By John J. Sweeney Washington Post, Opinion Sunday, January 30, 2000
It is time we asked ourselves: What is the fundamental test of globalization?
In all the talk about whether global markets are more open or less open, we've lost view of the market's fundamental role in a democratic society. An open market is a means to an end, and the end is human development.
The question is whether globalization is empowering the many, not just the few. Is it helping to lift the poor from poverty? Are its blessings shared widely? Does it work for working people?
Through that lens, it's easy to see why the global market forged in the past decade is now being called to account. The recent global financial crisis was an economic five-alarm fire. Seattle provided a political wake-up call. Both suggest the current course cannot be sustained, nor should it be.
Globalization has tremendous potential to lift people around the world. It's creating vast new wealth. But financial crises are growing more frequent and severe, and inequality is rising, as the United Nations reports, both among and within nations. This means that the seeds for rejection of globalization are in every political system, in developed nations as well as developing nations.
Freedom, as Nobel prize-winner Amartya Sen teaches us, is both the object and the means of development. Yet more direct private investment goes to developing nations that are not democratic than to those that are--even when China is not counted in the calculation.
That's why Seattle is so important. The protests in the streets by workers, environmentalists, farmers and students from across the world were mirrored by the anger inside the hall from developing-country delegates who felt just as locked out as the demonstrators.
If we care about equitable, sustainable development, then the impact on people -- not only incomes but the environment, health, food safety, debt forgiveness and democratic participation -- can no longer simply be left to chance.
Understand the message of Seattle. It wasn't an isolationist rejection of open markets. It was a call for new global rules, democratically developed. Workers North and South marched together. And the many different voices made one clear statement: Fundamental reform is needed.
If the global system continues to generate growing inequality, environmental destruction and a race to the bottom for working people, then it will generate an increasingly volatile reaction that will make Seattle look tame.
Leaders of the global institutions face a legitimacy crisis that cannot be solved by better public relations. Their institutions will become more accountable, or more irrelevant.
Leaders of developing nations face a growing inequality of income and hope. They should not be forced into one economic straitjacket. They will either find ways to empower workers and protect the environment, or they will face growing popular resistance.
Global nongovernmental organizations raise fundamental concerns. Now it is important for the NGOs to go from opposing what is to proposing what can be. They must not assume that the price of development requires cashing in basic human rights.
Heads of global corporations and banks will be held accountable for how they do business -- by consumers, by workers, by governments. Leaders of the corporate community should join the effort to build enforceable laws that put limits on cutthroat competition. It is in the self-interest of multinational corporations and the governments that regulate them to have rules that are agreed upon by all.
Labor leaders across the world also must change to meet the new challenges. At the AFL-CIO, we know that we have to deepen our own growing internationalism, and develop new sophistication in bargaining and organizing across national lines.
We also recognize that we must join our voices with those in developing countries calling for high-road development strategies. We must work to ensure that developing countries are no longer crippled by unpayable debt burdens and that they have the resources to engage in trade negotiations on an equal footing as well as the technical support to implement and enforce labor and environmental standards.
Seattle marked a crossroads. Now, joined by millions of others across the world, we will press for core workers' rights that are the basis of economic freedom and equitable development.
The writer is president of the AFL-CIO. This article is adapted from a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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