Globalisation and the New World Order The following Editorial was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, May 5th, 1999. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian Subscription rates on request. ****************************** At a meeting last weekend dealing with the Bougainville independence struggle, a speaker made the profound comment that "Globalisation is colonialism by another name." The people of all countries around the world are confronted by the ceaseless talk of globalisation. The message is that globalisation is a good thing and that it is inevitable. While it is a fact that international trade, manufacture, finance, communications, travel, banking and many other aspects of life are becoming more integrated, this process will lead to a new form of world-wide slavery if it remains in the hands of the transnational corporations (TNC). It will lead to more and more poverty and oppression. Globalisation also spells TNC economic and political dictatorship and as most of the powerful TNCs have their home in the United States, it spells US domination. That is why the term -- the New World Order -- is code for US world domination. However, this domination will not be confined to the former colonial countries but to every single country in the world, including those with even large developed economies. It is on this background that the real reasons behind the bombing of Yugoslavia have to be assessed. Previously in "The Guardian" we have reported on the mineral riches of the Yugoslav province of Kosovo which the US is intent on severing from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The enormous din about Kosovo refugees, (and there are hundreds of thousands of Serbian refugees as well as those of ethnic Albanian origin), is obscuring the economic aspects which underlie every single international conflict, including the NATO aggression. It was no accident that the aggression against Yugoslavia was rammed through NATO at the insistence of the United States just at the time the European Union launched its own currency, the Euro. With the backing of the large European industrial countries, principally Germany and France, the Euro was set to become a serious rival to the US dollar. But the bombing of Yugoslavia has changed that prospect with the Euro declining in value against the dollar by 10 per cent since its launch four months ago. It has declined sharply since the bombing commenced. That's one up for the US dollar. Then there is the enormous damage being done to the economies of a number of European countries -- not only the economy of Yugoslavia. Hungary, Greece, Italy, Rumania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic -- all are suffering from the disruption of trade. Bombing bridges over the Danube undoubtedly makes life difficult for Yugoslavia but it also makes life difficult for many other European countries. But it does not hurt the economy of the US and only to a small degree the economy of Britain. Then there is the use of depleted uranium weapons. These will contaminate the soil of Yugoslavia as well as leaving many years of health problems. Perhaps the most polluted place will be Kosovo, especially if the US succeeds in promoting a ground invasion. It is remarkable that European governments are so unconcerned about the economies of their own countries, let alone their independence and sovereignty. Their economies have already become closely integrated if not taken over by the big US corporations. Their attempt to break free by launching the Euro as a competitive currency may see it playing second fiddle to the dollar if they don't make a stand against dollar dictatorship soon. The same can be said about the stand being taken by the Australian Government on the question of East Timor. Look for the economics of the situation. The Australian Government does not want to see an independent East Timor. It already has in place cozy economic relations and interests in the Timor sea which it shares with Indonesia not to mention investments in Indonesia proper, and who knows what investments big Indonesian companies have in Australia. There is, however, one statistic that suggests that the US's New World Order will not succeed -- the US's share in the total world economy is declining and American power will slowly decline with it. It is vital for the world that the drive of the US corporations should be defeated. That means stopping the bombing of Yugoslavia as a first step. The Guardian 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. 2010 Australia. Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Website: http://www.peg.apc.org/~guardian -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
