Nexus - 0803 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

REVIEWS education and social programs, sell-offs of by McDonald's. It's all symptomatic. B oO oO K Ss local assets and cutbacks in food supplies In the last few year. George Menbiot. an . for local consumption, which make life even academic, author and journalist who writes a Reviewed by Ruth Parnell more difficult during famine and war. regular column for the London Guardian, GOODBYE AMERICA! The very legality of inherently unrepayable has been at the vanguard of concern over by Michael Rowbotham Third World debt is called into question various GE/biotech issues. He airs these Jon Carpenter Publishing, UK, and here, and Rowbotham suggests how an issues here, too, warning how TNCs have a Envirobook, Australia, 2000 alliance of debtor nations could band togeth- disproportionate say in political and scientif- SBN 1-897766-56-4 (UK ed.), er to fight for economic justice. Our politi- Ic arenas at the expense of local social and 0-85881-177-4 (Aust. ed.) (209pp tpb) cal masters and media overlords may try to economic concerns; indeed, some of them Price: A$21.95: NZ$44.95: £11.00: C$n/a_ tell us that globalisation is inevitable—but wa ei to control the food c we Available: Australia—Envirobook, tel (02) 40 We have to have it that way? et aI LC 9518 6154: NZ—Addenda, tel (09) 834 Rowbotham urges people of the world to rations have taken over hospitals, schools, . , S liehi rise up to assert their right to their own iden- UMIVersities, prisons and even the local cor- 5511; UK—Jon Carpenter Publishing, tel ner shop, exerting influence over govern- : | tity, culture, economic independence and Py EAC . a Or ece ath alae Paul and destiny, and suggests how this can be trent ministries and inverpreting lawn to suit 0., el (978) : rr achieved. Either that, or we're doomed! themselves. None of this augurs well. As lhe "G-word", globalisation, is frequently most representatives of the people have been bandied about, but there has been little "co-opted or crushed", Monbiot suggests public debate about whether or not we want that the only antidote against corporate CAPTIVE STATE: The Corporate it, despite the recent scaling-up of protests Takeover of Britain takeover is legitimate protest, lobbying and against free trade over fair trade. by George Monbiot campaigning by individuals and citizens In Goodbye America!, Michael Macmillan, UK, 2000 groups. But, with all communications now Rowbotham explains how globalisation goes ISBN 0-333-90164-9 (430pp hc) tapped in the new British surveillance state, hand in hand with the international debt cri- Price: £12.99; £19.00 to Aust/NZ, inc. this will be an uphill battle. sis. The new economic imperialism he sees p&h; NLGf49,90 as having its roots in Bretton Woods in Available: UK—Macmillan; NEXUS 1944, when the US forced a trade ideology Office (for orders to Australia & NZ); on the rest of the world which favoured its Europe—NEXUS, tel +31 (0)321 380558 own economic and political aspirations—an here's a certain irony that Britain, one of ideology that the economist J.M. Keynes the world's great colonisers, is now cap- warned would lead to vicious cycles of debt. _ tive to an all-encompassing form of imperi- This is exactly what has happened over the alism: transnational corporate takeover. last four decades or so, as two-thirds of the Her colonies have already succumbed. In planet finds itself subject to some sort of Captive State, George Monbiot makes us corporate control, aided and abetted by the wonder what's going on when long-cher- World Bank, IMF, GATT and the WTO. It __ ished traditions now depend on corporate is now common for nations to have to sub- sponsorship for their survival, and when the mit to the demands of free market, deregula- | London Millennium Dome's "Our Town" tory policies which destroy their cultural tra- exhibit, designed to celebrate "the diversity ditions and local economies, forcing cuts in of local culture", is allowed to be sponsored APRIL —- MAY 2001 by McDonald's. It's all symptomatic. In the last few years, George Monbiot, an academic, author and journalist who writes a regular column for the London Guardian, has been at the vanguard of concern over various GE/biotech issues. He airs these issues here, too, warning how TNCs have a disproportionate say in political and scientif- ic arenas at the expense of local social and economic concerns; indeed, some of them even want to control the food chain. Monbiot gives the lowdown on how corpo- rations have taken over hospitals, schools, universities, prisons and even the local cor- ner shop, exerting influence over govern- ment ministries and interpreting laws to suit themselves. None of this augurs well. As most representatives of the people have been "co-opted or crushed", Monbiot suggests that the only antidote against corporate takeover is legitimate protest, lobbying and campaigning by individuals and citizens groups. But, with all communications now tapped in the new British surveillance state, this will be an uphill battle. BEQRGE MONBIOT NEXUS 71 www.nexusmagazine.com