Selamat Dehaiers-
Just as I was feeling overwhelmed by all the separate stories of third
world countries at the mercy of technologically advanced countries, I read
a chapter in THE CASE AGAINST THE GLOBAL ECONOMY that put all the pieces
together. It showed a bold pattern of exploiting the third world that has
continued right up to the present day. Seeing the whole picture over time
has given me a new sense of how singlemindedly the transnational forces
have been taking control of economies and the very fate of third world
people. I asked for and received permission from the publisher, the Sierra
Club, to e-mail the chapter, 22, to all of you. Its author, Edward
Goldsmith, has been honored world-wide for his writings and work for the
cause of human and other natural resources. I'm posting his chapter,
"Development As Colonialism" (DAC), in 12 sections as follows:
DAC 1__ Getting Control of the 3rd World
DAC 2__ Getting Control of the 3rd World
DAC 3__ Later Colonialism
DAC 4__ Later Colonialism
DAC 5__ Setting Up Indigenous Elites
DAC 6__ Engineering Coups D'Etat
DAC 7__ Killing The Domestic Economy
DAC 8__ Killing The Domestic Economy
DAC 9__ Lending Money
DAC 10__Lending Money
DAC 11__The New Corporate Colonialism
DAC 12__(final)The New Corporate Colonialism
The chapter ends with a description of the mammoth corporate exploitation
that is building up now, and one sees that, as I wrote a Dehai friend,
development comes at a price that is getting terrifying, and there is no
mention of a way for third world governments to avoid paying it. In fact
it appears that over the centuries the structure of governments has become
tailored to enhance co-operating with corporate power. Governments --and
Eritrea's far less than most-- have consistently proven vulnerable to the
development banks' "structural adjustment" programs, the modern term for
tightening the global grip on a country's economy.
Nevertheless, structure as a weapon of offense suggests structure as a
shield of defense that could reduce vulnerability enough to loosen the
global grip
--maybe by following strong economies like Singapore and Hong Kong and
using no central bank at all. That means having no way to carry out IMF
financial directives like devaluing the currency or, as Eritrea's Central
Bank does, promoting the required trade policy of increasing exports rather
than replacing imports [see Ghidewon Asmerom's interview with bank head Ato
Tekie, http://sat urn.vcu.edu/~gasmerom/tekie.html].
--maybe by vesting ownership in natural resources directly with the people,
not with their governments. Governments, pressured to come up with money
beyond their revenues, sell off public assets and burden the people with
debt, but people wouldn't easily burden themselves with debt or part with
their own assets, especially if they can use these for getting
supplementary credit too, whose circulation strengthens local economies.
[Several systems are described in another chapter, 38, in the same book]
Maybe a determined review of possible structural defenses is all it would
take for the men and women of Eritrea to become resistance fighters again,
Davids facing the corporate Goliaths in a renewed fight for self-reliance.
As before there would be people that never oppose the Goliaths, despite
deeds you'll be reading about on Dehai. The first sections will appear
before May 5 and the rest after May 20. Here in the United States, my
country, some of us know we have much farther to go than most in the fight
for self-reliance, but we're working on it.
Mary L.
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