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Alternative to oppressive Capitalist Globalization is Possible
Now the relevant question that is posed before everybody – in
which path the trade union movement should advance in such
unprecedentedly critical international and national situation
when ferocious offensive is directed against the working people
of all sectors. Is there no way out from this situation which
seeks to ruin the toiling people and enrich only a very minor
section of the population? What the working people should do to
save themselves and the entire exploited sections of the people
from unemployment, depressing wage level, drastic cut in all
social security measures, hunger and impoverishment of the
overwhelming sections of the people? Is this spate of
privatization, closure, downsizing, retrenchment, extreme misery
coupled with reckless suppression of trade union movement and
trade union rights inevitable? Is the victory of international
finance capital and unbridled rule of the monopoly and
multinational capital irreversible? These are the questions
being asked by the harassed toiling people in the entire
capitalist world.
There is No Alternative (TINA) – that was the reply to
these life and death questions given by former Prime Minister of
Great Britain, Ms Margaret Thatcher about a decade ago when as
the supreme ruler of that country she privatized all public
sector industries, closed down the coal mines, cruelly
suppressed the British mine workers’ resistance, privatized
almost the entire British health services – a pride of the past,
cut down all social security measures of the government
employees and other sections of the working class and
drastically reduced government expenditure by cutting down the
number of government employees. According to her the measures
taken by her government were inevitable and have to be accepted
and so ‘there is no alternative’. Since then this notorious
phrase coined by Ms Thatcher has become the watchword of all
capitalist rulers of the world.
The economic and social policies that are being vigorously
pursued by these rulers, of course are immensely benefiting the
monopolists and the multinational companies along with a small
section of the intellectuals and privileged strata who have been
reduced to just hangers-on of the predatory and exploitative
capitalist ideology. But this same policy has reduced and
degraded the overwhelming majority of humanity not only to a
miserable but to a dehumanized condition. The global finance
capital now wants to turn the entire world into a zone for its
free play, for its own enrichment while reducing the 90% of the
population to a degraded State. So profit and more profit, money
and more money have become the mantras no matter what happens to
the common people. Sometimes people ask what is a capitalist
ideology? To explain it, no theory is necessary, in practice
capitalism in its present ferocious phase of globalization has
shown to the entire world what it is.
Contrary to the capitalist propaganda, definitely there is
alternative – the alternative economic and social system which
can save not only the toiling people but the entire humanity.
But in India the government at the Centre and most of the State
governments over the years have accepted the policy of
liberalization, privatization, casualization, home-based work,
retrenchment and import of foreign goods and wide entry of
multinationals which in one word called globalization – the only
policy available that each successive government is implementing
with competitive zeal. Presently, the government has announced,
as mentioned ‘hard economic decisions’ without bothering how
adversely it may affect the people. As already Stated, the
government is privatizing even the profit-making and very
efficient public sectors, selling their shares at surprisingly
cheaper rates to the local monopolies and foreign multinationals
and taking further decisions to close down many units,
drastically downsizing the public services. Government of India
is recklessly moving towards implementing all orders coming from
their masters World Bank-IMF and WTO and the imperialist
countries. What is the net result? According to official
statistics, nearly 50% of Indian people are below poverty line;
according to ILO report India possesses the largest number of
child labour; according to UNDP and World Development Report,
India possesses the largest share of illiterate people; world’s
largest number of blind persons because of malnutrition or
otherwise are Indians. And according to recent ILO estimate,
about one-third of the Indian people are unemployed or almost
unemployed – the grimmest of grim picture so far as joblessness
is concerned. Moreover, according to recent survey by United
Nations, India is one of the topmost countries riddled with
corruption. But at the same time according to various estimates
India has also a dozen of rich family who are counted among the
richest of people in the whole world and the total assets of the
Indian monopoly capitalists are ascending at a break-neck speed.
And as already stated, according to UNDP and World Development
Report and also the World Bank the biggest performance of
globalization is that during this period of globalization is the
gap between the rich and the poor that is rapidly increasing – a
small section is being more and more enriched while the
overwhelming majority is becoming poorer and poorer. In India’s
situation this contrast is more pronounced.
If we look at the issue of overall human development during this
period of globalization, say for India, access to education and
health are becoming more and more expensive to the common people
because of rapid privatization of education and health sectors.
Take for example the social and cultural sphere in India, it is
more and more being dominated by selfish and greedy capitalist
values of self-aggrandizement without bothering for the others.
The print media and electronic media are fully controlled by
imperialist and capitalist ideology of decadence and all
retrograde and reactionary cultural and social ethos. The media
untiringly launches a jehad against all progressive forces and
the trade unions or any other progressive institutions, naked
propagation of all sorts of crime, rape, use of women as
commodities for the market and all perverse and morbid values is
totally vitiating the mind of not only the younger generation,
but almost the entire population. Media provokes the worker to
be anti-trade union, preaches for a trade-union-free society, a
society without any resistance to exploitation and repression
and thus demoralise the entire working people. That is why they
preach in a calculated way all irrational and unscientific world
outlook to keep the people tied with traditional legacies. The
imperialists not only buy up the media, they buy up even a big
section of the intellectuals and academicians to obediently work
as their hatchet-men. And we are now living in such a society.
And today, the Government has brought the country to the brink
of ruin. During the last 10 years tens of thousands of workers
and employees have lost their jobs. Unemployment is reaching
astronomical figures. Those who are employed are losing their
permanent and regular character. Contract jobs with fixed pay
have become the order of the day. Now full attempts are going on
to deprive the employees from all earlier economic benefits.
Wage freeze is no more just a talk today. All attempts are being
made to implement it. Hundreds of factories are being shut down
throwing thousands of workers on the streets. Whatever new
industries are coming up are all high-tech ones and scanty
number of employees and higher grade staff and that too on
contract basis without any limitation of working hours. Actually
whatever the workers realized after May Day events in Chicago in
1886 – eight hours’ duty, regular work, security of jobs, social
security measures are now a vanishing phenomenon, thanks to the
philosophy of globalization It is now all for profits – be it
industrial product, be it education or medicare or water for the
farmers or road and bridges for the common people. Everything is
now based on profits. This is World Bank-IMF philosophy.
Moreover, this globalization has brought naked egoistic attitude
in its wake, which make people selfish and reckless consumerist.
Traditional and human qualities and values of life are being
pushed to the background and instead ego-centric lust for
perverted selfish enjoyment are being brought in the forefront.
Whatever is beautiful is given a go-bye and whatever is ugly and
rotting are being given indulgence to. This is the contribution
of globalization in human civilization. In fact our trade union
movement is direct victim of these egoistic, selfish and ugly
values of life in the age of globalization. It is a matter of
great pleasure and pride that when a number of intellectuals of
the country have abjectly surrendered to all imperialist and
decadent values, right from United States to India, at least
some have come out openly to raise their voice against this
imperialist rampage.
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