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From: "Int'l Network on Disarmament and Globalization" <•••@••.•••>
To: "MIL-CORP" <•••@••.•••>
Subject: [mil-corp] BEYOND SEATTLE, BEYOND KOSOVO
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 18:30:15 -0800
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Network members:
Welcome new network member! A number of people who responded to the INDG's
first mailout earlier this year were added to the mil-corp e-mail list
today. We are still entering all of our new members, but this e-mail list
now reaches 223 people in more than 20 countries.
I am passing on a terrific summary of the activities and goals of the
upcoming protests in Washington, and the connections between the issues of
peace and economic justice. It's also very timely on this day, the first
anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Thanks to Ron Rowe for this piece.
Steve Staples
Chair
****************
BEYOND SEATTLE, BEYOND KOSOVO: A Call for Unity on Economic Justice & Peace
Issues
-- Mobilization for Global Justice, April 9-17, Washington, D.C. &
nationwide
Many of us have worked on a variety of trade issues and peace issues in the
past year, and the events in Seattle and Kosovo became a wake-up call for
people around the world. Next month, a series of actions taking place in
Washington, D.C. and in cities across the nation is bringing trade and
peace issues together in a "Mobilization for Global Justice," providing a
significant opportunity to strengthen the ties between the Fair Trade and
Peace movements and to broaden the "post-Seattle" coalition into a stronger
unified people's movement to turn the tide of Corporate-Military
Globalization.
Organized as a sequel to Seattle, the Mobilization for Global Justice
coincides with the start of the Spring meeting of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington. The week-long series of
activities from April 9-17 features teach-ins and rallies focusing on the
IMF and World Bank, the "star wars" missile defense system and the arms
race in space, culminating in a rally on IMF/World Bank issues at the
Treasury on April 16 and a day-long "Keep Space for Peace" vigil on the
steps of the Capitol on April 17.
As we head into the first election of the new millennium, in a nation that
prides itself on its ideals of democracy, with "liberty and justice for
all," where "all men are created equal," the world that our "leaders" are
designing looks more like a cross beween "Brave New World" and the galactic
Empire of "Star Wars!"
The intertwining tentacles of corporatization, militarization and
globalization were celebrated most eloquently by Thomas Friedman last March
in the New York Times, when he wrote: "For globalism to work, America can't
be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is. ... The hidden
hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist - McDonald's
cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And
the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies
is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps."
("What the World Needs Now," Thomas Friedman, New York Times, March 28,
1999)
The International Network on Disarmament and Globalization reports "In many
respects, the WTO has marginalized the United Nations and has become the
main venue for international relations and diplomacy. ... The WTO's agenda
of promoting unfettered capitalism at the expense of a government's ability
to control its economy for the benefit of its people contributes to
poverty, human rights violations, environmental degradation - all of the
root causes of war. ...
"The result is the creation of the 'global war system.' In the emerging
economies of the south, corporations demand weak labour and environmental
standards to extract natural resources or build goods destined for northern
markets. The economic interests of transnational corporations are protected
by the technologically advanced militaries of their allies in northern
governments. And occasionally, 'cruise missile diplomacy' is used against a
non-conforming nation." ("The WTO and War: Making the Connection",
http://www.indg.org)
50 Years Is Enough describes the IMF and World Bank as "the architects of
the world economy" and says that the Structural Adjustment Programs they
impose on third world nations as loan conditions serve the interests of
multinational corporations and business elites, while increasing poverty,
suffering and starvation, decreasing access to basic services, promoting
sweatshops and exploitation, devastating the environment, increasing the
concentration of wealth and restricting the ability of third world
governments to control their own economies. ("World Bank / IMF Fact Sheet",
http://www.globalexchange.org/wbimf/facts.html)
The U.N. Development Program characterized the widening gap between rich
and poor as "grotesque," but a joint statement by the U.N. and the
International Chamber of Commerce called for a "Global Compact between the
United Nations and the private sector" to promote "sustainable global
prosperity" and cooperation "to enable the benefits of globalization
increasingly to spread to all people ..." (http://www.indg.org/UN.txt)
A report issued by the U.S. Army War College actually suggested the need
for a joint military command to address "regional economic and security
concerns" in North America and to "co-ordinate military action on
terrorism, insurgency, security threats and drug trafficking." The report
states: "If we fail to change our current strategy, the country could
become less stable, thus jeopardizing the viability of NAFTA and the Free
Trade Area of the Americas." The report's author, Lt.-Col. Joseph Nunez,
"said a joint North American command would expand as free trade involved
more countries in the hemisphere. If, for example, the proposed Free Trade
Area of the Americas becomes reality, the military command would stretch
from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego." (http://www.indg.org/NAFTA.txt)
Canadian economics professor Michel Chossudovsky, the author of "The
Globalization of Poverty: Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms" wrote:
"... What happens to countries which refuse to deregulate trade and foreign
investment and provide "national treatment" to Western banks and MNCs
[(multinational corporations)]? The Western military-intelligence apparatus
and its various bureaucracies routinely interface with the financial
establishment. The IMF, the World Bank and the WTO --which 'police' country
level economic reforms -- also collaborate with NATO in its various
'peacekeeping' endeavours, not to mention the financing of 'post-conflict'
reconstruction under the auspices of the Bretton Woods institutions...
"At the dawn of the Third Millennium, War and the 'Free Market' go hand in
hand. ... Outright colonisation through war and the installation of Western
protectorates is tantamount to providing 'national treatment' to Western
banks and MNCs in all sectors of activity. 'Missile diplomacy' replicates
and emulates the 'gunboat diplomacy' used to enforce 'free trade' in the
19th Century. ... The 'Seattle Round' purports to 'peacefully' recolonise
countries through the manipulation of market forces,
--ie. through the 'invisible hand'. ... [T]he 1994 Marrakesh Agreement ...
formally instates a 'triangular division of authority' between the WTO, and
its sister organisations the IMF and the World Bank in a system of 'global
surveillance' of developing countries' economic and social policies. ...
The only promise of the 'free market' is a World of landless farmers,
shuttered factories, jobless workers and gutted social programmes with
'bitter economic medicine' under the WTO and the IMF constituting the only
prescription." ("Seattle and Beyond: Disarming the New World Order" by
Michel Chossudovsky,
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/seattle.htm)
And what of Kosovo? We were told that the war in Kosovo was a
"humanitarian" intervention to stop "ethnic cleansing," but President
Clinton was quoted in an article in The Nation last April as saying: "If
we're going to have a strong economic relationship that includes our
ability to sell around the world, Europe has got to be a key... That's
what this Kosovo thing is all about." ("The Case Against Intervention in
Kosovo" by Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne, The Nation, April 19,
1999)
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright claimed: "We all would have liked to
have solved this diplomatically," but BBC foreign correspondent Allan
Little reports that the Kosovo "peace" negotiations at Rambouillet were "so
managed that they paved the way for war." State Dept. spokesman James
Rubin admitted: "Obviously, publicly, we had to make clear that we were
seeking an agreement, but privately we knew the chances of the Serbs
agreeing were quite small." Albright said: "I remember telling the
Europeans that I was not going to come to any more meetings ... until you
give me your word that we will have a Nato activation order authorising the
threat of the use of force." Veton Suroi, a political rival of the KLA
involved in the talks, described Albright's message to the KLA: "She was
saying, you sign, the Serbs don't sign, we bomb. You sign, the Serbs sign,
you have NATO in. So it's up to you."
Chossudovsky reveals the outcome a year later: "In occupied Kosovo under
the mandate of UN peace-keeping, State terror and the 'free market' go hand
in hand. ... the self-proclaimed KLA administration has committed itself to
establishing a 'secure and stable environment' for foreign investors and
international financial institutions. ... Article I (Chapter 4a) of the
Rambouillet Agreement stipulated that: 'The economy of Kosovo shall
function in accordance with free market principles.' ... In close liaison
with NATO, the Washington based financial institutions had already analyzed
the consequences of an eventual military intervention leading to the
occupation of Kosovo ... [T]he leaders of the Provisional Government of
Kosovo (PGK) have become 'the brokers' of multinational capital committed
to turning over the Kosovar economy at bargain prices to foreign
investors." ("State terror & the free market: Opening Kosovo to foreign
capital" by Michel Chossudovsky,
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/opening.htm)
In a speech in Seoul, South Korea last June, Dr. Joseph Gerson, Director of
Programs for the American Friends Service Committee said: "I want to quote
two lessons taught by the faculty of Georgetown University's School of
Foreign Service when Bill Clinton and I were students there in the
mid-1960s. ... When we were second year students, Professor Ello began his
course on international relations by saying that 'the study of
international relations is akin to studying the rules of the game among
Mafia families.' And, in our last year, international law Professor
O'Brien repeatedly emphasized that 'International law is what those who
have the power to impose it say it is.' "
And we can add to that the vision of the U.S. Space Command. A Space
Command report titled "Vision for 2020" calls for "dominating the space
dimension of military operations to protect U.S. interests and investment"
and "[i]ntegrating Space Forces into warfighting capabilities across the
full spectrum of conflict." General Joseph Ashy, former commander-in-chief
of the U.S. Space Command, has said: "We're going to fight from space... We
will engage terrestrial targets someday -- ships, airplanes, land targets
-- from space." ("Waging War in Space: The US Military Plans for Space
Warfare" by Karl Grossman, http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk)
So we progress from national security and "gunboat diplomacy" to a
Corporate-Financial World Government and "Death Star diplomacy" of the 21st
century.
Chossudovsky concludes: "War and globalisation are not separate issues. The
citizens' campaign against the WTO must be integrated with the anti-war
movement against the bombing of sovereign countries by the US and its
European allies. ... There can be no other alternative but to reject the
WTO as an international institution, ... citizens' movements around the
World must pressure their governments to withdraw without delay and cancel
their membership with the WTO. Legal proceedings must also be initiated in
national courts against the governments of member countries, underscoring
the blatant violation of domestic laws and national constitutions. ...
[T]he citizens' platform in Seattle and around the World must be geared
towards disarming this economic system and dismantling its institutions.
... We must question the legitimacy of a system which ultimately destroys
people's lives. ...
"Concurrently, we must also build the conditions for a lasting World peace.
The military-industrial and security apparatus which sustains these
financial interests must eventually be dismantled, which also means that we
must abolish NATO and phase out the arms industry.
"We must combat the 'media lies' and 'global falsehoods' which uphold the
WTO and the powerful business interests which it supports [and] restore a
meaningful freedom of the press. The global media giants fabricate the news
and overtly distorts the course of World events. In turn, we must break the
"false consciousness" which pervades our societies, prevents critical
debate and masks the truth. Ultimately, it precludes a collective
understanding of the workings of an economic system which destroys people's
lives. ...
"Beyond Seattle, unity of purpose and Worldwide coordination among diverse
groups and social movements is crucial. A major thrust is required which
brings together social movements in all major regions of the world in a
common pursuit and commitment to the elimination of poverty and a lasting
World peace." ("Seattle and Beyond: Disarming the New World Order" by
Michel Chossudovsky,
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/seattle.htm)
So it's encouraging to see that trade activists and peace activists are
coming together in organizing the Mobilization for Global Justice. The
mobilization and events are being organized by many groups, including:
-- 50 Years is Enough, http://www.50years.org
-- Alliance for Democracy, 781-894-1179, http://www.afd-online.org
-- Center for Economic Justice, 202-265-3263, http://www.cepr.net/cej
-- Direct Action Network, http://www.a16.org
-- Friends of the Earth, 202-783-7400, http://www.foe.org
-- Global Exchange, 415-558-9486, http://www.globalexchange.org
-- Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, 352-337-9274,
http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk
-- International Forum On Globalization, 415-229-9350, http://www.ifg.org
-- International Network on Disarmament and Globalization, 604-687-3223,
http://www.indg.org
-- Jubilee 2000 USA, 800-601-5860, http://www.loga.org/jubrally.htm
Some of the major events scheduled for the Mobilization for Global Justice
are:
-- a rally for the cancellation of debts of impoverished countries in
Africa, Asia and Latin America on Sunday, April 9.
-- a rally to stop WTO expansion on Wednesday, April 12 on Capitol Hill.
-- an all-day teach-in on Friday, April 14 by the International Forum on
Globalization, on the Devastating Effects of the IMF and World Bank, with
speakers including Walden Bello, Vandana Shiva, Herman Daly, Susan George,
Martin Khor and John Cavanagh.
-- a Congressional Lobby Day on Friday, April 14 by Friends of the Earth
and the American Lands Alliance.
-- a demonstration against the expense of the "star wars" missile defense
system on Friday, April 14 at the Treasury Department.
-- an all-day teach-in on Saturday, April 15 by the Global Network Against
Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, "Star Wars Revisited: an International
Conference on Preventing an Arms Race in Space," with speakers including
Dr. Helen Caldicott, Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Sen. Tom Harkin.
-- a rally against the IMF and World Bank on Sunday, April 16th at the U.S.
Treasury.
-- a "Keep Space for Peace" lobbying day on Monday, April 17th, with a
day-long vigil on the steps of the Capitol.
Local events are also being held in many other cities across the U.S. and
Canada, and a group of activists is on the road with a 22-stop East Coast
roadshow tour featuring political theater, a globalization teach-in, video,
musical performances and non-violence training to help spread the message
of global justice and "the magical Spirit of Seattle."
For full information on the Mobilization for Global Justice, go to:
http://www.a16.org
For a calendar of all the events to be held in Washington, go to:
http://www.a16.org/action.html
For a calendar of events being held in cities all over the U.S. and Canada,
go to: http://www.a16.org/calendar.cfm (local solidarity events can also
be posted on this calendar)
For further updates on corporate-military globalization and the global
grassroots renaissance of democracy, liberty, peace and human values,
contact:
Ron Rowe
Citizens' Alliance of Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara Alliance for Democracy)
Rowe Communication Services
-- personal/business/non-profit co-op P.O. Box 2170 Simi Valley, CA 93062
(805) 581-3250 Fax: (805) 579-3825 E-mail: •••@••.•••
____________________________________________________________________
International Network on Disarmament and Globalization
405-825 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6Z 1K9 CANADA
tel: (604) 687-3223 fax: (604) 687-3277
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Citizens for a Democratic Renaissance
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