>from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>subject: NGOs in Havana. Unemployment a "hindrance"
> © Copyright GRANMA INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL EDITION. La Havana. Cuba
>
> NGOS OF THE SOUTH MEET IN HAVA
> Reversing inequality
>BY RAISA PAGES (Granma International staff writer)
>
>THE contemporary world is like a cage where foxes abound and devour
>vulnerable and unprotected prey.
>
>Can the defenseless free themselves from these beasts? The ancestral
>and wise advice of strength in unity, in the face of evil, continues
>to be valid on the threshold of the third millennium.
>
>If the weak stick together, cooperate, exchange and search for
>authentic solutions which expose the adversaryÕs weak spot, there
>will be hope for a better world.
>
>These arguments rallied, from different parts of the world, about a
>hundred delegates from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from
>almost 30 countries of the South who, for three days in Havana,
>highlighted the need to increase civil societyÕs ability to reverse
>the mechanisms responsible for the unequal distribution of wealth.
>
>There are abundant macro-economic figures demonstrating the ill-fated
>consequences of the neoliberal model for the underdeveloped world.
>
>Neoliberal globalization is portrayed as the last train which the
>South must immediately board. If it does not reach the platform
>quickly, it will not even be able to get on the last car and will
>plunge into development apartheid, sinking deeper and deeper into
>poverty, according to those who support this perspective.
>
>This unique line of thinking which portrays the majority of the world
>as being in the hands of large companies engaged in global
>operations, necessarily sweeping away the national dimension, was
>analyzed during the conference by Osvaldo Mart'nez, director of the
>Center for Research on the World Economy (CIEM); Roberto Verrier,
>president of the EconomistsÕ Union of Cuba (ANEC); and Dr. Ram-n Pez
>Ferro, director of the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of
>Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL), which hosted the event
>together with other Cuban NGOs such as the Economic Society of
>Friends of the Country.
>
>The attempt to eliminate borders is a consequence of a spiderÕs web
>which has been woven over five centuries, since the beginnings of
>capitalism. Only now this globalization, neoliberal in name, is not
>the same as that which began two or three centuries ago. Other
>features characterize it, such as the search for new markets, that
>are not the classic ones of goods and services, but rather currency
>and financial capital, which operate on a round-the-clock basis and
>are interconnected to an international network.
>
>Not only commercial organizations and financial institutions figure
>among the new actors promoted by neoliberal tendencies; there are
>also other actors on the international scene which struggle for
>social justice: NGOs, a growing phenomenon, the presence of which has
>been apparent on several occasions, such as the Seattle protests, in
>the face of the failure of the World Trade Organization meeting.
>
>The proposals that rich countries put to the South as their main
>arguments for development are arguments which they themselves have
>not put into practice. The case outlined by the CIEM director during
>the conference provided proof of this.
>
>With the suspension of protective tariffs for the internal market and
>their opening up to international trade, these neoliberal recipes
>were not applied by the main developed countries of Europe and Japan
>during the 1913-1993 period.
>
>On the contrary, they closed off their economies, which is evident
>from the total sum of their trade and gross domestic products (GDP).
>The only country with some degree of openness during that period was
>Germany.
>
>The reduction of the stateÕs role to that of guardian is a policy
>not applied by the majority of developed countries, as public
>expenditure and the GDP continued to grow between 1970 and 1995,
>according to research.
>
>PASSPORT TO A GLOBAL VILLAGE
>
>Until now, humanity has never had such scientific and technical
>potential at its disposal, capable of transforming the world into a
>global village. There is enough accumulated knowledge to allow
>humanity to enjoy widespread equitable welfare, but the singular
>paradox is that inequality is increasingly immense.
>
> Can the 300 million people in the world
> without running water consider themselves
> inhabitants of this alleged global village? Or
> the 35 million unemployed, not counting the
> other ten million who have lost hope of
> finding a job and therefore do not even figure
> in official figures?
>
> Do the 235 million poor of Latin America, half
>the population of the region, have access to this global village?
>Only finance capital, highly qualified professionals of the first
>world and those immigrants who are willing to take on work rejected
>by comfortable citizens in wealthy nations have passports giving them
>access to this macro world.
>
>"NGOs of the South must exchange scientific knowledge, we cannot lag
>behind in technology," said Winston Mison, researcher at the
>Institute of African Studies, based in South Africa.
>
>The South African representative also went on to urge "restructuring
>the North-South discourse to achieve greater transparency in the
>International Monetary Fund and the World Bank."
>
>Unity among the representatives of civil society with regard to the
>powerful appears in the text of the final document drawn up by the
>conference, which was officially closed by Cuban Deputy Foreign
>Minister Jorge Bola-os.
>
>Likewise, a declaration was made in favor of the immediate return of
>Cuban child Eliýn Gonzýlez, illegally retained for more than three
>months by the corrupt ultra-right wing in Miami.
>
>Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe P*rez Roque held a discussion with
>delegates during the final session of the conference, which he
>described as an excellent forum for debate on the problems faced by
>the South, the conclusions of which would be very useful for the next
>South Summit to be held in Havana in April.
>
> **************
>from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> © Copyright GRANMA INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL EDITION. La Havana. Cuba
>
> Unemployment and poverty, a hindrance in new times
>
>¥ More than a century ago, workers were fighting for an eight-hour
>day ¥ Now the hardest task is to maintain employment levels and to
>prevent the mergers of huge enterprises from abolishing those gains
>
> BY JOAQUIN ORAMAS
>
>THERE is so much talk of globalization that sometimes I think that
>less informed persons perceive this technological trade process and
>its economic, political and social repercussions as pie in the sky.
>However, nothing is further from the truth; it could be viewed in
>that way by privileged minorities whom it favors, but those who
>suffer from growing marginalization in the developing and even
>industrialized countries do not see it that way.
>
>Nor do I believe that the presidents, heads of state and other
>leaders scheduled to meet in Havana in April for the South Summit
>would describe it in those terms.
>
>This phenomenon is occurring because globalization is being generated
>in the superstructure, and the people are far removed from that, thus
>feeling its consequences but lacking any decision-making power over
>this process, which has even eluded the power of states.
>
>The unbridled and uncontrolled activity of powerful transnationals,
>as part of the process of globalization, is leading to an
>accumulation of wealth and power that transcends borders and
>continents, in order to take over markets and valuable and strategic
>resources.
>
>MEGA-MERGERS: NEW SUPERPOWERS
>
>These new economic superpowers are seeking planetary domination and
>their presence can be felt in significant activities. Through these
>mega-mergers they are establishing a giant stature in sensitive
>sectors of the economy, under the domination of the largest
>industrialized powers. During recent years, hundreds of
>transnationals have merged operations involving billions of dollars
>and, in this way are gaining control of the market in
>distinct spheres of production and trade. This wave of absorption on
>the part of large companies is causing alarm among consumers and
>small- and medium- sized businesses which are unable to compete.
>
>There are recent examples. In France, the merger of the Carrefur
>and Promodes supermarkets allowed them to invoice close to $5 billion
>USD in January, by extending their networks in Europe, Turkey and
>Brazil. Their growing sales domination is giving rise to protest in
>various sectors, warning of their monopolistic pretensions.
>
>There is much concern over the merger of large aluminum companies
>among metal workersÕ unions in Brazil, Guyana, India, Australia,
>Jamaica and the United States that give rise to an enormous
>consortium that concentrates within a single entity the largest
>production of this metal, used extensively in the automotive and
>aerospace industries and by container and sheet iron manufacturers.
>
>Only the most competitive and cost-efficient factories will survive,
>say some experts, but they do not detail the fate of the tens of
>thousands of workers who will lose their jobs in various countries.
>
>As the result of joining the mega-company, production levels have
>increased at Alumar, the principal manufacturers of Brazilian
>aluminum, but 1200 workers were laid off. The threat to other
>countriesÕ aluminum plants is a latent one.
>
>The recent announcement of PfizerÕs takeover of its rival, Warner
>Lambert, created the largest pharmaceutical company in the United
>States and the second largest in the world, with trading worth $90
>billion USD. The aims of this operation include control over the
>sales of a well-known anti-cholesterol medicine manufactured by
>Warner Lambert. The operation has created a giant with a sales
>capacity of $28 billion USD, of which $21 billion corresponds to
>prescription medicines alone.
>
>On the other hand, the Upjohn pharmaceutical consortium announced
>net profits of $944 million USD for last year, with notable growth in
>its 36 factories distributed throughout the United States, Sweden and
>a further 28 countries, while its subsidiaries operate in 60. The
>consortium is planning to merge with the powerful U.S. pharmaceutical
>and biotechnological company Monsanto, creating an operation worth
>$27 billion USD.
>
>The merger carousel is acquiring greater impetus this year, although
>it is nothing more than the result of massive operations in the last
>decade involving large automotive and truck factories,
>telecommunications companies, banking corporations, and iron, steel
>and machine giants. In 1996 these exceeded $600 billion USD, a figure
>left behind in 1997 with $700 billion USD, while in the last two
>years of the Õ90s they exceeded $800 billion USD. At the same time,
>the number of unemployed is growing, leading to the situation where
>almost one third of the planetÕs labor force is out of work or
>underemployed.
>
>IS THE ERA OF REGULAR EMPLOYMENT OVER?
>
>Technological development is important, but there is shocking news of
>the construction of capital-intensive projects, like that of the
>liquefied gas plant worth $1 billion USD which will employ only 86
>persons in Trinidad and Tobago. We must ask ourselves what we will to
>do with the one billion unemployed on a planet of six billion people,
>with development concentrated in a few countries, while 48 nations
>with a total population of 600 million are condemned to
>marginalization.
>
>Some studies talk of restructuring the labor force, "because we are
>leaving behind the era of regular work and a complete shift." They
>are seeking a new concept of labor as a consequence of the
>internationalization of investment activity and advances in
>microelectronics. They propose redefining employment strategies and,
>like the state in this world of a market economy, are unable offer
>millions of steady work.
>
>They are attempting to create a climate of resignation in the face of
>the exclusion of millions of people, condemned to passivity during
>the globalization process.
>
>The labor issue has come to the fore at international meetings like
>that of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
>(UNCTAD), but international organizations and governments have
>afforded greater importance to globalization and trade, as if
>unemployment were an inevitable evil and had no repercussions on
>poverty.
>
>Meanwhile, the mega-consortia are acquiring unheard-of power, greater
>than that of many countries, including developed ones. It is
>calculated that General MotorsÕ trade volume is in excess of the
>gross domestic product of Denmark, and that of Exxon oil is greater
>than NorwayÕs. What Latin American country could exceed Bill GatesÕ
>or MicrosoftÕs fortune totaling $90 billion USD?
>
>Whether this is the beginning of the 21st century or the end of the
>20th, it is a fact that we are witnessing the development of
>companies with planetary domination, while poverty and unemployment
>have burgeoned into one of the gravest hindrances of the epoch.
>
>The issue is not scientific and technological development in itself,
>but the form in which is applied as part of a policy of concentrating
>capital in the mega-corporations, so as to control the market and
>production, with the support of the industrialized countries. This,
>in turn adversely affects the least developed nations and the
>measures that have been taken to control the unbridled exploitation
>of resources. On the other hand, they forget that humanity can only
>survive if the exploitation of nature is undertaken in an orderly
>way, to attain sustainable development.
>
>It has been said that people are being crushed by the vertiginous
>process in which the mega-corporations are carving up the market and
>resources in the name of globalization. Nonetheless, there are
>indicators that a consciousness of struggle against this phenomenon
>is being acquired. Movements against transnational power have arisen
>in Europe, and the demands put forth by the Seattle protest are
>reminiscent of those put forth decades ago. In the late 1880s, the
>First International demanded the eight-hour working day, something
>that seemed extremely difficult to achieve, but it was won. Today the
>struggle is for employment, against poverty and in defense of the
>environment. Will history repeat itself? " JC
>
>
>
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