Nation Topics - Globalization | The Nation

Looks at the impact of a lawsuit in which the Unocal oil company was charged with human rights abuses in Burma. View that lawsuits against companies accusing human rights abuses have become significant barriers to profitability; Discussion of action taken against multinational corporations that are complicit in political violence in protection of their business interests; Impact of the Unocal case in the establishment of legal liability in U.S. courts for a corporation's violations of human rights; Changes made to corporate conduct in overseas operations due to legal liability for corrupt practices.

As protests against corporate globalization resume following the trauma of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it may be helpful to reflect again on the role of nonviolence in the global justice movement. Some activists believe that nonviolent methods are too weak, that more militant forms of disruption are needed to bring about social change. They are right to emphasize the importance of disruption. During the civil rights movement and other historical campaigns for justice, disruptive tactics were crucial to political effectiveness. The belief that nonviolence is meek or ineffective reflects a misunderstanding of the rich tradition of nonviolent resistance.

This article presents and analysis regarding viability of globalizations. The challenge for the future will be to push alternative agendas through this crack in the consensus. Central to these efforts is the belief that trade and investment should not be ends in themselves but tools for promoting ideals such as equality, democracy, good jobs, a clean environment and healthy communities. Citizens in several countries have expressed their resistance to corporate-driven globalization in the voting booth. One consumer strategy has been to reward corporations employing "good" business practices by allowing such firms to identify their products with a label.

Colonialism is making a comeback. For centuries, governments and corporations of industrial nations, backed by military power, exploited resources and markets of poorer countries. Now the former colonial powers are in the process of regaining the right of transnational companies to dominate economies of their former colonies, this time through trade agreements. For developing nations, new rules have profound implications. Many countries have adopted policies that favor the growth of local companies. Some give them tax breaks and preference in government contracts and indigenous banks are offered protections not available to foreign ones. Governments justify such policies in the name of national development.

A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. workers had joined in a Campaign for Justice with 1,800 U.A.W. members on strike here against the Caterpillar company and 1,250 other union workers striking the Bridgestone-Firestone plant, turning this town into a self-proclaimed War Zone of the new global economy. At the campaign's height, one out of four Decatur families had at least one member engaged in a labor conflict with one of these multinational corporations. Last May, the Bridgestone Rubber Workers gave up 700 union jobs and went back to work without a contract.

The article presents information on workers fight against multinationals in the U.S. The author reveals that in May 1995, religious, labor, consumer and other groups in the U.S. that make up the Child Labor Coalition launched a consumer boycott of Bangladesh clothing exports after investigations revealed widespread child labor in the industry. The threat of a boycott convinced the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association to sign an agreement with United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and the International Labor Organization to move some 25,000 children out of the clothing industry and into schools.

Focuses on activities of two organizations the German Marshall Fund (GMF) and the National Humanities Center (NHC), organizations for securing research information vital to global corporate operations and for identifying potentially dangerous oppositional activities. Approach used by these agencies in serving corporate interests through cultural and political discourse; Criticism of GMF for rejecting a proposal by California Rural Legal Assistance Agency, a legal assistance service for a study of social effects of industrialized agriculture; Technique used by NHC to propagate nuclear energy as an alternative energy in the U.S.; Program approved by German trade unions for more worker participation in management, more economic planning and public investment.

Focuses on the monopolistic structure of the solar energy industry in the U.S. Developments in the industry; Operations of multinational corporations; Investigation of anomalies, questionable management practices and misrepresentation of contractual obligations within the industry; Prospects for the commercialization of solar power satellites; Issues on obtaining patent rights for solar devices and processes; Problems relating to competition within the industry.

Examines key controversies surrounding state taxation of petroleum and multinational oil companies in the U.S. Introduction of a bill prohibiting the states from taxing any of the dividends a multinational corporation received from its foreign subsidiaries; Existing taxation policies; Effects of the economic conditions; Emphasis on the case of Mobil Oil Corp. and its tax transactions with the government; Overview of the average state and local income tax rate.

Focuses on economic and political conditions in Zimbabwe in 1979. Policies adopted by the U.S. administration under the leadership of U.S. President Jimmy Carter towards Zimbabwe; Scope and growth of multinational companies in the country; Benefits attained by a country through foreign investments.