Grassroots Globalization Network
The
accelerating concentration of control over the world’s resources poses
a growing challenge to nations and communities working toward
environmentally sustainable and socially just development.
Through their raw economic clout, transnational corporations
(TNCs) are using government officials, public relations firms and the
major media to insist that “free market” economics is good for us -
even as they hoard taxpayer subsidies and merge into ever-larger
businesses to weaken market competition.
Sadly, the policies promoted by TNCs are now seen as “natural,”
which often prevents us from recognizing them as political arrangements
designed to meet narrow profit goals. For example, “free market”
ideology claims that only money-based activities matter - not other
aspects of community life like volunteerism, family and household care,
affordable housing and health services, which often lie outside the
cash economy. Corporate economics also ignores the planet’s “natural
sector” - the rivers, wetlands, soil, oceans and airways that provide
vital purifying, stabilizing and regenerating services.
Although corporations were originally chartered to serve society,
now their main purpose is to capture an ever-increasing flow of money
for top managers and shareholders. In the view of economist David
Korten, this behavior represents “serious violations of the principle
of cooperative self-organization in the service of life.” And with
corporations comprising 52 of the world’s 100 largest economies
(according to the International Forum on Globalization), their
undemocratic structure is cause for urgent global concern.
Speaking at a comfortable distance from the clouds of tear gas
that shrouded the recent G-8 Summit in Genoa, Italy, George W. Bush
claimed that critics of TNCs are “hurting the poor” by making it more
difficult for such companies to set up shop. This argument might make
sense were it not for the millions of people around the globe who are
taking back their communities from predatory corporations and
unresponsive governments to chart their own destinies.
Whether in Bolivia (where citizens took to the streets to halt
Bechtel Corporation’s attempted takeover of their water services) or in
Mexico (where the Zapatistas took up arms to protest the NAFTA
“free-trade” pact), people are showing that they understand that the
real goal of corporations and paid-off politicians is to extract
community resources as cheaply as possible.
Toward Grassroots Globalization
Grassroots Globalization Network (GGN), a new project of Earth Island
Institute, is dedicated to empowering people to create sustainable
communities from the bottom up. GGN advances positive alternatives to
corporate globalization by highlighting successful community projects
and efforts, building ties between grassroots groups and citizens, and
supporting socially and environmentally beneficial economic policies
and arrangements.
So what institutions will provide sustainable livelihoods and
economic security for people and their communities? And what policies
can we develop to replace current neoliberal policies favoring the
largest corporate conglomerates? Fortunately, there’s no shortage of
inspiring organizations and innovative practices to draw from:
In northern California, GGN has begun work with area groups and
citizens to form an alliance of independent businesses, cooperatives
and service organizations. By promoting and patronizing community-owned
enterprises, citizens can recycle dollars locally, which helps
cultivate greater business accountability, long-term employment and
responsible environmental stewardship.
GGN has also teamed up with the World Sustainability Hearings
project/Global Citizenship Fund to help organize an exciting conference
to take place in tandem with the United Nations’ Rio +10 Summit in
Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. This event will bring speakers from
communities and grassroots groups worldwide to document the effects of
corporate globalization and help like-minded people discuss ways of
collaborating in the creation of a sustainable and just society.
The increasingly unequal and polluting impacts of big corporations
and unresponsive governments makes it all the more important for us to
work together more effectively to bring to life more democratic,
community-based economic alternatives.
It’s up to us. The clock is ticking.
Project Director Aaron G. Lehmer and Director of Policy Initiatives
James Phelan are the co-founders of Grassroots Globalization Network.
GGN memberships start at $15. For more information contact GGN [1175 G Street, Suite C, Arcata, CA 95521, 707-826-1798]. Or visit www.earthisland.org/ggn for updated news alerts, an e-newsletter, a monthly “Community Solutions” series and related links.
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