Action Briefing
Feb 2003 - Mar 2003
The Newsletter
of
Birmingham Friends of the
Earth
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Action Briefing |
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The Newsletter
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Bad Business
Of the top 100 economies in the world today 51 are
multinational corporations, while 49 are countries. The biggest 500 corporations
in control of two-thirds of world trade. Corporate Globalisation is upon us,
and across the world people and the environment are paying a heavy price. But,
argues Friends of the Earth's Craig Bennett, communities are not powerless.
Globalisation represents the organisation of our lives
at an international level. Sometimes that's good. It's right, for example, that
we have developed international treaties to control pollution (such as the Kyoto
Protocol) because it would be impossible for any one country to solve serious
environmental threats by themselves. It's good also that the community fighting
the Brightstar incinerator in Derby has linked up with communities fighting
similar plans by the same company in Australia, North America, Europe and Asia.
The reality is, however, that most international political and
economic organisation is now happening not for the benefit of local people or
the environment, but for the benefit of big business and their profits. The
financial decisions behind the Birmingham Northern Relief Road didn't get made
in the Midlands - they were made in London and the USA, far away from the communities
along the route that would eventually suffer.
In short, corporate globalisation represents a shift in power away from local
communities and towards big business. It's happened because politicians have
caved in to business lobbying and have taken conscious decisions to surrender
power.
Clare Short, the Midland's most prominent politician, loves to talk about the need for yet more world trade, unfettered by regulation, because, she argues, this will help the world's poor. Never mind if the regulations are there to protect vulnerable communities and their environments. And never mind if, actually, it is the multinationals and their directors who really benefit.
A recent Confederation of British Industry (CBI) report (Achievements for Business) proudly boasted of how the organisation "pushed the Government into announcing [planning] reforms that are badly needed and are widely seen as pro-business". So, thanks to the cave-in politicians, it might become even harder for local people in the Midlands to oppose future roads, incinerators, airports and out-of-town supermarkets that threaten to ruin their communities.