Transcripts
"Your Money or Your Life!"*
by Andrea Cavina, Geneva
* By Eric Toussaint, president of CADTM*, Paperback - 352 pages (December 2002), Pluto Press
ONE of the recurrent accusations against the anti-globalisation movement is based on our supposed sentimentalist and unscientific approach to the problems of Global economics. The gurus of the neo- liberalism revel in the image of masses of marching pasionarias lacking all sorts of realistic contact with the dynamics and necessities of the market. On the one hand this portrayal of the ‘Movement’ has its own flattering aspect, as no one will ever accuse us of having a hidden agenda directed towards stuffing our pockets. On the other, this is now far from reality as the movement has shown its ability to face political and financial experts on their home grounds. The World Social Fora of Porto Alegre and the upcoming European Social Forum, despite the efforts of the corporate media to portray these events as little more than folkloristic gatherings of vocal youths, are key moments in the reflection on and analysis of global issues, where social and economic alternatives are put forth. No more the realm of isolated economists ignored by orthodox academia, alternative interpretation of current economic issues are finally finding their way to a wider audience. Theoretical data is being combined with a wealth of information coming from the countries where the World Bank and the IMF have operated their disasters. In addition, if research is paramount in the creation of knowledge, divulgation is now a much direr need faced with the pervading power of the mainstream media.
Eric’s book helps to bridge this gap. Bordering between research and divulgation, Toussaint uses simple yet accurate statistical tools to dissect North-South financial relations. He starts with a recent history of liberalisation in which he analyses the main trends of the last 20 years. He describes the implementation of harsher neo-liberal doctrines and quantifies the effects this has had on international trade and development. As is to be expected, the core of the book focuses on Third World debt and over several chapters he eviscerates the many aspects this crisis presents: its historical origin, the role that the World Bank, the IMF and ‘Structural adjustment programs’ have played and what enormous significance the crisis has for the finances of indebted countries. While the public sector stays the focus of the book, the role of corporate power is not ignored. So for instance we learn that “debt repayments from South to North dwarf aid payments in the other direction” but we also get the private sector equivalent. We discover for example that: “foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa in 1995 was just half the level of outward profit repatriation by multinationals”. In the last chapters Toussaint goes further in-depth: a few countries (Argentina, Mexico, Algeria and Rwanda) are chosen as case studies and used to demonstrate the failure of the models of development sponsored by the IMF/World Bank.
Finally, one of the bonuses of the book is its extensive system of appendices. Here one can quickly look up the occasional obscure term or acronym in the book and read a full history of the disastrous career of the World Bank in understandable economic terminology. There is also a large bibliography on the various subjects covered in the book.
This is the third edition of the book, which first appeared in 1998 and has now been updated to include recent development in global issues.
Andrea works with CADTM* in Geneva
(*Committee for Cancellation of 3rd World Debt)
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