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Minister threatens independent media International Freedom Of Expression Exchange (Toronto) June 8, 1999 Toronto - The following document was released by Reporters sans frontieres (RSF), Paris: RSF is condemning threats against independent media by Information Minister Pedro Hendrik Vaal Neto during a 1 June 1999 press conference. He notably stated that his government was contemplating "resorting to violence" against independent media which do not support the government in its war against UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), while accusing certain media of being "the fifth column of Jonas Savimbi's rebel movement." He added that he may ban certain publications. These statements, which RSF considers to be of particular concern, follow a series of attacks against Angolan and foreign journalists. On 5 May, Joaquim Alves, a journalist with the weekly "Actual Fax", was assaulted close to his residence in a Luanda suburb by three armed individuals, including one who was wearing an Angolan army uniform. The journalist was beaten. His attackers accused him of having written an article, published in April, in which a businessman, Mr. Kamakongo, was referred to as a "Savimbist". On 13 May, Lara Pawson, a correspondent with the Reuters press agency and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Radio, was attacked by several men while leaving a restaurant in Luanda. One of the men held her face and threatened her with repercussions if her reports became more critical of the government, reminding her that "Angola belongs to Eduardo Dos Santos." On 14 May, two men who introduced themselves as members of the special security forces searched the residence of Herculano Coroado Bumba, a correspondent with Portuguese Radio TSF. The two men, who did not have a warrant, explained that they were searching for arms. This incident occured at a time when the journalist had been receiving regular telephone threats in connection with his reports. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Send appeals to the information minister: - protesting his threats against independent media, which are simply exercising their right to inform - recalling that Angola has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to inform and to be informed - urging him to see to it that physical and verbal threats against journalists cease and that those responsible for attacks against Coroado Bumba, Pawson and Alves be identified and punished - recalling the case of William Tonet, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper "Folha 8", prosecuted for "slander, insulting the army, libel, incitement to subversion and desertion", after publishing a series of articles concerning the Angolan army's mobilisation order (see IFEX alert of 22 April 1999) APPEALS TO: Pedro Hendrik Vaal Neto Minister of Information Luanda, Angola Please copy appeals to the source if possible. For further information, contact Jean-Francois Julliard or Vincent Brossel at RSF, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED], Internet: http://www.rsf.fr The information contained in this action alert is the sole responsibility of RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF. Distributed by The International Freedom Of Expression Exchange Clearing House, 489 College St. Suite 403, Toronto, Ontario M6G 1A5 CANADA, tel: +1 416 515 9622, fax: +1 416 515 7879, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED], Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/.
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It is time this whole putrid 'string' about whether jews are capitalists dissapeared. It should never have gottern started. If it does not I am going to contact the Jewish anti-defamation league. Blech. Tim R. Come on Ed, Jews = Capitalists? I am well able to differentiate between "capital" and "capitalism". It does not sound as if you can. It is not capital that causes people to suffer. But capitalism does punish people and tells them they should like it. And capitalists do profit from that suffering. Some capitalists I know are "good" people but they still do bad things to other people -- it's what capitalists do. Do you support the bad that they do? Do you support the McD owner because (s)he does not give his/her employees health care? Because he/she does not pay a living wage? Because (s)he tries to sell us us crap and calls it food? Because (s)he sells us beef filled with hormones? I could go on. This is "good" behavior? These are good choices? I don't think so! Bruce Leier - Original Message - From: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Ed Goertzen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 5:15 PM Subject: Re: torn: Reply to Ed Wieck > Ed, > > The posting you comment on seems to have been misunderstood by a lot of > people. It was intended as irony and as a demonstration of how laying the > blame for a wide range of woes and human failings on a single group or class > can lead to absurd and dangerous conclusions. My point is that the world > was in a sorry state long before there was an identifiable capitalist class. > My reference to the Jews was intended to illustrate that, if you can trump > up enough charges and make them sound credible, you can get away with just > about anything. Historically, many charges were trumped up against the > Jews. In ancient times, they killed Christ. In medieval times they > desecrated the host and participated in blood libels, and worst of all, > poisoned wells and thereby brought on the plague. The 19th century > witnessed things like the Dreyfuss affair, and in the 20th we had the > trumped up Protocols of Zion. The fact that some Jews, including Trotsky > and some other leading Bolsheviks, were communists did not help them either. > As Goldhagen demonstrates, convincingly in my opinion, so many nefarious > labels had been pinned on the Jews by the 1930s that they became easy > victims. Translate that into some of the things posted on the internet > recently and you could have a crusade against anyone you label a capitalist, > including the guy who operates a Macdonalds or Starbucks franchise in > Seattle. I'm not saying that the Seattle protests were such a crusade, but > some of the so-called protesters could easily have become one. > > So, to summarize, my quarrel is not with Jews or capitalists or any other > group, but with pinning labels on people and unjustifiably blaming them for > things they may not have had much to do with. Crusaders did not kill Jews > and other infidels because the crusaders were capitalists. They killed them > because within medieval society they had been conditioned to do so. It > assured them of a path to heaven. Right now, Russians are not killing > Chechyns because of capital. They are doing so out of animosity going way > back into czarist times, because they're afraid that if the Chechyns go, > much of the Caucuses could follow and perhaps also because they want to > demonstrate to the world that they are still a military power (a very sorry > way of doing it!!). To justify what they are doing they've pinned a > convenient label on the Chechyns, that of "terrorists". > > Hope this clarifies what I was trying to say. > > Ed Weick > > > > >
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Dear Sir How unscribe this list?
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The latest issue of Socialist Future is now online. The contents can be viewed at: www.sfuture.demon.co.uk/magcont.htm An analysis of Ken Livingstone's decision to stand as an independent in the election for London Mayor can be read at www.sfuture.demon.co.uk/febmar00/ken1.htm A review of Francis Wheen's book on Karl Marx is at www.sfuture.demon.co.uk/febmar00/marx.htm An article on the relationship of images to objective reality and truth is at www.sfuture.demon.co.uk/febmar00/images.htm The magazine is published by the Movement for a Socialist Future www.sfuture.demon.co.uk
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WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR OWN INTERNET COMPANY ? Unemployed, Redundant or just fed up with working for someone else want to be your own boss? WHY NOT RUN YOUR OWN INTERNET COMPANY .. We will provide you with everything you need to know simple to run No technical knowledge required, No experience necessary, No premises necessary, No capital outlay. Genuine opportunity. Not MLM or franchise. Limited positions available ..Absolutely no recruitment or networking needed For an application, please leave your contact details
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[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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set DIGEST ON Haldun M. Ozaktas Bilkent University (90) (312) 266 40 00 / 1619 Department of Electrical Engineering(90) (312) 266 43 07 (secretary) TR-06533 Bilkent, Ankara, Turkey(90) (312) 266 41 26 (fax) www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~haldun [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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WITNE: WOMEN IN THE NEW ECONOMY is finally beginning to happen after a year or more of planning. We're sending out a call for nominations for brief essays to help us begin. Details are available at http://www.newwork.com. WITNE is for women throughout the world who care about their economic well-being during the new era, as well as for men who care because of the girls and women in their lives. We think this should be nearly everybody. gj Gary G. Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] BraveNewWorkWorld & NewWork NewsAll about work. All the time. http://www.newwork.com. For business, education, and careers.
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There appear to be some private conversations occuring on the list. Would it be possible for contributors to address their comments to the entire list, or to communicate directly with each other when two people are carrying on a conversation? It is frustrating to open messages and, only after perusal, realize that that are not for the list. It's not as easy as just a simple delete. Thanks. Alan Scharf
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signoff Luc Moisan,CHE Tél:(418) 650-3959 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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signoff Luc Moisan,CHE Tél:(418) 650-3959 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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>I am attaching some advance information about a new publication which may be useful for your educational or political work. The files are in dos text ascii. Please circulate or post this information to your distribution lists as you deem appropriate. > >Ordering information: >toll free order number in Canada: 1-800-565-9523 >in USA: 1-800-283-3572 >in Europe: 0-800-1066-00 >in Australia: fax 02 9566-4411 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >fax: 514 849 1956 > The Politics of Sustainable Development: Citizens, Unions and the Corporations LAURIE E. ADKIN Using documentary evidence, interviews and surveys, Laurie Adkin examines the potential of new social movements and the labour movement to pose radical challenges to the model of development in the West. Although there are considerable obstacles on both sides, the author believes that the potential exists for a convergence between a radicalized `social unionism' and the popular democratic discourse of political ecology. "The most difficult, yet most needed, of research projects is one that moves from the theoretical to the "real" in all its detail, complexity, and contradictions. This book takes on that challenge, contributing to a rethink of both the theoretical and practical. It is especially important in recognizing the constraints on action yet showing that activists' conceptions of unionism, union culture, and ideas do matter. It will, no doubt, be of great relevance to both academics and CAW activists struggling with the politics and tensions of more successfully addressing the issue of the environment." - Sam Gindin, Director of Research, Canadian Auto Workers Union "This is a well-researched and politically astute study which illuminates the challenges faced by activists and movements that strive to break through the enclosures of conventional politics. In a sober yet hopeful voice, Adkin records the struggles of trade unionists and citizens groups to find common ground around a democratic-ecological project that might well fuel a resurgent counter-hegemony in Canada and elsewhere." -- William K. Carroll, Professor of Sociology, University of Victoria "A rare example, nowadays, of meticulous scholarship in the service of political engagement, and a key text for all those who are seriously concerned with the real possibilities--and the real obstacles--to the emergence of a new progressive politics based on the new social movements and the labour movement. The book makes the abstractions of social science come alive in its account of the real, stressful efforts of ordinary people to understand and overcome what industry is doing to their health and their jobs. It also breaks new ground in showing how crucial ideological 'discourses' are in building the necessary alliances to do this." - Colin Leys, Professor of Political Studies, Queen's University at Kingston, 1976-1996, and co-editor of the Socialist Register Laurie E. Adkin holds a PhD from Queen's University in Political Studies and currently teaches Comparative Politics at the University of Alberta. She has published articles on new social movements, the Canadian labour and environmental movements, and on Latin America. Paperback ISBN: 1-55164-080-5 $28.99 Hardcover ISBN: 1-55164-081-3 $57.99 Laurie E. Adkin, The Politics of Sustainable Development: Citizens, Unions, and the Corporations(Montreal; New York; London: Black Rose Books, 1998) The attitudes and actions of citizens' groups, unions and corporations reflect not only their stakes in protecting particular interests, but also the limits of their abilities to envision, or mobilize support for, alternatives to the prevailing mode of economic growth. Growing public concern about toxic chemicals and industrial issues coincided in the 1980s with a peak in environmental activism and government initiatives. These developments are examined alongside the complex problem of labour movement responses. How successful have these various interests been in shaping the economic-environmental regulatory framework? Analyses of the roles of actors such as citizens' groups and unions in the formation of public policy have been notably lacking in Canada. The regulatory battles studied here include: the amendment to the Ontario Environmental Protection Act which became known as the "Spills Bill"; Ontario's Municipal-Industrial Strategy of Abatement for pollution entering waterways; the introduction of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act; the public review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; and the public participation process for the Remedial Action Plans for the "areas of concern" in the Great Lakes Basin. Also compared are the responses of two industrial trade unions to environmental regulation of industry and the growing influence of the environmental movement. These are: the Energy and Chemical Workers Union (ECWU) and the Canadian Auto W
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On the subject of an 'Alternative Investment Code' Richard Douthwaite argued that 'Net capital flows between countries, or even between one part of a country and another, need to be completely prohibited if we are ever to construct a sustainable world.' I think the time has come to serioiusly consider local currencies as a means of bringing about the sustainable world that Richard refers to. They've been used successfully during the Depression in Austria until the central bank closed them down, (see Tom Greko's 1994 book: "New Money for Healthy Communities") and now they're re-emerging in commuities world wide in the form of LETS , HOURS, Time dollars, etc. Just recently, they've opened up in South America and Mexico (see Chris Hohner's latest submission in econ-lets which I've copied below) This is a one-way message from Buenos Aires - please do not respond to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (email anarchy on my return! - I can't easily clear my mail for lack of telnet access on my home server). LETS sneaked into the Team Canada mission to Latin America, under the auspices of Community Software of Peterborough, Ontario, and the federal government of Canada, which sponsored 4 "youth" delegates (out of 480 businesses), of which CSI is the only representative from Ontario. Chris Hohner (myself) is the author and sole participant for LETS on this mission. Mexico (Mexico City) The peso crash in recent years gave great mileage for LETS. My Mexican counterparts were deeply impressed at the analogy that when money is devalued, skills remain, and new mechanisms for credit are needed to infuse the correction at local levels to address the chaos in labour and earnings. We were a very late entrant to the trade mission, and I was unable to contact Luis in time to arrange a meeting (my laptop died, with all email correspondence, in mid-December). But I was heartened by the focus of the Presedential address to delegates, which firmly stressed the importance of socio-economic factors as the premise for business, and the goal of inclusive prosperity to create the possibility for participation of poor Mexicans in the life of the economy. I mentioned liberally the project in April for LETS in Latin America (hope that's O.k. Stephen!), and gave some demonstrations of LETS software translated into Spanish. Brazil (Brasilia and Sao Paulo) This was a little harder, and confess little headway was made. The CEO's and their high-powered local deals dominated, and the language barrier was more extreme. I focussed on the domestic (Canadian) representatives. A province-wide program for LETS is now being considered for one of the Canadian provinces. Several others expressed interest, but there is much work remaining to concretize any impression into action. But they're a captive audience on the trip (as I am!), and one influential CEO (a crony of finance ministers past and present) is now obsessed with LETS. Argentina Buenos Aires was the breakthrough. By chance, my LETS-obsessed CEO nailed me for a lunch with some powerful Argentinians, and the talk of financial markets, the Asian collapse, George Soros (third-largest investor in Argentina), and then LETS, left them flabbergasted. I really nailed that room - almost the entirety of the lunch focussed on LETS. One of the Argentine power-brokers is arranging a special audience with the likely future president of Chile on the next leg of the trip. By all accounts, he is brilliant, young, and very open to innovative ideas. I've been told he will be floored by the concept. Time is very short on this dizzying array of meetings, schmoozings, and dinners, so I have to go. As I mentioned, don't respond to me personally until February - my mailbox is likely jammed already. Sincerely, Chris Hohner Peterborough LETS General Manager, Community Software David Burman[EMAIL PROTECTED] University of Toronto, phone: 416-978-0536 19 Russell Street, fax: 416-978-8511 Toronto ON, M5S 2S2
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Dear discussion group members: I am eager to learn Taiwanese, a dialect spoken in Taiwan and Fujian Province, China, but haven't had much luck finding language instruction. If you know of any books, tapes, or courses in the New York City area, information will be much appreciated. Thank you.
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I have been advised that you have a mailing list of people to whom you forward updates concerning work issues. It would be appreciated if my email address could be added. Thank you. S. Magnusson
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I think I did have a similar question before - I don't think that the "home-industry" style production can satisfy the needs of the present number of people. Also, if we can find the sustainable means of cutting down on the soul-numbing jobs, why shouldn't we? Lets keep the capitalism created wonders of science and technology, through democratic control, let's make sure it is done sustainably and with minimal environmental degregation. I picture the next era witha minimum of rotated unwanted task, and full individual creative development. Eva > > Eva, why would we want to keep mass production; which is a > particular manifestation of capitalist production relations > pertaining to a particular accumulation regime of a particular era > in the techno-eco omic history of capitalism, for a sustainable > world may I ask. I am sorry if I am out of context here because I > didn't listen well... > > baha > > > > > >>> "Durant" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 02/12/98 12:51 >>> > Mass production and globalisation is necessary > if we want to sustain sustainably the earth's > population. That is why we cannot go back > to some quaint early form of capitalism. > > Eva > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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I read the depressing document on Nova Scotia prepared by Sandra MacNeil (forwarded by Mike Gurstein) and the somewhat more encouraging posting by Gail Stewart. It made me wonder how many people saw the little article by Margaret Philp buried in the Globe and Mail this morning (April 4th). It said that one in four poor mothers who need to turn to food banks for groceries sometimes suffer from severe hunger. A study led by Valerie Tarasuk, of the faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, of 153 women with children using food banks found that 26.8 per cent of the mothers reported experiencing "severe food deprivation" sometime during the past year, with 21.6 per cent suffering from hunger within the past month. The study, commissioned by Health Canada, narrowed its focus to women with children because, in families living in poverty, mothers are regarded as most likely to deprive themselves in order that their children can eat, so they are most vulnerable to household food shortages. The study indicated that, while food banks help poor families, they do not prevent them from going hungry. It suggests that continued reliance on such a highly stigmatized and woefully inadequate system of assistance appears to have long-term physical and psychological health consequences. Seventy per cent of the women were surviving on social assistance alone, at an average level of income representing 52.8 per cent of Statistics Canada's low-income cutoff, widely used as a poverty line. The researchers found that the women's nutrition was poor, with grossly inadequate levels of iron, magnesium, vitamin A and folate in their diets. Only 38 per cent of the women surveyed considered their health to be very good or excellent. The study concludes that food banks are failing even to stave off basic hunger in the country's poorest families. The study was prepared for Health Canada. It would be nice if governments recognized the need and took some serious action, but given today's political climate, I think that's unlikely. Ed Weick
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There was a fascinating item on the Jim Hightower report today at http://www.webactive.com/ Doris Haddock, an 89 year old grandmother, otherwise known as GrannyD, is walking across America to publicize a petition for campaign finance reform. Going 10 miles a day, she started at Santa Monica on New Year's Day and has now reached the Arizona border. She has her own website at http://grannyd.com Victor Milne FIGHT THE BASTARDS! An anti-neoconservative website at http://www3.sympatico.ca/pat-vic/pat-vic/ LONESOME ACRES RIDING STABLE at http://www3.sympatico.ca/pat-vic/
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The attached seems to signal a potentially significant development in thinking about a post neo-liberal approach to global governance. A stray ray of sun doesn't make a spring morning but but it does suggest that winter may not be eternal. M WHO SHOULD DEVISE AND OWN THE PROPOSED GLOBAL SOCIAL POLICY CODE? The UK government, through the intervention of the Chancellor Gordon Brown, has made a significant contribution to the debate about how to regulate the global economy not only in terms of financial flows but also in terms of the social dimension of globalization. He has argued for a GLOBAL SOCIAL POLICY CODE. This would be a "code of global best practice in social policy which will apply for every country, will set minimum standards and will ensure that when IMF and WORLD BANK help a country in trouble the agreed programme of reform will preserve investments in the social, education, and employment programmes which are essential for growth" Moreover this code "should not be seen in narrow terms as merely the creation of social safety nets. We should see it as creating opportunities for all by investing more not less in education, employment and vital public services".(Speech entitled Rediscovering Public Purpose in the Global Economy, Harvard, Dec 15th 1998.) It is suggested by him that this code should be agreed at the next meeting of the World Bank meeting in spring1999. The question, therefore, is posed as to who and how will this code be devised. It has fallen to Robert Holzmann as Director of the newly created Social Protection division of the Human Resources Network of the Bank to formulate this. Some initial thinking was provided by the Social Development Section of the DFID of the UK government. It suggested that best practice in social policy involved a)equitable access to basic social services health, education, water and sanitation, shelter; b)social protection enabling individuals to reduce their vulnerability to shocks: and c)core labour standards. Two questions arise. First what does the track record of Bank policy making in this field suggest might be the slant of this new global code if left to them? For a final answer we must await the articulation within the next few months of the World Bank's Social Protection sector strategy paper. Some clues as to its orientation already exist. The social protection section, in the terms of its own publicity material, says it is meeting the challenge of inclusion by focusing on risk management by 'helping people manage risks proactively in their households and communities'. Within this remit it is working on labour market reform, pension reform and social assistance strategies including supporting NGO and community social funds in many countries. This suggests a strategy which emphasizes individual responsibility to insure themselves against the increased risks and uncertainties of globalization rather than one that puts emphasis on governmental responsibilities to pool risks and to universalize provision. Holzmann concentrates on pension policy (1997a,1997b,1997c,1997d) and has lent his support to the multi-pillar approach to pension reform (1997b) which would reduce the state PAYG schemes to a minimal role of basic pension provision, supplemented by a compulsory and fully funded and individualized second pillar and a voluntary third pillar. Second how should other global actors with a right to a view on this code: ILO, UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO, UNDP, the UN Economic and Social Secretariat, global trade unions, global civil society etc. have their say? If we are to build a global economy that takes the social dimension seriously then we need forms of global social policy formulation that stand in the tradition of consensus politics and tripartism. The initiative by the UN Social Policy and Social Development Secretariat to formulate a policy for the social dimension of globalization needs to engage with this GLOBAL CODE OF SOCIAL POLICY . The ILO and other UN social agencies need to make their input. A wide ranging discussion is needed , not a quick fix at the next meeting of the Bank. A code owned by all could be agreed at the Copenhagen plus 5 meeting scheduled for June 2000. A code for best practice in social policy should not slant too far in the direction of targeting and privatisation. It would have to explicate what the alternative poles of universalism and public responsibility might mean for countries at different levels of development. At the same time such an approach of universalism appropriate to the level of development needs to be coupled with explicit pro poor development polices to avoid the charge that the poor countries should settle for less. Chen and Desai (1997, pp 432) reminded us recently, having reviewed the positive experiences of those countries that combined economic growth with conscious social development (Botswana, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, the Indian State of Kerala, Sri Lanka, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia,
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THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS by Michel Chossudovsky The writer is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and has written widely in issues of international finance and macro-economic reform. He is the author of "The Globalization of Poverty, Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms", Third World Network, Penang and Zed Books, London, 1997. Copyright by Michel Chossudovsky, Ottawa 1997. All rights reserved. (This text can be posted, for publication in printed form, contact the author). The author can be contacted at [EMAIL PROTECTED], fax: 1-613-7892050. Black Monday October 19, 1987 will be remembered as the largest one day drop in the history of the New York Stock Exchange overshooting the collapse of October 28, 1929, which prompted the Wall Street crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. In the 1987 meltdown, 22.6 percent of the value of US stocks was wiped out largely during the first hour of trading on Monday morning... The plunge on Wall Street sent a "cold shiver" through the entire financial system leading to the tumble of the European and Asian stock markets... Almost ten years later on Friday August 15, 1997, Wall Street experienced its largest one day decline since 1987. The Dow Jones plummeted by 247 points. The symptoms were similar to those of Black Monday: "institutional speculators" sold large amounts of stock with the goal of repurchasing them later but with the immediate impact of provoking a plunge in prices. Futures' and options' trading played a key role in precipitating the collapse of market values. The tumble on August 15, 1997 immediately spilled over onto the World's stock markets triggering substantial losses on the Frankfurt, Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo exchanges. Various "speculative instruments" in the equity and foreign exchange markets were used with a view to manipulating price movements. In the weeks that followed, stocks continued to trade nervously. Wide speculative movements were recorded on Wall Street; billions of dollars were transacted through the NYSE's Superdot electronic order-routing system with the Dow swinging spuriously up and down in a matter of minutes. The Asian equity and currency markets declined steeply under the brunt of speculative trading. In a three week period the (Hong Kong) Hang Seng Index had declined by 15 percent. The Japanese bond market had plunged to an all time low. In turn, billions of dollars of central bank reserves had been appropriated by institutional speculators. (The Thai Central Bank lost more than ten billion dollars of its official reserves in the period extending from June through September 1997). Business forecasters and academic economists alike have casually disregarded the dangers alluding to "strong economic fundamentals"; G7 leaders are afraid to say anything or act in a way which might give the "wrong signals"... Wall Street analysts continue to bungle on issues of "market correction" with little understanding of the broader economic picture. In turn, public opinion is bombarded in the media with glowing images of global growth and prosperity. The economy is said to be booming under the impetus of the free market reforms. Without debate or discussion, so-called "sound macro-economic policies" (meaning the gamut of budgetary austerity, deregulation, downsizing and privatisation) are heralded as the key to economic success. The realities are concealed, economic statistics are manipulated, economic concepts are turned upside down. Unemployment in the US is said to be falling yet the number of people on low wage part-time jobs has spiralled. The stock market frenzy has taken place against a background of global economic decline and social dislocation. Table 1: Single-Day Declines on Wall Street (Dow Jones Industrial Average, percentage change) October 28, 1929 -12.8% October 29, 1929 -11.7% November 6, 1929-9.9% August 12, 1932 -8.4% October 26, 1987 -8.0% July 21, 1933 -7.84% October 18, 1937 -7.75% October 5, 1932 -7.15% September 24, 1931 -7.07% October 19, 1987 -22.6% A New Financial Environment A new global financial environment has unfolded in several stages since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates in 1971. The debt crisis of the early 1980s (broadly coinciding with the Reagan-Thatcher era) unleashed a wave of corporate mergers, buy-outs and bankruptcies. These changes have in turn paved the way for the consolidation of a new generation of financiers clustered around the merchant banks, the institutional investors, stoc
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(JAY:) These "egalitarian" societies work because they are small. Community members must be able to "recognize" other community memebers. That limits them to 300 or 400 individuals. me: If everyone have information about the trackrecord of somebody's capabilities in a directly any time open information system, we do not need to "recognize" community members in the larger community. And in the smaller one - such as living place and workplace control, such choosing people relying on personal experience is more efficient than the present system where the supervisors are pushed on from the top. By the way, I would call a hierarchy democracy, if it is built bottom-up, everyone is instantly recallable and everyone have the same access to information and life's necessities. Besides not being based on physical strength and darwinism, it seems a very natural social way to me, too... Ray: It not a question wheither or not human will have rulers, the only question is who shall rule. We are presently ruled by the rich. I would like to see different criteria. It's a fact of life that democracy (no matter how one defines it) is on the way out. me: it cannot be on the way out, as it hasn't been in yet! We should be ruled by ourselves, that's the best way to being ouselves; the most individualistic system there is... Eva
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-- Forwarded message -- Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 10:02:55 -0800 (PST) From: mckeever <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [corp-ethics] No Subject Dear list: An unusual commercial message. Dr Sen is renowned for his contributions to ethics, so this ability to order his books may be of interest. Happy holidays: >From esteemed moderator McKeever AMARTYA SEN Winner of the Nobel Prize (1998) Economic Sciences Books written by him Poverty and Famines 266pp (P.B.) $15.60 Inequality Reexamined 221pp (P.B.) $14 On Ethics and Economics (P.B.) $12 On Economic Inequality 260pp (P.B.) $18 Co-authored by Jean Dreze Hunger and Public Action 393pp (P.B.) $15.60 Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives 440pp (P.B.) $18 (Edited Book) India Economic Development and Social Opportunity (P.B.) $12 Co-edited by Martha C. Nussbaum The Quality of Life (P.B.) $31.60 Other books The Political Economy of Hunger (Selected Essays) Edited by Jean Dreze, Amartya Sen, Athar Hussain (P.B.) $39.60 Choice, Welfare and Development (A Festschrift in Honour of Amartya Sen) Edited by K.Basu, P.Pattanaik, K.Suzumura (H.B.) $39.60 If you wish to order these books, please send us your personal check in the name of D.K. PUBLISHERS DISTRIBUTORS (P) Ltd. And post us at 1/4224 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002 India We shall provide you with free airmail delivery. Thanks Parmil Mittal Director D.K. Publishers Distributors (P) Ltd. 1/4224, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002 India www.dkpdindia.com E-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] E-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] < Gobble up some brain food, then Yak Back in our chat room See new Detective in a Jar episodes; Aladdin and Lion King comics http://ads.egroups.com/click/131/1 E-group home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/corp-ethics Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com
