Globalization's Global Destructiveness Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit In Durban recently, many Third World nations demanded that the industrialized nations apologize for slavery. But how can they apologize for something they haven't yet abandoned? The Global Destructiveness of Uncontrolled Globalization by Simon Wallers Havana, Sept 25 (NY Tranfer)--One of the aspect of globalization that proves how destructive its uncontrolled form can be is its bleeding of Third World nations to enrich those of the First World. The rich are taking from the poor on a planetary scale, and there is no international Robin Hood to bring about a balance as the world's globalized and uncontrolled economies spin out of control. The shameful way in which Australia's prime minister, John Howard, recently turned away some 430 shipwrecked refugees -- many of whom were sick -- is an example of the hypocrisy of the industrialized nations of the world. It's OK to allow capital to flow from under-developed countries to enrich the economies of the North, but when their workers quite naturally try to follow the money, they are prevented from doing so by every means possible: Incarceration, deportation, humiliation and, often, death. Politicians make hay from immigrant-bashing, portraying themselves as defenders against the hordes that come pounding on the doors of our welfare states, determined to plug into the system and milk it dry for the rest of their constituents. The reality is very different. In every active and successful economy, foreign workers represent an essential part of the dynamic. Without their sweat and low pay, First World nations would be unable to prosper. Without their raw materials and foreign-owned privatized industries, there would be no prospering economies in the US and Europe. Economic migrants are often the elite of a nation's workers but are seen as a threat rather than an advantage to the economies of nations such as England, France, Germany and the United States -- which all suffer shortages in certain labor fields. These migrants are hard workers and cost the state far less than native laborers. Immigration workers in the US, for example, have been proved to cost less to the system than white or black workers who were born there. The immigrant laborers often do not file their income tax returns because they don't know how to do so or, because they are undocumented, they afraid to do so. As many are entitled to a refund, the federal government profits from their uncertainty and does little to right matters. The workers are often desperate for a job and will take work that many legal residents disdain. In Europe, asylum-seekers have also been shown to add more to the economies of their adopted countries than they take out. To allow the passage of money but deny the passage of human beings is a major flaw in the notion of globalization. It is natural for poverty-stricken people to go where the money goes. If they lose their jobs through privatization and the flight of capital from their countries it is reasonable to assume that they will go where jobs exist -- to the very countries that impoverished their own. No longer is the First World exporting capital to pay for Third World development. Crushing loan agreements are forced upon the under-developed world by th World Bank and International Monetary Fund, controlled by the industrial nations, that are just channels for the world's rich to ensure further riches. Third World debt burden ensures that their economies never strengthen which makes it easier to exploit them and drain them for all that can be had before moving on to the next country. The natural consequences of such policies by US and European politicians are, of course, racism and xenophobia. The British excel at this with France, Germany, Scandinavia and the United States close behind. It is easy to bash immigrants because they can't vote, can rarely speak the language as well as the natives, and are desperate to please and be accepted. Australia was once known around the world for its hospitality and welcome to immigrants. Undocumented immigrants escaping political and economic oppression are now housed in prison-like conditions in camps hidden away in the bush. Many of them are not released for years and the frequency of suicide and illness is startling to human rights investigators. The United States has turned its border with Mexico into a fortified barricade where immigrants die every month. The signing of the regional NAFTA agreement between Washington, Ottawa and Mexico City has indeed globalized the three nations' economies. but not their populations. In fact, workers in all three nations have suffered as US and Canadian companies seek lower wages and more relaxed labor conditions in Mexico, thereby taking away jobs from workers in the North at the continued exploitation and abuse of those in the South. In Durban recently, many Third World nations demanded that the industrialized nations apologize for slavery. But how can they apologize for something that they haven't yet abandoned? Havana, Cuba September 25, 2001 [Simon Wallers is a staff member at Radio Havana Cuba.] (c) 2001 by Simon Wallers and NY Tranfer News. All rights reserved. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-09.25.01-19:02:01-10045