[stop-imf] Globalization, War & the Environment****

[Robert Weissman]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
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From: Orin Langelle <langelle@sover.net>

CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION, WAR AND THE ENVIRONMENT: IT'S ALL ONE STRUGGLE by
Global Justice Ecology Project http://www.globaljusticeecology.org


The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund-the financiers for the
Empire-have impoverished millions and caused massive environmental
devastation. Their Structural Adjustment Programs force the world's
poorest countries to slash social services and open their borders to
privatization and exploitative foreign investment.  The World Bank also
promotes free trade and funds mega-development projects. All of this is
designed to subsidize giant corporations-enabling them to continue their
feeding frenzy on the world's remaining wild places and traditional
indigenous lands.  The U.S. dominates the World Bank.

The U.S. is headquarters to the world's most massive corporations. With 6%
of the Earth's population, it consumes 25% of the world's resources
including one-quarter of the world's oil.  It simultaneously emits 25% of
the world's greenhouse gases.  The U.S. military budget is
massive-equivalent to the budgets of the next 25 countries combined.  This
U.S. is utterly dependent on an unimpeded supply of oil.  In 1980,
President Jimmy Carter pronounced the Carter Doctrine, which states that
the U.S. will use whatever means are necessary to ensure the continued
supply of oil. National security depends on oil.  A Pentagon study adds to
this by stating, "National Security depends on successful engagement in
the global economy." Indeed, the U.S. economy cannot function without oil,
the over-consumption of which is causing global climatic change, which
threatens the survival of many plant and animal species.

Expansion of the global economy requires "unlimited growth"-a never-ending
increase in the transformation of so-called "resources" into capital.
What does this mean to the Earth?  A World Wildlife Fund report found that
one-third of the Earth's natural wealth was lost from 1970 to 1995.  The
Smithsonian estimates that the Earth loses over 300 species per day due to
habitat destruction. Likewise, native peoples are being driven into
extinction.   Corporate globalization, with its mandate to put profit
first, above both planet and people, has pushed the life support systems
of the Earth to the brink of collapse. This ecological crisis makes it
increasingly obvious that an economic system based on the accumulation of
wealth and unlimited growth is incompatible with our finite planet.  The
transformation of virgin forests, pristine rivers, etc. into "resources"
is simply not sustainable.

The world's violent conflicts revolve around resources: fossil fuels,
fresh water, timber, and minerals.  As these resources diminish, conflicts
over these dwindling reserves escalate.  Most of the world's remaining
caches of resources are in the Global South: concentrated largely in the
equatorial regions of Africa and Latin America. A World Bank study found
that countries that export oil are over 40 times more likely to be engaged
in war than countries that do not produce oil.
Corporate globalization (Global Neoliberal Capitalism) is a form of
economic coercion designed to wrest control of natural resources away from
resident populations (mainly poor indigenous peoples and people of color
primarily in the Global South).  This economic coercion is likewise used
to transform even human beings into expendable resources.

Communities that attempt to resist this economic violence are met with
military violence at the hands of paramilitaries, police and armies. These
forms of violence are two sides of the same corporate globalization coin.

This spring we have a momentous and historic opportunity to confront the
beast in whose belly we live.

In April, the World Bank plans to celebrate its 60th year of destroying
communities and annihilating ecosystems.

We will be there to spoil their party.

The environmental movement, the global justice movement and the anti-war
movement will come together in Washington DC April 21-25 to confront the
Bankers for the Empire-the funding the wholesale destruction of the earth.

The time is now.  2004 is pivotal.  The Presidential elections in the U.S.
combined with the flagrant Empire-driven behavior of the Bush
Administration have resulted in an American public more aware and
receptive to our message than we have seen in a very long time.
We must be loud and we must be strong. Life on earth depends on it.

April Mobilization Updates:

http://globaljusticeecology.org/
http://globalizethis.org/
http://www.50years.org/

##########

Global Justice Ecology Project
P.O. Box  412
Hinesburg, VT  05461
(802) 482-2689 ph/fax

http://www.globaljusticeecology.org

"Some say that being against globalization is like being against the law
of gravity...then, down with gravity!"...Subcomandante Marcos
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[ Converted text/html to text/plain ]
------ Forwarded Message
From: rob@essential.org <rob@essential.org>
Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 17:56:25 -0400
To: <stop-imf@lists.essential.org>
Subject: Globalization, War & the Environment****
From: Orin Langelle <langelle@sover.net>
CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION, WAR AND THE ENVIRONMENT: IT'S ALL ONE STRUGGLE
by Global Justice Ecology Project http://www.globaljusticeecology.org
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund-the financiers for the
Empire-have impoverished millions and caused massive environmental
devastation. Their Structural Adjustment Programs force the world's poorest
countries to slash social services and open their borders to privatization and
exploitative foreign investment.  The World Bank also promotes free trade and
funds mega-development projects. All of this is designed to subsidize giant
corporations-enabling them to continue their feeding frenzy on the world's
remaining wild places and traditional indigenous lands.  The U.S. dominates
the World Bank.
The U.S. is headquarters to the world's most massive corporations. With 6% of
the Earth's population, it consumes 25% of the world's resources including
one-quarter of the world's oil.  It simultaneously emits 25% of the world's
greenhouse gases.  The U.S. military budget is massive-equivalent to the
budgets of the next 25 countries combined.  This U.S. is utterly dependent on
an unimpeded supply of oil.  In 1980, President Jimmy Carter pronounced the
Carter Doctrine, which states that the U.S. will use whatever means are
necessary to ensure the continued supply of oil. National security depends on
oil.  A Pentagon study adds to this by stating, "National Security depends on
successful engagement in the global economy." Indeed, the U.S. economy cannot
function without oil, the over-consumption of which is causing global climatic
change, which threatens the survival of many plant and animal species.
Expansion of the global economy requires "unlimited growth"-a never-ending
increase in the transformation of so-called "resources" into capital.  What
does this mean to the Earth?  A World Wildlife Fund report found that
one-third of the Earth's natural wealth was lost from 1970 to 1995.  The
Smithsonian estimates that the Earth loses over 300 species per day due to
habitat destruction. Likewise, native peoples are being driven into
extinction.   Corporate globalization, with its mandate to put profit first,
above both planet and people, has pushed the life support systems of the Earth
to the brink of collapse. This ecological crisis makes it increasingly obvious
that an economic system based on the accumulation of wealth and unlimited
growth is incompatible with our finite planet.  The transformation of virgin
forests, pristine rivers, etc. into "resources" is simply not sustainable.
The world's violent conflicts revolve around resources: fossil fuels, fresh
water, timber, and minerals.  As these resources diminish, conflicts over
these dwindling reserves escalate.  Most of the world's remaining caches of
resources are in the Global South: concentrated largely in the equatorial
regions of Africa and Latin America. A World Bank study found that countries
that export oil are over 40 times more likely to be engaged in war than
countries that do not produce oil.
Corporate globalization (Global Neoliberal Capitalism) is a form of economic
coercion designed to wrest control of natural resources away from resident
populations (mainly poor indigenous peoples and people of color primarily in
the Global South).  This economic coercion is likewise used to transform even
human beings into expendable resources.
Communities that attempt to resist this economic violence are met with
military violence at the hands of paramilitaries, police and armies. These
forms of violence are two sides of the same corporate globalization coin.
This spring we have a momentous and historic opportunity to confront the beast
in whose belly we live.
In April, the World Bank plans to celebrate its 60th year of destroying
communities and annihilating ecosystems.
We will be there to spoil their party.
The environmental movement, the global justice movement and the anti-war
movement will come together in Washington DC April 21-25 to confront the
Bankers for the Empire-the funding the wholesale destruction of the earth.
The time is now.  2004 is pivotal.  The Presidential elections in the U.S.
combined with the flagrant Empire-driven behavior of the Bush Administration
have resulted in an American public more aware and receptive to our message
than we have seen in a very long time.
We must be loud and we must be strong. Life on earth depends on it.
April Mobilization Updates:
http://globaljusticeecology.org/
http://globalizethis.org/
http://www.50years.org/
##########
Global Justice Ecology Project
P.O. Box  412
Hinesburg, VT  05461
(802) 482-2689 ph/fax
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org
"Some say that being against globalization is like being against the law of
gravity...then, down with gravity!"...Subcomandante Marcos
------ End of Forwarded Message
------ End of Forwarded Message

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