Saturday, February 5, 2011
World Against Corporations (WAC) - Introductory Note
"World Against Corporations (WAC)" is a platform that aims to bring together people from different walks of life, who feel that the world will exist and be a better place without the Corporations.
According to STWR, as of 2006, of the 100 largest economies in the world, 52 were corporations and 48 were countries, and each of these corporations had sales figures between $51 billion and $247 billion. 70% of world trade was controlled by just 500 of the largest industrial corporations, and in 2002, the top 200 had combined sales equivalent to 28% of world GDP. However, these 200 corporations only employed 0.82% of the global work force, highlighting the reduction in employment created by excessive economies of scale.
The effects of Multi-National Corporations have grown much more pervasive in the last two decades at a global level, with examples like:
WAC would support different people's movements fighting against Corporations along with collaborating with other groups and organizations who contribute towards opposing the influence of Corporations in society. It aims at engaging with different modules from public mobilization, campaign, advocacy, liaison, media work, documentation, fact-findings, action research, publications, film production to using the web spaces more effectively among others to further expose the corporations and get them out of our lives.
While we use the term "World Against Corporations", we are not against entrepreneurship, industry, business or trade per se. The bone of contention is that the control of resources cannot remain in the hands of few mega-corporations. This is more of a struggle for re-altering the power equations and getting out of the capitalist mode of production, consumption and waste. Through our collective struggle for a democratic, free and just society we would work towards creating a "World Without Corporations".
If you are interested in contributing to WAC initiative or have any suggestions or feedback, then please feel free to drop a mail to "worldagainstcorporations@gmail.com" or join its e-group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-against-corporations
Corporations have been accumulating unprecedented power since the start of 20th century and with the continuing trend, the future of our planet Earth looks dismal. The ominous influence of Corporations has become pervasive in our society, jeopardizing our existence as free citizens in the modern world. The Corporations invade almost every sphere of our personal and public lives whether it is politics, media, governance, education, environment or even health care.
The growth of Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) in the era of neo-liberal globalization is threatening our existence as free citizens of the world. More and more citizens across the world are being forced into hardship for the sake of profit maximization of the publicly traded corporations at the cost of marginalization of indigenous communities, massive ecological destruction and exploitation of labour, which in turn has increased the wealth manifold for a few major shareholders across the world, thus deepening the global inequality.
The effects of Multi-National Corporations have grown much more pervasive in the last two decades at a global level, with examples like:
- Increasing pressure on the Govts. from international agencies like World Bank, IMF and other IFIs to reduce their spending on social welfare schemes and pushing for deregulation and privatization of basic services like Water, Electricity, Health Care and Education, etc. World Bank, IMF and WTO are heavily lobbied by MNCs pushing for more free trade
- An increasing number of manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to sweatshops in Third World countries for "cheap labour", disrupting the existing communities in the developed countries. The further pressure of subcontracting within the Third World countries for getting the cheapest products weakens the struggle for better labour conditions. This also leads to erosion of low-skilled jobs in developed countries
- The irreparable ecological damage happening across the globe due to unfettered extraction of the limited natural resources, huge emission of green house gases, depletion of water tables and pollution of our atmosphere, apart from jeopardizing lives of innumerable other co-habiting species is a huge price to pay for the sake of yielding higher profits every quarter to the shareholders of a Corporation. Moreover, it is always the poor who face the brunt of it, often leading to loss of livelihoods and worsening living conditions, while the rich can easily buy their way out of such a mess
- \Corporations have been largely successful in pushing the agenda of consumerism and hedonistic living as a way of life in order to further maximize their profits. If people don't consume at an exorbitant rate, then Corporations won't be able to post profits, quarter after quarter. In order to meet their sales targets, Corporations spend heavily on the advertisements. According to GroupM, the world's largest media-billing network, Global spending in advertising was estimated to be more than $450 billion in 2010. The consumerist culture puts further pressure on our limited resources
- In a world having limited natural resources, Corporations often collude with Govts. to privatize the public wealth and seize these resources (e.g. mining, steel plants, bottling plants, etc.) in order to continue with their thrust of pushing the consumerist culture. This often comes at the cost of uprooting the communities relying on these resources for centuries resulting in their forced displacement. Often such displacements push the rural communities to the urban slums with worse living conditions
- Corporations because of their sheer size and profit maximization as their bottom line, often tend to use political pressure to get laws passed in their favor to gain competitive edge. This might involve using extensive lobbying, funding political campaigns, using corporate owned media to shape public opinions and influencing policy formation. Corporations often end up subverting democratic rights of people by pushing for privatization of basic services like water, acquiring land and resources unjustly and lobbying for Free Trade and Foreign Direct Investment and reduction of Corporate Taxes. They also influence policies related to Patents, Medicine, Agriculture, Industrial Goods, Technology, Labour Laws, etc. in order to maximize returns for their shareholders
- As the Corporations have grown in influence, they have been successful in colluding with Govts. across the world to get away with their social and economic responsibility whether it is about not paying compensation to victims of industrial disaster, evading taxes through tax havens, polluting the environment by releasing tonnes of toxic wastes, trampling the fundamental rights of citizen for access to water, forcing workers to work in subhuman conditions and intensifying the class divide between the rich and the poor in the society. Even though Corporations are fictitious legal entities, they have been assuming the role as individuals in societies as if they have a moral character of their own. Corporations enter into "Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)" programs to justify their duty as an individual but in reality, it remains just a Public Relations exercise. The Corporations exist solely for maximizing the returns for their shareholders and are devoid of any goodwill or concern for the local public
- Niyamgiri - Indigenous tribes protest the takeover of their forests by Vedanta for mining
- Plachimada and Mehdiganj - Villagers protest the environmental exploitation, shortage of ground water and loss of livelihood caused by Coca-Cola
- Jagatsinghpur - POSCO, a Multinational Corporation wants to displace the tribals from their forests for mining; the fight is on
- Kalinganagar - Tata is sponsoring 'Operation Green Hunt' in Kalinganagar to destroy democratic tribal movement against the company's mining
- Bhopal Tragedy - Even after 25 years of horrific life, people still are protesting for their due compensation
- GM crops - Farmers, environmental and citizen groups all over India are united in their disapproval and protest against the Monsanto Genetically Modified food crop Bt. Brinjal.
WAC would support different people's movements fighting against Corporations along with collaborating with other groups and organizations who contribute towards opposing the influence of Corporations in society. It aims at engaging with different modules from public mobilization, campaign, advocacy, liaison, media work, documentation, fact-findings, action research, publications, film production to using the web spaces more effectively among others to further expose the corporations and get them out of our lives.
While we use the term "World Against Corporations", we are not against entrepreneurship, industry, business or trade per se. The bone of contention is that the control of resources cannot remain in the hands of few mega-corporations. This is more of a struggle for re-altering the power equations and getting out of the capitalist mode of production, consumption and waste. Through our collective struggle for a democratic, free and just society we would work towards creating a "World Without Corporations".
If you are interested in contributing to WAC initiative or have any suggestions or feedback, then please feel free to drop a mail to "worldagainstcorporations@gmail.com" or join its e-group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-against-corporations
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