The North American Free Trade Agreement is the world’s most advanced example of the U.S.-led free trade model. It’s not just about economics any more. The expansion of NAFTA into the Security and Prosperity Partnership reveals the road ahead for other nations entering into free trade agreements. It is not a road most nations -- or the U.S. public -- would take if they knew where it led.
The quote below (from Musil’s masterpiece, The Man Without Qualities) condenses, in one short paragraph composed of five sentences, the core of the argument in my previous essayThe Political Economy of Love and the Eradication of Extreme Poverty in the World.[2] Musil’s quote begins with the sentence: ‘The problem of civilisation cannot be resolved other than with the heart.’ (All translations that follow in this paragraph are mine).
The backlash against neoliberalism in Latin America is now leading to confrontations between several of the region’s governments and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In Africa, globalisation builds on a history of slavery, colonialism and exploitation - a fact many recognize to have a continuing impact on the continent's experiences of the global economy.
We live in an era of deregulation, where economists and politicians speak of “the market,” not government, as the appropriate vehicle for economic decisions. President Ronald Reagan said in his 1981 inaugural address, “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.”
The fight against free trade is a fight for the right to politico-economic democracy, public services, and a social wage, the right not to be completely at the mercy of big capital, says Michael Parenti.
Our world today is deeply polarized. Comparisons are increasingly being made with the Cold War but in many ways it is more complex and dangerous now, because the opponents are not just governments but also armed groups with little or no stake in international relations.
As the people of Latin America build democracies from the bottom up, the symbols of power are changing. What used to be emblems of poverty and oppression—indigenous clothing and speech, the labels “campesino” and “landless worker”—are increasingly the symbols of new power.
The "politics of fear" are polarising the world and leading to an erosion of human rights, according to Amnesty International's annual report released Wednesday.
