Responses to six questions with commentary and analysis

Anti-capitalist & Anti-War Groups

On Anti-Capitalism

Globalise Resistance is an anti-capitalist group that aims to "increase the involvement of trade unions and to increase collaboration between different strands of the movement, including environmentalists, NGOs, progressive faith groups and the other campaigning organizations" (Globalise Resistance, 2007, par. 2). Moreover, they are against neoliberal policies and imperialist wars and believe that the solutions to these problems are mass mobilization and direct action (ibid).

Let me begin with a brief analysis of this organization. Clearly, the goal of the organization is to fight the conduits of the evils of capitalism which are the supranational institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, as well as private institutions which, they believe, continue to accumulate economic wealth at the expense of the laboring and lower class population (ibid).

The vision and mission of this organization has Marxist undertones. And these goals, I believe, can be seen in some other anti-capitalist organizations. An interesting point to pursue would be the question of, "What sets it apart from other organization of the same nature?" At face analysis, I think this organization recognizes the structural problems that arise out of capitalism and in return only a structure-stemmed solution can go against such issues. Globalise Resistance believes that only through the collaboration of the many social institutions and organizations from the many different sectors of the society can we be able to fight the terrors of capitalism -- this is why calls to the labor sector, environmentalists, faith groups, and other campaigning organizations are evident (ibid).

As a type of social movement, Globalise Resistance acknowledges that mass mobilization is the only key to this fight against capitalism. Again, the Marxist concept of the awakened consciousness of the proletariat is echoed in this call.

I believe that through the discussion of the Globalise Resistance, we now have a glimpse of capitalism. I think that it is fitting to provide a more focused account of capitalism and the newest trend in the evolution of economy, which is unprecedented global capitalism.

Karl Marx, one of the first who theorized on the domain of economy, argued that capitalism, as a mode of production, allows for the accumulation of wealth of the dominant class which further results to marginalization and oppression of the working class (Marx cited in George Mason University Website, 2009). In this system, the means of production and distribution are controlled by a small portion of people while the majority needs to sell their labor power in return of receiving salary or wage. The profit being created through the labor of the proletariats are being accumulated by the capitalists. Hence, an exploitation of the working class by the capitalists can be inferred (World Socialist Movement, 2006).

Because of the different stages and events that took place in shaping our economy, the world has now arrived at a particular evolution of the capitalist economic set-up -- which is global capitalism.

The crisis of the global economy, which at this point most of us are well aware of, has shaken the world. One of the many problems stemming out from this problematic economic set-up is global poverty. This crisis also has immense impact on world politics and public discontent (faxed material 1, par. 3). Global capitalism was believed to be strengthened via the creation of Bretton Woods, where institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade were created amidst the protests at the World Trade Organization (faxed material, par. 7).

I believe that global capitalism (specifically, the ramifications of this kind of economic set-up) was not that unprecedented because as early as 1990s, massive calls against the activities and objectives of these supranational institutions have already been voiced out (ibid, par. 9).

Controversies surrounding the economic order

This new world economic order, dictated by the global capitalism, is seen to be controversial because of the calls of numerous anti-capitalist groups and organizations that we know, hear, and read about right now, and as cited above, have significantly emerged since the 1990s.

But why is our present economic order controversial? Author of faxed material 1 (date) states, "some developing and middle income countries have also been asserting that the global economy is unfair, and run mainly to serve the interests of the Western states (and their societies)" (par. 10). This is one of the many core issues of what is termed as the globalization debate, where questions like "who gets what?" Or "who benefits from this set-up?" become emerging themes. This challenge mainly started from countries that are currently experiencing growth in their economies such as India and China. But in fact, all they want is to gain stronger clout in supranational institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

Anti-capitalist groups and organizations have since voiced the problems associated with the measures and structural themes by which these supranational institutions work. Firstly, the principle of global capitalism is neoliberal in nature. This is made evident by deregulation policies, privatization of government companies (which mostly provide the basic needs of citizens such as electricity, water, and oil), and the liberalization of trade which removes the restriction of trade (faxed material 1, par. 21). A more detailed discussion of neoliberalism will be provided at the later part of this discussion. In the mean time, I would like to put focus first on the Bretton Woods institutions and policies because as we have seen, it is central to the understanding of the economic order. Note that Bretton Woods gave way to the creation of the three supranational institutions, of which the clout to these institutions is up for contention among the world's powerful nations.

The Root of the controversies: Bretton Woods

The creation the Bretton Woods is a result of the many historical events in our economy. At this point, allow me to walk you through it. Capitalism, as an economic set-up, took off during the period commonly known as Industrial Revolution, where technological breakthroughs led to massive investment of the capital. This was also the time where capitalism was linked to mass production (faxed material 2, par. 6). This change in the dynamics of production led to the rise of the new industrial capitalist. Moving along the economic timelines, we shall find that in 1800s, the rise of free trade became evident. The prices of trade goods were simply dictated by the dynamics of supply and demand while forms of government intervention were discouraged (ibid, pars. 7-10). And then came the Great Depression which first signaled the interconnectedness of the global economy. This period was characterized by decline in industrial production, financial downturns, and other consequent events (ibid, par. 14). After the World War, the economic order was reconstructed to prevent the Great Depression from happening again. This resulted to the creation of a "stable global monetary system and an open world trading system" (ibid, par. 17). We have already mentioned the three institutions that were created during this period: the IMF, WB, and GATT. The Bretton Woods system of economic institution made sure that the movement of the capital among countries will be smooth, and this can be particularly achieved via the stable exchange rate system, availability of short-term loans, and rules governing the open trade economy (ibid, par. 19).

The shifting of goals

Originally the functions of the three institutions are as follows, the IMF - to ensure that the exchange rate system is stable; the World Bank -- to monitor private investment and to assist in the development of other countries; and the GATT -- to serve as a forum for negotiations and talks about free trade or the mutual trade liberalization (faxed material 2, pars. 22-24).

However, by the 1980s, the roles of these institutions are no longer in parallel with the original objectives. As a matter of fact, the World Bank, which was originally an institution that was established to aid the developing nations, have transformed into an avenue by which developing nations become even more downtrodden. This is because the World Bank has been making conditional loans to the countries in need of funds. Secondly, the IMF has failed to fulfill its central function in the international monetary system. Moreover, it is believed to have lubricated the neoliberal agenda during the debt crisis of the 1980s by ensuring that the countries in debt have structural adjustment programs at work. Structural adjustment programs aim at reducing government intervention in liberalization, privatization, and deregulation policies of the neoliberal agenda. Moreover, it worked in reducing inflation and government expenditures. Lastly, the GATT, like the IMF, failed to fulfill its primary function of enforcing trade rules. The World Trade Organization, as a result, was created. WTO played a major part in the realization and materialization of free trade neoliberal agenda. It was even successful in the permeation of free trade rules to areas such as agriculture (faxed material, 3, par 42).