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April 16-20, 2001 - Global Policy Forum - Email 'Listserv' News
GPF List-Serv
April 16-20, 2001Greetings from Global Policy Forum!
Laurels for Larry
On March 11, Harvard University named economist Larry Summers as its new president. Summers had just stepped down as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury after nearly a decade in high positions in Washington. His elevation to the Harvard post caused considerable shock among those in the NGO community who had followed his career.
At GPF, we recalled the famous Summers memorandum on the environment. In it, Summers wrote that polluting industries could cost-effectively move to poor countries, since people's lives there are worth less than the lives of those in rich countries. Written while he was Chief Economist at the World Bank, the memo was leaked to the Economist magazine, which published it under the headline "Let them Eat Pollution" on February 8, 1992. Summers had written: "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage countries is impeccable and we should face up to that . . . I've always thought that the under-populated countries of Africa are vastly under-polluted."
An international outcry followed. The Brazilian environment minister, Jose Lutzenburger, called the memo "social ruthlessness" and "arrogant ignorance." Summers defended himself by arguing that his words were meant ironically. But in fact the memo was classic Summers - similar in outlook to many of his policy papers and other public writings.
Far from harming his career, the memo appears to have won him a tough-as-nails cachet in Washington economic policy circles. Though the Brazilian environment minister soon lost his job for speaking out against so powerful a person, Summers rose steadily from one high post to another. At all times he insisted on harsh medicine for faltering economies in Africa, Asia and Latin America, driving tens of millions of people into unemployment and poverty through neo-liberal "adjustment" packages.
The Russian loan scandals at the International Monetary Fund provide an interesting view of Summers' standards of probity. While he held top posts at the Treasury Department, Summers pressed the IMF to make loans to Moscow, in spite of well-known abuse and even outright theft of funds by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his circle of advisors and cronies. Summers apparently held the view that peccadilloes amounting to a few billion should be overlooked in the interest of backing Yeltsin's radical free-market reforms.
In the summer of 1998, with the Russian economy on the verge of collapse, Summers pressed the IMF for still more loans. On July 17, the New York Times ran a feature story on Summers' pressure tactics. Finally, on July 20, the IMF consented and dispatched a payment of $4.8 billion to Moscow. Predictably, Yeltsin and his circle scooped up the funds for their own purposes -bailing out before the collapse. They sent the funds overnight into personal accounts in New York and London. The loan, supposedly to stabilize the Russian economy, spent less than 24 hours in Russia before returning to venues such as the Bank of New York.
Summers has an especially troubling record on issues of free speech and free inquiry. In the fall of 1999 he forced World Bank President James Wolfensohn to dismiss the Bank's Chief Economist, Joseph Stiglitz. Stiglitz, a highly-respected scholar, had drawn Summers' ire because he had written papers criticizing neo-liberalism, presenting a negative assessment of IMF policies, and even referring to the problem of democratic accountability. Not inclined to tolerate dissenters, Summers is said to have told Wolfensohn bluntly that if he didn't dismiss Stiglitz, he would not be reappointed as World Bank president.
In the spring of 2000, Summers showed his penchant for censorship once again. Unhappy at a major report by the World Bank on the causes and cures of poverty, he demanded changes, insisting that the report reflect orthodox belief that economic growth is the main way to reduce poverty. The draft report had been written over a period of many months by an expert team under the direction of Cornell University scholar Ravi Kanbur and it had incorporated ideas from hundreds of professors and NGOs. During meetings in late May, Kanbur was shocked to learn that changes had been ordered by the US Treasury. On May 23, after the second such meeting, Kanbur left the Bank and never returned, submitting his resignation two days later. When the Bank finally announced the news on June 14, many scholars and NGOs registered their protests. A New York Times article of June 25 discussed the matter in considerable detail.
Summers won the Harvard presidency over many outstanding candidates. We predict that the mercurial economist will have an exceedingly short tenure in Cambridge, where the faculty have many means to torpedo a dictatorial president and students have already stepped up their "living wage" protest movement. If Summers stays on, perhaps Harvard should change its ancient motto -- from "Veritas" (truth) to "Pecunia" (money).
Security Council Jottings
The UN panel on the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo issued its report to the Security Council on April 12. The document accuses Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi of systematically exploiting Congo's resources through their occupying armed forces. The report mentions coltan, diamonds, copper, cobalt and gold, as well as other resources like coffee and timber. The report recommends among other things international prosecution of individuals, companies and government officials involved in the resource-plunder.
Of course, the three countries named have denied the accusations, arguing the report is based on "gossip" and saying the panel was biased. The strongest sponsor of the report in the Council appears to be the French. Earlier, Paris was annoyed by the Council's reports on diamond-smuggling that spotlighted the misdeeds of officials in French-speaking Africa. The French insisted that those reports were not solidly-based. This time, the French are the enthusiasts and British-linked African officials are in the dock. So the UK has expressed its doubts and has called for more serious research. But those who have been following the crisis in the DRC know the report is fundamentally sound. Uganda's opposition party has called for an investigation of Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and urges the international community to take note of the report's recommendations.
In Sierra Leone, the UN peacekeeping force is now stronger and the RUF rebels more isolated. A senior RUF commander said "We are not defeated but we can't take power, and therefore the people will suffer if the war continues. We are now ready to struggle politically, not militarily. The RUF of yesterday, branded with all sorts of names, is not the RUF of today." RUF has apologized for having taken 500 UN peacekeepers hostage last year. The deployment of peacekeepers in rebel-held diamond areas goes ahead quietly. RUF leaders announced they have even created a "peace commission." It remains to be seen whether the government of Freetown will go along with the proposals and whether troops in the field will respect a peace agreement.
Secretary General Kofi Annan released his report to the Security Council on the situation in Angola on April 11. The sanctions are working, he said, but UNITA still has the capacity to conduct guerrilla attacks, and continues to smuggle diamonds to fuel the war. The Secretary General calls for the extension of the UN mission in Angola. The Security Council unanimously extended the mandate of the Monitoring Mechanism on Angola Sanctions until next October. Simultaneously, the Council plans to hire, for the first time, a private investigative company from the US to help enforce the sanctions in Angola. The US company, Kroll, will trace the arms, oil and diamond trade fueling the civil war.
To the discomfort of Yugoslavia's new leaders, a Belgrade court has issued arrest warrants against Western leaders for war crimes. The list of indicted leaders includes Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder, Jacques Chirac and Javier Solana, for their responsibility in the NATO bombing. Judged in abstentia, the verdict might be reversed by the Supreme Court. Some of the leaders have already launched an appeal against the charges.
Social and Economic Policy
The Summit of the Americas in Quebec City assembled hemispheric leaders to start discussing the proposed "Free Trade Area of the Americas". A "wall of shame" -- as press reports have described it -- was built by the Canadian government to keep protesters away. Three miles of chain link fence and concrete abutments are supposed to compensate for the meetings' lack of legitimacy among the general public.
The Bush administration's decision to abandon the Kyoto treaty is still causing shock around the world, especially among US allies in Europe. The United States produces about 25 % of all greenhouse emissions, so its participation is critical to any long-term approach to climate change. Bush has stated that curbing emissions is "not in the United States' economic best interest" so no one expects a change-of-heart in Washington any time soon. The Europeans are firmly committed to proceeding with the Kyoto process, though, even if the US refuses to join. They reason that a beginning must be made, lest the crisis get completely out of hand. They hope that big US multinational corporations can be persuaded to adopt more stringent standards worldwide and that corporate influence can eventually change policy in Washington.
An all-party committee drawn from members of the UK House of Commons has launched a campaign urging Coca-Cola's customers around the world to persuade the company to back the Kyoto protocol. The MPs are targeting Coca-Cola because the company gave nearly $1million to George Bush's campaign for the presidency last year. Also, an international conference of environmentalists has called for a worldwide boycott of United States oil companies. Australian Green Party Senator Bob Brown, said President Bush had chosen the welfare of oil companies over that of coming generations. He said a boycott would put pressure on the US to support Kyoto.
Major pharmaceutical companies, including Merck and Pfizer, have withdrawn their court case against South Africa over the patent rights of AIDS drugs. The drug companies argued that their patent rights were being violated by South African imports of cheaper generic drugs. The companies withdrew their case after moral pressure from AIDS lobby groups and the international community. Pretoria argued that under WTO rules, the AIDS crisis could be defined as an emergency and thus exempt AIDS drugs from Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips). The Guardian writes that this case will "go down in history alongside Shell's embarrassment by Brent Spar as one of the great corporate PR disasters of all time."
Now the new links for this week…..
