------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Sept. 12, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
MUGABE APPLAUDED, POWELL JEERED: MASS ANGER BREAKS THROUGH AT EARTH SUMMIT By Leslie Feinberg If flowery speech were edible, the world's poor could feast on the rhetoric produced by the World Summit on Sustainable Development--dubbed the Earth Summit. Unfortunately, the conference was short on substance. The United Nations conference drew some 65,000 delegates from close to 200 countries and more than 100 heads of state to Johannesburg, South Africa, Aug. 26 to Sept. 4. This was not an international convention of activists working to protect the world's species. The real clout at this parlay came from behemoth transnationals like McDonald's, Nike, Nestle and British American Tobacco, as well as the oil giants. (Guardian Unlimited, Aug. 26) Environmental activists, expressing anger and alarm at the final back-room deal cut by officials, denounced the summit as "a waste of time and money." (CNN.com, Sept. 3) The 71- page "action plan" expected to pass muster by summit delegates at the close of the conference is all gums and no teeth. "It's worse than we could have imagined," Steve Sawyer, climate director for Greenpeace, told Reuters. (Sept. 3) The United States delegation, 130 members strong, was roundly denounced for its obstructionism. The draft of the document had included a modest proposal that by 2010, replenishable resources like solar, wind and tidal power would account for 15 percent of the world's total energy production. But the U.S. team filibustered and stonewalled until this humble formula was scrapped. The U.S. delegates did acquiesce on a recommendation to try to halve the number of people living without sanitation by 2015 and reduce the loss of endangered animals and plants by 2010. Today, one in four mammal species--key gauges of the ecosystem health--is at high risk of ceasing to exist in the near future. (BBC, July 15) Of course, even with a second term in office, Bush and Co. won't be in the Oval Office to be held accountable by then. And the final resolutions that the conference approves are not legally binding in any way, shape or form. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS The Bush delegation dug in their heels whenever they heard two words they found particularly odious: timetables and targets. U.S. officials said they prefer consensual, voluntary partnerships with big business. "It's true that targets for the sake of targets has never been our objective," Assistant U.S. Secretary of State John Turner told media at the summit. "Implementation was our real focus." (Washington Post, Sept. 3) Did he say it with a straight face? The actions of the Clinton-Gore and Bush administrations speak louder than wordplay. The landmark Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro a decade ago put the environmental crisis and poverty on its agenda. But many of its goals were never implemented. Some argue that Rio helped set the stage for the Kyoto protocol that aimed to diminish carbon dioxide emissions. Yet these gas emissions have risen by almost 10 percent since then. (Guardian Unlimited) And the number of people in the developing world scrabbling together an existence on less than a dollar a day has not changed since the Rio conference. (Washington Post, Aug. 25) According to the Aug. 27 Washington Post, "In the 10 years since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, treaties protecting biodiversity and limiting climate change have languished. However, the United States is seeking to erase specific targets and timetables on many topics throughout the plan, which includes 150 pages addressing biodiversity, food security, clean water and health care." Almost as soon as Bush went from roaming his ranch to pacing the West Wing, he abrogated the international Kyoto treaty that would have reduced global greenhouse gas emissions by just 1 percent. (Guardian Unlimited, Sept. 2). In addition, "U.S. officials have also been criticized for promoting privatization--the sale of government-owned companies to investors--and arrangements between governments and large companies to extend such basic services as health care, water and electricity to developing countries." Privatization has resulted in "huge profits for big companies, shoddy service and skyrocketing prices that poor people cannot afford." (Washington Post, Aug. 30) TURNING DOWN THE VOLUME The neo-colonial sovereigns who dominate Africa know full well that the conference is taking place smack in the middle of a terrible famine in the southern region of the continent, caused in part by climate changes that have reduced rainfall, a lack of potable water and sanitation. (Guardian Unlimited) An estimated 18 million of South Africa's 44 million people live without adequate sanitation. (WashingtonPost.com) Almost half the population in South Africa today survives on less than $2 a day. If the stated objectives of those who wield the greatest power at this summit--alleviating poverty and taking steps to deal with the environmental crisis--were heartfelt, would it have been held in the opulent suburban enclave of Sandton behind bales of barbed wire, armored vehicles and 27,000 riot-clad security forces? Sandton was a whites-only enclave during apartheid rule. Nearby Alexandra is an impoverished and densely overpopulated Black township, emblematic of the fact that capital owned by a white minority has not really changed hands since the victorious political revolution of the Black majority. If they were sincere, would the heads of countries that have looted Africa for centuries been able to face themselves in the mirrors of their marbled bathrooms at the plush Michaelangelo Hotel in Sandton Square, knowing their responsibility for the grueling poverty just a stone's throw away? Wouldn't the AIDS epidemic that is particularly ravaging Africa have been featured at the top of the agenda, not buried at the bottom? And, most importantly, wouldn't George W. Bush--head of state of the wealthiest imperial empire--tear himself away from his month-long holiday at his Summer Palace in the Lone Star state to play a leading role? Instead, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was expected to deliver a five-minute talk at the close of the conference on Sept. 4. EMPERORS KNOW THAT TALK IS CHEAP The Landless People's Movement and Anti-Privatization Forum organized a militant "anti-summit" of thousands of farmers, squatters and other protesters during the Earth Summit. The LPM has proposed a land summit. Ownership of 80 percent of all arable farmland in South Africa remains in the tight- fisted grip of 600,000 white farmers. The two organizations also led a march of thousands from Alexandra to the conference center in Sandton on Aug. 31. The march included Palestinian activists, women's groups and international environmental organizations. Many wore bright red tee-shirts and carried placards characterizing Bush as a "Toxic Texan." And in a soccer stadium just 20 miles away from the Black township of Soweto, a "Global People's Forum" took place, organized by relief agencies, unions and anti-globalization activists. These protests against the Earth Summit talk shop, some of which resulted in scores of arrests, got little media play in the U.S. But hollow phrases by the leaders of the world's ruling dynasties seemed to be the cheapest, most renewable energy source at this world conference. This hot air, also polluted, enjoyed wide media coverage. French President Jacques Chirac waxed eloquent: "Humanity has a rendezvous with destiny. Alarms are sounding all across the continents. ... We cannot say that we did not know!" However, France--indeed, the entire European Union-- caved in on the U.S. demands to gut the 71-page conference recommendations. British Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a plea for the Kyoto treaty to be ratified "by all of us." He did not acknowledge that emissions in the United Kingdom have risen despite Britain's Kyoto pledge. (Guardian Unlimited) The reference to Kyoto was a calculated rebuff to Bush who, according to The Guardian, "instructed his team at the earth summit to remove all mention of [Kyoto] from the final 30,000-word 'plan of action.' " Blair played to a home audience, said the paper: "While Britain may be maintaining its controversial 'shoulder to shoulder' position over the possibility of military action against Saddam Hussein, Downing Street will hope Mr. Blair's tough criticism over Kyoto will show he is not cowed by Washington." (Sept. 2) APPLAUSE FOR MUGABE Blair demagogically pledged to heal the scars of Africa. Yet when the Zimbabwean government began steps to restructure the colonial legacy of private, large-scale land ownership, Britain and the United States imposed strangulating economic sanctions. The Bush administration is now working to overthrow President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe reportedly received rousing applause from fellow heads of state when he took the summit podium to blast Blair as a British colonialist and defend his government's right to evict rich white farmers who account for less than 1 percent of the population but own 70 percent of its arable land. "Ours is an agrarian economy," he stressed. "To effectively combat poverty in any developing country, the land comes first, before all else." And during news briefings Blair seized the opportunity to attack Mugabe, as well as Namibian President Sam Nujoma for defending Zimbabwe's land expropriation in his talk at the summit. Meanwhile, U.S. and European agribusinesses are hell bent on keeping subsidies in place that give them a leg up on the world market at the expense of impoverished countries whose farmers and landless peasants cannot possibly compete. The United States, Europe and Japan spend a total of roughly $300 billion a year on these subsidies--about six times the amount they spend on foreign aid to underdeveloped countries. (Washington Post, Aug. 25) Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, whom the U.S. ruling elite is also working behind the scenes to remove from his elected seat of power, called for the creation of a global fund to ease poverty. Earth Summit protester Vuyo Moshabela observed about the 10- day event: "This summit is about big business. The needs of poor people in Africa, in Asia, in South America have been held hostage by the profiteering of corporations in America and Europe." (Washington Post, Sept. 1) And demonstrator Patrick Mthembu, wearing a tee-shirt with the image of Cuban revolutionary leader Che Guevara, concluded, "We will fight their corporate greed with the same fury with which we fought apartheid." - END - ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international -- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
