Neoliberalism and the destruction of the planet

Neoliberalism and the destruction of the planet
Since at least 20 years now we have been told that there are alternatives to neoliberal globalization and that, in fact, it is not necessary alternative to this. The "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, was one of those who said repeatedly this concept does not make sense to analyze and discuss the globalized neo-liberalism and liberalism, why are inevitable. Does not make sense to understand, so ... forward! Kill if you do not want to be killed!
Others argue that globalization - that is, an economic system that has developed in specific social and economic conditions - is nothing but a law of nature. As a result, "human nature" is supposedly reflected by the nature of the subjects of the economic system, that is selfish, greedy, cold and ruthless. This, we are told, it works to the benefit of everyone.
While a small minority collects enormous benefits from today's neoliberalism (none of which will of course), the vast majority of Earth's population suffers great difficulties and their survival is threatened.
Everywhere in the world the media fail to address this problem, with the most frequent excuse that can not be explained. [1] But the real reason of course is that corporations control the media.
What is neo-liberalism?
What program of political economy, neoliberalism began in Chile in 1973, when a coup took place organized by the U.S. against a socialist president-elect; then he established a bloody military dictatorship, known for its systematic torture
The predecessor of the neoliberal model is the economic liberalism of the 18th and 19th centuries and their notion of the "free market." At that time Goethe thought so, "the free market, piracy and war: an inseparable trio!" [2]
What's at the heart of both the old and the new liberalism:

- Personal interests and individualism;
- Separation of ethical principles by economic affairs, namely: a process of dislocation of the economy from society;
- Economic rationality as a pure cost-benefit calculation and profit maximization;
- Competition as a key driver for growth and progress;
- Exclusion of interference public (state) by market forces. [3]
The "economic freedom", as considered necessary, paradoxically, means only the freedom of the multinationals: the freedom from responsibility and commitment towards society.
The present day global economic interests outweigh not only extra-economic concerns but also national considerations, since multinationals are considered over both the community and the nation. [5] The interests of multinational corporations, or their maximum growth and progress, they total priority.
Instead of a democratic competition between total and many small businesses who enjoy the freedom of the market, only big corporations that win. In return, they create new market oligopolies and monopolies of unknown size before.
The anti-trust laws have lost their power since the transnational corporations lay down the rules. Are multinational corporations and not "the market" that determine the rules of the trade, such as prices and regulations.
This occurs outside of any political control.
The alleged correlation between economic growth and secure employment is false. When economic growth is accompanied by mergers of businesses, jobs are lost. [13]
The multinationals are setting up in the South (or East) to use cheap labor force - particularly women - and without inscriptions unions.
The recent shift of business opportunities from consumer goods to armaments is a particularly worrying development. [17]
These are the results of the so-called Third Industrial Revolution, ie the development of new technologies of communication and information.
The combination of the principles of "high tech" and "low-wage" / "no wage" (always denied by enthusiasts of progress) guarantees a "comparative cost advantage" in foreign trade.
This will likely lead to "Chinese wages" in the West. A potential loss of Western consumers is not seen as a threat. A multinational economy does not care whether consumers are European, Chinese or Indians.
Most of the people have less and less access to the means of production and therefore increases the dependence on scarce and underpaid labor.
The destruction of state subsidies also destroys the notion that individuals can refer to the community because this will take care of color in times of need.
Our existence is based solely on private services, or expensive, which are often of poorer quality and less reliable than public ones (it is a myth that the private always exceed the public).
The old claim that develops in a north south has been proven wrong. It is the north that grows more and more in a south. We are witnessing the last form of "development", ie a world system of underdevelopment. [22]
Last but not least, women are forced into prostitution, one of the largest global industries of the present. [26]
This illustrates two things:
- A) how little the emancipation of women actually leads to the "equality" with men
- B) capitalist development does not mean "freedom" in wage relations, such as "left" has claimed for years. [27]
Hundreds of millions of semi-slaves exist nowadays in the "world-system" as never before. [28] The gap between rich and poor has never been so wide. The middle class is disappearing: this is the situation we face.
It is obvious that neoliberalism does not mark the end of colonialism, but rather the colonization of North America. This new "colonization of the world" [29] shows the beginning of the "modern world system" in the long 16th century, when the conquest of the Americas, their exploitation and colonial transformation allowed the rise and development of Europe. [30 ]
Where there is no South, no North; where there is no periphery, there is no center; where there is no settlement, there is not - under any circumstances-civilization "Western". [31]
Everything on earth nowadays becomes a "commodity", ie everything becomes subject to "exchange and commercialization." The goal is to transform everything and everyone in the "goods", including life itself. [35]
People believe in the market as if it were a god, and this seems to give the sense that nothing can happen without it. The sole purpose of economic activity has become the total accumulation of money / capital, globally maximized, as a well-being abstract.
One thing, however, is not generally considered: the well-being abstract created for accumulation implies the destruction of nature as well-rounded fitness.
The result is a "hole in the ground" and a landfill near them with the goods you consume, obsolete machinery and money without value. [37]
Diversity is suffocated to and millions of people are thinking about how to survive them. And let's face it: how can we survive without resources or means of production, no money?
The nihilism of our economic system is evident all over the world will be transformed into money and then disappear. After all, the money can not be eaten.
The notion that capitalism and democracy are one thing has proven to be a myth of neoliberalism and its monetary totalitarianism. [40]
Neoliberalism and war are two sides of the same coin. [44]
National states are developing "peripheral states" according to the inferior role they play in the New World Order. [51] Democracy seems obsolete. After all, "prevents the business". [52]
The "New World Order" implies a new division of labor is not that no longer distinguishes between north and south, east and west: everywhere is south. No one is permitted to interfere. Ironically, we are waiting to rely on them to find a solution to the crisis in which we are.
This puts at risk all over the planet because the responsibility is something that corporations do not have or know. The times of social contracts are over. [55] In fact, all the critics will soon be described as "terror" and will be pursued as such. [56]
In the '80s, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher introduced neoliberalism nell'Anglo America. In 1989, he formulated the so-called "Washington Consensus", who claimed to lead to global freedom, prosperity, and economic growth through "deregulation, liberalization and privatization."
Today we know that the promise was made ​​only for corporations, not for everyone.
Mel Middle East, the Western support for Saddam Hussein in the war between Iraq and Iran in the 80s and in the Gulf War of the early 90s, he announced the permanent presence of the U.S. in the most contested oil region of the world.
In continental Europe, neoliberalism began with the crisis in Yugoslavia, caused by the Structural Adjustment Programmes: Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) of the World Bank and IMF. (International Monetary Fund). The country was heavily exploited, fell to pieces, and then was besieged by a civil war on its last remaining resources. [58]
From the time of NATO War in 1999, the Balkans are fragmented, occupied and geopolitically under neoliberal control. [59] The reconstruction of the Balkans is exclusively in the hands of Western corporations. All governments, whether left, right, liberal or green, accept it.
There is an analysis of the connection between the policies of neo-liberalism, its history, its background and its effects in Europe and other parts of the world. Similarly there is an analysis of its connection with the new militarism.
NOTES
[1] Maria Mies and Claudia von Werlhof (Hg), Lizenz zum plündern. Multilateral Abkommen über das Investitionen EVER. Globalisierung der Konzernherrschaft - und was wir tun können dagegen, Hamburg, EVA, 2003 (1998), p. 23, 36.
[2] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust: Part Two, New York, Oxford University Press, 1999.
[3] Maria Mies, Krieg ohne Grenzen. Die neue Welt der Kolonisierung, Köln, PapyRossa, 2005, p. 34.
[5] Saskia Sassen, "Wohin führt Globalisierung die?" Machtbeben, 2000, Stuttgart-München, DVA.
[13] Maria Mies and Claudia von Werlhof (Hg), Lizenz zum plündern. Multilateral Abkommen über das Investitionen EVER. Globalisierung der Konzernherrschaft - und was wir tun können dagegen, Hamburg, EVA, 2003 (1998), p. 7.
[17] Michel Chossudovsky, War and Globalization. The Truth Behind September 11th, Oro, Ontario, Global Outlook, 2003.
[22] Andre Gunder Frank, Die Entwicklung der Unterentwicklung, in Sanders. ua, Kritik des bürgerlichen Antiimperialismus, Berlin, Wagenbach, 1969.
[26] Ana Isla, "Women and Biodiversity as Capital Accumulation: An Eco-Feminist View," Socialist Bulletin, Vol 69, Winter, 2003, p. 21-34; Ana Isla, The Tragedy of the Enclosures: An Eco-Feminist Perspective on Selling Oxygen and Prostitution in Costa Rica, Man, Brock University, Sociology Department, St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada, 2005.
[27] Immanuel Wallerstein, Aufstieg und des künftiger Niedergang kapitalistischen Weltsystems in Senghaas, Dieter: Kapitalistische Weltökonomie. Kontroversen über ihren Ursprung und ihre Entwicklungsdynamik, Frankfurt, Suhrkamp, 1979.
[28] Kevin Bales, Die neue Sklaverei, München, Kunstmann, 2001.
[29] Maria Mies, Krieg ohne Grenzen, Die neue Welt der Kolonisierung, Köln, PapyRossa, 2005.
[30] Immanuel Wallerstein, Aufstieg und des künftiger Niedergang kapitalistischen Weltsystems in Senghaas, Dieter: Kapitalistische Weltökonomie. Kontroversen über ihren Ursprung und ihre Entwicklungsdynamik, Frankfurt, Suhrkamp, 1979; Andre Gunder Frank, Orientierung im Weltsystem, von der Neuen Welt zum Reich der Mitte, Wien, Promedia, 2005; Maria Mies, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale, Women in the International Division of Labour, London, Zed Books, 1986.
[31] Claudia von Werlhof, "Questions to Ramona," in Corinne Kumar (Ed.), Asking, We Walk. The South as New Political Imaginary, Vol 2, Bangalore, Streelekha, 2007, p. 214-268.
[35] Immanuel Wallerstein, Aufstieg und des künftiger Niedergang kapitalistischen Weltsystems in Senghaas, Dieter: Kapitalistische Weltökonomie. Kontroversen über ihren Ursprung und ihre Entwicklungsdynamik, Frankfurt, Suhrkamp, 1979.
[37] Johan Galtung, Eurotopia, Die Zukunft eines Kontinents, Wien, Promedia, 1993.
[40] Renate Genth, Die Bedrohung of Democracy durch die Politik der Ökonomisierung, feature für den Rundfunk am Saarländischen 4.3., 2006.
[44] Altvater, Chossudovsky, Roy, Serfati, Globalisierung und Krieg im Sand Getriebe 17 Internationaler deutschsprachiger Rundbrief der ATTAC - Bewegung, Sonderausgabe zu den Anti-Kriegs-Demonstrationen am 15.2., 2003; Maria Mies, Krieg ohne Grenzen, Die neue Welt der Kolonisierung, Köln, PapyRossa, 2005.
[51] Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 2001; Noam Chomsky, Hybris. Die endgültige Sicherstellung globalen der-der Vormachtstellung USA, Hamburg-Wien, Europaverlag, 2003.
[52] Claudia von Werlhof, Speed ​​Kills!, In Dimmel / Schmee, 2005, p. 284-292.
[55] Claudia von Werlhof, MAInopoly: Aus Spiel wird Ernst, in Mies / Werlhof, 2003, p. 148-192.
[56] Michel Chossudovsky, America's "War on Terrorism," Montreal, Global Research, 2005.
[58] Michel Chossudovsky, Global Brutal. Entfesselte welthandel der, die Armut, der Krieg, Frankfurt, Zweitausendeins, 2002.
[59] Wolfgang Richter, Elmar Schmähling, and Eckart Spoo (Hg), Die Wahrheit über den Krieg gegen NATO-Yugoslavia, Schkeuditz, Schkeuditzer Buchverlag, 2000; Wolfgang Richter, Elmar Schmähling, and Eckart Spoo (Hg), Die deutsche Verantwortung für den Krieg gegen NATO-Yugoslavia, Schkeuditz, Schkeuditzer Buchverlag, 2000.
Author: Prof. Claudia von Werlhof / Original Source: globalresearch.ca