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Deciphering the Language of Globalization

The Hong Kong meeting of the WTO has amply illustrated how difficult it is to arrive at a consensus about the rules of free trade. The fact that none of the major players has been willing to budge-to offer what in negotiating parlance is known as "deliverables"-is just one of the problems. What's increasingly apparent, though, is that the WTO, and indeed the entire concept of free trade globalization, has a communication problem. Most of the texts being negotiated are unintelligible to the untrained ear, which is to say to any normal person.

Volunteer in Ghana

Development, Human Rights and the Role of Volunteers

As the disparities between the rich and the poor widen, so does the confusion for ordinary citizens regarding how to change this global trend. How does one tread lightly on the rest of the world, while still helping communities in need? What is the right way to help? How can we approach humanitarian aid on a personal, sustainable and gracious level? Four women discuss the role of volunteerism in a world that's had its share of Western "development," and evaluate the impact that volunteers can have on creating a more just and compassionate world.

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Monkey-Wrenching the Globalization Gang

I went to Bretton Woods, but all I got was this lousy t-shirt. Amazingly, it's not a 'one size fits all' and it's not full of holes.

Walking through the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods two years ago, in the New Hampshire mountain resort and official birthplace, in July 1944, of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and of plans for an international trade organization - eventually embodied by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)/World Trade Organization (WTO), I thought about the genocide of Indigenous Peoples in that part of the USA, now called "New England", perpetrated by Puritans and other settlers who viewed them, as historian Douglas Leach put it, as a "graceless and savage people, dirty and slothful in their personal habits, treacherous in their relations with the superior race…fit only to be pushed aside and subordinated"(i).

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How Trade Trumps Culture

I come from New Zealand. Most people here will know that New Zealand has three main objectives in international trade and the World Trade Organization (WTO) - they involve agriculture, agriculture and agriculture. However, despite two decades of neoliberal policies that have radically changed our country, there is still more to life in New Zealand than butter, sheep and export markets.

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Behind the Numbers of the UN report (03/04)

Mark Twain once observed that we have “lies, damn lies, and then statistics.” Unfortunately, to understand the world, we are often forced to dance with that devil, and hope it explains what’s actually happening. A recent United Nations’ publication, “Economic and Financial Globalization: What the Numbers Say,” attempts to do that, but leaves out some relevant details.

Population Density and Demographics: The report offered some surprises here. Population is increasing rapidly in the largest countries, especially Pakistan. But Russia’s population has actually fallen in recent years. Generally, growth is much slower in industrialized nations than developing ones: Although the population of North America – 320 million in 1950 – is expected to reach 500 million by 2010, its share of the world total is projected to drop from 17 to 10 percent. read more

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Cancun: Connecting the Dots of Resistance (12/03)

For at least two years, the need to better understand and oppose neo-liberal capitalism and the self-serving Bush administration has become increasingly urgent. Using tactics that are clearly alarming and potentially criminal, both appear devoted primarily to advancing corporate agendas and wealthy elites at the expense of the planet and most of its inhabitants.

Globalization and war not only have detrimental effects on human life. They are destroying the Earth’s life-support systems. In short, an economic model backed by military might has the potential to turn our world into one giant killing field. Sub-commandante Marcos, leader of the Mexican indigenous rebel Zapatistas, calls it "a war against humanity." In a communiqué to World Trade Organization (WTO) protesters in Cancun, Mexico this September, he explained, "The globalization of those who are above us is nothing more than a global machine that feeds on blood and defecates in dollars." read more