globalization

voir aussi sur le site de Ritimo "Questionner la mondialisation"

DEPELCHIN Jacques

The routes and possibilities of a South - South subversive globalization: Africa and Brazil

> Pambazuka News

Jacques Depelchin reflects on the growing economic, political and cultural relationship between Brazil and the Africa and urges for a solidarity from below that is cognizant of black revolutionary history. Almost everyone knows about Brazilian football, especially Pelé; but, it is a fair bet that a very tiny percentage of the same people will know about one of the foremost intellectuals of Brazil in the 20th century: Milton Santos (MS), winner in 1994 of the Vautrin Lud prize given to the (...) read

date of on-line publication : 19 December 2007

WTO talks on resumption of Doha talks

> Third World Network

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twn (...)

Members of the World Trade Organization appear to be in favour of resuming the Doha negotiations, suspended by WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy (and endorsed by the Trade Negotiations Committee) in July, and subsequently "taken note of" by the General Council.
At a Lamy-convened ’Green Room’ meeting Friday evening, while delegations generally favoured resumption, opinion was divided whether it should be restarted formally or informally.
Some key countries advised caution, and suggested that there should be informal consultations and discussions on whether there was flexibility in the positions of key members. Others, including several of the chairs of committees, appeared to favour formal resumption of negotiations.  read

date of on-line publication : 21 November 2006

Annual World Bank and IMF Meetings Close Under Heavy Criticism

> International Financial Institutions Under Fire with Regard to Developing Country Voting Rights and Civil Society Repression

http://www.liberationafrique.org/spi (...)

As the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings closed under heavy fire, both from within and from civil society activists, Africa Action today condemned the undemocratic nature and harmful policies of these institutions. The organization underscored that the countries most affected by World Bank and IMF policies, particularly the debt-burdened countries of Africa, must have a greater say within the international financial institutions.
This week, the IMF re-organized the system of voting rights, increasing the voting power of China, Mexico, South Korea and Turkey, and the World Bank indicated that it would also be willing to consider a similar shift. But Africa Action notes that while developing country finance ministers and civil society from around the world have pushed for a more representative voting structure, these latest minor changes still leave power disproportionately concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest nations.
Ann-Louise Colgan, Acting Co-Executive Director of Africa Action, said today, "The World Bank and IMF persist in ignoring the priorities of the developing world, and African countries continue to pay the price. The decisions made by these institutions have long-lasting effects on African countries, and yet there is little opportunity to hold them accountable. As a result, Africa’s illegitimate debt burden remains at overwhelming levels, and the World Bank and IMF continue to impose unfair conditions on Africa’s economies."  read

date of on-line publication : 13 October 2006

DIEYE Cheikh Tidiane Dièye

The hopes and illusions of world trade liberalisation for women in Africa

> Pambazuka News

http://www.awid.org/eng/Issues-and-A (...)

Africa has faced ten years of unfettered liberalisation that, argues Cheikh Tidiane Dièye, has left the continent on its knees. Women, more than any other group, suffer the weight of the constraints of poverty largely brought about by the world trade system. It is women that must play a crucial role in winning the struggle for a better trading system.
Even though over the last twenty years many African nations have adopted sometimes draconian economic reforms, the benefits of trade liberalisation that were promised have not materialised. On the other hand, developed nations have enjoyed 70% of the wealth generated by trade liberalisation. In some respects, world trade regulations, defined for the most part by industrialised countries during the Uruguay Round agreements between 1986 and 1994, have only increased Africa’s economic problems.
Before an “ambiguous consensus”1 was reached at Doha, which was at the heart of the launch of the round of multilateral negotiations that tool place at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the “battle of Seattle” or “Seattle showdown”2 revealed to the world the growing dissatisfaction of developing countries with regard to the WTO, whose way of working did not appear to respond to their profound desire for economic progress and development.  read

date of on-line publication : 22 September 2006

Trade talks deadlock brings new hope for the poorest and the environment

OMC - Cycle de Doha

> Libération Afrique, juillet 2006

http://www.liberationafrique.org/spi (...)

Campaigners from Friends of the Earth International today welcomed the collapse of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)’s trade negotiations. This means that there is now time to review and reconsider the multilateral trading system in its entirety. This will be welcome news to millions of people around the world who feared that a WTO deal would have further impoverished the world’s poorest people and caused irreparable damage to the environment. Developing countries, including India, also fear that a WTO deal would cause immense harm to millions of small and subsistence farmers.  read

date of on-line publication : 26 July 2006

STIGLITZ Joseph

Whatever is the IMF to do about the US?

STIGLITZ Joseph

> The US’ staggering trade deficit and continued borrowing threaten to undermine the relevance of the IMF

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit (...)

The IMF’s meeting this spring was lauded as a breakthrough, with officials given a new mandate for "surveillance" of the trade imbalances that contribute significantly to global instability. The new mission is crucially important, both for the health of the global economy and the IMF’s own legitimacy. But is the fund up to the job? There is obviously something peculiar about a global financial system in which the richest country in the world, the US, borrows more than US$2 billion a day from poorer countries — even as it lectures them on principles of good governance and fiscal responsibility. So the stakes for the IMF, which is charged with ensuring global financial stability, are high: If other countries eventually lose confidence in an increasingly indebted US, the potential disturbances in the world’s financial markets would be massive.  read

date of on-line publication : 20 June 2006

ABDUL-RAHEEM Tajudeen

An African Perspective on Globalization

> Pan African Movement

http://www.panafricanmovement.org/Gl (...)

Africa and Europe have had a continuous contact of more than 400 years. It has been a relationship of domination, exploitation and oppression. Whatever happens in Europe tends to have ripple effects in Africa. Therefore any idea that has become fashionable in Europe trickles down into intellectual and political discussions/battles in Africa.  read

date of on-line publication : 20 June 2006