[governance] Clinton Admits: "Free" Trade is Harmful to 3rd

Tue Apr 6 16:57:54 EDT 2010

Dear David,

I think it is not a matter of countries, but of what governments do as
actors of a complex global governance system, in which the real power is
concentrated in the hands of the multinational companies and the globalized
elites on both sides of development, which are the real beneficiaries of
globalisation policies -not the common people from both
developing/underdeveloped or developed world-.

 I live in a developing country, so I can corroborate the studies I have
mention in a previous mail with my own living experience, and what I have
the chance to see all around me in my loved country and region.

Comming back to IG, which is the core issue of this list, I think that if we
as global civil society want to build "the global public good of wellbeing
for all" in particular through the impact of ICTs policies, we must think on
that problem and work not to let it happen in the IG field -I am talking
about concentration, political or govermental decisions that affect the
global wellbeing, etc.

For example, I am worry about the last European Union document on Internet
that put the European Union citizens and companies interests as the main
thing to protect. I wonder if this is not the same as what happens with
immigrants, I mean, if Internet is seen as a space for nationalities
defense, we are in deep trouble because it will become a new arena for the
same conficts.

I hope it is clear, as English is not my first language.

With all my respect and best intentions,
Roxana

2010/4/5 David Goldstein <goldstein_david at yahoo.com.au>

>  There is also plenty of evidence of the benefits of globalisation to both
> the developed and developing world. Unfortunately many developed world
> countries have protectionist policies that mean it's far from fair for those
> in the developing world.
>
> Countries, especially America, bang on about free trade and develop free
> trade agreements that do little for anyone but the developing world. America
> even devises FTAs that are detrimental to partner countries in the
> developing world!
>
> So it's not just the developing world that suffers from globalisation, but
> it is the richer and richest countries that devise policies to maximise
> their advantages to them, and introduce policies to protect inefficient
> farmers. And hence the poorest countries suffer the most.
>
> David
>
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* Roxana Goldstein <goldstein.roxana at gmail.com>
> *To:* governance at lists.cpsr.org; Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>
> *Sent:* Tue, 6 April, 2010 9:54:35 AM
>
> *Subject:* Re: [governance] Clinton Admits: "Free" Trade is Harmful to 3rd
>
> Dear Milton,
>
> I come from a developing country -Argentina-, and from a region full of
> underdeveloped sectors -Latin America-.
>
> There are many studies -economical, political, sociological, cultural,
> etc-, carried out by the most prominent international organisations and
> institutions such as ECLAC, IADB, etc. which affirm and conclude and advice
> on the catastrofic impacts that market liberalisation  policies have had in
> the region. Meaning this that perhaps liberalisation is not bad in itself,
> but that the policies that have been pushed in the region -under the
> globalisation process-, have produced very bad impacts specially on human
> development.
>
> I know that this is off topic for the list, so I suggest that I can send
> you many documents that support what I am saying here to your private mail,
> if you wish.
>
> Best regards,
> Roxana
>
>
>
>
>
> 2010/4/4 Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>
>
>> Gurstein:
>> Clinton didn't "admit" that free trade was bad for "3rd world countries"
>> he stated that it was bad for Haitian rice farmers. Which it may well have
>> been - some of them are not competitive. Farmers have been moved "off the
>> land" in every developing economy; typically that's part of the development
>> process.
>>
>> Always missing from the free trade critics perspective is the harms done
>> to the 70-80% of the population who pay more for rice because of the trade
>> protectionism. So, how much more should all those poor people be forced to
>> pay for food so that the economy can conform to romantic notions of yeoman
>> farmers and self-sufficiency?
>>
>> While the emotional impact of this article trades on the Haiti earthquake
>> disaster, I have trouble understanding how total dependence on local sources
>> of food production protects you against a local earthquake. I guess people
>> will use anything to milk such things to support their favored political
>> agenda.
>>
>> The idea that a small island economy such as Haiti can be
>> "self-sufficient" in _anything_ is worth treating critically, if your target
>> is developed country standards of living. It reminds me of the crappy
>> nonsense American politicians like to say about making us "self-sufficient
>> in oil." This plays well in any election even though everyone knows that
>> it's utter nonsense and will never happen. How about maintaining good
>> relations with other countries and paying fair prices for things, instead of
>> seeking an artificial "national" self-sufficiency?
>>
>> Or maybe we should make the state of New York self-sufficient in oil,
>> food, etc. and stop trading with the rest of the world. That'll do our
>> economy a world of good.
>>
>> To add icing to the cake, ARIN's Curran agrees with a protectionist trade
>> policy - which would be disastrous if taken very far - because it suits his
>> very short term and narrow agenda of justifying ARIN's centralized control
>> of internet resources. Talk about a tail wagging a dog....
>>
>> --MM
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: John Curran [mailto:jcurran at arin.net]
>> > Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 1:02 PM
>> > To: michael gurstein
>> > Cc: governance at lists.cpsr.org
>> > Subject: Re: [governance] Clinton Admits: "Free" Trade is Harmful to 3rd
>> >
>> > Interesting article... There are indeed times when a more "efficient"
>> > distribution of resources via a free market doesn't actually create
>> > a more desirable outcome.  Economic models can be good in theory, but
>> > also need to be tempered in implementation with consideration of the
>> > potential impacts in the real world (and particularly with respect to
>> > discontiguous events).
>> >
>> > /John
>> >
>> >
>> > On Apr 2, 2010, at 11:57 AM, michael gurstein wrote:
>> >
>> > > This isn't directly about Internet Governance but rather about overall
>> > > issues underlying "Global Governance" of which Internet Governance is
>> > IMHO a
>> > > subset hence I think that the below might be of some interest:
>> > >
>> > > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
>> > dyn/content/article/2010/03/20/AR2010032001
>> > > 329_pf.html
>> > >
>> > > Former US president admits trade policies were "a mistake"
>> > >
>> > > During testimony before a US Senate committee three weeks ago, Clinton
>> > > admitted that requiring Haiti to lower its tariffs on rice imports
>> > made it
>> > > impossible for Haitian farmers to compete. The trade policy forced
>> > farmers
>> > > off the land and undercut Haiti's ability to feed itself.
>> > >
>> > > "It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has
>> > not
>> > > worked. It was a mistake," Clinton - now a UN special envoy to Haiti -
>> > told
>> > > the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 10. "I had to live
>> > > everyday with the consequences of the loss of capacity to produce a
>> > rice
>> > > crop in Haiti to feed those people because of what I did; nobody
>> > else."
>> > >
>> > > Clinton´s apology attracted scant media attention in the US and none
>> > in
>> > > Canada. It was included as part of an Associated Press news agency
>> > report
>> > > that was published by the Washington Post on March 20. The AP report
>> > from
>> > > Haiti´s earthquake-ravaged capital, Port au Prince, suggests world
>> > leaders
>> > > are reconsidering trade and aid policies that make poor countries
>> > dependent
>> > > on rich ones. It quotes UN aid official John Holmes as saying that
>> > poor
>> > > countries, like Haiti, need to become more self-sufficient by
>> > rebuilding
>> > > their own food production. "A combination of food aid, but also cheap
>> > > imports have...resulted in a lack of investment in Haitian farming,
>> > and that
>> > > has to be reversed," Holmes told AP. "That's a global phenomenon, but
>> > > Haiti´s a prime example. I think this is where we should start."
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>
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