Capitalism, globalisation and free trade: rhetoric versus reality

So I've decided to start an assignment right and its about bloody time too! I don't think I've spent so much time (honestly speaking) sitting in this chair and actually using my study desk which is usually filled with drink botttles, an alarm clock that doesn't work and the occuring sight of neglected food and cutlery that haven't quite made it to the kitchen yet.

So while researching for this assignment, I came around a very interesting quote that made me question everything from what are our roles as individuals in society to improve the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves to having that 'inescapable' subconcious which makes each and every one of us a global citizen.

Here's the quote:

[T]he emergence of capitalism represents a culture that is in many ways the
most successful that has ever been deployed in terms of accomodating large
numbers of individuals in relative and absolute comfort and luxury. It has
not been successful, however, in intergrating all in equal measure, and its
failure here remains one of its major problems. It has solved the problems
of feeding large numbers of people (although certainly not all), and it has
provided unprecedented advances in health and medicine (but, again, not for
all). It has promoted the development of amazingly complex technological
instruments and fostered a level of global communication without precedent.
It has united people in common pursuits as has no other culture. Yet it
remains to be seen when the balance sheet is tallied whether capitalism represents the epitome of "progresss" that some claim.

- Richard H. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of
Capitalism (Allyn and Bacon, 1999), p.11-12

The last time I checked, the CEO of that U.S. multinational company had just received a large salary raise...but at whose expense? How about the low-income earning wage earner in the developing country which the same multinaitonal company has a factory. Don't get me wrong, but globalisation too has good points. It's just a matter of whose side you're arguing from.

***

“We welcome the process of globalisation. It is inescapable and irreversible.…” However, “…if globalisation is to create real peace and stability across the world, it must be a process benefiting all. It must not allow the most economically and politically powerful countries to dominate and submerge the countries of the weaker and peripheral regions. It should not be allowed to drain the wealth of smaller countries towards the larger ones, or to increase inequality between richer and poorer regions.”

- Nelson Mandela

What do you think? Not just about capitalism but the bull and hypocrisy of free trade ideologies that are meant to ensure equal economic benefits for everyone? Leave a comment!

O arise all you sons of this land

Post Courier

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Motigate debate
gagged in Parlt

GOVERNMENT yesterday gagged the Opposition from
asking questions relating to two controversial issues – Motigate Affair and
Mobile War.
On the first day of the sitting yesterday, Parliament Speaker
Jeffery Nape walked in an hour after the ringing of the bells and stopped
Parliament from raising any questions or issues concerning the Moti affair.
Mr Nape said, “I understand that the matter is before the court or the
Defence Council, therefore I wish to inform Parliament that we should not
discuss it.
“Any questions relating to the Moti case will not be entertained
until the report is tabled before Parliament.”
And the Opposition decried
this and termed it dictatorial.
At a news conference attended by all
Opposition members, they said the gagging of debate on important issues
concerning the nation was a disgrace.
Opposition Leader Sir Mekere Morauta
said the Speaker misled the Parliament.
He told reporters that his office
checked with the Supreme Court only on Monday and there was nothing to say that
the Moti issues was before the courts.
He said the Opposition had some
questions regarding the issue and the report was explicit where it said laws
were broken and responsible people should be prosecuted.
Sir Mekere,
supported by his deputy Bart Philemon and former Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan,
said the recommendations of the report is clear and the alleged threats by the
PNG Defence Force to arrest the Prime Minister and NGOs’ outcry were symptoms of
the leaders not doing the right thing.
In saying this, the Opposition called
for the Prime Minister to step aside immediately.
“There is a growing chorus
of dissatisfaction everywhere.
“We are doing injustice to the people,” Sir
Mekere told reporters.
Sir Julius called on respective government bodies
like the Ombudsman, police and public prosecutor to act independently and act on
the recommendations of the Moti report.
Mendi MP Francis Awesa said there
seem to be two laws, one for the small people and the other for the leaders,
supported by Sir Mekere who said a small person gets belted up for stealing a
packet of biscuit and a leader gets free after all these allegations.
Meanwhile, attempts to ask the Communication Minister Patrick Tammur on the
alleged submission to the Cabinet was also gagged with the front bench of the
Government interjecting with points of order and calling on the speaker to rule
it out of order which the Speaker eventually did.
Parliament adjourned to
this morning at 10.

This article raised a number of questions. What does it mean to be independent and free? Are we really independent and free? As outlined in our National Pledge, do our leaders really pledge to:

"Build a democratic society based on justice, equality, respect and prosperity of our people"

Have Papua New Guinea's leaders become so ignorant and blinded by their own visions of personal wealth, status, power and self-interest? Is our society going to the dogs? Maybe one needs to provide certain public figures with clearER definitions of these fundamental governing principles, imperative to the promotion and enforcement of the rights of the men, women and children of any democratic country. It makes me wonder...