-Caveat Lector- Corporate rule Democracy is in hock to an idea of economic and technical progress that ignores people's true concerns Special report: globalisation Zac Goldsmith Wednesday April 18, 2001 The Guardian On the big issues of the day, three virtually identical political parties will be competing at the forthcoming general election. There are, of course, differences between them. But we live in an age of dangerous consensus, in which every mainstream party supports the same model of deregulated corporate economics that renders their differences virtually irrelevant. All, for instance, regard attracting "foreign direct investment" as a prime economic goal, and it is through flirting with big business that they hope to achieve it. Yet just 100 companies control more than a third of all such investments, with the result that we are experiencing a global "race to the bottom" - a lowering of every conceivable standard in an international contest for corporate affections. What we are seeing, in fact, is the hijacking of democracy by business - and one result is the death of choice for us all. Such globalisation centralises power in the hands of vast multinational companies which increasingly dominate politics. It is this system which homogenises cultures and places, kills off local businesses, leads to increased traffic and pollution as its goods are transported across the world, destroys local democracy, and ravages the environment. Yet nowhere in the electoral debates will we see discussion or even acknowledgement of the biggest problems that confront us today. The future of the environment, for example, will merit barely a whisper. Climate change, pollution, the cancer epidemic, the centralisation of economic power by fewer and fewer corporations, the death of the high street: these are issues that confront ordinary people every day, yet politicians rarely mention them. Why? Probably because to do so would necessitate an examination of the root causes - the global economic system that all parties unquestioningly support. Last weekend the Guardian released some of the results of a sweeping opinion poll commissioned by the Ecologist magazine. Combined, the results are astonishing, and will shock our political leaders. A striking pattern emerged. For one only had to wonder how each of the main political parties would respond to the questions asked to understand how very wide has the gulf between politicians and the public become. The people have spotted this - and they are way ahead of the politicians. Most people (87%), for instance, would like to see measures applied which would protect small producers from corporate predators - a practice that is currently illegal under the rules of the World Trade Organisation, which all three parties endorse. A huge majority of respondents (89%) would prefer to buy British food if it were available - which is at odds with the political consensus that increased international trade is our nation's primary objective. Almost half of all respondents (49%) believe advances in science and technology will harm more than they will benefit society - a view at odds with the government's massive investment in biotechnology and obsession with technological "progress". On other issues, too, the public want action taken that no major party seems prepared to deliver. For instance, 77% believe there is a clear link between the devastating floods last year and climate change. To that end, 61% believe our money should be spent on alternatives to roads, and 72% believe the rail networks should be renationalised. Yet this, too, fails to match up to the policies of either Labour or the Conservatives, the former having pledged to invest less into renewable energies than it recently invested into a single giant incinerator. Asked if the government should spend more on researching organic agriculture than it spends on biotechnology, 66% agreed. Only 7% felt biotechnology should receive more. As things stand today, organic food research is allocated a mere 2% of the total budget, while biotechnology receives 30%. Furthermore, nearly half (45%) of those questioned want a complete ban on the import, testing and sale of all genetically modified products. What is also clear from these results is the astonishing lack of trust with which people view their leaders. More than half (54%) would like to see an end to the corporate purchase of our political system. Still more (72%) do not believe the government when it assures the public that something is safe. And 73% would like to remove big decision-making from government altogether, with the use of national referendums. This is not the picture of a people satisfied with the manner in which their taxes are being spent and their futures dictated, but rather a public with a healthy scepticism towards politicians, corporations and even the current definition of "progress". Rather, it is a picture of a public that cares a lot about issues that don't even appear on the radar screens of most politicians - and a public that wants something done about them. • Zac Goldsmith is editor of the Ecologist magazine www.theecologist.org Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,474432,00.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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