ISSUE
How can Unitarian Universalists respond to the unprecedented opportunities and potentially dangerous environmental, political, and quality-of-life challenges accompanying economic globalization?
BACKGROUND and
REASONS for STUDY
“The
new globalized economy brings with it a growing disconnect between those who
enjoy the benefits of globalization and those who pay the costs, which include increased
pollution, exploitation of workers, destruction of natural resources, widening
income disparities, and decline in small business and family farms. While some focus on the economic
opportunities they believe will lead to improved living conditions worldwide,
others worry that the current trade agreements and organizations do not
adequately respond to some of the consequent negative effects, and remove the
center of economic power ever further from the individuals and families that
must live with the consequences.”
The
above was taken verbatim from the resume of the STUDY/ACTION ISSUES made
available to me by Adele McCollum, who was our representative at the UUA
General Assembly. I have been
volunteered by Irene Keim to undertake the project of researching the
issue. It is my intention to write a
series of articles that, I hope, will be augmented by your inputs and
participation in study and discussion groups.
The subject is too big and far-reaching for a one-man show.
To answer those overarching questions, let us identify the principal players and the overt contentions. On the one side are the many corporation and companies whose activities and entities have reached beyond national boundaries. These entities are supported by the governments of industrial nations, who have established global trade and finance organizations in the interest of encouraging and developing “free trade.”
GATT (General Agreement of Trade and Tariffs) was established 53 years ago with the
mission to reduce and eventually completely eliminate duty taxes and other
artificial impediments on imported goods.
It experienced early success in establishing cuts in its first few
rounds when the U.S. influence was at its peak, but it has met with more
resistance as U.S. predominance in world trade has waned.
NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) came into effect on 01/01/1994 as an agreement between the United States, Canada
and Mexico to establish a trade area designed to:
1 –
Eliminate barriers to trade and facilitate the cross-border movement of goods
and services.
2 –
Promote fair competition.
3 –
Increase investment opportunities.
4 –
Provide effective protection for intellectual property rights.
5 –
Establish a framework for further trilateral, regional and multilateral
expansion.
FTTA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) was initiated in the 1994 Summit of the
Americas to integrate the economies of the Western Hemisphere into a single
free trade agreement.
IMF (International Monetary Fund)
and the WORLD BANK were established after World War II as per agreement at the
Bretton Woods Conference on July 22, 1944.
The purposes were to finance the reconstruction of Europe’s tattered
economies and infrastructures and to help in the development of the poorer
countries of the world.
WTO (World Trade Organization) came into existence in
1995 as the successor of GATT to implement the agreements reached during the
Uruguay rounds of trade negotiations in 1986-1994. The agreements liberalized and facilitated trans-border banking,
insurance, securities and telecommunications.
WTO also became the final arbiter of disputes between the member
nations. This is a much-criticized
power which we will be discussing in later articles.
Objecting
to and opposing some of the powers and practices of the above supra-national
organizations are a long list of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). Some of the principal players are:
PUBLIC CITIZEN is a consumer’s rights
group headed by Ralph Nader. Public
Citizen has been a relentless critic of the supra-national organizations
mentioned above, objecting to their power to override national health and
safety regulations in the name of free trade.
Through the use of a Web site, Public Citizen was instrumental in
organizing the disparate groups of NGO’s that descended on Seattle and
disrupted the WTO’s 1999 meeting. Well
over 1,000 NGO’s signed onto an anti-WTO protest declaration.
THE SIERRA CLUB, THE
WORLDWIDE FUND FOR NATURE, GREENPEACE, and LABOR UNIONS are some of the other
principal NGO players. We will expound
on theirs and other’s objections to the ‘globalization of economics’ in
subsequent articles.
Stay
tuned!