Oppose corporate tyranny
Resistance Books, 2000
$5.95, 58pp.
REVIEW BY JONATHAN STRAUSS
Oppose corporate tyranny: why the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO should be abolished is about the corporate takeover of the planet and the international protest movement to stop it.
To argue in one compact publication that capitalism's efforts to invade and conquer every corner of the globe are not inevitable, Resistance Books has compiled a range of Green Left Weekly's feature articles on this issue. To these, GLW journalist Sean Healy has added a brief introduction and a guide to the World Economic Forum.
The compilation is anti-imperialist and internationalist. According to the authors, the uprisings in the underdeveloped South are just as significant for the burgeoning anti-corporate movement as the high-profile actions now occurring in the industrialised countries. However, the potential strength and effectiveness of the movement can be realised only if it is understood that globalisation is a development of the capitalist economic system, and if the movement is transformed into a revolutionary force.
The articles delve into the debate in the movement about "fair trade" and the possibility of reforming the institutions of globalisation, advocated by some on the left, particularly trade union leaders. The authors conclude that "fair trade" imposed by the rich countries would divide the world's working people further and that workers need instead to help fundamentally transform the world economic order, including abolishing the WTO, World Bank and IMF.