It is nice to be part of a politically active community again.

Witzenhausen is getting ready for the UN Climate Change Conference COP 15 in Copenhagen. When exams are over next week many of the students are headed up there via collective buses, some are hitchhiking and still others are going up with the Mitfahrzentrale.

The Uni Bio website has a lot of information about who is going and when and the student activist community has been reaching out for participants in actions there. The Greenpeace headquarters in Hamburg are very close both geographically and ideologically and many of the students here work and volunteer for them while they study.

The Couchsurfing Witzenhausen group will hopefully soon have some information about the organization of these trips.

Witzenhausen students and various activist groups (including ASeed) will be going from the World Trade Organization(WTO) meetings and protests in Geneva.

Greenpeace Witzenhausen, the WOW group, FSR and LÖLA are also organizing some events related to COP 15.

More about the Sustainable Agriculture Program and the International Organic Agriculture Focus.

Well, they’re not exactly in Ithaca. But their new movie, The Yes Men Fix The World, begins its showing at Cornell Cinema in Ithaca, N.Y. starting on Nov. 30. The movie will be shown until Dec. 6.

The Yes Men, led by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonnano, are, well, a different kind of political activist. Many of us say we stand behind a particular idea but rarely act upon what we believe. Bichlbaum and Bonnano take the corporate world head on by posing as CEO’s, World Trade Organization administrators and DOW Jones spokesmen. They pull pranks on some of the most powerful people in the world.

The pranks range from taking responsibility for the Bhopal disaster to the creation of a new “eco-friendly” oil by Exxon Moblie. The Yes Men speak out against globalization and consumerism, blaming large corporations and trade organizations for the exploitation of resources, which thus results in the exploitation of third world countries. They hold these men accountable for trade laws that ultimately lead to poverty and unfair practices of labor in countries that have no voice when it comes to these matters.

What their doing is really interesting and admirable. The Yes Men put a complete twist on activism. Their stunts bring attention to problems that not many people pay attention to and they don’t care whose reputation they ruin in the process. Their old movie, The Yes Men, is on Hulu and I highly recommend it. You’ll learn something while having a good laugh.

KAYbee.

In a scenario that is turning highly competitive, the name of the game is effective strategy formulation.

For a company strategy is all about moving towards the attainment of its vision and the means it employs in order to get there. In order to determine how one gets there, one needs to know where one is at present, which involves examining one’s existing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – what we commonly know as SWOT, Strengths could be brand image, market network, access to international markets, technology in a certain area, etc. and weaknesses could be for instance, the high turnover of manpower, short life-cycle of products, new products in the markets, competitors emerging in the market due to low entry barriers, and so on.

Examining strengths and weakness is easier said than done, as one usually tend to be subjective in such matters. In order to get a fair and objective picture of one’s strengths and weaknesses, the best approach would be to benchmark one’s own position vis-à-vis others in the same or in a similar industry. This benchmarking exercise is recommended as a tool for understanding one’s relative strengths and weaknesses, rather than for improving one’s position with reference to those one has benchmarked with.

Having thus understood one’s strengths and weaknesses, one should look at one’s opportunities and threats that are being posed at an accelerated pace by the era of globalization and liberalization. Government policy changes in India have thrown open opportunities in the form of the freedom to enter into joint ventures, the freedom to set up projects overseas, access to international clients etc. Opportunities have also been thrown up by the media explosion; people are now aware of and desire a variety of products and services available worldwide.

Since most people have recognized these opportunities, new threats and challenges are thrown up in the form of competition, with high quality products produced at scales that are economic, and hence, sold at lower prices. These threats will become even more acute as protection barriers are continually reduced, now that India, like many other countries is a part of WTO.

Thus, a clear understanding of SWOT will enable the how-to part of the strategy to emerge clearly. And in order to implement the strategy, one would have to develop specific action plans. For instance, a company could follow a strategy of entering foreign markets and setting up joint ventures in other countries, just a multinationals come to India. Joint ventures can be used to pursue a defensive strategy – for upgradation of quality with international forms, or an offensive strategy – to capture lucrative shares in competitive markets overseas and meet the competition on their ‘own turf’.

Companies like Ranbaxy have risen to the occasion and developed a strategy of setting up joint ventures overseas, which has enabled them simultaneously upgrade technology and R & D activities with support from the foreign partner. Dabur is also taking advantage of the opportunities by setting up projects overseas.

One of the major challenges confronting Indian corporates as far as their strategic planning endeavors are concerned, is manpower planning. Unfortunately, Indian corporates so far have treated human resource development as merely an adjunct of the industrial-personnel function – focused on personal administration such as wages, salaries, payments, appraisals and recruitment, with the little attention paid a modern optimal approach to recruitment and training policy.

Indian corporates faces the challenge of finding the right people and training them to meet the growing challenges of the future, especially as they have been used to operating in a protected environment. Part of their need for skilled and experienced people will be fulfilled by professionals of different nationalities as personnel flows feely between nations. Foreign companies too will want to take advantage of Indian brains; and this demand will not be restricted to the area of software development, but also apply to other areas of management, since much relevant experience is available in India.

The World Trade Organization is yet another challenge, the impact of which has not been given careful thought and consideration to by Indian companies. There is also urgent need for Indian companies to plan an optimal strategy to tackle this. And they need to find ways and means other than the lobbies and pressure groups they are accustomed to, for it is difficult to change the rules of the game at an international bodies level. While WTO provides an effective mechanism in case of violation, all conditions of WTO need to be met once countries become signatories.

The chairman’s speech at the Annual General Meeting 1996 of Workhardt provided reasonably sound insights into how an aggressive and clear strategy for attaining of long-term corporate goals can b formed.

“In an increasingly competitive world, Workhardt believes that profitability will not come merely through sales, but through consistent and reasoned customer focus. There are no product markets, only customer segments who we needs has to fulfill. The razor-sharp organizational focus springs from an almost fanatical degree of customer-centricity. We are therefore, committed to building business on an on-going understanding and dialogue with our customers. Quality is now the price of market entry, not a competitive differentiator.

“Workhardt prides itself on its growth in the international scene through its quality and globalization efforts. Our products are supplied in the markets of USA, UK, Germany and 30 other countries. Having acquired AccuMed Pharmaceuticals Inc in New Jersey, Workhardt America Inc. in USA will be our door to a huge generic market of the world. Our offices in Russia, China and Africa have expanded our global reach. We have tied up with Rhein Biotech to affect transfer of biotechnology and add value to our quality of products.
The question remains, What’s your Business Road map?
*Originally written by Dr. Hiru Bijlani, a Management Consultant at LMI India and a member of the board of directors of Karrox Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

From the Telegraph:

1.  Smoot-Hawley

The most famous act of protectionism took place in the 1930s when the US government, facing the early forces of depression, legislated to impose tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods – some significantly. The act triggered a spiral of retaliatory protectionism across the world, and in the view of some economists, fuelled both the Great Depression and the geopolitical tension that led to the Second World War.

2. Common Agricultural Policy

Under the CAP – a European scheme, although similar programmes are in place in the US and throughout the developed world – domestic farmers are given subsidies for producing (or in some cases not producing) food. Without such subsidies many domestic agricultural businesses would collapse, since they cannot compete with the cheap prices charged by overseas exporters for everything from vegetables to livestock to cotton.

3. Shoe wars, bra wars

Recently, in his former role as European Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson accused China of illegally dumping vast numbers of shoes – and later bras – on the European markets. “Dumping” is the name given when a country exports a product at a price even lower than that paid in its domestic market. Under the WTO code, it can act against such moves under so-called “anti-dumping” rules.

4. Chinese tyres

China and the US are currently locked in a trade battle over the trade in car tyres. In September, the US Congress accused China of illegally swamping the US market with cheap tyres and imposed tariffs on those imported from the Asian giant. China in turn accused the US of protectionism, arguing that exports to America had actually dropped last year. But with thousands of American jobs on the line, the case is still the focus of heated debate.

5. India vs China

The WTO is not merely a mechanism for the West to fight its own corner against cheaper emerging market exporters. Emerging and developing nations also use it as a forum to tackle their own independent trade battles. Recently, China and India have been locked in debate over trade, with India accusing China of expanding overly aggressively into its silk and satin markets. India argues that Chinese prices are so cheap that its key domestic industry is simply unable to compete.

As we all know, oil has long been a resource highly privatized and important to the success of nations, their militaries, and all around economic well-being. Continuing the war over ownership, water has now become an economic commodity rather than a right. I recently watched “Blue Gold: World Water Wars” and it really brought home the thought of what my life would be if I didn’t have the privilege of easily accessed water.

When people say conserve this, change that, they aren’t some green junky; they are the people who will truly make the difference in this world when water becomes the center of conflicts.

Some interesting things from the movie that I have highlighted and provided links for:

• Hydroponics
• Suez Environment
• Veolia
• Bolinas, CA
• Aral Sea
• George W. Bush in Paraguay

Social and economic implications of Social Computing

The European Commission JRC, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
released a comprehensive report on social and economic implications of Social Computing [aka Web2.0, social media].

‘The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy’
(Eds.) Yves Punie, Wainer Lusoli, Clara Centeno, Gianluca Misuraca and David Broster
Authors: Kirsti Ala-Mutka, David Broster, Romina Cachia, Clara Centeno, Claudio Feijóo, Alexandra Haché, Stefano Kluzer, Sven Lindmark, Wainer Lusoli, Gianluca Misuraca, Corina Pascu, Yves Punie and José A. Valverde

Report: http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC54327.pdf
News release: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/jrc/index.cfm?id=1410&obj_id=9410&dt_code=NWS&lang=en

This wide report covers different thematic areas. In addition to a cross-cutting analysis across areas in
Ch1: Key findings, Future Prospects and Policy Implications

It contains thematic analysis:
Ch2: The adoption and Use of Social Computing
Ch3: Social Computing from a Business Perspective
Ch4: Social Computing and the Mobile Ecosystem
Ch5: Social Computing and Identity
Ch6: Social Computing and Learning
Ch7: Social Computing and Social Inclusion
Ch8: Social Computing and Health
Ch9: Social Computing and Governance

WTO May Challenge Internet Censorship

WTO May Challenge Internet Censorship: “Reuters is reporting that the World Trade Organization (WTO) is set to release a study claiming that censorship of the Internet is open to challenge by the global regulatory body due to its restrictions on trade.”

Belle de Jour revealed

The Guardian One of the best kept literary secrets of the decade was revealed last night when 34-year-old scientist Dr Brooke Magnanti announced she was the writer masquerading as call girl Belle de Jour.

Featured Editor: Onnik Krikorian

Onnik Krikorian is a British blogger, journalist, and photographer of Armenian decent who has been living in Yerevan, one of the world’s oldest continuously-inhabited cities, for the past 11 years. He is the Caucasus Editor for Global Voices where he amplifies the latest discussions taking place among bloggers in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia. Most recently he has focused his efforts on covering the case against two Azeri bloggers who were sentenced to two and two and a half years in jail.

Social media in South America: Orkut & Brazil

The first in a series of posts on social media in South America by Raquel Recuero for DMLcentral.net, University of California Humanities Research Institute.

To start my participation here in DMLcentral, I want to write about social media outside the U.S., specifically in South America. Let’s take the case of Orkut in Brazil, an interesting and relatively-unknown subject that I’ve researched and followed closely for years. Orkut is very much a cultural phenomenon in Brazil. Although Brazilians had experience with other social networking sites (Fotolog, for example, was very popular among young Brazilians in 2003 and 2004, before Orkut appeared), Orkut caused a revolution in Internet access in Brazil.  As Orkut grew quickly in Brazil starting in 2004, it became synonymous with the Internet. Being on the Internet meant being on Orkut. The question of course is, why?

Against Crowdsourced Politics

The last post begins with the seemingly benign phrase “the promise of digital activism is to crowdsource global political transformation.”  I wrote it and I was pretty proud of myself.  I thought it succinctly summed up the potential of decentralized politics, where power is defined at the edge and by the grassroot, by thousands of ordinary citizens mobilizing together.   Well, Michel Bauwens set me straight.

An Unpoular View of Google Books

I’m starting to feel like the only person who thinks the Google Books settlement with authors and publishers is a good deal. One voice that seems not to be heard, however, over the din of Google competitors, panicky law professors, and regulators who wouldn’t know a workable solution to a copyright problem (created by regulators) if it bit them, is anyone speaking for consumers.

The effects of blogging on small business websites

HubSpot conducted a study recently with more than 1,500 of its customers and determined that small businesses that blog saw, on average, 55% more visitors than those that didn’t.

BBC appoints Alex Gubbay as first social media editor

After announcing late last month that it would create the role of Social Media Editor, the BBC has appointed Alex Gubbay as the first to fill the position.

Currently the Interactive Sports News Editor for BBC Sport, Gubbay will commence his new title in January.

The creation of the position come amidst a wider general campaign run by the BBC to be more ’social media conscious’ and Nic Newman, the BBC’s future media and technology controller, journalism has previously said: “Like a lot of other news organisations, we are at the beginning of something very exciting.”

Italy: Online activism fires up “No Berlusconi Day”

On October 9, Italy’s highest Court ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s immunity from prosecution while in office — guaranteed by a special law passed by his own center-right government in 2008 — was unconstitutional. This decision has reopened two pending trials that accuse Berlusconi of false accounting and bribery.

The Internet, Obama and the Chinese Censors

By Patricia H. Kushlis

I’ve been dubious about the efficacy of social networking for government – or commercial – communication purposes for some time.   At least, I’m skeptical of too much reliance on social networking and the Internet in lieu of all other forms of communication – especially abroad. It is no panacea. Especially in countries like China.

OK.  So call me Neanderthal.

NSeries Nokias Say Goodbye to Symbian, Hello to Maemo

Here’s a bold statement: Symbian S60 is simply not good enough. I’m sure that many Nokia owners and analysts who know that Symbian currently holds around 50% of the smartphone OS market would disagree. But I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the new generation of smartphones – primarily Androids, the iPhone, and webOS based devices – are simply better than Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile (up to) 6.5 when it comes to doing what the today’s users want from a smartphone: browsing the web, using Facebook and Twitter, gaming, and finding simple apps that will satisfy their specific needs.

JOURNAL: How to Break and Open Source Insurgency

Short Answer:  divide it.

It’s long been my contention that Iraq was stabilized at an acceptable level of controlled chaos due to a happy accident by al Qaeda (in an attempt to expand/lead the loose insurgency in a new direction).  What did they do?   They blew up the Golden Mosque in Samara in 2006.  This act of symbolic terrorism did indeed disrupt social networks as anticipated, however the consequences were ultimately disastrous for the Iraqi open source insurgency.

5Across: Social Media Marketing 101

There’s a new series of demands being made in company meetings everywhere: “What is our social media strategy? What are we doing on Facebook and Twitter? I want followers and fans, and I want them now!”

Henry’s hand gets Twitterers texting

Last night’s tension filled 2010 World Cup Qualifier between France and Ireland exploded in extra time when French captain Thierry Henry set up what would be the decisive goal after keeping the ball in play with his hand from an offside position.

Codex Alimentarius Update: Vitamins and Herbs Becoming Illegal

In the opinion piece from the National Post excerpted below, Terrence Corcoran implies that consumers are being shafted by the government intransigence in continuing to support supply management — i.e. the quota system for milk production — in the face of demands from World Trade Organization members who would like to see our markets opened to foreign imports.

National Post photo by Aaron Lynett

However, Canadian dairy farmers are still making a decent living while U.S. dairy farmers have been operating at a substantial loss for something like a year now. Supply management is what makes that difference. How much longer will American dairy farmers be able to keep operating before the economics of their situation forces many of them to shut down production?

What will Americans drink then? “Dairy Drink” made with imported Chinese milk protein concentrate? Or ultra-pasteurized milk imported from the massive-scale dairy farms of South America?

Local agriculture is not just a matter of yuppie preference. Basically it’s about food security, never mind the health factors. And it’s interesting to note that dairy prices in American supermarkets certainly haven’t reflected the lower cost to processors of raw milk due to the depressed market conditions. It would seem the middle men have just taken advantage of the situation to raise their own profits.  See earlier stories which argue that depressed American fluid milk prices are have more to do with increased used of imported Milk Protein Concentrate and less to do with reduced consumer buying.

Thanks to Marilyn for sending this our way.

“…..After a couple of flash meetings in October and early November, the committee — chaired by Conservative urban cowboy Lee Richardson of Calgary Centre — issued a 3½-page “report” with a sole recommendation: “That the government of Canada affirm its unequivocal support of, and commitment to defend, Canada’s supply management system.”

Are there many dairy farms in Calgary Centre? I’ve never noticed them before. Is free trade a Tory principle? If it is, I haven’t noticed it much lately either. It’s also apparently not much of a Liberal principle, since former trade liberalizer Scott Bryson voted to support the trade committee’s report, which is objectively titled: “Defending Supply Management at the WTO.”

It more accurately should have been titled “Let’s Keep Screwing Consumers.”

The committee certainly doesn’t try to obscure the fact that Canadian consumers are grossly exploited and overpay for milk, cheese, ice cream, eggs and other products.

Under supply management, says the report, “domestic production is controlled, and prices are predetermined and adjusted to reflect farmers’ costs of production. Steep tariffs are levied on imports of these goods to prevent foreign suppliers from entering the Canadian market and competing with domestically produced goods.”

At world trade talks to remove barriers to trade in farm products, Canada has now become an outsider, a rank protectionist so low on the free trade ladder that it is ignored as a serious participant in any effort to liberalize trade. At the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, where these so-called Doha talks on agricultural products are stalled, there is currently little hope of success.

Yesterday’s blustering report from the Commons committee adds fresh pessimism. Free trade in farm products, which promises to expand farm production and trade around the world, is now on hold and Canada is one of the main obstacles.

Trade Minister Stockwell Day, cited by the committee, even appears ready to scupper the whole WTO process if any attempt is made to dismantle Canada’s trade protectionism.

According to the committee report, Mr. Day said that “WTO agreements are negotiated by consensus and Canada cannot be coerced into an agreement; it can walk away from the negotiating table.”

With that, the Tories are ready to walk away from lower consumer prices for dairy products. French cheese isn’t expensive because the French make expensive cheese. It’s expensive because Canadian policy manipulates supply and price.

American cheese is rarely seen in Canada, because 200% tariffs make American imports impossible. The fact that Canada’s high dairy prices hit lower-income consumers hardest is well documented, but apparently of no interest to policymakers.

KEDAULATAN DAN GLOBALISASI

Lupakan kedaulatan Sultan Perak. Lupakan kedaulatan Raja-Raja. Semua ini adalah ciput. Semua kedaulatan ini tidak akan diambil kira dalam agenda globalisasi yang sedang berjalan hari ini. Semua Tan Seri, Tan Tun, Mak Datin , Pak Haji, Ayatollah, Padri, Sami, Rabbai atau apa sahaja bentuk manusia semuanya menjadi ciput dalam agenda baru yang sedang berjalan hari ini.

Tuhan baru telah muncul. Tuhan yang dibawa oleh sistem kapitalis. Tidak percaya? Sila renung dan periksa diri sendiri. Sistem ekonomi kapitalis telah menjadikan manusia berebut-rebut untuk mengumpul harta. Sistem ekonomi kapitalis telah melahirkan satu budaya dimana umat manusia dalam dunia ini terlupa dan terlalai bahawa kita hanyalah bertransit di atas muka bumi ini.

Mesti borong! mesti borong! Mesti kena sapu semua nih.

Budaya kapitalis ini telah mencakupi semua aspek kehidupan manusia. Manusia moden kurun ke 21 telah dilalaikan untuk menjadi binatang konsumer yang mengguna dan mengumpulkan pelbagai ‘biji-biji saga’ dan barangan kodi untuk mainan. Manusia moden telah menjadi seperti Toyol yang asyik bermain dengan biji-biji saga hingga terlupa bahawa tujuan hidup ini adalah untuk mengenal diri sendiri dan melakukan kebaikan.

Sistem kapitalis telah membawa satu budaya dimana ianya mengasak, meraba dan merangsang sifat jahat dalam diri manusia. Hukum induk ekonomi kapitalis – keuntungan maksima – telah melupuskan nilai baik yang sedia wujud dalam diri manusia.

Justeru apakah kita hairan apabila kita terbaca dalam akhbar bagaimana pembekal susu tepong di Tanah Besar China telah membubuh malamin dalam tepong untuk dijual sebagai susu. Mereka menjual susu ini bukan kepada orang Sweden tetapi kepada bayi-bayi China sanak saudara mereka sendiri.

Justeru apakah kita hairan apabila kita membaca berita di Sepanyol dan Portugal ada pembekal minyak zaiton telah membubuh minyak hitam yang sudah terpakai untuk dijual sebagai campuran minyak zaiton.

Justeru apakah kita hairan apabila membaca bagaimana kontrektor Bumiputera yang bersunat dan selalu naik umrah telah membuat bangunan sekolah, bilik makmal dan hospital dengan menggunakan barangan tidak berkualiti dan akhirnya bangunan-bangunan ini runtuh rantah.

Semua ini dilakukan kerana mereka hidup mengikut hukum dan budaya kapitalisma. Keuntungan maksima adalah tuhan baru yang sedang disembah. Selama 30 tahun kebelakangan ini tuhan baru ini telah muncul dimerata pelusuk dunia. Tuhan ini akan berada dimana sahaja wujudnya sistem ekonomi kapitalis termasuk di Malaysia.

Tiga puluh tahun dahulu – air, api, jalan raya, hospital, bank, sekolah, universiti, talipon, radio, tv – semua ini adalah milik kita bersama. Semua ini adalah hak milik negara bermakna hak milik orang ramai. Tiba-tiba harta orang ramai ini diswastakan.

Siapa sebenarnya yang menelorkan dan mencadangkan dasar penswastaan ini. Dasar ini dimunculkan oleh pemikir kabal-kabal Illuminati. Para pemikir dari pelbagai ‘think tank’ ini yang telah mengajukan agenda penswastaan kepada Bank Dunia dan IMF sebagai satu usaha untuk apa yang mereka panggil – cara untuk memperbaiki dan mengembangkan ekonomi di negara-negara sedang membangun.

IMF dan Bank Dunia menjadikan penswastaan ini sebagai dasar untuk diterima pakai. Negara Dunia Ketiga yang miskin jika ingin meminjam dana dari bank-bank antarabangsa diwajibkan menjalankan dasar penswastaan. Penswataan bermakna menjualkan harta hak milik orang ramai kepada kaum kapitalis antrabangsa.

Di belakang dasar penswastaan ini ialah para banker dari kabal Illuminati. Para banker yang telah mengumpulkan berbilion kertas dolar memerlukan pasarana pelaboran baru. Hukum ekonomi kapitalis mewajibkan kaum pemodal terus mencari pasaran baru. Di Eropah Barat pasaran telah tepu. Maka kabal Illuminati telah mengarahkan Bank Dunia dan IMF memaksa dibuka seluas mungkin pasaran di negara Dunia Ketiga. Hasilnya kita melihat harta negara kita –air, talipon, tv, jalan raya, hospital, bangunan, bank – semuanya bertukar tangan.

Apabila Perang Dingin tamat lihat apa yang telah terjadi kepada Russia dan Eropah Timur. Negara-negara ini sedang mengamalkan sistem ekonomi sosialis telah diasak dan di serang. Russia telah dipecah-pecahkan. Perang telah dicetuskan di Bosnia, di Kosovo, di Montenegro dan di Chechen – semua ini adalah perancangan licik untuk memaksa harta rakyat di Eropah Timur di jual kepada kaum pemodal antarabangsa.

Sesudah dasar penswastaan di terima pakai – kita mula terdengar apa yang dikatakan – Dunia Tanpa Sempadan. Dunia tanpa sempadan ini ialah agenda Illiminati untuk melupuskan kedaulatan negara. Dunia tanpa sempadan bukan bererti orang Afrika boleh senang-senang masuk ke Eropah. Dunia tanpa sempadan bukan bererti buruh rakyat Pakistan boleh masuk ke Jepun untuk mencari kerja.

Tanpa sempadan hanyalah untuk duit modal masuk ke mana sahaja untuk mencari untung. Modal antarabangsa ini tidak boleh diganggu gugat ketika modal ini sedang mencari keuntungan maksima dimana sahaja dalam dunia ini. Dunia tanpa sempadan ialah untuk para pelaboran antarbangsa bermain ‘tikam dan berjudi’ di pasaran saham negara-negara Dunia Ketiga. Lihat apa yang berlaku di Asia Tenggara pada tahun 1997 dahulu. Lihat bagaimana kaum kapitalis antarabangsa telah menerbus masuk dan menekan negara-negara Asia Tenggara dan akhirnya banyak hospital kita terjual, talipon kita terjual, sistem pendidikan kita terjual.

Lihat Tesco, Carrefour, Giant, Court Mamoth, AIA, ING, Ikea, Burger King, MacDogal, Shell, Esso – semua ini adalah milik pemodal antarabangsa. Semua ini dipaksakan ke atas pasaran kita melalui perjanjian World Trade Organisation (WTO). WTO memaksa negara Dunia Ketiga membuka pasaran untuk pemodal antarabangsa masuk mencari untung.

Perjanjian WTO ini adalah perjanjian terbuka yang berat sebelah – sama seperti perjanjian-perjanjian East India Company yang telah dibuat oleh Sultan Johor dengan Raffles pada tahun 1819 dahulu. Sama seperti perjanjian Sultan Kedah dengan Francis Light pada tahun 1786. Sama seperti Perjanjian Pangkor 1874 yang akhirnya Tanah Melayu jatuh ke tangan British.

Dari zaman penjajah dahulu cita-cita kaum pemodal kapitalis ini untuk memiliki dunia ini tidak pernah padam-padam. Cita-cita kaum pemodal antarabangsa ini untuk menjadikan umat manusia sebagai hamba adalah manifesto New World Order. Kabal-kabal Illuminati saban hari merancang. Hari ini semua strateji telah di rancang. Semua telah di susun. Para banker di belakang Iluminati sedang dalam persediaan akhir untuk melahirkan apa yang mereka katakan – New World Order atau Dunia Bentuk Baru.

Lihatlah nanti bagaimana kabal-kabal Illuminati ini akan memaksa Malaysia untuk menanda tangani Free Trade Agreement. Dalam perjanjian ini tidak ada yang ‘free’. FTA ini akan memaska kita terus membuka semua pasaran negara kita untuk kaum pemodal antarabanga mencari keuntungan maksima.

New World Order ini adalah dunia baru dimana kedaulatan negara tidak wujud lagi. Rancangan NWO ini sedang diatur – Canada, Amerika dan Mexico telah disatukan – kemudian seluruh Selatan Amerika akan dijerut masuk. Eropah sedang bersatu – ini akan menjerut masuk Afrika dan Timur Tengah. Asia akan dikepali oleh Jepun yang akan menjerut semua negara di Asia.

Lihat sekarang telah wujud Asean dan Apec untuk Asia , African Union untuk Afrika dan Union of South American Nations untuk Amerika Latin. Semua ini adalah perancangan Illuminati. Semua ini direstui oleh kaum pemodal antarabangsa. Rancangan akhir mereka ialah untuk memastikan semua rakyat dunia ini akan tunduk kepada kuasa mereka.

Dalam masa yang tidak lama lagi manusia akan di cap dengan microchip. Tak percaya? Bukankah idea ini telah terkeluar dari mulut seorang pegawai polis Malaysia tiga tahun dahulu dan berita ini telah dilaporkan dalam Utusan Malaysia. Microchip ini untuk bayi yang baru lahir – atas alasan untuk mengekori penjahat.

Tetapi hakikatnya microchip ini ialah untuk mengawal semua umat manusia agar tunduk kepada sistem ekonomi kapitalis. Umat manusia akan taat bekerja dari jam 9 hingga 5 – bercuti Sabtu Ahad. Jika sopan dan tekun mereka akan dapat gaji untuk membeli kondo, ipod, Kancil, kasut Prada, beg Luis Vuitton dan pelbagai jenis ‘biji-biji saga’ yang dijanjikan. Sila baca 1984 oleh George Orwell dan tonton filem Metropolis oleh Fritz Lang.

Ini bukan satu dongeng konspirasi. Ini bukan plot sebuah novel yang belum siap. Ini adalah hakikat politik dunia hari ini. Memahami politik dunia hari ini amat penting. Jika kita gagal untuk memahami garis dan strateji Illuminati maka kita tidak akan melawan. Jika tidak bangun melawan maka umat manusia dalam dunia ini akan dijadikan hamba abdi. (TT)

( Tulisan ini boleh diambil untuk kegunaan membuat kebaikan )

Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, has a theory about why governments and people are so reluctant to talk about hygiene: it isn’t cool.

“People demand a TV, not a toilet, because it is not aspirational or charismatic,” said Sim, who does not hesitate to talk in graphic detail about the dangers of poor sanitation.

“Governments and people are not very receptive to being told they’re dirty, that they need more toilets,” said Sim on a visit to Mumbai, where more than half its 18 million residents live in slums and where the average ratio of people to toilets is 81:1.

In Mumbai, where teeming slums sit cheek by jowl with gleaming office blocks and luxury apartments, sanitation is not just a poor person’s problem, said Sim, a native of Singapore.

“You are in such close proximity to slums, to people defecating and peeing in the open, that basically, you are walking in someone’s poo,” Sim said.

But the sight of people defecating by railway tracks or even by the roadside is so common that residents turn a blind eye to the problem and do not give it the seriousness it deserves.

“You see it long enough, and there is a basic acceptance that dirt is normal. But being repulsed by dirt, it’s smell and sight is a natural defense against disease,” Sim said.

With better sanitation in India, where thousands die of diarrhea and gastro-intestinal disease, people will not fall ill so much, can work better and get out of poverty, Sim said.

In India, Sim’s outfit, which he calls the WTO, works with several NGOs that build and maintain public toilets. But they need to think beyond just building more toilets that are seldom maintained and get taken over by encroachers, he said.

WTO, along with consumer goods maker Hindustan Unilever, has launched a pilot program on some premium Rajdhani Express trains to keep the toilets clean in return for advertising space.

“This is an example of market factors solving a big problem,” said Carolyn Jones, global hygiene manager at Unilever.

“It is a sensitive issue, but a serious one that has to be a shared responsibility of the government, companies and people.”

November 2009

We, small-scale farmers and fisher peoples, pastoralists, women, youth, indigenous peoples, other social movements and civil society organisations, have taken the challenge together to propose policies and actions that would lead to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition in our world.
We strongly believe that the actions to eradicate hunger and malnutrition must be based on a vision of a world where:

• food sovereignty is recognised and implemented by communities, peoples, states and international institutions;
• all peoples, societies and states determine their own food systems and have policies that ensure availability of sufficient, good quality, affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food;
• there is recognition and respect for women’s rights and their crucial contribution to food provision, and representation of women in all decision making bodies;
• terrestrial and aquatic environments and biodiversity are conserved and rehabilitated based on ecologically sustainable management of land, soils, water, seas, seeds, livestock and aquatic organisms;
• the diversity of traditional knowledge, food, language and culture, are all valued and respected;
• the way people organise and express themselves is accepted and peoples’ power to make decisions about their material, natural and spiritual heritage is defended;

We are proposing the policies and actions recognising that hunger and malnutrition have reached outrageous levels in the world today and that this is not accidental. When the prevalence of this scourge is seen in the context of the multiple crises in the world today, it is very clear that existing polices have compounded the problem and that there is a need for a new approach
We have also taken into consideration the known fact that this situation is not a result of a lack of food in the world, as enough food has consistently been produced for decades. Solutions have been, and are being, offered by states and international institutions, in the name of increasing food production and availability, without dealing with the root causes of the multiple crises. They are proposing solutions using the same framework that caused the problems in the first place.

Eradicating hunger and malnutrition requires mechanisms that incorporate social and environmental as well as economic measures. To implement these requires the decisive involvement of the organisations of small-scale food providers and consumers in any policies and programmes designed to address the problems
We welcome the working document, Policies and Actions to Eradicate Hunger and Malnutrition, which outlines our proposals for the needed changes and how these might be realised. The working document contains a number of polices and actions in the following areas:

• Sustainable, ecological food provision and access to territories and natural wealth
• Environment, climate change and agrofuels
• Market, trade, price polices and subsidies
• Ensuring access to adequate food
• Finance, debt and development aid
• Governance

We endorse the summary of the working document annexed to this letter with the conviction that it will be useful for governments and institutions and peoples and their organisations in efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition and to ensure the attainment of food sovereignty including the human right to adequate food.
The world does not need to stay locked up in a dead-end that only has the potential to lead us into deeper levels of problems. We therefore urge states and international institutions to work with us – the movements of small-scale farmers and fisher peoples, pastoralists, Indigenous Peoples, other social movements and civil society organisations – in a common endeavour to tackle and end the scourge of hunger and malnutrition.

(This letter and the summary as well as the working document are available online. To sign on, see the list of signatories and download the documents in English, French and Spanish, please go to www.eradicatehunger.org)

Summary of working document on policies and actions
to eradicate hunger and malnutrition

1. Background to the working document

The working document provides proposals for policies and actions to eradicate hunger and malnutrition. It is based on the experiences and political work of social movements, non governmental organisations (NGOs) and others from all over the world during past decades and currently. It is based largely on the food sovereignty framework that embraces the human right to adequate food.

These policies and actions have been prepared to inform governments, institutions and others, who are committed to eradicating hunger and malnutrition. They may also be helpful in discussions on these key issues within and between governments, institutions, social movements and NGOs. And they could be used by social movements, organisations and individuals in all regions as an input to their own proposals at local, national, regional and global levels.

2. Why change is needed

A billion people are hungry because they do not have the means to produce food for themselves or purchase it. The majority of these hungry people are rural small-scale food providers, workers and their families, who are unable to grow sufficient food or earn enough income from their production and labour to meet their food and health needs.

Women are especially hard hit. They are the principle providers of food for their families and communities, playing central roles in food production, processing and preparation. Yet they are subject to multiple forms of social, economic and cultural discrimination, which prevent them from having equality in access to food and control over productive resources and natural wealth.
Hunger and malnutrition are chronic structural problems and worsening in the wake of the food price, financial, energy and climate crises. The food price crisis has hit particularly hard those who depend on markets affected by global prices for their access to food.

Not only have most governments and international institutions failed to reduce hunger and poverty and build on the findings of international processes designed to find ways forward (e.g. the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development – IAASTD), but they have, instead, adopted and implemented policies that have exacerbated the problems.
There is an urgent need to change the power and economic structures and policies that have caused the current crises.

3. Vision

Actions to eradicate hunger and malnutrition must be based on a vision of a world where:
• food sovereignty is recognised and implemented by communities, peoples, states and international institutions;
• all peoples, societies and states determine their own food systems and have policies that ensure availability of sufficient, good quality, affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food;
• there is recognition and respect for women’s rights and their crucial contribution to food provision, and representation of women in all decision making bodies;
• terrestrial and aquatic environments and biodiversity are conserved and rehabilitated based on ecologically sustainable management
of land, soils, water, seas, seeds, livestock and aquatic organisms;
• the diversity of traditional knowledge, food, language and culture, are all valued and respected;
• the way people organise and express themselves is accepted and peoples’ power to make decisions about their material, natural and spiritual heritage is defended;

To realise this vision, a series of policies and actions are proposed that address the key issues which are needed to eradicate hunger and malnutrition. These are summarised below.

4. Sustainable food provision

There should be a shift from high input industrial agriculture and livestock production and industrial fisheries towards smaller-scale ecological food provision that secures local livelihoods and strengthens organisations and communities. Ecological food provision conserves nature, rehabilitates and values local and traditional knowledge and uses socially just and appropriate technologies, excluding GMOs. It maximises the contribution of ecosystems and improves resilience and adaptation of production

and harvesting systems, especially important in the face of climate change. Conversion towards smaller-scale ecological food provision requires support. Research systems need to be reframed and use inclusive and participatory methods. Losses post-harvest should be minimised.

Sustainable food provision also requires that gender equity is at the heart of genuine agrarian and aquatic reforms and that all local small-scale food providers – women and men and especially young people, small-scale farmers and fishers, pastoralists, indigenous peoples and workers – have secure access to and control over territories, lands, water, fishing grounds, seed varieties, livestock breeds and fisheries resources. This access should be respected by state and societal actors, in accordance with customary laws, governance and benefits rights. On no account should access to hitherto common property resources be privatized for the benefits of a privileged minority.

5. Environment, climate change and agro fuels

The production of food is increasingly vulnerable due to climate change, ecosystem destruction, loss of biodiversity, land conversion and agrofuel production. Thus, the adaptive ecological systems outlined above, that are more resilient to environmental shocks must be the foundation for environmentally-sound food provision. These systems will better secure food supplies and will also regenerate soil carbon and restore natural and developed habitats for water security.
Production systems must minimise greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). In all countries GHGs must be kept at or reduced to a sustainable level (about 1 tonne CO2 per capita per year). The most effective way to reduce GHGs in food provision is to localise production and consumption, reduce the use of chemical fertilisers, reduce fossil fuel use and increase energy efficiency, including use of decentralised, alternative energy technologies and systems. To enable people and communities to tackle climate change effectively and sustainably, countries in the North must pay compensation and reparations of at least 1% of annual GDP to countries in the South.

An immediate moratorium on the production, trade and consumption of agrofuels, is called for, together with an in-depth evaluation of their social and environmental costs. This is required because, in general, the use of industrial agrofuels does not reduce GHG emissions and the corporate driven, industrial-scale production of agrofuels is converting land from food production and displacing local communities.

6. Markets, trade and price policies and subsidies

New market, trade and price policies and redirected subsidies that prioritise local and national production and consumption and the needs of people for food, are needed. Government procurement systems, publicly owned and managed food stocks, supply management policies and sound market regulation are essential to guarantee good and stable prices for small-scale food providers and to avoid speculation, hoarding and food price escalation.

Governments and international institutions should not finance and facilitate the operations of agribusiness corporations but should formulate and enact laws to reduce their power and, in the short-term, make them socially, environmentally and economically accountable to the public.

New international trade rules are urgently needed. These should be based on the rights of peoples and their governments to determine their desired levels of self sufficiency, market protection and support for sustainable food provision for domestic consumption. The ongoing negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) should be stopped and all trade and investment agreements that impact negatively on local and national food systems should be revoked.

Equally urgent are the prevention of dumping of low priced imports and a ban on all direct and indirect export subsidies. If available, subsidies should be provided for localised ecological food provision that creates employment, protects the environment and strengthens local and national economies.

7. Ensuring access to adequate food

In addition to the measures outlined above, assuring decent work for all and universal social security nets, especially for those who are most vulnerable, are crucial. Urban food insecurity is also a serious problem that cannot be addressed in isolation from the crisis in the countryside. Hunger and malnutrition in urban areas can be reduced through sustainable food provision through urban and peri-urban farms and gardens, and building “urban-rural linkages” in which cities are fed through sustainable provision from surrounding regions. All these will also drastically reduce the need for emergency food aid and humanitarian actions.

Emergency food aid will, however, still be necessary in the short-term but resources needed must be made available in sufficient quantities and in ways that do not undermine local economies and structures.

Peace, based on justice, civil and political rights, is a precondition for any lasting solution to wars, occupations and conflicts. Special support to people in all areas of conflict is needed to help them to maintain food production and secure access to food.

8. Finance, debt and development aid

Speculation and derivatives trade in sensitive sectors, especially food, agriculture, fisheries, water, weather conditions and climate must be heavily penalised and banned. Equally important is preventing corporate concentration in the insurance, credit and banking sectors. Financial institutions and conglomerates should not be allowed to become “too big to fail.”
The unconditional cancellation of the external debts of countries in the South and immediate dismantling of Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) and neoliberal policy regimes are crucial. Also important is repayment by countries in the North of their massive ecological debts and historical exploitation.

Aid donors must immediately fulfil their commitments to pay at least 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) in development assistance, without conditionalities other than programmes supported should be based on the priorities and plans of peoples and communities in the aid receiving countries, in ways that do not create aid dependency. The power of multilateral financial institutions and IFIs over development aid and credits must be removed, and aid programmes and arrangements must be subjected to national and sub-national democratic and public scrutiny.

9. Governance

The world’s food supplies and food producing natural wealth should be governed through transparent and accountable multilateral fora and regional and international agreements that are forged, implemented and monitored democratically with the full participation of people’s organisations and States.

States should promote policies and actions that actively support the measures outlined above that will realise food sovereignty and the progressive realisation of the human right to adequate food. Also, food providers, their communities and their organisations must have rights of access to information about policies, technologies, programmes, agreements, in appropriate and accessible forms.

All international institutions, and especially the Rome-based UN food and agriculture agencies, as well as the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) must support states to formulate and implement the policies needed to effectively tackle hunger and realise food sovereignty. They should ensure that States have the policy space and political agency to limit and discipline the operations of corporations, as well as protect their domestic food and economic systems from international markets, and trade and investment agreements.

UN agencies, in particular, should actively: implement the recommendations of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) and IAASTD; promote the adoption of the Covenant 169 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Indigenous Peoples; implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP); implement the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); and support the formulation of international conventions that defend the rights of small-scale food providers, including fishing communities and pastoralists, along the lines of the UN DRIP and the proposed International Convention on the Rights of Peasants.

www.eradicatehunger.org

info@eradicatehunger.org

Fonte: ComeDonChisciotte – TATTICHE E STRATEGIE DEL WTO.

DI UMBERTO MAZZEI
globalresearch.ca

Il WTO (o OMC, Organizzazione mondiale per il commercio) è un forum multilaterale importante perché tenta di negoziare il futuro. Lo scopo non dichiarato della creazione del WTO era perpetuare, attraverso accordi internazionali, il modello di squilibri commerciali dell’economia internazionale. Lo stratagemma consiste nel convocare un forum per negoziare un emendamento fondato su principi di equità. La tattica consiste nello sfiancare la resistenza mediante un’immobilità evidentemente ripetitiva. Di conseguenza, il Doha Round, definito “ciclo dello sviluppo” e volto alla graduale eliminazione dei sussidi agricoli – che sono aumentati – ora riguarda solo la liberalizzazione del mercato, mentre la parola “sviluppo” è totalmente scomparsa.

L’ironia dei negoziati sta nel fatto che tutti i Paesi rivendicano il perseguimento di una maggiore apertura dei mercati mentre chiedono “flessibilità” per tenere chiuso il proprio.

I Paesi sviluppati – quelli che traggono i maggiori vantaggi dagli attuali squilibri – non vogliono rinunciare a nulla di tangibile, ma continuano a richiedere un maggiore spazio per i propri prodotti industriali (NAMA) e per l’esportazione dei propri prodotti agricoli sovvenzionati. Questo chiedere senza dare ha dato origine ad un’escalation, un imbroglio tecnico di complessità tale da non poter essere gestito dai Paesi che non dispongono del supporto di team specialistici. Il logoramento della resistenza è visibile; questioni che in passato erano state respinte con decisione dai Paesi in via di sviluppo sono ora nei testi negoziali. La retorica degli accordi “win-win” è svanita, lasciando spazio solamente alla volgare ambizione di vincere a spese altrui.

Gli obiettivi della negoziazione

C’è molta retorica, ma il fine originale e segreto delle negoziazioni è aprire i mercati alla produzione e al marketing dei cartelli internazionali. I cartelli non hanno Stato, ma controllano i governi dei Paesi sviluppati che parlano a loro nome; se avete dei dubbi, date un’occhiata alla gestione della crisi finanziaria. Il controllo dei cartelli internazionali incontra resistenze politiche in alcuni Paesi in via di sviluppo, nei quali il sostentamento delle industrie e di gran parte della popolazione dipende dall’agricoltura. Questo è il caso, con diverse sfumature, di Argentina, Brasile, Cina, India e Sudafrica.

L’agricoltura è essenziale alla sovranità politica, come sanno tutti coloro che hanno sofferto o soffrono – come Gaza e Cuba – fame e privazioni dovute a blocchi che sono atti di guerra genocida. Questa è la ragione per cui l’asse della negoziazione è costituito dai beni agricoli. Nel commercio agricolo c’è un’evidente iniquità e il problema principale è rappresentato dalle distorsioni di prezzo dovute alle sovvenzioni all’agricoltura, che in realtà finiscono più agli intermediari che ai produttori.

Per ragioni geografiche e per l’abbondanza di manodopera, i Paesi tropicali e subtropicali dovrebbero essere i principali esportatori di prodotti agricoli. L’Europa e l’America non sono efficienti nella produzione agricola, ma la sovvenzionano, e la proteggono elevando le tariffe. Fino a qui, si tratterebbe di una logica basata sui criteri della sovranità alimentare. Il fatto irrazionale è che l’Europa e l’America, grazie a tali sovvenzioni, sono i principali esportatori di prodotti agricoli con prezzi sottocosto nei Paesi in via di sviluppo: una pratica di dumping che sta rovinando i coltivatori e le economie locali.

Alcuni Paesi – Argentina, Australia, Brasile, Nuova Zelanda – sono molto efficienti e riescono ancora a competere ma con profitti inferiori, perché il mondo sviluppato abbassa i prezzi mondiali mediante le sovvenzioni. Ciò rende le sovvenzioni ai coltivatori uno strumento che previene la creazione di capitale nei Paesi agricoli. Queste pratiche sono etichettate come libera concorrenza, eliminazione degli handicap, o altri termini del gergo neoliberista.

Divide et Impera

Il “divide et impera” (dividi e conquista) è un principio romano, ma è ben messo in pratica dagli Anglosassoni e da altri colonialisti. La mappa dell’Africa mostra antiche comunità nazionali separate da linee artificiali che ora dobbiamo rispettare. L’America spagnola fu frammentata dal sostegno dato ai signori della guerra regionali. Gli Inglesi e i Brasiliani divisero Rio de la Plata tra Argentina, Uruguay [1] e Paraguay. Gli Stati Uniti e la Gran Bretagna incoraggiarono il separatismo nella Great Columbia e intervennero per atomizzare l’istmo centroamericano.

Nel WTO i Paesi in via di sviluppo hanno una maggioranza schiacciante e è dunque necessario dividerli. La prima divisione avvenne al di fuori del WTO, quando i cartelli internazionali ottennero tutto ciò che poterono attraverso gli accordi di libero mercato (FTA) che gli Stati Uniti e l’Europa firmarono con Paesi di cui controllavano le classi governanti. I negoziati WTO si limitano quindi a quei Paesi in via di sviluppo fuori del controllo USA ed europeo.

Al WTO, un efficace strumento di divisione è il principio del “trattamento speciale e differenziale”, una sorta di “pagami poi”. Sulla base di questo principio esistono distinzioni arbitrarie quali i “Paesi meno avanzati” (PMA) e le “piccole economie”, che sono esenti – per ora – dal fare concessioni e quindi dalle questioni da negoziare. Quando vediamo che le PMA sono ex-colonie ancora dipendenti e che il concetto di piccole economie fu promosso (con alla testa il Guatemala) da Paesi che avevano firmato FTA con gli USA, sappiamo chi c’è dietro. Ci sono divisioni che risultano dal processo negoziale. Esistono cinque gruppi di Paesi legati solo al commercio agricolo: il Gruppo di Cairns, il G-20, il G-33, il G-10 e l’ACP [2]. Il Gruppo di Cairns (Paesi agricoli efficienti) [3] richiede l’eliminazione di tutte le sovvenzioni e l’apertura dei mercati. Il G-20 chiede la stessa cosa, con qualche riserva. I G-33 (prodotti speciali e salvaguardie) è composto da 45 Paesi in via di sviluppo che difendono settori di sussistenza vulnerabili, ma solo 8 sono ancora attivi, perché a 37 è stato somministrato l’oppio delle piccole economie. I G-10 sono Paesi industriali (prodotti sensibili) che proteggono i propri settori agricoli strategici. I Paesi ACP difendono le loro preferenze agricole europee dall’erosione dovuta alla liberalizzazione del commercio.
Nel NAMA – “Non-agricultural Market Access” (prodotti industriali), il gruppo NAMA 11 è l’unico a sostenere il diritto di proteggere la propria industria domestica. Di questi 11 Paesi, solo Argentina e Sudafrica sono molto attivi. Il Brasile sta cedendo.

L’America Latina nel WTO

L’America Latina non è una forza nel WTO. Alle negoziazioni sull’agricoltura non ci sono gruppi come il GRULAC o la Comunità Andina o il MERCOSUR, che risaltino accanto al profilo del Gruppo Africano e del Gruppo ACP. L’immagine è caotica, e alcuni Paesi latinoamericani appartengono contemporaneamente a gruppi in conflitto. Vediamo la loro coerenza:

- Gruppo di Cairns: Colombia e Costa Rica appartengono solo a questo gruppo.
- G-20: L’Ecuador appartiene solo a questo gruppo.
- G-33: Honduras e Nicaragua appartengono solo a questo gruppo.
- Gruppo di Cairns e G-20: MERCOSUR e Cile sono in entrambi.
- G-20 e G-33: Venezuela e Cuba sono in entrambi.
- Gruppo di Cairns, G-20 e G-33: Bolivia e Guatemala sono in tutti e tre.
- Piccole economie: Qui troviamo tutto il Centro America ad eccezione di Costa Rica, gli interi Caraibi, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia e… il Venezuela richiede un simile trattamento nel NAMA!

Le politiche negoziali sono evidentemente assenti quando un Paese, nonostante le contraddizioni, appartiene a tutti i gruppi di Paesi in via di sviluppo, come ad esempio il Guatemala. Il vantaggio può essere solo la possibilità di raccogliere un sacco di informazioni.

Ci sono alcune strutture latinoamericane che potrebbero essere più utili. Un esempio è l’ALADI perché beneficia della “clausola di abilitazione” del WTO [4]“. Il GRULAC ha politiche miste, ma ci sono forum in cui ha una posizione distintiva. Alla Commissione Codex Alimentarius, il GRULAC, in quanto Comitato Codex dell’America Latina e dei Caraibi, è riuscito a neutralizzare le iniziative europee volte all’introduzione di standard sanitari sfavorevoli alle esportazioni latinoamericane.

Un gruppo latinoamericano che inizia a dimostrare un coordinamento efficace è l’ALBA [5]. Qualche giorno fa, in occasione di una proposta indiana sulla riforma e sulla trasparenza del WTO che conteneva una pericolosa ambiguità in riferimento alla volontà multilaterale, il gruppo ALBA ha imposto una clausola che afferma la necessità dell’unanimità [6] nelle decisioni. Nella stampa statunitense stanno già comparendo editoriali critici rispetto al requisito dell’unanimità nel WTO…

Ragioni per rifiutare i testi proposti.

Il WTO si è concentrato su riduzione di tariffe, apertura dei servizi e protezione della proprietà intellettuale, invece che sulla diminuzione delle distorsioni economiche. Tali priorità hanno lo scopo di mantenere e peggiorare le distorsioni esistenti. Vedendo che i Paesi più colpiti dalla crisi finanziaria sono quelli maggiormente coinvolti nei mercati finanziari globali, è evidente che tale crisi ha mostrato i pericoli posti da rapide liberalizzazioni e azioni di deregulation. La crisi ha anche evidenziato la vulnerabilità dei Paesi che dipendono dal mercato mondiale per i bisogni primari, come il cibo.

I leader dei G-20 tenutisi a Washington, Londra e Pittsburgh, sembrano impantanati in una foschia irreale e ripetono, come un mantra, che dobbiamo concludere il Doha Round entro il 2010. All’interno degli stessi Paesi esistono chiare linee politiche che si stanno muovendo in direzione opposta: le decisioni di Argentina, Cina e India di frenare le esportazioni agricole affinché gli alimenti siano a disposizione del consumo domestico; l‘inflessibilità della posizione negoziale degli USA e l’urgente priorità della sua agenda interna; la proliferazione di misure per stimolare le industrie domestiche e conservare l’occupazione. Tutti questi segnali non sono lì per caso.

Sembra che il direttore del WTO, Pascal Lamy, non ne sia consapevole, ma molti governi ritengono che una crisi generalizzata e di durata incerta non sia il momento migliore per rinunciare agli elementari strumenti di politica economica. I più recalcitranti nelle negoziazioni sono stati, di certo, i grandi giocatori del mondo sviluppato. È assurdo cercare accordi multilaterali statici mentre le dinamiche globali suggeriscono importanti cambiamenti internazionali.

I Paesi in via di sviluppo che controllano le proprie politiche nazionali dispongono di una valida opzione di crescita in termini di sviluppo regionale e domestico, mentre attendono mutamenti geopolitici che renderanno il commercio internazionale uno scambio più equo, pagato in una valuta più solida.

Umberto Mazzei
Fonte: www.globalresearch.ca
Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16065
13.11.2009

Traduzione per www.comedonchisciottre.org a cura di ORIANA BONAN

Note

1. L’Uruguay rappresenta un caso curioso. Non dichiarò l’indipendenza dalla Spagna come gli altri Paesi ispanoamericani. Esso dichiarò l’indipendenza dal Brasile che lo invase nel 1816 mentre era governato dal principe ereditario portoghese.
2. Ex colonie europee in Africa, nei Caraibi e nel Pacifico; comprende Cuba e la Repubblica Dominicana.
3. Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brasile, Canada, Cile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Filippine, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malesia, Messico, Nuova Zelanda, Tailandia; in totale erano 16. Il Pakistan ha aderito di recente.
4. Decisione del GATT del 28/11/1979 (doc. GATT L/4903), che esenta da compensazione ogni trattamento tariffario preferenziale tra Paesi Membri in via di sviluppo.
5. ALBA è un gruppo di Paesi in via di sviluppo composto da Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominica, Saint Vincent e Grenadine, Antigua & Barbuda e Honduras.
6. Significa che non c’è opposizione. È una regola fondamentale per il rispetto della volontà sovrana nell’ambito delle coalizioni tra Paesi. L’opposizione deve essere formale perché nel WTO il silenzio è considerato assenso. Unanimità significa che un solo voto contrario può fermare l’approvazione.

If Berlin and Prague saw the birth of democracy and Seattle its coming-out party, then Copenhagen will see its coming of age.

1989 was a year of momentous change, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Velvet Revolution. Across Europe, country after country sought freedom and sovereignty. With the exception of Romania, the changes were peaceful, not a shot was fired, though the aftermath was not so pleasant with the violent implosion of Yugoslavia. It was not the politicians that forced these changes, change never does come from those in power, it was the people on the streets.

Ten years on the people took to the streets again, this time Seattle and the WTO was shut down. Talking to a friend from Bolivia who had shown footage back home in Bolivia of what was happening in Seattle, she said the Bolivians were amazed. Beating of protesters was the norm in the Third World, but in the rich Capitalist West?

As we commemorate twenty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the people are converging on Copenhagen for the COP15 climate talks. The demands are simple, the solutions many. We have to cut our carbon emissions. It can no longer be business as usual. Whilst the corrupt politicians fiddle, the planet burns. The message to Copenhagen is simple, it is the people who will decide the agenda, not the politicians. World leaders had better sit up and listen.

Also see

The day the wall came down

The Shape of the Table

Prague marks Velvet Revolution

The theatre behind the Velvet Revolution

Berlin and Prague through Seattle to Copenhagen

Climate rage

Copenhagen: Seattle Grows Up

In a New York Times article, “EU Finds Trade Barriers Rising since Global Crisis”, the restrictive trade measures taken by some states in response to the global financial crisis are illustrated in respect to their affects on the European Union. According to this article, European exporters “have faced more than 220 new restrictive measures since the start of the global epidemic” coming from trade partners worldwide, primarily Russia and Argentina. A primary intent of this article is to explain that even though these restrictive measures have been taken, a “widespread escalation of protectionist policies has been prevented”. These restrictive measures include classical tariffs and government procurement and investment measures by states seeking to impede the economic crisis at home. Although states that are not a part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework maximize their use of these barriers, states such as Argentina, Indonesia, Mexico, and Brazil, that are a part of the WTO, have raised their barriers to the highest point possible under WTO law. Even the US has employed at least one restrictive policy that seeks to “protect US consumers and businesses from injuries caused by defective products manufactured abroad.”

The issues raised by this article seek to establish the fact that although these restrictive measures have an adverse effect on the economy of the EU, they do not necessarily represent protectionist policies. Another important facet of this article comes in the description of restrictive policies taken by members of the WTO. Although the WTO defines itself as a full-force advocate of free trade, the restrictive policies granted WTO members, according to this article, seems to go against its all out support of free trade and border on protectionist policy.

The WTO accounts for 95% of the world’s trade in its 153 membership and has the most effective and authoritative power over the functioning of the global market. Its policies seek to create a global marketplace that is free of manipulations of the market that create an unfair trading system among its members. It does this by eliminating trade barriers in the form of tariffs and duties and by enforcing strict rules to regulate unfair trade policies such as dumping. The broad goal is to create a more prosperous global economy through facilitating free markets. However, as the New York Times article expresses, there have been inconsistencies in this practice of establishing free markets when countries with more economic power and influence within the WTO decide upon market restricting measures.

The most egregious hypocrisy within the policies of the WTO is its refusal to address the large subsidies that the United States and the European Union implement upon their agricultural products. While these two influential economies add large subsidies to their agricultural sector, the WTO forces developing nations to open their agricultural markets to these extraordinarily cheap agricultural products. This has had a devastating effect upon countries in the developing world that have opened their agricultural markets. Local markets are flooded with cheap subsidized agricultural goods and local producers have no means to compete which eliminates the livelihoods of the local famers. This policy also gives incentive for these farmers to grow more profitable crops such as opium or coca which fetch high returns on the black market. The policy of maintaining high subsidies on agricultural products in the developed world has had drastic consequences for the developing world and has been allowed under the jurisdiction of the WTO. This example, like the example of protectionist policies being permitted during the global recession, implicates that the WTO does not actually work for the normative goals of unfettered international trade, but instead acts as a mechanism to maintain the prosperity of the global north.

This concern of dominance of the WTO by the developed world is expressed further through the permission of measures bordering on protectionism during the time of economic downturn. The WTO advocates free trade on a global scale and enforces strict free trade policies on new members while advising that protectionist measures lead to lesser prosperity as they restrict trade. However, as the article implicates, measures that appear protectionist have been allowed under WTO guidelines when countries seek to isolate themselves from the global downturn. If free trade leads to greater prosperity and protectionist measures of developing countries are attacked during times of global economic growth, why are protectionist measures allowed to be enacted during global recession?

Many critics in the global south have answered this question by doubting the aims of the WTO in facilitating global economic growth and viewing the measures to eliminate trade barriers as a means to violate the sovereignty of the less economically powerful. This issue has been the motivation behind many populist movements in South America as leaders have sought to reverse the effects of the continents economic integration into the global economy. After the Washington Consensus during the 1980s which facilitated the turnover of traditionally state-protected economies of many South American economies, high levels of unemployment and poverty fueled reactionary movements throughout the continent. These movements have been institutionalized, generally through popular election, and have resulted in domestic policy that seeks to protect the local economy from global fluctuations.

With the ascension of developing countries with histories in protecting state sovereignty to a position of greater economic influence in the WTO and the reaction of the global south to trade liberalization by implementing protectionist measures, the future of global free trade has been called into question. Already there have been cracks within the framework of global trade liberalization with the allowance for heavy agricultural subsidies and protectionist measures during times of economic uncertainty. Emerging from the global recession, the world economy will have a new face that may remain leery of encouraging global free markets.

20 Minutes with the President Video Contest: Final Entries Stream In.

There are a lot of great entries and am fully not in agreement with which one’s I think are the best. One thing I do like is how this is the best way to be spreading the information war besides the normal blog, and going viral with articles type of scenario. It is giong to be vitally important that when the new infowarriors that these types of videos (wake-up) learn to keep going with it because there is an never ending supply of information with all kinds of bias so all of us that want to can form a more better aspect and view on things.

I didn’t participate in charlie sheens contest, but if you remember I was in the original Obama as Joker video contest. those video’s are posted here. Anyways great job everyone that participated in this event and good luck to all of you !

Asia-Pacific leaders ended their summit in Singapore today with a final statement that pledged a conclusion of the Doha Round of global trade talks in 2010, but removed targets for carbon emissions cuts.

The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit dropped a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050, despite declaring climate change one of the biggest global challenges.

The APEC leaders also rejected all forms of protectionism and said they would commit to concluding the Doha Round of trade talks next year.  The talks have been deadlocked over disagreements between developing and developed nations on cutting farm subsidies and tariffs… Read more at Voice of America    

 haplif – Frank Kalder (Global Haplifnet)