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10 Reasons why Globalisation is bad for Africa
by SK2
Friday, May. 16, 2003 at 8:55 PM
.....“free trade” is neither Free nor Fair. It leads to privitization of basic services which are then sold back to Africa at a profit.
1. Globalization represents a new kind of colonization in Africa.
The globalization of Market Forces has increased world inequities over and beyond any historical parallel. Globalization Is Predicated on “free trade”. Yet “free trade” is neither Free nor Fair. It leads to privitization of basic services which are then sold back to Africa at a profit.
Adding insult to injury, the Global "free market" economic model being pushed on African governments is not one the industrial countries used to develop themselves.
Globalization is not an African concept and will not benefit Africa.
2. Globalization Keeps Africa Locked In Poverty.
Globalization further plunges Africa into the prison of poverty. Africa has seen its share of the global wealth decline by more than 40% since the process of globalization took hold.
The New Partnership for Africa´s Development, (NEPAD) is just another instrument of economic globalization providing for continued, systematic transfer of African wealth to the western world.
· The 3 richest MEN in the world own more than the 600,000,000 poorest people – most of whom are African and female.
· The USA, Germany, Japan and other countries of the EU are richer than ever before, while the African continent is poorer than ever.
· Average household expenditure in Africa, here and now in the era of globalization, is 20 per cent less than what it was 25 years ago.
· The poorest 20% of the world's population now receives less than 1% of global wealth - and the gap is widening.
· The poorest 10% of the world's population now participates in less than 0.5% of world's trade.
3. Globalization Prioritizes Western Profits Above Human and Labour Rights.
The world trade organization, a main pillar of globalization, undermines labor and human rights ruling that it is: (1) illegal for a government to ban a product based on the way it is produced (i.e. with child labor); and (2) governments cannot take into account "non commercial values" such as human rights and the behavior of companies that do business with vicious dictatorships when making purchasing decisions.
4. Globalization Is Environmentally Disastrous.
If Africa “developed” and thereby came to match ‘first world consumption levels we would need eight planets to provide the resources needed! Globalization has contributed to the excessive use of natural resources, as it allows richer countries to consume other nations’ resources. For example a huge area - 56 million hectares - of forest was lost globally between 1990 and 1995. And at the rate we are using resources such as petrochemicals and metals, the resulting climate change, health impacts of pollution and habitat damage are already exceeding sustainable levels - and growing as consumption rates increase.
5. Globalization Undermines Local Development In Africa.
Comparative Evidence from African Countries shows that the globalization policies of the IMF and the World Bank have been disastrous. Failed development and economic programs such as structural adjustments programs (SAPs) imposed on African countries at the expense of local solutions continue to devastate the African continent and peoples.
6. Globalization Denies Africa the right to Health.
In Zambia 20% of the population is HIV positive yet the government, staying true to the globalization agenda, spends only $17 per person on health but $30 per person on service debt to the western financial institutions. Tanzania spends 9 times more on debt than health and 40% of the population dies before age 35
7. Globalization Is A Western Patriarchal Project Which Reinforces Western Patriarchal Exclusions.
Poverty increasingly has a female face as women bear the brunt of most of the negative impacts of the globalization process – for example African women are expected to meet needs no longer met by governments, such as medical care and food security while girls lose out on education when fees are imposed.
8. Globalization is Non-democratic.
The on-going globalization experiment bypasses the needs and will of the African peoples imposing instead a system of neo-colonial control. The rich countries write the rules. The rules are Privatize Everything and sell it to western corporations at a criminally cheap rate – then buy back your own goods and services at prices your average citizen cannot afford. This contradicts popular will across the African continent.
9. Globalization Breeds Conflict and Increased Social Divides In Africa.
Even as its proponents speak of increased prosperity and investment confidence, the process of globalization breeds violence and conflict when it continues to produce inequality, poverty, environmental destruction and unprecedented concentration of economic power for a few while the majority are marginalized and excluded. Africa is a victim of this sad phenomenon of globalization. The cumulative adverse effects of globalization on Africa require careful and deep analysis which go beyond the contemporary dominant ideology of the free market and the "blame the victim" syndrome.
10. Globalization Undermines Diversity and Vibrancy – Africa’s Great Gifts to the World.
The globalization process is eroding cultural diversity: The WTO TRIPs Agreement allows companies to expropriate knowledge from local peoples in African countries who, in many cases, have been cultivators, researchers and protectors of plants for thousands of years. The Agreement permits multinational companies to claim traditional plant varieties or plant uses as 'inventions' that must be respected the world over. In this and in so many other senses, globalization turns All Life Into Profit. Africa however, Has Much More To Offer.
Globalization-from-above is controlled by wealthy elites and driven by a hunger for more wealth and power. But there is another form of globalization made up of grassroots alliances of young people, activists, artists, trade unions, women's organizations, environmental coalitions and other non-governmentally organized peoples. This "globalization-from-below" does not get as much publicity as the elite form of globalization but it is growing just as rapidly, representing love and resisting injustice everywhere. Make your own commitment to a Brighter World! Sign the Peace And Justice Statement
“The absence of outrage is an outrage itself.” -- Thomas Lynch
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