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World Affairs
Letter From the Editor
‘FROM THE STONE AGE TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, WHAT A DESCENT!’
— Ananda Coomaraswamy
All the institutions established to safeguard the future of humankind are either being diminished or marginalised, and those which have been set-up to alleviate human suffering and enhance the quality of life have become the victims of human greed and lust for power. The beneficiaries of these changes, without any ethical or moral concerns, have been expanding this process through globalisation structured to bring about a political and cultural integration of the planet into a single civilisational model, thus ensuring the flow of the benefits from all resources and value additions to the fortified citadels of the unipolar system. This has evolved into a process of ‘grab and loot’ of the resources of weaker countries and domination of others through power and pelf.
The architects of this process are now themselves caught in a triple straitjacket. The high consumption armament-based "maquiladora" system is stuck with unserviceable debts, many times higher than its own GDP. This has been further compounded by rising unemployment, the reduction in international tributes of ‘protection money’, and the mounting default on household debt, aggregating against market capitalisation and real estate values. And with the interest rates approaching ‘point zero’ this entire system of high consumption and wasteful expenditure is on a visible downslide which all value-additions, commodity prices, currency exchange rates, stock exchange manipulations and, even the accelerated movement of 1.5 trillion dollars a day, of hot money are powerless to reverse. Over the years with the shrinking of the production system, and the service economy being paralysed, the illusions of the super rich of making a high debt economy, the planetary role model in order to bring the entire world under their sway are rapidly disappearing.
While the armament protected consumerist system is structurally paralysed, the American design to ‘pre-emptively’ occupy helpless nations to acquire their wealth and to frighten others into submission has entered a blind alley. The superpower which launched a civilisational crusade is now seeking saviours to bail itself out of the Iraq imbroglio. Whether this effort succeeds or not, it should certainly yield a few lessons on the inherent limitations to an armament-based domination of Iraq or of the rest of the world. Those who understand only the logic of the gun have not only damaged their credibility but have also increased their own vulnerability. The terrorists will now be further emboldened to take advantage of this situation, thus seriously hindering the much-hyped war on terror, and the ability of the system to make its declared will prevail.
The control over the instruments of power and finance which have so far been used to pressure other nations to do the ruling elite’s bidding, is slipping from the grasp of a superpower looking increasingly like a paper tiger that frightens nobody anymore. This decline is affecting the hegemon’s ability to extract more than its fair share from the world system. With the new self-protective power centres taking shape worldwide, the old tactics are becoming less credible and effective. The desperate policies of the unipolar system, to ensure continuity with its exploitative past, and to guarantee that its interests take precedence over the right to survival of hundreds of millions of people around the world, are becoming increasingly unacceptable and difficult to enforce. The system must now reflect on and operate under a new set of rules, a new ethical and moral framework and value structure.
The new techniques of world trade and financial and technological control are in effect new forms of the old system under the guise of free trade and investment and protection of Intellectual Property Rights. The World Trade Organisation cannot be used to deny the minimum basic subsistence needs of billions of people. It is leading to worldwide tensions, which no system can escape, particularly in a democratic process geared to upholding human rights. At the WTO meeting in Cancun in September 2003, pressures were once again mounted on various agricultural countries to allow highly subsidised exports from the United States and Europe. They also include imports of genetically modified foods and "terminator" seeds and an entire range of supporting chemicals. It is well known in countries like India, where 70 per cent of the total population is entirely dependent on agriculture, subsidised agriculture imports from highly developed countries will undermine the very structure of the country’s social organisation. It can only mean mass deprivation, unrest and no trade. Furthermore, the harmful effects of genetically modified foods, herbicides, and insecticides on the human immune system are becoming well known. In the midst of all this the endeavour to transform the agricultural foundations of the developing countries through highly questionable subsidies amounts to genocide.
Similarly, globalisation processes are increasingly distorting the production, distribution and income structures of the developing world. While on the one hand these are creating very high income and employment opportunities for the upper 10 per cent of society, on the other hand the remaining 90 per cent of the population are being subjected to greater deprivation with huge social consequences. The leaderships of the developing countries have to realise the consequences of disruption in the agricultural regimes of their societies under pressure from the highly subsidised exports of the affluent countries.
All nations and peoples have the right to a dignified existence and to be respected for their culture and achievements, in order to transcend conflicts between civilisations. But above all, there is a need for a spiritual awakening, a rediscovery of the meaning of life beyond the access to weapons by ever younger children and to Viagra by the ageing.
The superpower could have had everything for the asking only if they had acted in a wise, responsible and a compassionate manner, and made themselves conscious and respectful of the needs of all peoples and nations, not just of the oligarchies within their own system. It is a time for change but not for self-immolation. The rulers still have an opportunity of providing humane leadership or else their Roman Imperial road will turn into a highway to oblivion. It is time to remember that the world is a family ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbhakam’.
This issue of the journal highlights many problems plaguing the world that are mainly effects of globalisation. In this beginning of the twenty-first century it is meant to convey one more warning regarding our common planetary future.
New Delhi J C KAPUR
September 2003