Warmongering in the Name of "Global Values"

Workers' Daily Internet Edition : Article Index :

Jack Straw’s Mansion House Speech:
Warmongering in the Name of "Global Values"

EU Eyes Southern Expansion

Italian General Strike

On April 10 at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet at the Mansion House, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, delivered a keynote speech entitled Principles of A Modern Global Community.

According to Jack Straw there are four such principles "which need to underpin the modern idea of global community, if our world is to be more peaceful and prosperous".

First – "that international relations must be founded on the idea that every nation has an obligation properly to meet its global responsibilities", and secondly "that the global community has the right to make judgements about countries’ internal affairs, where they flout or fail to abide by these global values". Jack Straw’s third principle is based on the view that "because our interests as nation states are now more entwined than ever, the global community must make renewed efforts to resolve those persistent conflicts that threaten the security of us all". Straw’s fourth principle is that "the global community must play a more active role in dealing with conflicts within states" which, he claims, "in the past have been overlooked until late".

It is clear that in Jack Straw’s view what is now of the greatest importance is the fact that there is now a "global community", which he fails to define in any precise way at all, except to indicate that it has developed as a consequence of globalisation. According his view there is now a globalisation of common interests and values in the world based on the free market economy, the rule of law, representative democracy and human rights based on the sanctity of private property. Indeed, they are precisely those Eurocentric values enshrined in the Paris Charter of 1990, which represent the interests of the big monopolies and financial institutions and which are therefore zealously promoted by Britain, the US and the other big powers throughout the world. According to Jack Straw these values "transcend cultures and religions". They have been chosen by the world’s peoples and are now "global and indivisible".

Of course in his speech the Foreign Secretary mentions nothing of the world-wide opposition to globalisation and to such values as he claims are global, which has manifested itself so sharply in recent years at the meetings of the World Trade Organisation, the World Economic Forum, the G77 countries and at the summit meetings of the G8 countries and elsewhere. For him such values are universal and the global community, which means Britain and the big powers, exists precisely to uphold these values.

According to Jack Straw "the rights of members of the global community depend exclusively on their readiness to meet their global responsibilities", and these rights and responsibilities "are best guaranteed through respect and observance of the rule of law". For Jack Straw this does not mean existing international law, or those agreements drawn up after the Second World War, which Britain, the US and others flout with almost total impunity. Rather it refers to those "laws" and arrangements which the big powers dominate, or seek to dominate, such as the new and permanent International Criminal Court in the Hague, (ICC) which is due to come into force in July this year. The ICC has been established, under the auspices of the UN, to pass judgment on the most grievous war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by individuals. But although the British government claims that it is an "energetic supporter", the US government is strongly opposed to the remit of the court and is refusing to co-operate with it. Some other countries have failed to ratify or sign the 1998 Rome treaty establishing the court, including Russia, Japan and China. The issue is, how is the remit of such a court established? Will it be independent, on which principles of international law will it be based, will it be the purveyor of big power justice and the allegedly global or universal values that Jack Straw is promoting? The question is by no means settled, but there are already fears that the ICC will be dominated by the big powers through the UN Security Council and will be used to facilitate further intervention throughout the world.

Indeed, Jack Straw’s "principles" are all about the obligation of the "global community" to intervene in the internal affairs of states, of those who are alleged to have flouted so-called "global values". It is these values and principles which Jack Straw employs to justify military intervention in Iraq, support for Zionist state terrorism in the Middle East and further interference and intervention in the internal affairs of so-called "failed states" throughout the world, even though this is a flagrant breach of existing international law.

It is indeed ominous that in his speech Jack Straw openly contemplates intervention in what he arrogantly refers to as "undemocratic states without popular consent", and in the same paragraph mentions not only Iraq but also the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.

Far from making the world more peaceful and prosperous, Jack Straws principles and "global values" herald greater conflict and instability in the world and the prospect of increasing military intervention and war. They seek to provide a justification for the philosophy that "might is right", that the big powers can flout every international law and norm of conduct, and can intervene wherever they like in their pursuit of global dominance. It is becoming an urgent task for all working people to oppose such blatant warmongering, to seize the initiative, take a stand against the dangerous path that the government is embarked on, and empower themselves so as to prevent even greater calamities in the future.

The Ministers of Industry of the 15 EU countries and 12 Mediterranean countries met in Malaga, Spain, on April 9-10 as part of the efforts to establish a Euro-Mediterranean free trade area by 2010. The meeting, which was chaired by the Spanish Minister of Science and Technology, was attended by Industry Ministers from Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey and by Francois Perigot, the Honorary President of the major EU employers organisation, the Union of Industrial Employers Confederations of Europe.

The conference noted that the creation of the free trade area by 2010 would lead to "major commercial opportunities in the Mediterranean countries" and welcomed the recent association agreements between the EU and Egypt, Algeria and Lebanon. More importantly, it outlined a number of priority steps which need to be taken to reinforce the momentum towards the free trade area. These include the demand for the progressive dismantling of non-tariff barriers so as to enable the creation of a larger market and for the Mediterranean countries to adjust their rules and technical regulations to bring them into line with those of the EU so as to facilitate this.

The EU also launched three new programmes for the Mediterranean countries on investment promotion, innovation, technology and quality and on a Euro-Mediterranean market mechanism. The meeting stressed that the innovation and technology programme is aimed at making the Mediterranean businesses "more competitive". In line with this, the meeting called for the strengthening of the "private sector" in the Mediterranean countries, considering that it would play a "decisive role" in the establishment of the free trade area, but that its success would be dependent on its "competitiveness". In this regard, it welcomed the recent establishment of the permanent employers’ organisation the Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises, which is modelled on its EU counterpart. The meeting further noted that this organisation would be "a suitable interlocutor for the public authorities" in the Mediterranean countries, again based on the EU model. Finally, the meeting called on the governments of the Mediterranean countries to take "resolute action to improve the business climate" and "attract investors".

At the same time as the big powers of the EU bloc are seeking to consolidate its southern flank and encircle the whole Mediterranean region, imposing the values and arrangements of the Europe of the monopolies, the same is true of its Eastern extension. There is talk of NATO and EU "big bangs" by the end of the year, with sizeable expansions of both NATO and the EU to reshape the "trans-Atlantic universe". NATO is due to hold a summit in Prague in late November and the EU in Copenhagen just weeks thereafter. The prediction is that these organisations could well extend invitations that would increase their memberships to the tune of seven and 10 new members in NATO and the EU, respectively.

The divergent trends that have evolved are such that NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson said in a 4 March speech that "the success of [the non-US members'] modernisation effort is simply vital. Otherwise, the gap between American forces on the one hand and European – and Canadian – forces on the other will be unbridgeable." For its part, the EU is seeking to integrate new members from the East and reform its structures so that the big powers, including Britain, France and Germany, maintain their domination and shape the EU according to their needs.

These moves to expansion are signs of the growing inter-imperialist contradictions, particularly between the Anglo-US drive to impose its New World Order and the other big powers, including Russia, as well as the growing Asian economies. They are also signs of the imperative of the big monopolies impose new arrangements for the penetration of their capital, up to and including the annexation of states.

This situation fraught with the dangers of added conflicts in which the people will pay with their blood, in addition to being exploited to the bone, underlines once more how the movements in opposition to imperialist globalisation must urgently gather their strength and work out their agenda for a better world.

Red banners were waved in mass demonstrations on the central squares of all Italy's cities on Tuesday, April 16, as the country's unions led a general strike against attacks on workers’ rights and their livelihoods. People from every walk of life participated in the action, which was directed against Silvio Berlusconi's government and its anti-worker, anti-people programme.

In particular, the eight-hour general strike opposed the Italian government’s proposals to remove protection against arbitrary dismissal. These proposals include scrapping Article 18 of the Workers Statute introduced into Italian legislation in 1970. This Statute constitutes a major pillar of the Labour Law covering a wide range of workers rights and guarantees. It has been achieved as the result of a fierce trade union struggle in the sixties. Article 18 applies to enterprises above 15 employees and provides in case of unjustified dismissal recognised by the courts, the right of the worker to be reinstated in his/her job.

The Italian government has introduced a proposal to suspend this provision over four years in a number of cases covering an extended area of workers, over the heads of the workers and their organisations.

TUC General Secretary John Monks said in support of the actions which were called by the three Italian trade union centrals: "Prime Minister Berlusconi's actions will severely affect workers’ livelihoods and rights. The European social model recognises universal rights that must be guaranteed to all workers. Claims by governments that these safeguards have to be scrapped because of EU requirements is both intolerable and untrue. We call on all EU governments and institutions to confirm that the social model, by which European workers set great store, demands an entirely different approach – on both substance and form – based on safeguarding rights and consultations with both sides of industry."