| slaskrad |
2001/01/31
John Einar Sandvand; Globalisering er utbredt, Aftenposten 29.01.01 Globalisering. Alle snakker om det. Men i hvilke land er utviklingen kommet lengst - og hva betyr det for forskjellene mellom rik og fattig i disse landene? Det anerkjente tidsskriftet Foreign Policy stilte seg spørsmålene - og har nå laget en globaliseringsindeks sammen med konsulentselskapet A.T. Kearney. Resultatene slår hull på flere myter om globalisering, skriver tidsskriftet. Singapore troner på øverste plassen som verdens mest globaliserte land. Dernest kommer mindre europeiske nasjoner, som Nederland, Sverige, Sveits, Finland og Irland. "Annerledeslandet" Norge plasseres på niendeplassen, foran Canada og Danmark. Verdens økonomiske og politiske supermakt, USA, kommer på sin side først på 12. plass. 2001/01/30
WTO Sends Wrong Message with Qatar Choice, Human Rights Watch 23.01.01 "The WTO has selected a country for its next summit where freedom of assembly is nonexistent," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "This looks like an effort to avoid the noisy demonstrations of the past year by picking a country that bans demonstrations. The WTO should be striving to build the global economy on a foundation of respect for such basic human rights--not hiding behind governments that systematically violate those rights." 2001/01/29
Aksel Nærstad; - Vi er framtiden, Klassekampen 30.01.01 – Davos er fortiden. Porto Alegre er framtiden, slik oppsummerer den filippinske sosiologiprofessoren Walden Bello World Social Forum. – Det har vært mange viktige samlinger av ulike folkelige bevegelser og frivillige organisasjoner, Seattle, Bankok og Praha. Jeg tror denne konferansen blir viktigere. Jeg håper vi kan snakke om før og etter Porto Alegre, sa den tidligere frigjøringslederen og presidenten i Algerie, Ben Bella, på et av de mange seminarene på World Social Forum. Mange av deltakerne tror Porto Alegre blir et merkepunkt i kampen mot et profittstyrt samfunnssystem.
NHO og planøkonomien, Dagens Næringsliv 25.01.01 Hvorfor foreslår ikke like godt NHO at Stortinget vedtar rammen for lønnsoppgjøret sammen med statsbudsjettet? Næringslivets Hovedorganisasjon (NHO) overrasker ofte. Denne gangen er det administrerende direktør Finn Bergesens rop på mer planøkonomi som forbauser. Normalt er NHO svært opptatt av konkurranse og lite reguleringer. Men når det kommer til lønnsdannelsen - vel å merke på gulvet - får pipen straks en annen lyd. Da er det nesten ikke grenser for hva NHO drømmer om. På samfunnsøkonomenes seminar på Gausdal tillot Bergesen seg å drømme høyt. Det var ikke lurt. Han har åpenbart blitt skremt av fjorårets oppgjør og tilsvarende fascinert av Arntsen-utvalget i 1999. I Arntsen-utvalget satte hovedorganisasjonene en slags ramme for lønnsveksten. Den modellen vil Bergesen fortsette inn i fremtiden, bare i forsterket utgave.
Øystein Djupedal; Spekulantene herjer med verdensøkonomien - Globalt kasino!, Pressemelding SV 25.01.01 - Hver dag strømmer ufattelige 1300 milliarder dollar over landegrensene, og hele 98,5 prosent av dette er spekulasjonsmotivert. Verdensøkonomien har blitt valutagamblernes kasino, og det undergraver mange lands mulighet til å etablere en stabil økonomi, sier Øystein Djupedal. Heldigvis har de negative virkningene av en slik spekulasjonsøkonomi fått stadig større oppmerksomhet internasjonalt. Det har blitt dannet organisasjoner som ønsker å gjøre noe med denne utviklingen gjennom å skattlegge slike pengetransaksjoner, såkalt Tobinskatt. I flere land, og senest i Sverige, er Attac etablert. Snart står Norge for tur. - SV har vært opptatt av disse problemene i mange år, og vi har fremmet forslag om slik skattlegging flere ganger, så vi hilser initiativet hjertelig velkommen og skal gjøre vårt til å gi organisasjonen drahjelp, sier Djupedal. Han ønsker å gi Statsminister Jens Stoltenberg en mulighet til å redegjøre for sitt syn på spekulasjonsøkonomien og tiltakene som kan motvirke den, så han har i dag lagt inn en interpellasjon om dette. - Dessuten vil vi gjerne høre Stoltenbergs vurdering av hvordan vi kan bruke vår plass i sikkerhetsrådet for å få FN til å spille en mer aktiv rolle i å bekjempe spekulasjonsøkonomien, sier SVs finanspolitiske talsmann. 2001/01/26
Barry James; Europe's Decaying Ecosystem, International Herald Tribune 24.01.01 Spreading Deforestation Is Both Acknowledged and Ignored PARIS What is left of Europe's ancient forests, the source of so many myths and legends, is under threat from ax, fire, pollution and urban sprawl, and little is being done about it. Trees are being planted, it is true, but mostly boring rows of conifers rather than the woodlands that would have existed in a more natural state, with their diversity of flora and fauna. The European Commission in Brussels recognizes that a problem exists, but apart from issuing study after study, it lacks a common approach to saving the Continent's arboreal heritage. The result is not a disaster in the making "but a disaster already," says Lars Laestadius, a forestry expert with the World Resources Institute in Washington, the only organization to have mapped the world's remaining old growth forests. The institute's survey shows that Europe no longer has any open areas large enough to support a complete ecosystem. 2001/01/25
Castro sier han håper Bush ikke er «så dum som han virker», CNN Norge 25.01.01 Cubas president Fidel Castro kom denne uken med den første verbale salven mot USAs president Bush, da han sa at han håpet hans kollega i Det hvite hus ikke var «så dum som han virker». I en tale fra søndag, som ble vist på statlig fjersyn onsdag kveld, sa Castro: - En veldig merkelig mann, som jeg har små forhåpninger til, har tatt ledelsen i det store imperiet som vi har som nabo.
Kevin Watkins (Oxfam); Behind closed doors - Why the poor will suffer if globalisation is not controlled, The Guardian 13.12.00 The wreckers have been at it again. Over the year since the collapse of world trade talks in Seattle, dedicated and well-organised groups have been ruthlessly chipping away at the remnants of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) credibility. Without firm action, there is now a real danger that they will cause the rules-based trading system to collapse, destroying efforts to reduce poverty and global inequality. The wreckers are not from the ever broadening anti-WTO and globalisation protest movement. The wreckers in question are the governments of the world's richest countries who continue to use their power to subordinate the WTO to their own national interests and to the pursuit of corporate profit, regardless of the cost to poor countries, public health, and the environment. Media attention in Seattle, Prague and, to some extent, in Nice focused on the street protests and the activities of a few balaclava-clad "globaphobes" with a disdain for McDonald's windows. But the real battle over the past year has been taking place off-camera, where developing countries are still challenging the northern government's abuse of the WTO system. The charge sheet is impressive and is only partly answered by Clare Short's white paper on globalisation, which was unveiled this week. While poor countries have liberalised their markets, rich countries have remained resolutely protectionist, especially in areas like textiles and agriculture. The authority of the WTO, which drives globalisation, has actually been extended into new areas, such as intellectual property rights. Whatever Short says, the negotiating process has continued to be profoundly undemocratic, with big countries stitching up deals in secret negotiations.
Dagens sitat. Nelson Mandela at the Davos World Economic Forum, February 1999: Is globalisation only to benefit the powerful and the financiers, speculators, investors, and traders? Does it offer nothing to men, women, and children ravaged by the violence of poverty?
The rough guide to globalisation, CAFOD briefing, June 2000 Globalisation is in danger of becoming a swear-word, the target of protests from Prague to Seattle. It is also a political hot potato, with a White Paper on Globalisation and Development due out in mid-December, and a new effort to restart global trade talks expected now that the US elections are over. This briefing explains what globalisation is, its impact on the poor countries of the world, and what needs to change. CAFOD has been charting the impact of globalisation on development for several years, and will be launching a four-year campaign on trade and food security during 2001.
Mind the Gap: how globalisation is failing the world's poor, Christian Aid, UK, 11.12.00 Between 1960 and 1997 the gap between the poorest fifth and the richest fifth of the world's population more than doubled. In spite of the much-heralded benefits of globalisation, there are still 1.3 billion people worldwide who live on less than $1 per day and a similar number of people do not have access to clean water. Christian Aid believes the current globalisation model will lead to an increase in poverty and inequality.
UK Government White Paper on globalisation: Eliminating World Poverty: Making Globalisation Work for the Poor, 11.12.00 Foreword by the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) Globalisation creates unprecedented new opportunities and risks. If the poorest countries can be drawn into the global economy and get increasing access to modern knowledge and technology, it could lead to a rapid reduction in global poverty — as well as bringing new trade and investment opportunities for all. But if this is not done, the poorest countries will become more marginalised, and suffering and division will grow. And we will all be affected by the consequences. In order to make globalisation work for the poor we need not just strong and vibrant private sectors, but also effective governments and strong and reformed international institutions. We need to work collectively to tackle the problems of conflict and corruption, boost investment in education and health, spread the benefits of technology and research, strengthen the international financial system, reduce barriers to trade, tackle environmental problems and make development assistance more effective. Foreword by The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short) Cynicism and negativism are the enemies of progress. It is when people see that progress is possible that the demand for reform and advance is energised. I hope that this White Paper will help people of moral conscience and those with an intelligent concern for future generations - in all parts of the world - to join together to achieve a more decent and sustainable future for us all. Some reactions to the white paper: * Christian Aid; White Paper misses the point on tackling poverty 11.12.00 * Duncan Green & Claire Melamed; A Human Development Approach to Globalisation, CAFOD and Christian Aid joint submission, June 2000 * Kevin Watkins (Oxfam); Behind closed doors - Why the poor will suffer if globalisation is not controlled, The Guardian 13.12.00 * Will Hutton; A Third Way for the Third World? (interview), The Observer 10.12.00
Aftenposten presenterte sommeren 1998 en serie artikler og innlegg om globaliseringen og dens konsekvenser. "Globalisering" er blitt det nye moteordet i norsk og internasjonal samfunnsdebatt. - Den fratar oss makt, ødelegger miljøet og skaper økonomisk ulikhet, sier noen politikere. - Velstanden og valgfriheten øker, svarer andre. Det er også ulike oppfatninger om hva globalisering er, og hvor langt den er kommet. - Retorikken er kommet mye lenger enn virkeligheten, sier professor Helge Hveem. Han tror retorikken kan gi næring til motkreftene mot globaliseringen.
Audun Lysbakken; Attac må si nei til EU, Klassekampen 20.01.01 Morgenbladet tar initiativ til en norsk avdeling av Attac. Forutsetningen er at den ikke går mot EU. Leder i Nei til EU, Sigbjørn Gjelsvik, oppfordrer nei-folk til å bli med i Attac for å sørge for at organisasjonen sier nei til norsk EU-medlemskap.
En artikkel som er vennlig innstilt til den globaliseringa som skjer idag kan vi trenge nå, for å danne en motvekt mot andre kritiske og fiendtlige artikler. Så her er den: Daniel T. Griswold; The Blessings and Challenges of Globalization, CTPS Article, Center for Trade Policy Studies, 01.09.00 The evidence of globalization can be seen everywhere: in the home, in the workplace, in the discount stores, in the newspapers and business journals, in the flow of monthly government statistics, and in academic literature. The backlash was on display in Seattle in November 1999, when thousands of protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO). If you believe free markets unleash forces that are destructive to human happiness and must be controlled by active government intervention, you will tend to see globalization as a threat. If you believe that free markets, operating within a rule of law, are essentially self- regulating and lead, in the words of Adam Smith, "as if by an invisible hand" to a greater general prosperity, then you will tend to see globalization as a blessing. The argument that globalization is much more the latter than the former is supported not only by economic theory but by decades of hard-earned experience. A growing majority of nations have made their peace with globalization based not on whim or blind ideology but on the manifest failure of any alternative. They have come to realize that the spread of free markets and the institutions that support them offer the best hope that the fruits of prosperity can be shared by a wider circle of mankind.
Silja J.A. Talvi;World Trade or World Domination?, Mother Jones Wire 24.11.99 To its supporters, the WTO is a ray of hope for free trade and growth for even the poorest developing countries. To its detractors, and there are many, it is the enemy of human rights, the environment, labor, and local self-determination. Here are answers to some common questions about the WTO to help you make up your own mind. To its opponents, the WTO is the arch-enemy of worker's rights, environmental protection, biodiversity, national sovereignty and local economic control. To supporters, it's a beacon of free trade and beneficial growth, shining a light of hopeful promise into even the darkest corners of the developing world. But just what is this multi-tentacled creature, and why does it make so many people so angry? Herewith, a MoJo Wire primer. After reading this introduction, why not take a look at the entire WTO article archive?
G.B. Madison; Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities, 98/1 Globalization Working Papers, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, 1998 Abstract: Globalization is a multifaceted phenomenon. In this paper I seek to discern some of the challenges it poses, as well as some of the opportunities it offers. To this end, attention is focused on three major aspects of globalization: the economic, the cultural, and the political. Particular consideration is given to the political-economic lessons to be learned from the recent East Asian financial (and economic) crisis; the homogenizing and civilizing ramifications of globalization in the realm of culture; and the relation between economic globalization, the threat it poses to the traditional notion of national sovereignty, and the prospects for the development of civil society, the rule of law, and democratic governance. The paper concludes by arguing that, as a result of the emerging global economy, we are witnessing the emergence of a new form of capitalism, qualitatively different from both 19th-century laissez-faire capitalism and 20th-century "managed" capitalism.
John Whalley; Developing Countries in the Global Economy: A Forward Looking View, CSGR Working Paper No. 36/99, The University of Warwick, UK, July 1999 Abstract: This paper discusses what the next few decades could bring for the developing countries in terms of the size and composition of their trade and inward investment flows, as well as a possibly changing policy framework within the global economy in which they have to operate. Both the prospects and implications are clearly different from country to country, but given the breadth of the paper the focus is more on impacts on groups of countries rather than on specific countries. The bottom line of the paper, is a cautious one. Three nagging questions are repeatedly re-emphasized. Can trade growth really be high enough on the import side in the OECD if now 100 or more developing countries see globalization and increased exports as their primary route to growth, industrialization, and development. Can barrier reductions in OECD markets and future WTO negotiations be relied on to fuel this, as in the past; and is there a more sinister scenario that new barrier increases could even choke off some of the trade growth? And what is to happen to development strategies if this course fails, as it seemingly has done so already for the low income countries? Having posed these questions, there are bright spots; the more rapid growth of South-South trade, even more rapid growth of least-developed to mid-developed country trade; higher growth rates of FDI than trade, and more and more developing country trade being investment driven. The papers’ overriding message is perhaps that the world is not static, and country strategies toward the global economy need to reflect this. The full paper in PDF format.
Herman Lindqvist; Globaliserat flimmer i stället för journalistik, Aftonbladet 21.01.01 Under veckan kring nyår var jag på Filippinerna. Jag såg de tusentals ungdomar, som varje dag demonstrerade på Manilas gator för att försöka avsätta den korrupte presidenten Estrada. Demonstranterna blev fler och fler. I går lyckades de – Estrada avgick frivilligt. Innan det behövde gå till våldsamheter. Ännu en stor seger för demokratin. Om detta hänt för några år sedan, hade svenska tv-tittare och tidningsläsare följt denna oblodiga revolution på nära håll. Vi hade fått känna den glädje och triumf som nu fick Manilas gator att vibrera i segeryran. Nu var det inte många svenskar som fick uppleva detta. Knappast några svenska journalister fanns på plats, ingen utom Dagens Eko, som är Sveriges sista seriösa nyhetsförmedlare. Ändå lever vi nu i en tidsålder då vi påstås vara så globaliserade, uppkopplade och informerade. I själva verket är detta en av vår tids största myter, myten om att vi alla är informerade, att vi genom internet och täta nyhetssändningar har tummen på världsläget dygnet runt. Jag vågar påstå att vanliga tidningsläsare och tv-tittare i själva verket vet mindre i dag om världen, än vad de visste för tjugo–trettio år sedan. 2001/01/24
Clay Shirky; The Dark Side of Corporate Home Computers, FEED 11.02.00 Freedom of speech in the computer age was thrown dramatically into question by a pair of recent stories. The first was the news that Ford would be offering its entire 350,000-member global work force an internet-connected computer for $5 a month. This move, already startling, was made more so by the praise Ford received from Stephen Yokich, the head of the UAW, who said "This will allow us to communicate with our brothers and sisters from around the world." This display of unanimity between management and the unions was in bizarre contrast to an announcement later in the week concerning Northwest airlines flight attendants. US District Judge Donovan Frank ruled that the home PCs of Northwest Airlines flight attendants could be confiscated and searched by Northwest, who were looking for evidence of email organizing a New Year's sickout. Clearly corporations do not always look favorably on communication amongst their employees -- if the legal barriers to privacy on a home PC are weak now, and if a large number of workers' PCs will be on loan from their parent company, the freedom of speech and relative anonymity we've taken for granted on the internet to date will be seriously tested, and the law may be of little help.
Brendan Koerner; Cry Hackerdom!, FEED 17.10.00 Is it possible that hackers -- long derided as antisocial geeks bent on causing havoc -- are actually the last of the true, democratic optimists? Brendan Koerner makes the caseCyberpunks as the Pollyannas of the twenty-first century? The same paranoid kids who obsess over Masonic conspiracies and the National Security Agency? The same geeky outcasts who shimmy robotically to self-loathing industrial tunes? Hard as it may be to swallow, instead of ''Information wants to be free,'' the hacker mantra of the moment could just as easily be ''Faith shall be rewarded.'' The evangelists would approve.
Robert J. Samuelson; The Foundations of Economic Development? (review essay), Foreign Affairs Magazine January/February 2001 The triumphant religion of the twentieth century was not Christianity or Islam but economic growth. Over the decades, governments throughout the world jumped onto the growth bandwagon as a way to expand national power, relieve abject poverty, and create social justice. True, they argued and fought over the best way for societies to create and distribute wealth. Communism, capitalism, and socialism in their various forms all vied for supremacy. But now a consensus seems to have emerged. Free trade, free markets, and international investment are the intellectually anointed paths to prosperity. Communism and socialism are definitely out. Yet the consensus is more fragile than it seems. Not only are there conspicuous dissenters, most visibly the street protesters in Seattle and Prague; there is also the inconvenient fact that today's global capitalism has yet to produce anything like universal prosperity. Much of humanity still lies in the grip of extreme poverty. The World Bank estimates that 1.2 billion people -- a fifth of the world's population -- live on less than $1 a day. Worse, little progress has been made since the late 1980s, when the new global capitalism began flourishing. >From 1987 to 1998, the share of sub-Saharan Africa's population living on less than $1 a day remained constant at around 46 percent. The story was the same in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the poverty rate stayed steady at about 16 percent from 1987 to 1998. In South Asia, it fell from 45 to 40 percent, but that region's rapid population growth added 50 million people to the ranks of the poor. Only East Asia (including China) experienced notable success, with the region's poverty rate dropping from 27 to 15 percent.
David E. Sanger; A Grand Trade Bargain - Closing the wealth gap, Foreign Affairs January/February 2001 The Clinton administration came to Washington eight years ago with a straightforward plan to reorient American foreign policy. To spur a lagging economy, it put America's commercial interests -- promoting exports and opening markets -- on par with the country's traditional security interests. It was a strategy born of the "it's the economy, stupid" campaign. To its enthusiasts, this was a long-overdue adjustment in the country's foreign policy priorities, a recognition that the Cold War had ended and that Europe and Japan had long put their competitive interests first. To Clinton's critics, it was low diplomacy, a perversion of America's global role.
Arild Haraldsen; Men den nye økonomien var likevel ikke død, digitoday 22.01.01 Den nye økonomien lever i beste velgående, men det er de etablerte bedriftene - og de som konvergerer på tvers av bransjegrenser, slik vi ser det i digitoday-indeksen (DTX) - som vil stå for de gjennomgripende endringene i vår økonomiske hverdag. Nedgangen i børsverdi på de nye dotcom-selskapene har fått enkelte til å mene at 'Den nye økonomien' likevel ikke var så ny, og at den nå i hvert fall definitivt er både død og begravet. Men faktum er at Internett og e-handel har endret økonomien, og at denne endringen vil bli både tydeligere og sterkere i årene fremover. Men det er ikke dotcom-selskapene som vil stå for denne utviklingen, men de etablerte bedriftene, og de bedriftene som konvergerer på tvers av bransjegrenser, slik vi ser det i digitodays DT-indeks. Men hva er det som er så spesielt med Internett i forhold til tidligere tiders teknologiske innovasjoner (så som for eksempel elektristiteten), som også sterkt bidro til samfunnets økonomiske vekst?
Ole-Andreas Krohn; Det som virkelig selger: Sats på menneskekroppen - ikke teknologien, digitoday 22.01.01 Mens kapitaltørke og manglende balanse gjør sine innhogg i dotcom-rekkene, mener noen at det er på tide at selskapene prøver å lære noe av den dotcom-bransjen som faktisk tjener penger. Arrangøren selv peker på det de mener er viktige suksessfaktorer for sexbransjen. For det første makter disse tjenestene å håndtere enorme vekstrater i trafikken. For det andre har de lært seg å håndtere kundens behov for diskresjon og for det tredje er bransjen ekstremt konkurranseutsatt, hvilket krever det ytterste i kreativitet fra de involverte. Hovedkonklusjonen etter seminaret kan imidlertid synes opplagt. Seminaret konkluderte med at man på disse nettstedene ser mennesker og forholder seg til mennesker, hvilket tross alt gir det hele en menneskelig faktor. 2001/01/23
Peter Behr; Politics and Miscalculations Short-Circuited California Power Grid, International Herald Tribune 23.01.01 California has long exported its trends and ideas to the rest of the United States. Its disastrous experiment in electricity deregulation, however, will likely have no takers. At times last week, the country's richest and most populous state looked more like the struggling province of a developing country. Blackouts rolled through towns and cities. Utilities teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Industrial plants were idled. The state's main gasoline pipeline slowed to a trickle for want of pumping power and elected officials were reduced to begging for electricity from Canadian dams. California's four-year-old electricity deregulation plan, the first in the country, was the troubled product of sharply conflicting political ideologies in the state. It was born of conservative faith in the benefits of unfettered competition. But it was ultimately laced with price caps and controls - such as a requirement that power be bought when needed, not in advance - demanded by lawmakers who did not trust the energy industry. 2001/01/22
Will Tech Boom Again? Fortune har latt toppfolk innen industrien fortelle hva de tror og mener om følgende spørsmål: Have We Hit Bottom?, Fortune, 27.11.00 Some of the smartest people we know say maybe. Others say not yet. But in the long run they all agree that tech is still the growth industry. FORTUNE writers and editors talked to some leading technology-industry players about the recent downturn in the market: Does this signal a long-term decline? we asked. Will the industry rebound? Are there signs at your company, or in your industry, that suggest tech is headed one way or the other? And how did things ever get so rough? We expected radiant optimism from people who are typically boosters. Instead we got a wide range of opinion. Here's what some of the top minds in the business have to say. En annen artikkel gir bakgrunnen for og prøver å forklare hvorfor telekom-bransjen "gikk på en smell". Stephanie N. Mehta; Why Telecom Crashed, Fortune, 27.11.00 It's only when you look closely at the inner workings of this $270 billion industry that you begin to understand why telecom crashed.
Jerry Useem; Dot-Coms: What Have We Learned?, Fortune, 30.10.00 Dot-coms soared. Dot-coms crashed. Somewhere in between we uncovered 12 truths about how the Net really changes business. The dot-com revolution is dead. Long live the Internet revolution. Paola Hjelt; Collapse of the E-Universe, Fortune, 05.02.01 Forget B2B or B2C. The most important term for dot-coms today is "burn rate": how quickly a company is going through its cash on hand. The faster the burn rate, the sooner, presumably, the flameout. With that in mind, Fortune has assembled a chart of the 75 public e-businesses closest to running out of cash.
World Development Movement Report, Jessica Woodroffe and Mark Ellis-Jones; States of unrest: Resistance to IMF policies in poor countries, Independent Media Center, 16.01.01 Since Seattle last year, the media has heralded the dawn of a new movement in Europe and America, epitomised by protests aimed at the WTO, IMF and the World Bank. However, this 'new movement', portrayed by the media as students and anarchists from the rich and prosperous global north, is just the tip of the iceberg. In the global south, a far deeper and wide-ranging movement has been developing for years, largely ignored by the media. Also a States of Unrest Map. 2001/01/18
Rusmisbruk i IT-bransjen, Høy lønn og ustrukturert arbeidstid, IT-avisen, 17.01.01 En undersøkelse av en ikke navngitt databedrift i Silicon Valley viser at amerikanske IT-ansatte ikke bare er arbeidsnarkomane. Avhengighet av alkohol, kokain, ecstasy og amfetamin er i ferd med å bli den reneste epidemi i IT-bransjen, i følge en fersk amerikansk rapport om bruken av alkohol og narkotiske stoffer blant de ansatte i en mindre bedrift i Silicon Valley.
US companies prepare for globalization on the Internet, Asia Pacific to Outpace US Online Population by 2005, But US Sites Turn Blind Eye Toward Globalization, Says Jupiter, businesswire.com 11.01.01 Jupiter Research recommends that U.S. firms take domain names with registrars in foreign countries--for example, names under a specific top-level country-code domain--to prepare for the expected surge in Internet users who do not live in the United States. Jupiter says more than one-third of all Internet consumers will live in the Asia Pacific region by 2005, while the total number of Internet users in the United States will decline 12 percent within the next five years, from 36 percent to 24 percent. Overall, Jupiter forecasts that by 2005, three-quarters of Internet users will live outside the United States. However, few U.S. firms are prepared for this shift in the Internet population, Jupiter reports. Jupiter surveyed 20 popular Web sites for shopping, news, Web searching, corporate services, and travel and found that only one-third of those examined were prepared for a global marketplace. The analysts did discover that more U.S. firms are registering domain names in countries such as Italy, Brazil, Japan, and France. To U.S. firms entering the global Internet marketplace, the analysts at Jupiter also recommend partnerships with local companies to increase access to local capital and to better understanding of local market and also to use the services of translation firms, systems integrators, and other companies in preparing for globalization.
Fagforeninger gror fram også innen den såkalte nye økonomien, som kanskje ikke er så ny likevel... Troy Wolverton; Will high-tech chaos finally give birth to unions?, CNET News, 16.01.01 A decidedly Old Economy refrain is being heard with increasing frequency in the high-tech industry: Workers, unite. Although labor organizing efforts are nascent and active at only a handful of workplaces, companies and employees across the industry are following at least three test cases closely to measure prevailing attitudes throughout the rank and file. The most recent efforts are under way at Amazon.com, IBM and electronics retailer Etown.com. "I think unionization would ruin the free spirit and innovation in the high-tech industry," said Alvin Bost, a freelance Web site designer in Greensboro, N.C., who formerly worked in a unionized workplace that was marked by bitter dissension between employees and management. "It would be terrible for people like me." Others say that while most technology workers are well compensated, unions are needed to check the growing power of corporations in the American economy. David Moffat, who develops instructional software for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said high-tech workers are not immune from the trends that spurred labor movements in other industries, such as decreases in benefits and exportation of work overseas. "Assemblers, information workers and many other segments of the 'Information Economy' are in a position similar to that of industrial workers at the turn of the last century," Moffat said. "Corporations have the upper hand in determining when, where and for how much employees will work." Larry Keller; Download the barricades, CNN, 19.12.00 The value of their stock options plummeting, the security of their jobs in question, some high-tech workers have turned an attentive ear to an institution considered by some to be anathema to entrepreneurs: labor unions. "I don't think it's an anomaly," says Peter Conrad, a partner at Proskauer Rose, a New York-based law firm that represents management in labor issues. "Too many dot-coms have perhaps thought for too long that they could just throw things like stock options at people and they'd be docile and do their work and not create problems." Elizabeth Hurt; Tracking the Internet Union Movements, Business 2.0, 07.12.00 While Internet managers should pay close to attention to the unionization efforts at Amazon and Etown.com, they are not necessarily a sign of sweeping changes to come. We check in on those battles and explore some tips for heading off employee discontent. As if dot-coms needed another headache right now, November saw employees at two Internet-based companies announce their intentions to unionize. Will old-fashioned unions be the next big trend for New Economy worker bees who grow more frustrated with long hours and stock options that have yet to materialize? Og til våre hjemlig forhold kan hjemmesidene til LO-forbundet EL&IT utforskes, se for eksempel Oppsigelser i norske nettsteder og artikkelen: Henning Solhaug; Når motsetningene forsvinner, 10.01.01 Representanter for IKT Norge har ved flere anledninger kommentert organisering innen IKT-området, sist i Aftenposten 11. desember. Gjennomgangsmelodien har vært at IKT-bransjen ikke trenger verken fagforeninger eller arbeidsgiverorganisasjon. Derimot trenger åpenbart bransjen IKT-Norge. Dette begrunnes i Aftenposten med at "Det gamle motsetningsforholdet mellom arbeidsgiver og ansatt er ikke relevant i vår bransje. Derfor er fagorganisering heller ikke noe problem." Videre hevder Scharning at "I databransjen dreier det meste seg om mennesker og kompetanse. En bedriftsleder er avhengig av å tilby sine medarbeidere best mulig betingelser." 2001/01/16
Ignacio Ramonet; The promise of Porto Alegre, Le Monde Diplomatique, January 2001 The new century is starting in Porto Alegre. All kinds of people, each in their own ways, have been contesting and critiquing neo-liberal globalisation, and many of them will be gathering in this southern Brazilian city on 25-30 January for the first World Social Forum. This time they won't just be protesting - as they were in Seattle, Washington, Prague and elsewhere - against the world-wide injustices, inequalities and disasters created by the excesses of capitalism (see the article by Bernard Cassen). This time, in a positive and constructive spirit, they will be working towards creating a practical and theoretical framework for a new kind of globalisation. They are fired by a belief in the possibility of a new world that is less inhumane, more inclined to solidarity. This dissident International will be held in Porto Alegre at the same time as the World Economic Forum meets in Davos. 2001/01/13
Attac starta i Frankrike med ett opprop i Le Monde Diplomatique. Nå er Attac Sverige danna, og det diskuteres om og med hvilket grunnlag Attac Danmark skal dannes i avisa Information sine debattsider. 2001/01/08
Stopp FrP!, LO i Notodden I 102 år har vi kjempa for arbeidsfolks rettigheter. Så opplever vi at 40% av våre egne medlemmer slutter opp et ekkelt, mørkeblått parti som har til hensikt å rive ned alt arbeidsfolk har oppnådd. Vi må gjenreise den politiske og ideologiske diskusjonen i fagbevegelsen!
Jehnny Lindahl; Antikommunismen hotar demokratin 2000, og mer stoff på sida Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!, Ung Vänster Hets och förförjelse av oliktänkande är vad som historiskt blivit följden av ett kommunisthat av de dimensioner vi sett prov på under de senaste dagarna. Detta hotar i längden demokratin. Det är inte någon överraskning att vänsterpartiet har politiska motståndare, eller att de kritiserar det partiet står för. Det är heller ingen som blir förvånad över att ett förslag till partiprogram kritiseras internt. Det som är anmärkningsvärt är att den socialdemokratiska statsministern och partisekreteraren bestämmer sig för att återuppliva kommunistskräcken. «Ingen förväntar sig den Spanska Inkvisitionen», sade Monthy Python. Inkvisitionen var den medeltida kyrkans fruktade redskap för att genom terror upprätthålla de sanningar som folk inte längre trodde på. Kampanjerna mot kommunismen är ett säkert tecken på att vänstern är på frammarch. Och att den ohederliga högerns svar är gammalt. Annars skulle ingen inkvisition behövas.
Dagens sitat. Che om det daglige strevet og "fra prat til praksis": One has to have a great dose of humanity, a great dose of the feeling of justice and of truth not to fall into extreme dogmatism, into a cold scholasticism, into isolation from the masses. Every day one has to struggle that this love to a living humanity transform itself into concrete acts, in acts that serve as examples, as motivation. - Ernesto Che Guevara
Ole David Koht Norbye; Arbeiderpartiets ansvar, Dagsavisen 29.08.00 Dersom utviklingen på velgermarkedet fortsetter slik den har gjort i det siste, kan det godt hende at vi går inn i det enogtyvende århundre med Fremskrittspartiet på toppen av meningsmålingene.
Overcoming Consumerism, greenbloc.org Consumerism is a pattern of behavior that helps to destroy our environment, personal financial health, the common good of individuals and human institutions. Ultimately consumerism benefits only corporations who stand to make a profit from convincing the public that their goods and services are ''must haves''.
Gunhild Lervåg; Monsterforbrukeren - 50 år og kjøpesterk, Vårt Land 05.12.00 50 år gammel. En gang var det akkurat det de var. Gamle. Men ikke nå lenger. Nå er 50-åringene unge og kjøpesterke. De er så kjøpesterke at markedsførere har begynt å kalle dem mesterforbrukere eller monsterforbrukere. Ikke akkurat flatterende betegnelser, men markedsførerne har i hvert fall fått øynene opp for kraften til de stadig yngre eldre. Derfor stirrer de på 50-åringene til øynene blir store og våte.
Thomas Hylland Eriksen; Fremskrittspartiet og akselerasjonen, Dagbladet 26.10.00 Det har ikke skortet på kommentarer etter Fremskrittspartiets spektakulære sprang. De lyder for eksempel slik: Velstanden har gjort norskingene til et folk av egoister. Folk er bare opptatt av de nære ting, som prisen på bensin og mat. Samfunnets fragmentering gjør det umulig å forstå sammenhenger. Massemediene har skylden, for de har gjort politikken til et sirkus.
Trond Blindheim og Thor Øivind Jensen; Ap og den nye individualismen, Dagbladet 15.10.00 «Den nye kulturen er mest tragisk for dem som sitter på toppen av gamle struktur er og ser at respekt og oppslutning krymper.» En generasjon kjennetegnes av kollektiv bevissthet som skapes av begivenheter, mennesker og myter. Vi tilhører den første generasjon av nordmenn som ble født inn i velferdsstaten: fra starten av Ap's solide storhetstid rundt 1950 til 1973, da Carl I. Hagens parti ble etablert på Saga kino, og kronprins Haakon Magnus ble født på Rikshospitalet; hver på sin måte individualister som ikke underkastet seg gammel konformitet. 2001/01/05
Introduction: Borderlines in Time of Globalization , ProtoSociology vol. 15 2001 Scholars of different schools have extensively analyzed world systems as networks of communication under the fashionable heading ''globalization''. Our collected new research pushes the argument one-step further. Globalization is not a homogenization of all social life on earth. It is a heterogeneous process that connects the global and the local on different levels. Furthermore, globalization is more often used as a catchall argument to pursue political goals than for sound scientific analysis. Eager followers of the concept of globalization largely overestimate its dynamics and its opponents forcefully deconstruct the concept under different perspectives. Yet, we also recognize, it is a social process thats leads to new forms of differentiation and thereby an evolution of functional imperatives for all differentiated social systems, not only for the economical system, the political system or households but also for ethnic and religious communities.
Walden Bello; 2000: The Year of Global Protest against Globalization, Focus on the Global South January 2001 The last year will probably go down as one of those defining moments in the history of the world economy, like 1929. Of course, the structures of global capitalism appear to be solid, with many in the global elite in Washington, Europe, and Asia congratulating themselves for containing the Asian financial crisis and trying to exude confidence about launching a new round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO). What we witnessed, nevertheless, was a dramatic series of events that might, in fact, lead to that time when, as the poet says, ''all that is solid melts into thin air.''
Roald Helgheim; Det taler, og sier likevel ingenting, Dag og Tid nr. 51-52, 21.12.00 Vi lever i informasjonssamfunnet, det er noko alle veit. I alle fall er det noko «alle» meiningsberarar ytrar når dei skal skildre samtida. Dette samfunnet er noko kvalitativt nytt, og endringane i verda er like gjennomgripande som den industrielle revolusjonen. Reiulf Steen skriv mykje om det i boka Jordskjelv, og når det gjeld «informasjonssamfunnet» er vegen attende like stengd som når det gjeld «globaliseringa». Slik har «informasjon» og «globalisering» blitt siamesiske tvillingar i ein ny tusenårsretorikk, som eit dobbelt mantra.
Bjarke Møller; Europa i glokaliseringens favn, Information 08.12.00 Mens Pokémon, computerspil og forbrugskultur flyder ind over Europa, slås kosmopolitter og nynationalister om, hvad Europa skal være og ikke være Er jeres børn også besat af de der Pokémon-er. Den israelske forfatter Nissim Calderon slynger spørgsmålet ud over middagsbordet. Svenskeren, danskeren og spanieren svarer samstemmende ja. «Det er helt utroligt. De kan huske over hundrede forskellige Pokémon-figurers navne, og jeg kan knapt nok huske én. Jo, ham den lille søde gule fantasifigur, Pikatchu, men så kan jeg ikke huske mere. Og nu taler de om digimon, og hvad det ellers hedder,» siger Nissim med glød i øjnene. At tale om Pokémon er som et mentalt refugium fra den optrappende krig mellem israelere og palæstinensere, som hærger hans land.
Asbjørn Wahl; Tretten teser om globalisering, UDs nasjonale seminar om globalisering 27.10.98 Asbjørn Wahl snakker her om globalisering, debatten, kapitalens internasjonale offensiv, de multinasjonale selskapene, finanskapitalens rolle, den ideologiske offensiven, forskjells-Norge og forskjells-verden, fleksibiliseringen av arbeidsmarkedet, MAI-avtalen, interessekampen, norske særegenheter, mobiliseringen av motkrefter og til slutt et forslag til regjeringen.
Susan George; Fixing or Nixing the WTO, Le Monde diplomatique January 2000 After the WTO fiasco at Seattle, many neoliberal commentators set about rewriting history. They said, somewhat improbably, that the US had emerged victorious and Europe and the countries of the South had lost out, Europe because it had not managed to table new rules and the South because it had failed to get more markets opened in the North. In fact, despite suitable noises from President Clinton, the failure of the trade talks shows the limits of Washington's power in the WTO, where for the first time delegates from the South turned the consensus rule to their advantage. As for the Fifteen and the European Commission, it is true that they had wanted to extend the agenda, but only in order to deregulate more areas for the benefit of their own multinationals. The true victors at Seattle are the citizens' movements. They have struck a blow against the proposal to use trade as a means of general deconstruction of all collectives and governments of the South, of whatever persuasion, that have now staked a claim to full partnership in the future. This is the birth of world public opinion. What we need now is national and international recognition of the peoples' elected representatives.
Gi ikke opp, for som en lederartikkel i The Economist forteller er det mulig å stoppe globaliseringsprosessen: By trying to force labour rights on to the agenda for the new round, for instance, America and Europe are playing with fire. Globalisation is not irreversible. Unless governments come out fighting for free trade in Seattle and beyond, the huge gains it has brought could be lost. - Opinion, The Economist (Storm over globalisation) 27.11.99 |
