibility of their own well being. Socially and politically more just globalisation cannot be accomplished only through civil society activism. But the aim of our initiative is to find out the best practices to empower the citizens living in various conditions in South and North and become better heard in decision making concerning globalisation both in national and in international level. The CitizensGlobal Platform works with the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy. The initiative is co-ordinated by the Finnish UN Association.

http://www.globalplatform.fi/en

(Added: Tue Sep 28 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 475)

Confronting Empire by Arundhati Roy

"How to confront Empire?" is the question Arundhati Roy attempts to answer in this talk given at the 3rd World Social Forum. She uses the example of corporate globalisation in India to connect political and social dynamics associated with elite-led globalisation, and suggests not only to confront empire but to "lay siege" to it.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=51&ItemID=2919

(Added: Wed Jan 29 2003   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 635)

Consuming Social Justice

A growing number of consumer products in core regions of the global economy are designed and marketed to placate the conscience of the uncomfortable consumer. The author pinpoints three troubling contradictions that cast doubt on the potential of fair-trade discourse to provide a counter-politics to neo-liberalism and thus truly challenge poverty. The first is an unquestioned support for consumer sovereignty. The second concerns support for micro-lifestyle politics over politicised, public-sphere awareness. The third relates to the way in which fair trade can sometimes, perhaps unintentionally, normalise underdevelopment and over-consumption. Despite these objections, the author concludes that although there is no inevitable transition, conscientious consumption could serve as a conduit to a broader notion of citizenship, where an obsessive focus on individual 'choice', is replaced, or at least supplemented with a broader notion of community, sustainability, justice, and democracy. (Jose Johnston, excerpt from a chapter in the book Protest and Globalisation: Prospects for Transnational Solidarity, James Goodman (ed.), Sydney: Pluto Press, 2001)

http://www.arena.org.au/Archives/Mag%20Archive/Issue%2051/features51.htm

(Added: Wed Apr 12 2006   Modified: Thu Sep 14 2006   Hits: 348)

Convergence of the Trade and Finance Agendas: How The World Bank Group's Facilitation of the Trade

by Nancy Alexander, Citizens' Network on Essential Services (CNES). January 7, 2003. The paper presents ways in which the World Bank Group's Private Sector Development (PSD) Strategy helps to launch a third generation of adjustment lending focused on liberalizing investment regimes -- as well as launching work programs in procurement, domestic regulation, and services. These topics relate directly to WTO negotiations around expansion of existing agreements such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and proposed new issues such as investment and transparency in government procurement.

http://www.servicesforall.org/html/tools/convergence_trade_finance.shtml

(Added: Fri Feb 07 2003   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 510)

Corp-Focus

Corp-Focus is a moderated listserve which distributes the weekly column "Focus on the Corporation," co-authored by Russell Mokhiber, editor of Corporate Crime Reporter, and Robert Weissman, editor of Multinational Monitor magazine. Focus on the Corporation scrutinizes the multinational corporation - the most powerful institution of our time. Once a week, it reports and comments critically on corporate actions, plans, abuses and trends.

http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/corp-focus

(Added: Wed Jan 23 2002   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 472)

Corporate Responsibility and Globalization

A new business structure appears to be on the horizon as large corporations are now integrating activist demands into their business plans (Randall Frost, 27 January 2007).

http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/1433/1/

(Added: Thu Dec 20 2007   Hits: 67)

Cut the strings

February 1, 2003, The Guardian. Naomi Klein argues that the new grassroots politics needs more democracy - not more political strongmen.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,886781,00.html

(Added: Mon Feb 03 2003   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 427)

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