It’s one of the twisted ironies of the war on drugs. While the US spends billions of dollars trying to interdict illegal drugs from abroad, the country’s banking system has been making it easy for drug lords to launder their profits. About half of the estimated trillion dollars in dirty money that comes in large part from drug trafficking – but also from criminal activities such as gambling, auto theft, and child prostitution – moves through the US financial system, according to government estimates. read more

In politics, a basic rule of incumbency is to ignore the opposition for as long as possible. Responding to a challenger’s criticisms, as practiced pols know, often tends to confer legitimacy and set the stage for a debate on equal terms. The same rule applies at the global level, in conflicts between elites and their local or regional opposition. Once those in power begin to directly address their critics, the stage is set for some form of accommodation, even if the tactics don’t immediately change or the response takes the form of a vicious counter-attack. read more

At first glance, arguments for privatization of public enterprises and services look reasonable enough. Since they have to compete, private companies supposedly deliver better and cheaper results. In many countries, government is too large and inefficient anyway, cheerleaders for globalized free enterprise endlessly charge. States are involved in industries and services that they have neither the time nor the resources to manage well. To make matters worse, government-run projects too often breed corruption and squander public funds. read more

The World Social Forum will be a new international arena for organizing against neoliberal policies and for building economic alternatives that prioritize social justice. It will take place every year in the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, during the same period as the World Economic Forum, which happens in Davos, Switzerland, at the end of January.

The World Social Forum will provide a space for building economic alternatives, for exchanging experiences and for strengthening South-North alliances between NGOs, unions and social movements. It will also be an opportunity for developing concrete actions, to educate the public, and to mobilize civil society internationally. read more

Transnational Resource & Action Center, September 2000

Executive Summary

Secretary General Kofi Annan has encouraged all UN agencies to form partnerships with the private sector. The centerpiece of this initiative is his Global Compact, launched with the agencies for environment (UNEP), labor (ILO) and human rights (UNHCHR) in July, 2000. This report argues that corporate influence at the UN is already too great, and that new partnerships are leading down a slippery slope toward the partial privatization and commercialization of the UN system itself.  The Secretary General’s office and UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNDP, WHO, and UNESCO are partnering with corporations known for human, labor and environmental rights violations.  The Global Compact and its cousin partnerships at other UN agencies threaten the mission and integrity of the United Nations. read more

The eradication of the Haitian Creole pig population in the 1980s is a classic parable of globalization. Haiti’s small, black, Creole pigs were at the heart of the peasant economy. An extremely hearty breed, well adapted to Haiti’s climate and conditions, they ate readily available waste products, and could survive for three days without food. Eighty to 85 percent of rural households raised pigs; they played a key role in maintaining the fertility of the soil and instituted the primary savings bank of the peasant population. Traditionally, a pig was sold to pay for emergencies and special occasions (funerals, marriages, illnesses), and, critically, to pay school fees and buy books for the children when school opened each year in October. read more