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 Opinions
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"The alternative to a powerful WTO is not a Hobbesian state of nature. It is always the powerful that have stoked this fear. The reality of international economic relations in a world marked by a multiplicity of international and regional institutions that check one another is a far cry from the propaganda image of a 'nasty' and 'brutish' world. Of course, the threat of unilateral action by the powerful is ever present in such a system, but it is one that even the powerful hesitate to take for fear of its consequences on their legitimacy as well as the reaction it would provoke in the form of opposing coalitions.
"In other words, what developing countries and international civil society should aim at is not to reform the WTO but, through a combination of passive and active measures, to radically reduce its power and to make it simply another international institution coexisting with and being checked by other international organizations, agreements, and regional groupings. These would include such diverse actors and institutions as UNCTAD, multilateral environmental agreements, the International Labor Organization (ILO), evolving trade blocs such as Mercosur in Latin America, SAARC in South Asia, SADCC in Southern Africa, and ASEAN in Southeast Asia."
"It is in such a more fluid, less structured, more pluralistic world with multiple checks and balances that the nations and communities of the South will be able to carve out the space to develop based on their values, their rhythms, and the strategies of their choice."
—Walden Bello, Director, Focus on the Global South, Bangkok, Thailand
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"Markets are not the first nor the last word in human development. Many essentials for human development are provided outside the market, but these are being destroyed and squeezed by the pressures of the global competition. When the market dominates social and political outcomes, the rewards of globalization spread unequally. When the market gets out of hand, the instabilities show up in the boom or bust cycles as evident in the Asian financial crisis. When the profit motive of the market gets out of hand, it sacrifices respect for justice and human rights."
"The time has come to step back from this mania for free trade at any cost, assess the damage, and seek a new start. The goal is not to stop international trade. In appropriate circumstances and under the right conditions, international trade can support local economic development, provide needed goods that cannot be produced domestically, and create jobs. But trade bills and treaties designed to favor the wealthiest and most powerful corporations at the expense of everyone else are wrong. Recognizing the potential of trade, there is a need for a set of principles to serve as the basis for a different kind of trade policy, one under which the benefits of trade might flow primarily to the countries and communities most in need. What they add up to is selective or negotiated integration into the global economy, as opposed to indiscriminate globalization and trade liberalization."
—Anuradha Mittal, Policy Director, Institute for Food and Development Policy, U.S.
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Alan Greenspan recently called protesters against the World Trade Organization misguided and said they offered no solutions to the "alleged failures" of globalization. He apparently had not looked very hard.
The following proposals on how to reform or replace the WTO represent a sampling of critical viewpoints. Ranging from detailed programs to brief position statements, all point toward solutions to the problems inherent in the current governance of international trade. A few also address more general issues of trade and development.
Following the proposals on trade is a section covering the often-overlapping issues of finance, investment and debt.
The proposals in each section are listed in alphabetical order.
Proposals - WTO and trade
Non-governmental
- Michael Albert
- David Bacon
- "Will a Social Clause in Trade Agreements Advance International Solidarity?"
In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: pp. 124-128.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
"An alternative program for international labor solidarity."
- Bacon writes on labor issues for The Nation and Inter Press Service.
- Walden Bello
- "Why Reform of the WTO is the Wrong Agenda." Oakland, CA: Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, January 2000.
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/trade/wbello.html
See especially the two final sections:
Should One Try to Reform a Jurassic Institution?
Building a Pluralistic System of Trade Governance.
- "UNCTAD: Time to Lead, Time to Challenge the WTO."
In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: pp. 163-174.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
Bello outlines an approach to reforming the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and suggests four areas in which it could serve as a counterweight to the WTO and Bretton Woods institutions: an agreement on "Special and Differential Treatment" for developing countries; the nexus of trade and environment; reform of the global financial architecture; and a "New Deal" for agriculture in developing countries. Rather than replacing the WTO and IMF, he proposes that UNCTAD take an active role in reducing their powers. "UNCTAD should become, as Secretary General Ricupero put it, 'a world parliament on globalization.'"
- Bello is director of Focus on the Global South in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
- Duncan Green, CAFOD, and Shishir Priyadarshi, South Centre. "Proposal for a 'Development Box' in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture." London: CAFOD, October 2001.
http://www.cafod.org.uk/policy/devbox.htm
"This paper makes the case for introducing a package of changes to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) to provide enhanced Special and Differential Treatment (S & D) measures in the Agreement, in order to enable developing countries to better address their food security concerns and to preserve and improve rural livelihoods."
- "CAFOD is a major British charity that has been fighting third world poverty since 1962."
- Alexander Cockburn, Jeffrey St. Clair & Allan Sekula
- 5 Days That Shook the World: Seattle and Beyond. London: Verso, 2000.
Chapter 7 - "What Are We Fighting For?" Pp. 113 - 118.
- Cockburn is a syndicated columnist.
- Council of Canadians
- Maude Barlow. "The Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization - An Analysis." Ottawa, Ontario: Council of Canadians, October 16, 2001.
http://www.canadians.org/campaigns/campaigns-tradepub-4minmtg.html
Focuses on six areas of concern: services, government procurement, investment, competition policy, intellectual property rights, and agriculture.
- "Our World Is Not For Sale - WTO: Shrink or Sink." Ottawa, Ontario: Council of Canadians, 2001.
http://www.canadians.org/campaigns/campaigns-trade-notforsale.html
Revised and expanded version of the Shrink or Sink letter on the Public Citizen Global Trade Watch site (listed below).
- The Council of Canadians is "an independent, non-partisan citizens' interest group providing a critical and progressive voice on key national and international issues."
- Environmental Research Foundation
- "The WTO Turns Back the Environmental Clock."
In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: pp. 129-134.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
Proposes 1) true pollution prevention with bans; 2) the precautionary principle; and 3) eco- and social labeling. Methods that impose societal values on the economy.
- Environmental Research Foundation "founded in 1980 to provide understandable scientific information about the influence of toxic substances on human health and the environment."
- Food First/Insitute for Food and Development Policy
- Peter Rosset. "Food First Trade Principles." San Francisco: Food First/Insitute for Food and Development Policy Backgrounder, Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 1999.
http://www.foodfirst.org/pubs/backgrdrs/1999/f99v5n2.html
"In appropriate circumstances and under the right conditions, international trade can potentially benefit local economic development, provide needed goods that cannot be produced domestically, and create jobs. But trade bills and treaties designed to favor the wealthiest and most powerful corporations at the expense of everyone else are profoundly wrong. Recognizing the positive potential of trade, we ask: Under what conditions could trade contribute to human well-being and broad-based development? In that light we present a set of principles to serve as the basis for a different kind of trade policy, one under which the benefits of trade might flow primarily to the countries and communities most in need."
- Food First is "a member-supported, nonprofit 'peoples' think tank and education-for-action center. Our work highlights root causes and value-based solutions to hunger and poverty around the world, with a commitment to establishing food as a fundamental human right."
- Susan George
- "Fixing or Nixing the WTO."
In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: pp. 57-58.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
"Thanks to the World Bank and United Nations Development Programme statistics, we know a great deal about levels of material and human development worldwide. Suppose the ILO and the United Nations Development Programme were to classify all countries at a given level of development--including the most advanced--according to the respect they show for labor law and for nature. The best, at each level, would be granted tariff preferences or even exemption from customs duties, while the products of the others would be taxed according to their classification. Such a system would allow a review of the hallowed most-favored-nation clause, which in fact favors nothing but a rush to the abyss."
- George is Vice-President of the Association for Taxation of Financial Transactions to Aid Citizens (ATTAC) in France and a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam.
- The Greens/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament
- "WTO and corporate globalisation." Strasbourg, France: The Greens/European Free Alliance, European Parliament, 27 June 2001.
http://www.greens-efa.org/en/documents/detail.php?id=18&lg=en
- "Background document." Strasbourg, France: The Greens/European Free Alliance, European Parliament, June 2001.
http://www.greens-efa.org/en/documents/detail.php?id=19&lg=en
- "Background document - AgriCulture / Food Security / Fair Trade." Strasbourg, France: The Greens/European Free Alliance, European Parliament, September 2001.
http://www.greens-efa.org/en/documents/detail.php?id=41&lg=en
- "The politics of the WTO contradict the principles of our programme for a fair, ecological and social trade. Therefore we support the abolition of the WTO, as set out in the Global Greens Statement from Canberra. That is clearly a longer term strategy. In order to reduce the worst effects of the WTO in the short-term, ..." the document outlines a ten-point programme for reform of the WTO.
- "The Greens/European Free Alliance is a European parliamentary group made up of Greens and representatives of stateless nations."
- William Greider
- "Global Agenda. After the WTO Protest in Seattle, It's Time to Go on the Offensive. Here's How." New York: The Nation, January 31, 2000.
http://past.thenation.com/cgi-bin/framizer.cgi?url=http://past.thenation.com/issue/000131/0131greider.shtml
Suggests "right to know" legislation mandating collection and disclosure of vital data by U.S. multinationals on "environmental damage and workplace conditions in their overseas production--including the subcontractors and suppliers where the most abusive practices typically occur. The information would flow not just to Americans but to the workers and communities in foreign countries where the damage is done. Citizens and civic organizations would be empowered to sue violators and collect damages."
- "Trading With the Enemy." New York: The Nation, March 26, 2001: pp. 11-14.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010326&s=greider
"A new season of trade politics is under way among Washington insiders, with an astonishing twist: America's major multinational corporations are love-bombing labor and environmentalists." Greider analyzes this as primarily part of the effort to win fast track negotiating authority on trade agreements for the Bush administration, but also sees it as an indication that the critiques of the "Seattle movement" have shifted the tone of the dialogue. The idea of "right to know" legislation, he says, has now been drafted into a legislative proposal already supported by 180 civil organizations, including the AFL-CIO and major environmental and human-rights groups.
- Greider is National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation.
- Indigenous Peoples' Caucus
- "Indigenous Peoples' Seattle Declaration."
In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: pp. 85-91.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
- Proposals on Agreement on Agriculture, TRIPS and liberalization of services and investments.
- International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
- "Trade Unions declare Global Day of Action for 4th WTO Ministerial Conference." Brussels: ICFTU, 2001.
http://www.icftu.org
http://www.global-unions.org/wto-action.asp
http://attac.org/nonewround/wto/wto04.htm
"At the WTO Conference, Global Unions will be calling for:
Protections of basic workers' rights from the exploitation that results from world trade;
Reforming the world trading system to benefit the poor in developing countries;
The right to quality universal public education and health services, free from WTO rules;
Cheap and affordable medicines to fight diseases like HIV/AIDS;
Opening up the WTO system to consultation with trade unions and other democratic representatives of civil society."
- The ICFTU represents more than 156 millions workers in 148 countries and territories, and is a member of Global Unions.
- International Forum on Globalization
- John Cavanagh, ed. "Beyond the WTO - Alternatives to Economic Globalization - A Preliminary Report." San Francisco: International Forum on Globalization, November 26, 1999.
http://www.ifg.org/beyondwto.html
Three sections:
I. Principles of an Alternative Agenda
II. Views on Global Institutions: Internationalism, Not Globalization
III. The Future of the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO
- The International Forum on Globalization is "an alliance of sixty leading activists, scholars, economists, researchers and writers formed to stimulate new thinking, joint activity, and public education in response to economic globalization." It sponsored a major public forum during the 1999 Seattle Ministerial.
- Deborah James
- "Free Trade, Not Fair Trade."
In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: pp. 188-194.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
Principles of and different approaches to fair trade. The Coffee Alternative. WTO Challenges. Fair trade and eco-labeling.
- James is director of Global Exchange's Fair Trade Coffee Program.
- Martin Khor
- "WTO at the Crossroads: Why the 'New Round' Is a Wrong Idea and How WTO Should Be Re-oriented." Penang, Malaysia: Third World Network, 27 May 2001.
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/crossroads.htm
A paper first presented to the Group of 15 Economic Ministers at the G15 Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia. Proposes positions for developing countries on investment, government procurement, and competition, and suggests:
1. rethinking the nature and timing of liberalisation
2. reorienting the WTO towards development as the main priority
3. rethinking the scope of the WTO's mandate over issues and the role of other agencies.
- "The situation at the WTO a year since Seattle." Penang, Malaysia: Third World Network, 5 December 2000.
http://www.twnside.org.sg./title/situation.htm
"Part III: Some Measures Needed to Improve the Situation" lists nine steps developed countries should take to meet the demands of developing countries.
- Khor is director of the Third World Network in Penang, Malaysia.
- Bhagirath Lal Das
- "Strengthening Developing Countries in the WTO." (Trade and Development Series No. 8). Penang, Malaysia: Third World Network, no date (1999?).
http://www.twnside.org.sg./title/td8.htm
The Future Course (the final section) includes:
Strengthening National Decision-Making Institutions
Change in Strategy and Approach
Preparation Process
Regional and Group Efforts
Change in the WTO Negotiating Process
- Lal Das was India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to GATT and Deputy Permanent Representative to UNCTAD.
- Caroline Lucas & Colin Hynes
- "Time to Replace Globalisation. A Green Localist Manifesto for the World Trade Organisation Ministerial." Strasbourg, France: The Greens/European Free Alliance, European Parliament, October 2001.
http://www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk/publications/pdfs_and_word/Replace%20globalisastion.pdf
Proposes a new General Agreement on Sustainable Trade (GAST) to replace the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). It includes the following sections:
'What’s the alternative to Globalisation?'
Rewriting the Rules for Sustainable Trade
Comparison of WTO Rules with those of the General Agreement on Sustainable Trade
Conclusion: The Role of the European Union
- Lucas is a member of the European Parliament for the Green Party of the U.K. Hynes is the author of Localization: A Global Manifesto.
- Anuradha Mittal
- "The South in the North."
In Sarah Anderson, editor. Views from the South: The Effects of Globalization and the WTO on Third World Countries. San Francisco: Food First and International Forum on Globalization, 2000: pp. 164-176.
http://www.foodfirst.org/media/news/2000/viewsreview.html
Enumerates 13 "principles to be met by any trade bill, treaty or policy."
- Mittal is Co-Director of Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy in Oakland, CA.
- Oxfam
- "Is the WTO serious about reducing world poverty? The Development Agenda for Doha. Oxfam Briefing Paper 7." Oxford, UK: Oxfam, 2001.
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/doha/doha.html
"This briefing outlines the issues which the WTO should address if it is to make an effective contribution to poverty reduction in developing countries. The paper, prepared in advance of the Ministerial Conference in Doha, argues that 1) Uruguay Round outcomes were unfair to poor countries, 2) Ministers should therefore commit the WTO to rebalance present agreements and address specific implementation measures, and 3) new issues should not be added to the existing negotiation agenda. The decisions at Doha will be an acid test for rich-country commitment to development and for the legitimacy of the WTO."
- "Oxfam GB is a development, relief, and campaigning organisation dedicated to finding lasting solutions to poverty and suffering around the world."
- Peasant Meeting
- "Peasants Demand: 'End Global Hunger! WTO Out of Agriculture!'" (press release). Bangkok, Thailand: Peasant Meeting, August 28, 2001.
www.poptel.org.uk/panap/caravan.htm
"The alternative solution that we would like to call for is food sovereignty. Food sovereignty is the right of a people and its nation to define their own agricultural and food policy, which take precedence over any macro economic policies. It is the right of each nation to maintain and develop its capacity to produce its basic food for a balance diet, respecting cultural and productive diversity. As a conclusion we resolve our demands with 'End Global Hunger! WTO Out of Agriculture!'."
- Public Citizen Global Trade Watch
- "Fast Track." Washington: Global Trade Watch, 2001.
http://www.citizen.org/trade/fasttrack/index.cfm
"Take action now to stop Fast Track!"
- "WTO - Shrink or Sink! The Turnaround Agenda." Washington: Global Trade Watch, 2000.
http://www.tradewatch.org/gattwto/ShrinkSink/shrinksink.htm
"Over 1000 citizen, labor, consumer, environmental, religious, women' s, development groups from 77 countries have signed on to the new campaign. The Turnaround Agenda espoused in the 'WTO: Shrink or Sink' statement demands 11 fundamental changes to WTO's procedures and substantive rules. It was developed by hundreds of NGOs from many countries."
- "Global Trade Watch leads the way in educating the American public about the enormous impact of international trade and economic globalization on our jobs, the environment, public health and safety, and democratic accountability."
- David Ransom
- "A world turned upside down." Oxford, UK: new internationalist, Number 334, May 2001.
http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue334/upside.htm
"David Ransom talks to seasoned observers [including Murray Gibbs of UNCTAD and Martin Khor of the Third World Network] about what to do with the WTO - and how to set the world the right way up again."
- Ransom is an editor of new internationalist magazine.
- Steven Shrybman
- "Trade Now, Pay Later." In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: pp. 158-162.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
Compares WTO treaties, especially GATS, and multilateral environmental treaties. Suggests a hypothetical WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Measures to Combat Global Warning. Proposes creating a Global Environment Organization with WTO-like enforcement powers to complement reform of the WTO.
- Shrybman is former Executive Director of the West Coast Environmental Law Association in Canada.
- Third World Network
- "Re-thinking TRIPS in the WTO." Penang, Malaysia: Third World Network, no date (2001?).
http://attac.org/nonewround/wto/wto02.htm
NGO demands for the review and reform of TRIPS:
Undertake a fundamental review and reform of TRIPS.
End bilateral pressures and bullying tactics.
Extend implementation deadlines for developing countries.
Moratorium on dispute settlement action.
Review of TRIPS' place in WTO.
- "The Third World Network is an independent non-profit international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the Third World and North-South issues."
- Lori Wallach & Michelle Sforza
- Whose Trade Organization? Corporate Globalization and the Erosion of Democracy. Washington, DC: Public Citizen, 1999.
http://www.citizen.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7081
Chapter 9: "Recommendations & Conclusions," pp. 214-222.
Includes Seattle Ministerial Declaration, seven recommendations for reform.
- Wallach is the director and Sforza is a staff member of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch in Washington, DC.
- World Development Movement
- "The Tricks of the Trade: How trade rules are loaded against the poor." London: World Development Movement, September 2001.
http://www.wdm.org.uk/cambriefs/Wto/tricks.pdf
"Introductory briefing on how trade rules are loaded against the poor."
- "If it's broke, fix it: The case for trade reform at the 4th WTO Ministerial." London: World Development Movement, August 2001.
http://www.wdm.org.uk/cambriefs/Wto/brokefix.pdf
"More detailed report on the case for trade reform in the WTO."
- "Trade: WTO Campaign." London: World Development Movement, February 1999.
http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaign/WTO.htm
1. Trading rules must put people first.
2. Reform must address the fundamental problems.
3. The "Built-in" agenda - negotiations since Seattle
- "The World Development Movement is campaigning to tackle the underlying causes of poverty."
- World Social Forum
- Porto Alegre, Brazil. January 25-30, 2001.
http://www.worldsocialforum.org
The first WSF produced a multiplicity of programs and positions. The next WSF is scheduled for January 31 to February 5, 2002 in Porto Alegre.
- For one interpretation, see:
Naomi Klein. "A Fete for the End of the End of History." New York: The Nation, March 19, 2001: pp. 19-23.
http://www.thenation.com
- See also:
"New Reference Point for Globalisation Debate." Inter Press Service Daily Journal, 1 February 2001.
"Little accord over globalisation." London: Financial Times, 29 January 2001.
"Alternative Davos to be annual." London: British Broadcasting Company, 29 January 2001.
"Brazil hosts alternative Davos." London: Financial Times, 26 January 2001.
"Alternative to Davos Agenda." London: Financial Times, 24 January 2001.
- "The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for reflective thinking, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements of civil society that are opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building a planetary society centred on the human person."
Governmental
- Kofi Annan
- "Opening Statement at the Special Event on the Challenge of Eradicating Poverty for Sustainable Development: International Community Response." Brussels: Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, May 14, 2001.
http://www.un.org/events/ldc3/conference/address/sg-event.htm
"I believe the best hope for LDCs, and indeed for the developing world in general, lies in a new round of global, multilateral trade negotiations. And this time it must be a true 'Development Round.' The new Round must aim to eliminate all tariff and non-tariff barriers in the developed countries to trade in agricultural products, textiles and other products of special interest to the LDCs. And it should review the progress made in implementing agreements reached in the last Round - the Uruguay Round."
- Secretary-General, United Nations
- International trade and development. Report of the Secretary-General. United Nations General Assembly, 19 September 2000.
http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/55/a55396.pdf
Covers developments on multilateral trading systems; the Bangkok Plan of Action, adopted by UNCTAD X, and its relevance for the WTO process; and the report of the Trade and Development Board.
- South Centre
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Proposals - finance, investment & debt
Non-governmental
- 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice
- "Platform Summary." Washington, DC: 50 Years Is Enough Web site.
http://www.50years.org/platformSummary.html
1) Institutional reform: openness, full public accountability and the participation of affected populations in decision making at the World Bank and the IMF.
2) A shift in economic-policy reform policies to support equitable, sustainable and participatory development.
3) An end to environmentally destructive lending; support for more self-reliant, resource-conserving development that preserves biodiversity.
4) The scaling back of the power of the World Bank and the IMF and rechanneling of their financial resources into development assistance alternatives.
5) A reduction in multilateral debt to free up additional capital for sustainable development.
- 50 Years Is Enough: U.S. Network for Global Economic Justice is a coalition of over 200 U.S. organizations dedicated to the profound transformation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
- Sarah Anderson and John Cavanagh
- "Bearing the Burden: The Impact of Global Financial Crisis on Workers and Alternative Agendas for the IMF and Other Institutions." Insitute for Policy Studies, April 2000.
http://www.ips-dc.org/downloads/BEARING%20THE%20BURDEN.pdf
"Alternative Agendas," the final section, "outlines the official debate on resolving the crisis as well as components of an emerging North-South citizens agenda on the global financial crisis that advances the interests of workers.
- John Cavanagh is the Director of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, and Sarah Anderson is the Director of the Institute’s Global Economy Program.
- Tony Clarke
- "Control capital: Rewriting the rules." London: new internationalist, January-February 2000.
http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue320/rules.htm
- "Rewriting the Rules for Global Investment."
In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: pp. 182-187.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
These two articles outline principles and key elements of an Alternative Investment Treaty. This approach contrasts with the WTO's TRIMS and the parts of GATS related to investment.
- Clarke is director of the Polaris Institute in Ottawa and a leader of the Council of Canadians.
- Jane D'Arista, interviewed by Wayne Ellwood
- "Establish a global financial authority: Ousting the Oligarchs." London: new internationalist, January-February 2000.
http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue320/ousting.htm
"National governments have lost control of their ability to manage their own economies. The world needs a new international regulatory agency to reduce volatility and inefficiency in global financial markets - a Global Central Bank."
- D'Arista is an economist and Director of Programs at the Financial Markets Center in Virginia.
- Wayne Ellwood
- "Deal with debt: Solving insolvency." London: new internationalist, January-February 2000.
http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue320/solving.htm
"Massive debt loads are crippling Third World nations and destabilizing the global economy. Debt cancellation is needed now. But there also needs to be an agreed procedure to ensure that debt-strapped nations are dealt with fairly and given a chance for a new start."
- Ellwood is a Canada-based editor of new internationalist magazine.
- Jubilee USA Network
- "Platform." Washington, DC: Jubilee USA Network Web site.
http://www.j2000usa.org/campaign/platform.html
This platform calls for "cancellation of the crushing international debt in situations where countries burdened with high levels of human need and environmental distress are unable to meet the basic needs of their people," in a way that "benefits ordinary people and facilitates their participation in the process of determining the scope, timing and conditions of debt relief, as well as the future direction and priorities of their national and local economies."
- Jubilee USA Network is an faith-based network in the U.S. allied with sister groups around the world.
- Robin Round
- "Time for Tobin!" London: new internationalist, January-February 2000.
http://www.oneworld.org/ni/issue320/tobin.htm
- "Time For a Tobin Tax."
In Kevin Danaher & Roger Burbach, editors. Globalize This! The Battle Against the World Trade Organization and Corporate Rule. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 2000: p. 175.
http://www.commoncouragepress.com/danaher_globalize.html
The Tobin Tax, originally suggested by Nobel laureate James Tobin of Yale University, would be a small tax of less than one-half of one percent levied by all countries on foreign-exchange transactions. The Canadian Parliament approved the idea in principle in 1999. "A tax on financial speculation could help stabilize global markets and capture much-needed funds for global development."
- Round is with the Halifax Initiative, a coalition of Canadian NGOs working for the democratization of economic decision-making.
- World Development Movement
- "The Missing Link: Debt and Trade." London: World Development Movement, 2001.
http://www.wdm.org.uk/cambriefs/Debt/debtandtrade.htm
"Debt and trade are inextricably linked. Unfair trade rules left Africa in debt and debt has allowed creditors to impose further unfair trade rules on Africa."
--Charles Abugre, Third World Network
Debt rooted in unfair trade.
Free trade forced on debtors.
One track minds - IMF/World Bank/World Trade Organisation.
Whose rules?
Debt and trade - changed by the free market.
- "Making investment work for people: An international framework for regulating corporations." London: World Development Movement, February 1999.
http://www.wdm.org.uk/cambriefs/Wto/TNCs.htm
"WDM's aim is to ensure that foreign investment, particularly from multinational corporations, delivers the maximum benefits to all stakeholders - particularly the poor - while inflicting the minimum costs."
1. Introduction- Maximising benefits, minimising costs
2. An international framework for investment
3. An International Investment Agreement
4. Complementary international action
5. Action by governments
6. Pressure from civil society
- "The World Development Movement is campaigning to tackle the underlying causes of poverty."
Governmental
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
- Trade and Development Report 2001. United Nations General Assembly, 19 September 2000.
http://www.unctad.org/en/pub/ps1tdr01.en.htm
Part I: Global Trends and Prospects
Part II: Reform of the International Financial Architecture
By Peter Costantini ~ Seattle ~ November 2001
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