The threats posed by globalisation should raise concerns among everyone in CEE, regardless of their political leanings By Jozsef Feiler Because it is difficult to completely understand the constantly changing forces behind globalisation, it is not always easy to reach a consensus on whether the phenomenon is good or bad. The media in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) can further cloud the issue when they attempt to simplify it in political terms — suggesting that moderate forces favour globalisation, while extremists oppose it. But a closer look at the issue indicates that anyone who is concerned about the environment, regardless of political leanings, will see potential threats from globalisation. The desire to guard against these environmental threats must be a key factor in determining how the environmental movement of CEE stands on this issue. It’s easy to see why some would discuss globalisation in political terms: One of the most obvious and significant features of the trend toward globalisation is an apparent tendency to weaken democratic mechanisms that would give people the right to choose. The power of states is eroding, and instead of a state-centric world we find ourselves in a puzzling multi-centric world, where multinational corporations and international nongovernmental organisations take on new importance. For an individual, globalisation brings increased vulnerability, less ability to control his or her life circumstances and a confusing question: Who represents and protects me in a newly complicated world? There are many criticisms of the effects of globalisation, but perhaps most common is what the phenomenon does to the economy. Free trade and free markets seem to exist only if it is in the interest of the developed world. Apparently “free” markets are really free for some and closed for others. Furthermore, the rules of the world economy ignore the fact that the labour force, which consists of human beings, and natural resources, which are the environment, are not commodities. The system seems to generate unfair and unnatural concentrations of wealth: In 1960 the richest 20 percent of the world’s population was 30 times better off than the poorest 20 percent. By 1997 the richest 20 percent were 74 times richer, and the trend continues. Today, 800 million people are malnourished or starving, even though there is enough food to feed us all. Economic power out of our hands Economic power is increasingly concentrated outside the control of states and citizens. More than half of the 100 biggest economies of the world are controlled by corporations, which operate undemocratic, centrally planned economies. The people of CEE are painfully aware of the abuses that central economies can generate, but corporations have even less oversight than the past governments, and a corporation’s sole aim is profit. These corporations control two thirds of the world’s trade and 80 percent of foreign investment, while only employing three percent of the global labour force. No wonder the anti-globalisation movement sees a need to reclaim control of the world economy. The environmental critique of globalisation notes that the world’s current economic system encourages increasing exploitation of natural resources, irrational transport of goods and pollution — all of which threaten existence of planetary life support systems. Attempting infinite growth in a finite system is suicidal. In the end, not only the poor, but all human beings, suffer from unchecked growth. A clear example of such a development is human-induced climate change. In CEE, critics of globalisation, who show concern for individuals and the environment, can be portrayed by the media as being politically to the far-left. Those who see social benefits in bringing the world community closer together, and those who argue in favour of a more globalised, corporate economy, can be identified with the moderate left or right, respectively. And those who oppose international encroachment on their own countries are often considered to be from the far right. Such political categorisation would mean foes of globalisation are either from the extreme right or left. But this is a misleading simplification. Issue transcends politics The environmental criticism of globalisation is based on moral norms that transcend social and political issues: It is based on imperatives of survival of life support systems on which the human species depends. In this sense, Petra Kelly, one of the founders of the German Green Party, was right: Environmentalists are not left or right, they are above. Not only do environmentalists offer a politically neutral critique, but their solution is also neutral: sustainable development, as was defined in the 1987 Bruntland Report. But the media in CEE does not often show an understanding of the differences between the left-wing agenda and the more-neutral environmentalists’ desire to reduce waste and develop sustainably. Another question that CEE faces when grappling with globalisation is: Where are we on the map? The arguments for and against globalisation seem to have been drawn along north-south lines, with the Northern Hemisphere benefiting at the expense of the South. CEE and the Newly Independent States are still missing from this map, and the region itself is mixed. Most countries here fall somewhere between north and south in terms of the discourse on globalisation. It is likely that criticism of globalisation will increase in CEE, as activists point out how the phenomenon has ill effects on the local level. But it is not certain they will be heard above the less articulate, but often louder, proponents of globalisation. Jozsef Feiler is Policy coordinator at the CEE Bankwatch Network – a regional NGO initiative for monitoring activities of international financial institutions.

Photo: MTI THE RETURNS OF GLOBALISATION: Workers along the banks of the Tisza River in Hungary clean up dead fish killed by a cyanide spill at a gold mine in Baia Mare, Romania, run by an international joint venture. The January 2000 spill was one of the worst environmental disasters in Europe, but the company that is the primary investor in the gold mine is headquartered in Australia.