 (posted
from Miami)
Social
critic and professor
Charles Derber's new book People
Before Profit is a bumpy ride. Its back cover, with glowing
reviews by Naomi Klein, Ralph Nader, Ted Kennedy and Noam Chomsky,
raises huge expectations. What Derber delivers is a well-researched and
informative study of globalization and corporate power -- and a naive
and unworkable prescription for change.
The best part of the book comes right after the introduction, as Derber
teaches us just how much our current economic predicament parallels
that of the
latter half of the 19th century, the Gilded Age, when:
[US sovereignty] shifted
from the people toward the large corporations and financiers. The new
system of American government, essentially federalized democracy with a
corporate logo was "a government by Wall Street, of Wall Street and for
Wall Street." As the robber barons integrated the economy from New York
to California, they deformed democracy and unhinged the social
order...The robber barons "overran all the existing institutions which
buttress society...they took possession of the political government,
the school, the press, the church." Business, that is, began to absorb
all of society into itself.
Derber draws the connections to today's economy, and makes the argument
against untrameled globalization and corporate power, saying:
In today's
corpocracy...business and government forge an intimate relationship,
both within the nation-state and the larger world order. In the new
system, government still wields sovereign authority, but sovereign
power has actually been transferred to a partnership increasingly
dominated by the business sector.
He also exposes the myth that globalization benefits poor nations as
well as rich:
Globalization, rather than
catalyzing a splendid burst of growth in Africa, Latin America, and
other parts of the Third World, has slowed it to a snail's pace...The
World Bank reported that worldwide growth actually shrank in the
1990's, the decade of accelerating globalization. The slowdown was
especially notable in the Third World..."with the typical country
registering negligable growth"...The 1998 Asian financial meltdown
reversed much of the [Asian tigers'] gains, turning success stories
like Thailand and Indonesia into economic nightmares. Meanwhile,
sub-Saharan African economies actually shrank, while in much of the
rest of Africa and Latin America growth hovered close to zero.
Derber then dissects the anti-globalization movement into two camps --
"UN people" who support a strong United Nations as a force to balance
the power of global corporations and their lackeys, the IMF, World Bank
and WTO; and "barbershoppers", who espouse relocalizing and devolving
power to communities, where people's needs and the effects of decisions
are truly understood. Derber wants to unite the two factions into a
"global democracy movement".
Here's where IMHO the book moves from excellent historical and economic
analysis to technicolor dreamland. His global democracy prescription
calls for five
aims: (a) creating accountable 'world governments', (b) reconstructing
national democracies, (c) democratizing global business, (d)
resurrecting local community with global citizenship, and (e) creating
collective security. Nothing to it! Here's his policy and platform
program to get us there:
- re-regulation of global money flows and corporations
- redistribution of income and wealth
- resurrecting 'global commons'
- full, equal and informed political participation
- rebuilding the firewall between government and
corporations
- revoking corporate citizenship and rights as
'persons'
- rewriting corporate charters to mandate serving the
common good
- end to hidden corporate subsidies
- limiting US power in the world
I was almost expecting to see an end to all wars and perpetual global
world
peace on the list, and Derber didn't disappoint -- he sees his program
as the elixir for terrorism and all our political woes, not just our
economic ones. And he might even be right, if this list of pipedreams
were even faintly achievable. He displays an almost unbelievable lack
of awareness of how slowly cultures and economies change and how
difficult it is to
displace power once it is dug in. And I thought I was an idealist.
For those whose eyebrows haven't risen too far in their heads to
continue reading, Derber concludes with a 25-point set of actions
comprising 'what you can do today'. The actions fall into four
discouragingly prosaic categories:
- Conscientious consumerism: Think about what you buy.
Buy smart. Think about the plight of women struggling in Third World
streets and sweatshops. Buy green and conserve.
- Education of yourself and others: Start study
groups. Travel abroad.
- Organization: Think global, act local. Make change
from inside. Unite with others.
- Activism: Support a strong UN, human rights,
election finance reform. Protest against poverty, social and
environmental abuses, excess corporate concentration and power, the
policies of the WTO, IMF and World Bank, and US intervention and
unilateralism.
I would really like to
believe Derber is right, and his hopeful vision was possible. But
methinks he got too caught up in the surreal world on the streets of
Seattle and its wild-eyed, grass-roots romanticism. People Before Profit, like its
title, reads like a manifesto from the 1960s. I know what we
accomplished back then, ending the Vietnam War and sending shock-waves
through every corner of society. Alas, this is not 1968, and the
reactionary forces we overcame back then are back with a vengeance, and
won't be fooled so easily this time.
|
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