Robin Cook Champions Globalisation

"The Challenges of Globalisation" was the title of a speech presented by the Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, to the Trilateral Commission in London on March 9.

As a consequence of the growing opposition to the effects of globalisation and the entire neo-liberal agenda, not just in Britain but throughout the world, Robin Cook was forced to offer a few cautionary words to the representatives of the multinationals and international finance capital who are the members of the so-called Trilateral Commission. As well as making it clear that the British government remains one of the most zealous champions of globalisation and what he referred to as "Global Britain", Robin Cook also stressed the need to answer the critics of globalisation by arguing for "global fairness and responsibility", so that the impression might be created that globalisation benefits all – developed and developing countries, rich and poor alike.

According to Robin Cook, the problem with globalisation, the neo-liberal agenda where the whole world is being put under the sway of the multinationals, is not that it is has increased the disparities between rich and poor world wide, and highlighted the undemocratic nature of governments that simply do the bidding of the big monopolies. Nor is it the fact that it has increased the marginalisation of the poorest countries from world affairs. The problem is that globalisation does not enjoy "a broad consensus". In order to build such a consensus Robin Cook suggests that the multinationals and other global organisations such as the World Trade Organisation need to follow the British government’s lead and find ways to co-opt representatives of the NGOs which have been critical of globalisation. Robin Cook suggested that this might even include the exchange of personnel between NGOs and "official organisations" and the inclusion of representatives of NGOs in national delegations.

But building such a consensus, Robin Cook argues, is not enough; ways must be found to spread what he refers to as the "benefits" of globalisation. There is a need to develop "global fairness as a deliberate objective". But Robin Cook’s notion of "global fairness" simply means an increase in enslaving "development aid" and private capital investment and trade in the developing countries. The need, he explains, is for the development of the human resources of these countries, so that amongst other things these populations can be more usefully exploited and the multinationals should demand that governments foot the bill. At the same time Robin Cook stressed the need to find ways to persuade the developing countries that their concerns and priorities are being addressed by the big powers. He suggested "fairer access" for the products of developing countries to the markets of the developed countries, scrapping the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and committing the World Trade Organisation to achieving agreed "International Development Targets". All of these measures he suggested could assist in disarming the critics of globalisation and building a new wider consensus.

Robin Cook also advocated what he referred to a "global responsibility" or "corporate good citizenship", for example a concern for the environment. But the example he presented of such global responsibility was the British government’s intervention in Sierra Leone and other African countries and the subsequent demand for a global ban on the export of rough diamonds. However, far from preventing conflict in such countries as Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as the British government alleges, its policies have been a justification for further intervention and tightened the control of De Beers and others over the world diamond market.

According to Robin Cook there is no alternative to globalisation. National politics, he explained, can be simply understood as a division between the "progressive political forces" and the "reactionary political forces". The former are those who welcome globalisation, who recognise "that national security requires international alliances and that domestic prosperity requires the dynamic pursuit of external economic co-operation". The latter are those "who offer solutions that are based on a retreat to narrow nationalism". In this manner the government attempts to label all those who oppose globalisation as "reactionary" and "isolationist".

But as Robin Cook’s speech recognises, the movement against globalisation is growing in Britain and throughout the world. The attempts to build a "wider consensus" or to argue for global fairness and responsibility from the multinationals are attempts to reform globalisation while putting in place new arrangements which facilitate the continued plunder of the world and its resources by the international financial oligarchy.

The Trilateral Commission was formed in 1973 by "private citizens" of Japan, the EU countries and the US and Canada. It was established by David Rockerfeller to "foster closer co-operation among these core democratic industrialised areas of the world with shared leadership responsibilities in the wider international system". It is an unofficial group of "350 distinguished leaders in business, media, academia, public service, labour unions and other NGOs". Serving government ministers are barred from membership. The Commission holds an annual meeting and the regional groups in the Pacific, European and North American carry out their own individual activities. The commission’s current executive committee includes Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Assistant to the US President, Bill Emmott, editor of the Economist, and the Labour Minister Peter Shore (now Lord Shore).

On Saturday, March 17, a demonstration in support of the rights of the Palestinian people took place in Trafalgar Square, London, following a march from Hyde Park. Despite wet and windy conditions and constant drizzle, about 200 people attended the rally to support the Palestinian Refugees Right of Return to their land.

Speaker after speaker condemned the state of Israel, its war crimes and its Anglo-American backers. The rally called upon the application of UN Resolutions which guarantee the right of return of all displaced Palestinians. Speakers also stressed the creation of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine as a pre-condition for peace in the region.

At the end, the crowds chanted: "No Peace Without Justice!"

The ultimatum of the Macedonian government to the Albanian guerrillas to get out of the Macedonian city of Tetovo or face an army onslaught expired at midnight on Wednesday, March 21. There seems every prospect that the ultimatum will be rejected and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will have taken a further lurch down the road to another Balkan conflagration.

It is NATO and EU intervention in the whole Balkan region which has inexorably led to the present fighting within Macedonia, as the big powers have for the past decade renewed their contention to control this strategic region of Europe. Their intervention has always been justified under some humanitarian pretext or other. The extent of their intervention and entrenchment in the Balkans is such that, although the US, NATO, the EU countries and Russia have all condemned the violence of the Albanian forces who have taken up arms, none of them wishes to commit further troops to safeguard the FYRM for their interests. Already there are 38,000 NATO troops stationed in Kosova, 5,600 of them from the US. "Peacekeeping" troops are also stationed in Bosnia, of which 4,400 are US troops, which the US plans to cut back to 3,500 within a few weeks. Instead arms and equipment have been poured into the region willy nilly, while NATO-led KFOR troops have been deployed along the Kosova/Macedonia border. The EU for its part has not built up its "Rapid Reaction Force", which will not be operational until 2003, and so cannot use it to intervene. At the same time, it has been proposed that a unit of British troops just 20-strong, outside the UN or NATO mandate, be deployed to "advise the Macedonian government". Meanwhile, it is a battalion of German troops which, under the banner of KFOR, arrived in Tetovo on Tuesday to reinforce Macedonian troops and special police.

Whereas the bombing of Yugoslavia and the occupation of Kosova took place under the signboard of protecting the rights of the Albanian minority, in Macedonia the signboard has become "Macedonia’s territorial integrity and the legitimate efforts of the Macedonia government to protect the rule of law". Minority rights and the sovereignty of peoples have become so many catchphrases to cover over the tactics of the big powers to bring the Balkans under their control. No side in this equation is willing to commit itself to crush the Albanian population to maintain stability, and exhaust its resources in the process, as the Balkan region once more threatens to erupt.

The underlying problem is not ethnic conflict between the nationalities. It is the big powers who throughout the 20th century, and now into the 21st century, have sought to pit the Balkan peoples at each other’s throats, in what was known as the "cockpit of Europe". Now it seems in this case they cannot prevent themselves reaping the whirlwind. The instability is the result of the contention of the big powers to control the region and bring the Balkans within the orbit of the European Union and the US-led NATO alliance. These powers rode roughshod over Albania once the socialist system collapsed in the face of the imperialist encirclement and the retreat of revolution. They branded the Serbian government a criminal regime in order to try to complete the jigsaw of European powers that pledge allegiance to the Charter of Paris.

Only the ending of all foreign intervention will allow peace and stability to return to the Balkans. The peoples of the region must be allowed to sort out their affairs on a fraternal basis.

Tube Strike to Go Ahead

Although senior officials of ASLEF, the drivers’ union, have agreed to call off their action scheduled for a week’s time on March 29, the RMT union is to go ahead with its plan for London Underground workers to strike on that day. A spokeswoman for RMT said: "We are going ahead with our strike. There are no plans to call it off. We have already given LU official notice of our intentions."

It is reported that on the question of compulsory redundancies, ASLEF has won a commitment from LU that there will not be any "in the foreseeable future", and it will have a veto on a possible future change. It has also won a "guarantee" that working conditions will not deteriorate.

However, there remain the issues of safety and the transfer of workers to the employment by private firms under the government’s PPP plans.

Overtime Concessions Offered to Teachers

Teachers who cover for staff shortages may be offered the bribe of overtime payments. The offer has been made by Graham Lane, chairman of the Local Government Association’s education committee in an attempt to end the work-to-rule that teachers are engaged in throughout many parts of the country. The government has also said that it would hold an inquiry into the workloads of teachers if the action is called off.

Post Office Plans to Cut Workforce by 5,000

The Chief Executive of the Post Office, John Roberts, has announced that it plans to realise a target of turning a net loss of £264 million into a profit of £300 million within three years by making 5,000 workers redundant out of a total workforce of 200,000.

The Chief Executive said that the Post Office was also considering international alliances and acquisitions to exploit a forecast rise of 100% in the size of the European market over the next 10 years.

The Post Office has acquired 17 European parcels companies for about £500 million over the past two years. It has just been given approval by the European Commission for a joint venture with Singapore Post and TNT Post Group of the Netherlands.

The European Commission has put off a decision on the Post Office’s monopoly after failing to agree common rules for all European Union post offices, but it is expected to cut the monopoly over letter deliveries from a maximum weight of 350 grams to one of 150 grams.

A British regulatory regime starting next Monday requires the Post Office to be licensed by the Postal Services Commission, which will also determine the scope of its monopoly and licence competitors.

US Imperialism Further Intensifies Threats against DPRK

The US Pacific Forces commander, Admiral Dennis Blair, further intensified the threats against socialist DPRK when yesterday he aggressively declared, "I define North Korea the number one enemy state when I look across my area of responsibility." But attempting to belittle the DPRK’s warnings that the government and people are ready to defend themselves by arms should US imperialism attempt to wipe out the DPRK, Admiral Blair said, "Chances of a conflict with North Korea are very low." Referring also to South Korea, he boasted, "Our combined military capability and strength of our countries would be victorious in any conflict." Clearly, the Admiral has not learned the lesson of the 1950-53 Korean War, when US aggression resulted in the first ever defeat of the US military.

Iraq Condemns US Imperialism’s Proposal of "Smart Sanctions"

The Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq, Tariq Aziz, rejected the so-called "smart sanctions" proposed by the US government, while speaking at an Arab conference in Baghdad.

"The embargo is a crime and a crime cannot be smart or stupid," Tariq Aziz said on Tuesday.

Touring the Middle East last month, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had said that the US wanted the Arab League to support revised sanctions against Iraq at its summit which opens in the Jordanian capital of Amman on March 27.

Mexican President Says Will Meet Zapatistas' Conditions

Mexican President Vincente Fox said on Tuesday that he would meet the conditions of the Zapatistas for reviving peace talks. He called for a personal meeting with Subcommander Marcos, saying, "I propose that we have a dialogue to … spark around the country an ambitious development programme for our 10 million indigenous brothers and sisters."