Sunday, June 10, 2007

World Bank: We said Free Trade, not Free People!

"Through the violent occupation of Iraq, the US is laying the foundations to further open the economy of the Middle East for their corporate interests. Countries once protected by oil revenues are lining up to sign bilateral agreements leading to a Middle East Free Trade Agreement. MEFTA would impose free market policies that have enslaved other regions of the global south to global capital. In Palestine, the World Bank has played a key role in facilitating the cooperation of global capital and occupation.

Central to the vision of the World Bank for a thriving and successful Palestinian “state” is the development of an export-orientated economy in which Palestinian dispossessed farmers are exploited as cheap labor and dominated by markets and free trade. Israeli and World Bank interests merge to destroy local forms of trade, sustainable patterns of agricultural production, and existing social structures.

The industrial zones are designed to serve the needs of the industry markets of Israel, whether by doing the most environmentally destructive production in Palestinian areas or by providing cheap labor. Additionally these zones would benefit the Israeli Occupation abroad where goods “Made in Palestine” have more favorable trade conditions in international markets.

While espousing the politics of free markets and free trade, the World Bank is not interested in the creation of a free people. Quite the opposite—its interests are best served by keeping Palestinians in economic enslavement. "

Please please read this article. And forward it to Lebanese minister of economy and trade, Sami Haddad, also known as Haddadamus (for his prophetic wisdom).

2 comments:

Philip I said...

At the World Bank, middle class people with the best intentions happily administer the worst poison to the world's poor. Exactly as you describe it.

There is no global conspiracy here, only a short-sighted and inhumane capitalist agenda.

Anonymous said...

World Bank and the IMF are socialist organizations. They take money from one group and give it to another. They think this makes the world a better place.

There is nothing wrong with trade but it needs to respect all people of all countries instead of this garbage that has been coming down that serves a bunch of elite by redistributing resources and wealth from one group of labor to another.

This mess has to stop. And it isn't free trade either. It's more like corporate trade. Free trade would be the ability for me to go to the Middle East and buy some oil and ship it back home to sell at a profit. Instead we are forced to deal with these corporate middle men who have government guns protecting them and virtual monopoly. This isn't free trade, they are simply stealing from everyone on the planet so they can make one world government and declare victory, or peace or some other nonsense.

I don't see how this can end well for anyone. You can't simply mess with markets without causing problems. Free Trade is supposed to respect markets and let them develop naturally not force them down certain paths for certain groups.

The reason communism and socialism fails is because they don't respect market forces. The more they manipulate, the greater the disaster in the future when economic forces of real free trade kicks in without their consent.