John Pilgers Seven Solutions

SEVEN SOLUTIONS

Put people first:

WTO liberalisation agreements such as GATS and TRI Ps? must be reassessed on the basis of their impact on the poorest people, and the rules changed so that benefits from the global economy are shared fairly and evenly according to need.

Restore national control over development:

Countries must be allowed to determine their own development paths, free from the ideological interference of the IMF and World Bank. Countries must be allowed to make performance requirements of multinationals investing in their territories.

End protectionism in the world's richest countries:

The tariff barriers which block developing country exports to the markets of the rich world must be removed, and targeted support provided to workers in industrialised countries who are affected by the change. There needs to be fundamental reform of agricultural systems, with the aim of making food supply fairer to farmers in the Third World, as well as safer and more sustainable. In particular, European and US governments must end the agricultural subsidies which give their farmers an unfair advantage over producers in the developing world.

Give priority to the poor:

The rules of globalisation should make more provision for the special needs of the world's poorest countries. The European Union's first step in promising duty-free access to exports from the 48 least developed countries should be extended to more countries and matched by all rich nations.

Make multinationals accountable:

Companies have globalised, but the rules regulating their activities haven't. UN agreements contain sound rules on workers' rights, human rights, consumer protection, indigenous peoples and the environment. But there is no means for consistent enforcement of these standards. There should be a new international mechanism to regulate the activities of all multinationals across the world, with government enforcement supported by independent monitoring to ensure that they abide by it.

Build democratic space for genuine debate:

All decisions at the IMF and World Bank are taken on the basis of 'one dollar one vote', which guarantees the world's richest countries an inbuilt majority. The WTO has acknowledged that it too has tended to marginalise the interests of the developing world. Without the democratic space to discuss alternatives to the free trade agenda, there will be little chance of making globalisation work in the interests of the poor.

Regulate capital markets:

Financial markets must be regulated to ensure that the East Asian crisis of 1997-98 can never be repeated. In addition, mechanisms such as the Tobin Tax should be introduced: a small tax on all financial exchange transactions which would raise around $1 trillion each year for development purposes and reverse the current flow of finance from the developing to the developed world.

This information is taken from John Pilger's website http://pilger.carlton.com