immediate: the WTO must be put on hold - short term: a more effective system of macro-global stabilization (the global-growth rates of the neo-liberal period is 1/2 the growth-rate of the Bretton Woods period - intermediate term goals: we have to insist on changes that diminish global ineqality; requires no longer having trade according to free-market prices (distributes the benefits to the better-off economies); coordinated and set in "new" policies other than free-market, the terms of trade must be put at the top of the agenda with the NGO's, this includes international investment (free-market interest rates) -- we have focused on labor-environmental standards and this is problematic (the race to the bottom; the lowest common denominator); the new pretext for the advanced economies to disadvantage a 3rd world drive into the 1st world economies, the use of standards; there are no easy answers, there are many definitions of "standards" ie., wages, labor rights, safety, on-and-on; a new means of protectionism -- the answer is peasant agricultural producers (2-3B people) being replace by modern chemical agriculture (a human disaster and a long-term environmental disaster); the social cost is not being counted and it must inorder for this change to be stopped; this is not an efficiency gain !! - 3rd world peasants must be allowed to be self-sufficient: this must be an important priority for the NGO's, a new movement/long-run goal: we must replace the economics of competition-greed with equitable-cooperation, capitalism with socialism !!
we are better situated now to achieve this long-run goal vs. the 1970s effort of national governments; NGOs, federations of labor, environmental organizations, outraged citizens (increased education) these new constituencies, a grand-coalition (all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons) vs. the powers-that-be; a new sort of process, a conscious creation to nourish, cherish and build from; this new approach is our asset; we must address demands to the pressing needs, and avoid fractionalization. -- [Notes 1,2] [NPR, Alternative Radio, economist Robin Henell, "Beyond Seattle, What Is To Be Done?", Dec.99 address; author "Panic Rules", Z-magazine contributor, NPR Broadcast Jan.22.00, [with inserts]]
State of Our World: Open_Notes 2
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