rkm> Globalization: a unique opportunity for humanity to change course

2001-03-09

Richard Moore


Globalization: a unique opportunity for humanity to change course


In many ways there is nothing unique or new about globalization.  The 
centralization of power, and the monopolization of markets, is now occurring on 
a global scale - but the process is very much the same as what occurred earlier 
in each major capitalist nation.  In the robber barons of the 1900s (John D. 
Rockefeller, J. Pierpont Morgan, the Krupp dynasty, etc.), we can see the 
precursors of today's transnational corporations.  The scale has changed, but 
the basic pattern of concentration of wealth and power remains the same.  The 
elite-run media tries us to convince us that market forces is some kind of new 
invention which should be given a chance to prove itself. In truth it is the 
same old rotten laissez-faire wine served up in new-terminology bottles.

But there are also some unique aspects to globalization, and in these can be 
found hope for a better future for humanity - for turning the tide against 
capitalist domination.  One of these aspects is the very success of the 
neoliberal project.  Everywhere, capitalism is being given free reign - and its 
arrogant and brutal excesses are stirring up opposition all around the world.  
Hundreds of thousands of activist groups and NGOs are struggling, each in its 
own way, against these excesses.  In some cases the struggles are against 
symptoms, such as environmental destruction or human rights violations.  In 
other cases - as in Chiapas and the streets of Seattle and Prague - the struggle
is against the core disease itself: capitalism and elite rule.

But capitalism has exhibited such excesses in the past, has withstood resistance
movements, and capitalist elites have managed to stay in power nonetheless.  
What is particularly unique about globalization - as regards hope for change - 
is its abandonment of the strong, prosperous, Western nation state. For the past
two hundred years capitalism has employed an unbeatable formula to maintain its 
stranglehold over the world.  That formula has been based on the relative 
contentment of Western populations, particularly the middle classes.  

Popular support maintained Western regimes and those regimes had the military 
might to dominate the rest of the world. This formula reached its culmination 
after World War II, when Western prosperity reached unprecedented heights. With 
neoliberalism and globalization, this successful formula is being abandoned. 
Western populations are being sacrificed to market forces and WTO tyranny. Our 
elite rulers have bet their future on the success of their centralized 
new-world-order regime. The political support base for capitalism has been 
fatally weakened, and that creates the conditions from which a mass movement for
fundamental change is likely to emerge.

People in the third world (or South) have long been struggling against 
capitalist imperialism. Many of us in West (or North) also struggled against 
imperialism, but our relatively privileged position prevented most of us from 
taking a radical stand against the root causes: capitalism and elite rule.  Now 
that our privileges are being taken away, it is time for us to wake up and do 
something about it - shoulder to shoulder with our Southern brethren.

Maintaining the status quo is no longer an option for us - the nature of 
capitalism is forcing revolutionary changes whether we like or not. In a few 
years the global regime will be so thoroughly established that it will be 
invincible. The people of the world have a choice.  On the one hand we can 
surrender to global tyranny so that capitalism can continue its insane and 
destructive growth. On the other hand, we can assert our rights as free peoples.
We can oust the elites from power and reorganize our societies so that they 
serve the needs and wishes of people - instead of facilitating the endless 
accumulation of wealth by a few.  
-- 

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Richard K Moore
Wexford, Ireland
Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance 
email: •••@••.••• 
URL: http://cyberjournal.org

    A community will evolve only when
    the people control their means of communication.
    - Frantz Fanon

    "One cannot separate economics, political science, and
    history. Politics is the control of the economy. History,
    when accurately and fully recorded, is that story. In most
    textbooks and classrooms, not only are these three fields of
    study separated, but they are further compartmentalized into
    separate subfields, obscuring the close interconnections
    between them" -- J.W. Smith, The World's Wasted Wealth 2,
    (Institute for Economic Democracy, 1994), p. 22.

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