Rethinking Education in Challenging Times

Issue No. 3, Vol. No. 2

Rs. 45

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ucate!

Education & Development

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A Quarterly on

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An Interview with

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Ashfaq Ahmed

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REMEMBERING
Said’s importance lies finally and mainly in the range and power
of the questions he has raised, rather than in his own answers
to those questions. He therefore almost invites us to refer back
to the closing lines of Beginnings, written almost three decades
ago:
“In the course of studying for and writing this book, I have
opened, I think, possibilities for myself (and hopefully for
others) of further problematics to be explored...These are studies
to which I hope our moral will shall be equal – if in part this
beginning has fulfilled its purpose.”
Edward Said’s death removes hope that he could fully pursue
the many possibilities that his work opens up; but whoever now
does pursue them, the honour of the beginning, of the first
discoveries and of the moral example, will be his.

Stephen Howe
Edward Said abhorred fans, schools of thought, disciples. He
had little patience with the younger generations who merely
followed and copied their masters. He made fun of grant
theories and the armies of theoreticians fighting over the
details…If at this point he were to demand something of us he who demanded nothing more than he demanded of himself
- he would insist that we look forward, that we fight for what
is just in the world using our own autonomous capacities, loving
life on earth and not wasting our time with metaphysical
inanities, knowing that in history, with human capacity itself
and nothing else, the improbable becomes probable, the
impossible becomes possible.

Stathis Gourgouris

www.edwardsaid.org

EDWARD SAID
1935-2003

“Remember the solidarity
shown to Palestine here and
everywhere... and remember
also that there is a cause to
which many people have
committed themselves,
difficulties and terrible
obstacles notwithstanding.
Why? Because it is a just
cause, a noble ideal, a moral
quest for equality and human
rights.”
“I urge everyone to join in
and not leave the field of
values, definitions, and
cultures uncontested. They are
certainly not the property of
a few Washington officials,
any more than they are the
responsibility of a few Middle
Eastern rulers. There is a
common field of human
undertaking being created and
recreated, and no amount of
imperial bluster can ever
conceal or negate that fact.”


Rs. 45

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Rethinking Education

ucate!

Education & Development

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A Quarterly on

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DR. SHAHID SIDDIQUI

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An Interview with

Commodification of Education

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Ashfaq Ahmed

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Commercialism 101:
An Introduction to the Corporatization of Education

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TRACY THOMPSON KHAN

Cover Story
Rethinking Development

But Can’t Technology
Solve the Problems?

35

TED TRAINER

when

CORPORATIONS
rule
the world
is there a way out then?
EDITED & COMPILED
BY MASHHOOD RIZVI & AMBREENA AHMED

Page 8

Critical Educators

Education Incorporated?

43

HENRY GIROUX

Rethinking Media & Technology

Noam Chomsky:
Perspectives on Corporate Power
& Communications Technology

39

ANNA COUEY AND JOSHUA KARLINER

Societal Learning

U R on!

Books for a Better World
Bringing the Food Economy Home

26

How ‘They’ Run the World

27

Societal Learning
An Interview for EDucate!

ASHFAQ AHMED
By Aziz Kabani & Somaiya Ayoob

Page 21

Websites for a Better World
www.corpwatch.org

Holding Corporations Accountable

28

EDucate!

Regular Features

OPEN LETTERS

MISSION STATEMENT

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This pioneering magazine has been created to challenge ethically,
morally and intellectually the inequalities in the existing
paradigms of education and development in order to liberate
people’s thoughts and actions.
CHAIRPERSON

Prof. Anita Ghulam Ali

EDITOR’S NOTE

7

EDITOR–IN–CHIEF

Mashhood Rizvi
EDITOR

Ambreena Ahmed

WAKEUP CALLS
INSPIRATIONS & REFLECTIONS

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Aziz Kabani

20

CONTRIBUTORS

Dr. Shahid Siddiqui, Tracy Thompson Khan,
Ted Trainer, Henry Giroux, Anna Couey
and Joshua Karliner

VOICE OF THE VOICELESS

47

EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE

Shakeel Ahmed, Umme Salma
PROOF READING

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OPEN

letters

INSPIRATION FOR EDUCATORS

EXAMININIG EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS

EDucate! has always been a great source of
inspiration for me as I, myself, am related to the
field of educating children. I just wanted to draw
your attention to the content and language used in
the magazine. I find it a bit difficult for the people
around me to understand. It would be a great effort
on your part if your team can simplify the language
so that it can be read and understood by a wider
audience. I wish you the very best of luck .
Nudrat Shahab Chaudry, Lahore

The sixth issue of EDucate! examines very significant
e d u c a t i o n a l p r o b l e m s i n a s t i m u l a t i n g w a y.
Robert Arnove, emeritus professor, Sociology of
Education, School of Education, Indiana University,
Bloomington, USA

INSIGHTFUL PERSPECTIVES
The issue of EDucate! is in your usual tradition of
providing us with insights which are either not
available or have been censored out. I confess that
if I make any insightful remark or show any
awareness of what is going on in the world of
education then EDucate! has a lot to do with it.
Keep it up!
Dr. Tariq Rahman, Quaid-e-Azam University,
Islamabad

VALUABLE SERVICE TO PEOPLE
EDucate! provides an enormously valuable service to
the people of Pakistan. The growth of civil society
needs encouragement and visibility. EDucate! is a
part of that important effort. I particularly appreciate
the Voice of the Voiceless section. The Tariq
Rahman interview is excellent.
David Barsamian, “ace interviewer”, Director,
Alternative Radio/Boulder, Colorado, USA

I

have a few comments about your magazine.
Although, I think it’s a very good effort
and there needs to be a magazine about
education, I feel that the magazine focuses too
heavily on theory and the politics of education.
It does not do enough to highlight the actual
scene in Pakistan.
Teachers in Pakistan would benefit from seeing
examples of good teaching practices being put
to use in our country’s school rooms. I would
like to see more articles about teachers and
educators in Pakistan, as opposed to articles by
foreign educators and intellectuals which, in
themselves though are interesting, don’t have
as much relevance to our local scene. I also

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COMMENDATIONS
Once again an excellent issue. Keep up the excellent
and important work EDucate! is doing!
Dave Hill, Professor of Education Policy, University
College Northampton, UK
The issue looks excellent. All best wishes in these
dark times.
Joshua Cohen, Professor of Political Science, MIT,
USA
The latest issue of Educate! looks very good.
Prof. Michael Apple, USA
It is excellent.
Robert McChesney, Institute of Communications
Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
USA
Congratulations on the new issue. These are indeed
difficult times.
David C. Korten, author of the famous “When
Corporations Rule the World” & “The Post Corporate
World”

CRITIQUE
from a Reader

find them hard to read and understand and I
think most teachers and educators in Pakistan
would appreciate simpler, more newsy type
articles in an easier to read format.
The magazine is fine as an example of the
latest theories and research work that’s being
conducted in the West, but I think there is so
much jargon involved that it doesn’t make for
easy reading. I’d like to see many more articles

about the state of Pakistani education,
interviews with educators and teachers in
Pakistan, windows on innovative educational
programs in both urban and rural areas and
write-ups from teachers themselves about their
ideas, experiences and concerns from the
Montessori to the university level.
The magazine also needs more photography and
artwork to make it visually pleasing.
Finally, I do feel that the magazine has a
definite political agenda which leans towards
the socialist side. Is this really desirable in a

I

think she feels that the magazine is about
education in Pakistan alone. I see it as a
magazine about educational theory. Why this
is important is because there is no publication
of a theoretical nature in Pakistan in this field.
There are several on schools and what happens
there. Teachers themselves find little time to
write and this kind of work is done by
academics in universities because they have
more time, more money and more autonomy.
What you could do is to encourage at least
one article on the educational scene in the
country but do not bring down your high
standards in the name of putting in more
people who are actually teaching. If they come
up to your standards they are welcome, of
course. But if they do not, they should be sure
that what they are doing (actual teaching
children) is possibly even more important than
research. That they are not published does not
mean that they are inferior teachers. The
bottom line is DO NOT lower the standard of
the magazine and provide us with knowledge
of what is going on in the theory of education.
Maybe you can put in some articles by right
wing theoreticians also but do not dilute the
quality.

Tariq Rahman
I see her point about there being too many
articles that feel distanced from the Pakistani
context. I think one way to respond is to try
to build in the links to Pakistan issues and
realities, with each article that raises new ideas;
explicitly connect it to Pakistani concerns and
maybe include some questions/exercises for
people to discuss and work on, so that it feels

OPEN L E T T E R S

publication which is ostensibly about education?
I think the magazine would be better served
and would have a wider appeal if politics were
left out of the content for the most part. The
message of what you are promoting is not
crystal clear – is it education and teaching, or
is it socialist ideas in the world of education?
This is an important distinction to make and
I think your vision needs some redefining in
that way.
I hope you find this useful.
Bina Shah.

REFLECTIONS
on the Critique

more interactive and tied to them. However,
it sounds like she has a fundamentally different
idea for what EDucate! should be about. I
think she wants it to be like a teacher training
or school reform magazine, which gives best
practices and tells about new experiments in
schools; something light to inform and inspire
teachers.
Yet, I think EDucate! is aspiring to something
quite different, that is, to challenge teachers,
parents, policymakers, practitioners, etc. to think
quite differently about education and
development. It is serious and thoughtprovoking, and it wants us to ask questions
about our assumptions and beliefs. It is not
‘socialist’, as she suggests. That would be mislabeling of its purpose and ideological stance.
Rather, it is expressly bringing out the political
and economic context of education, which is
all around us, yet rarely discussed explicitly.
That context is vital for getting us out of the
trap of looking at education as something only
in a school or only with teachers and
administrators. It broadens and deepens our
understanding about learning and living, both
today and for the future.
But I agree that EDucate! needs to make more
links to practice, so that these ideas
feel grounded in context for people. For
example, the issue on media had some good

5

essays to spark thoughts and ideas. But what
would have enhanced it is adding some
stories/examples/exercises on how to take this
critical media awareness and bring it out in
your family or organization or school or
neighborhood, or some questions to get people
imagining and creating new practices.
Hope this helps in your process of evaluation...

Shilpa Jain
As far as Bina Shah’s critique goes, I agree
with the idea that it would behoove Pakistani
readers to address topics of local import in
more quantity and detail.
As for her idea that the magazine should rid
itself of its socialist bent, I strongly disagree.
A person’s ideology is the driving force behind
his opinions about the goals, methods, and
structures of education. If the purpose of the
magazine is, as it appears to be, to present an
ethical, progressive view of education, then
that’s what it should do.

Tracy Thompson Khan
I have read Bina Shah’s comments on your
magazine and found them interesting. I agree
with some of her comments but not others. I
do think that some contributions from teachers,
practitioners and even students themselves
a b o u t t h e i r ex p e r i e n c e s w o u l d p r o v i d e
interesting insights into what is really happening
in our schools and colleges. These could be
analyzed by researchers for their own study. I
also agree with the relevance issue to some
extent because analyses of Pakistan’s educational
system would throw light on what it is that
we are teaching our children and what is it
that we are doing to them. However, for
comparison purposes some matter from
neighboring countries would help place
education in a regional perspective and provide
cross-cultural insights. However, I do not agree
with Bina’s comments as regards theory and
politics of education. I think there is a severe
dearth of educational theorizing in Pakistan and
we desperately need to provide the discipline
with a theoretical basis and insight which are
critical. There is no neutral social science and
there is always a vantage point from which one
examines social phenomena. If EDucate! has a

6

socialist leaning there is absolutely nothing
wrong with that and this may even add to its
credibility and standing. Most magazines fail to
take any position and end up by default being
liberal. I appreciate EDucate! for its socialist
position. I also appreciate the fact that it is
printing articles and papers by famous critical
theorists of education such as Henry Giroux
and Michael Apple as their contributions to
the field are highly valuable for understanding
the project of education as a political project.
In my view all knowledge is political and
cannot be separated from the social relations
of society. It does not exist ‘out there’.
Therefore, I don’t agree with Bina’s comments
that education and politics are two mutually
exclusive domains – on the contrary, education
is a political project through and through. It
has been traditionally a conservative discipline
b y i t s v e r y n a t u r e t o t r a n s m i t ex i s t i n g
knowledge to children, but it can be
transformative and critical if educators so desire.
So, congratulations upon bringing out a
magazine that has a clear political and
ideological stand and is critical in its approach.
There is no other magazine that shares these
qualities. Most educational magazines end up
being mere experience sharing, superficial and
devoid of any thought provoking ideas. So keep
up the good work and yes, if possible, do add
critical stuff on Pakistani educational systems.
I support this effort totally and find it very
helpful to have such a magazine available. I
will be using it for a paper that I am writing
on Pakistan's state of education and will cite
it as the only example of critical theorizing in
Pakistan.

Rubina Saigol
We welcome your comments, critique
and suggestions.
Fax: 92-21-9251652
E-mail: educate@sef.org.pk
Mail: Plot 9, Block 7, Kehkashan, Clifton
5, Karachi – 75600, Pakistan
Include your full name, address, e-mail, and
daytime phone number. We may edit letters
for brevity and clarity, and use them in all
print and electronic media.

Editor’s
Note
C

orporations! What are they? Who runs them? Why do corporations exist? What are the
impacts of corporatization on the world’s people and resources? What is the corporategovernment connection? Have corporations improved our lives and strengthened our
societies OR will we be better off without them? Is there an alternative to corporate power and
greed?
This issue of EDucate! aims to discuss that how the modern corporation has come to dominate
practically every aspect of modern society, including the state, the educational system, the media,
and the family. Our everyday lives have become increasingly “colonized,” we argue, by a managerial
ethos that is fundamentally at odds with our core democratic principles. While modern corporations
offer opportunity and financial well-being, their unmediated, distorted growth has considerable
ecological and human costs.
To examine how corporations work and what are the implications of the corporate stranglehold
on the developing countries especially in economic and social terms, we have designed our
magazine’s content around the themes of ‘corporatization’ and ‘corporatization of education’. We
believe that it is absolutely essential to be exposed to David C. Korten’s work if anybody wants
to understand how the corporations function and have evolved into controlling and oppressive
societal systems. The coverstory presents the crux of his work (or perhaps not because it’s truly
difficult to summarize the extent and depth of his powerful analysis) on corporations and viable
alternatives to corporate hegemony. Even though Korten’s work has been featured time and again
in EDucate! – an elaborate introduction is also included.
We also proudly present an interview with Ashfaq Ahmed, a great person and writer who needs
no introduction. All those familiar with Urdu literature and Urdu plays know him well and know
how inspirational he is. We hope we have done justice to make his interview inspirational for
you all. “Voice of the Voiceless”, the most popular section of the magazine, takes views from
that ‘voicless’ segment of the society, which although is not deprived of life’s amenities, but finds
scant openings to let their views known. We asked both students and professionals (of commercial
and social sector) to voice their opinions about whether corporate philanthropy is a genuine
effort on part of the corporations or does it act as a shield to ‘legitimize’ their wrongs?
‘Rethinking Education’ features a range of perspectives on how education is turning into a
commodity and how the corporations are making their way into our schools and other educational
institutions, inducing consumerism rather than consciousness amongst the students. In the end,
we are grateful to Shikshantar Institute, India for always actively participating in EDucate! and
introducing us to powerful thoughts, ideas, essays and above all many intellectual resources.

Ambreena Ahmed

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Pictures Courtesy : www.davidkorten.org

Is a socially just world a real
possibility or an illusion? What role
the corporations are playing in our
society today? Do we want to be
citizens of a society that is driven by
corporate greed and consumerism?
Can we do something about it?

COVER STORY
EDITED & COMPILED BY MASHHOOD RIZVI & AMBREENA AHMED

Dr. David C. Korten,

when

CORPORATIONS
rule
the world
is there a
way out
then?

?

world’s leading critic and analyst
on the impact of big corporations
and corporate lead globalization
talks to EDucate!
He says that by law and
structure, the publicly traded,
limited liability corporation is a
single purpose organization in the
business of making money for
money without regard to the
consequences for people,
communities, or nature. The
publicly traded corporation and
its employees are legally obligated
to serve money to the disregard
of life. It is not only incapable
of acting with conscience, it is
legally prohibited from doing so.
He comments, “human persons
who behave in a similarly selfcentered and destructive way
devoid of conscience are called
psychopaths and are commonly
deprived of their freedom as
threats to society and confined
to prisons or mental institutions”.
He concludes, “yet in the suicide
economy, corporate psychopaths
are regularly rewarded with rising
share prices and their CEOs are
rewarded with multi-million dollar
bonuses. Corporate officers
suspected of sacrificing share
price to acts of conscience out
of concern for workers,
community, or the environment
face a serious threat of
dismissal”.

What is a corporation? Who runs it? What are transnationals and multinationals; are they
synonymous to corporations? Why do corporations exist? What are the impacts of corporatization
on the world’s people and resources? What is the corporate-government connection? What is
privatization; is it good or bad? Have corporations improved our lives and strengthened our societies
OR will we be better off without them? Is consumerism environmentally friendly; is it the answer
to happy living? Is there an alternative to corporate power?
In our cover story, we try to answer some critical questions regarding corporations and their far reaching
impacts in the light of Dr. David C. Korten’s remarkable work on corporations, especially his two most
popular books “When Corporations Rule the World” and its sequel “The Post-Corporate World”. Dr. Korten,
in addition to being the author of international bestsellers, is the co-founder and board chair of the Positive
Futures Network and founder and president of the People-Centered Development Forum. His work, in the
words of his critics “continues to be at the very center of this expanding global dialogue” and “is creating
an intellectual framework for dealing with the issues of the entry of humankind into the 21st century”. He
has had a leading role in raising public consciousness of the political and institutional consequences of
corporate driven globalization and the expansion of corporate power at the expense of democracy, equity,
and environmental health. Radical as such ideas may seem in the present context, Korten shows how they
are already being put into practice by ordinary people around the world as they respond to capitalism's
deadly blows to their lives, communities, and natural environments.
We, at EDucate! have been privileged to have David Korten on our panel of contributors and we have
published many of his articles in our previous issues. As part of our cover story we asked our colleagues at
the Sindh Education Foundation to forward their queries regarding corporations and put those forward to
Mr. Korten. He, despite his very busy schedual, responded immediately. We hope that Korten’s interview
with the SEF and EDucate! will be a mindshifting one for you!

Can you please explain from a layman’s perspective the
'plundering mechanisms of MNCs and corporations? Many
people have no idea as to how the system functions? For
example most of us do not understand that how IBM or
Toyota in Pakistan can be harmful when it is giving jobs
to many and also once people have jobs they spend and
spend locally?
First let’s correct our terminology. You refer to Multinational
Corporations, a term that technically refers to a corporation
that is local everywhere, a good local citizen in every country
in which does business. It is part of the public relations
image. The reality is we are dealing with global or
transnational corporations, which means corporations that
do not recognize any national or local interest or obligation.
The details of the mechanisms of corporate plunder are
spelled out in my book When Corporations Rule the World.
The publicly traded, limited liability corporation is the
institutional centerpiece of a global suicide economy that
is rapidly destroying the foundation of its own existence and
threatening the survival of the human species. Visit the
headquarters of a publicly traded corporation and you see
people, buildings, furnishings, and office equipment. By all
appearances the people are running things. An organization
chart will show clear lines of authority leading to a CEO
who in turn reports to a board of directors. It is easy to think
10

of a corporation as a community of people. It is, however, a
misleading characterization precisely because in a publicly
traded corporation the people, including the CEO, are all
employees of the institution — paid to serve the institution
at its pleasure and required by law to leave their values at
the door.
The publicly traded, limited liability corporation is in the
legal sense not a human institution. It is a pool of money,
dedicated to the sole vocation of making money, on which
a corrupted legal system has bestowed special legal privileges
and protections not granted to real living persons. The
people, including the CEO, can be dismissed at any moment,
virtually without recourse. Employees must be willing to
leave their values at the door if they hope to rise through
the ranks of a global corporation. In effect management is
hired by money to nurture money’s growth and reproduction
even at the expense of life. Only the money, which the
corporate officers are legally bound to serve, has rights. In
their advertisements and public statements corporations
profess their commitment to people and nature. It is pure
image. Read the business press, like the Wall Street Journal
or the Economist magazine, and you get the real story of
the push for ever greater profits and CEO compensation at
all costs — especially in the reports on corporate crime.
Also be aware that many of these companies were getting
awards for social and environmental responsibility and were
included in socially responsible investment portfolios right
COVER S T O R Y

What is a Corporation?
Transnational corporations are one of the most
important actors in the global economy,
occupying a more powerful position than ever
before. Fifty years ago, only a handful existed.
Now they number tens of thousands, and
have a profound political, economic, social and
cultural impact on countries, peoples and
environments. Defined by the United Nations
as ‘an enterprise with activities in two or more
countries with an ability to influence others’,
TNCs produce a vast range of goods and
services for international trade, and often for
the domestic markets where they operate.
Sometimes called multinational corporations,
they operate across national boundaries in a
context of nation states. Their power is huge
and often underestimated, as also is their
impact on the poor.1
Another perspective, a literal definition of
corporations hold: “Specifically, a

up to the time their fraudulent practices were exposed.
Make no mistake. Global corporations are in Pakistan for
one reason — to extract as much wealth as possible as
quickly as possible and move on to another country as soon
as a better opportunity presents itself. In the meantime they
will buy politicians and government officials to get exceptions
from taxes, labor standards, and environmental regulations.
They will strongly resist unionization by whatever means
and seek to keep wages and benefits low. Some corporations
are a bit less ruthless than others, but they are all in the
same business.
Some may say it is different in Pakistan. I’m not current on
the Pakistan experience, but this is the record pretty much
all around the world and I doubt it is particularly different
in Pakistan. It is starkly true in the United States. If one has
any illusions that those who head the largest corporations
are committed to high standards of ethics and public service
one needs only read the financial pages of the international
press will set them straight. and follow the continuing wave
of financial scandals that first came to attention with the
collapse of Enron.
Powerful though global corporations may be, the ultimate
decision power in the suicide economy resides in the global
financial markets — institutions for which the only reality is
money. Each day global financial markets exchange trillions
of dollars of electronic money that exists only in computer
memories as traders who act with a herd mentality place their
COVER S T O R Y

bets on the price movements of various financial instruments.
In a mere instant the actions of the money traders may make
or break the fortunes of individuals, giant corporations, and
powerful nations. The computer screens of the traders,
however, tell them nothing of the consequences either for
nature or for the millions — even billions — of people whose
lives their decisions affect. The traders and their world are
equally invisible to the ordinary people who bear the
consequences of these decisions. It is an evil of the highest
order. Those who make the decisions have no knowledge
of the consequences of their actions and those who bear the
consequences cannot identify and confront oppressor that
remains invisible and therefore unknown. It is a system
designed not to self-correct.
This perverse system is inexorably transferring wealth and
power from the many to the few, creating an unconscionable
and growing concentration of wealth and power that
encourages wasteful extravagance on the part of the few
while imposing deprivation and servitude on billions and
accelerating the depletion of natural wealth it took our
living planet billions of years to produce. Either of these
trends will seal the human fate if allowed to continue.

What is your analysis of institutions like the IMF and WTO? Do you
think that these are mere extentions of MNCs or vice-versa?
Interesting correlation! Let's look at the global public
11

corporation is a legal artificial
person, a person that is
separate, distinct and apart
from you. It is a distinct,
different and totally separate
legal or artificial person. A
distinct legal entity.

through, the possibilities
become fascinating. The key
point to remember here, is
that when you own a
corporation, the corporation
exists as a separate entity or
person.”2

As an artificial person, a
corporation's rights, duties and
liabilities do not differ from
those of a natural person
under similar conditions, except
where the exercise of duty
would require the ability to
comprehend, or think. That's
where the Board of Directors
comes in. They do the thinking
for the corporation. A
corporation can buy, trade, sell
and make loans. A corporation
can literally do anything you
as a person can do as long
as these thoughts and actions
are simply documented by
resolution. When you think it

Korten on
Corporations
On the question of rights of
corporations as an individual,
Korten asserts that human
rights secure our freedom to
live fully and responsibly within
l i f e ’ s c o m m u n i t y. We , a r e
f i n d i n g , h o w e v e r, t h a t a s
corporations have become
increasingly successful in
claiming these same rights for
themselves, they have become
increasingly assertive in denying
them to living people. For
example, they use property

institutions that are shaping global and national economic
policies. We presently live under two competing system of
global governance: The Bretton Woods institutions and the
United Nations. The former is primarily aligned with the
corporate interest and the latter is primarily aligned with the
human and natural interest.
The Bretton Woods institutions — the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade
Organization (WTO), previously the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT) — are major institutional players
in rewriting the rules of the global economy to circumvent
democracy to rewrite the economic rules to favor the
concentration of wealth and power.
All three claim to be dedicated to the cause of the poor and
the disadvantaged. But look at their policies and actions and
you find the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO consider
the ideal country to be one in which all assets and resources
are owned by foreign corporations producing for export to
generate foreign exchange to repay international debts. Their
favored country has no public services. Power, water, education,
health care, social security, and financial services are all owned
and operated by foreign corporations for profit on a fee for
service basis. Food and other goods for domestic consumption
are all imported from abroad and paid for with money
borrowed from foreign banks.
This is the global corporate agenda for Pakistan as it is for
every other country in the world and it is clearly is not about
12

rights as an instrument to deny
the economically weak the
most fundamental of all human
rights – the right to live – by
denying them the right of
access to a means of living.
Supported by legions of
corporate lawyers and
sympathetic judges, corporations
have worked through the
courts to acquire ever more of
the rights and freedoms that
living persons gained only
through long and difficult
political struggle. They have in
turn used the rights so
acquired to extend their control
over the institutions of
democracy and the material,
communications and knowledge
resources on which people
depend to secure their living.
There seems to be an ironclad
relationship. The stronger the
rights of corporations, the
weaker the rights of persons to

meeting the needs of people — least of all the poor. It is about
concentrating ever more power in the hands of the global
financiers who control the corporations that are increasingly
monopolizing the world’s resources, markets, jobs, information,
money, and politics to their own exclusive ends. If they were
truly concerned about the health and well-being of Pakistan
and its people they would be helping Pakistanis strengthen
their ownership and control of their own economy with
substantial priority to living wages, safe working conditions,
a strong tax base, and strong environmental regulation.
The real issues behind the resistance against corporate
globalization are issues of justice and democracy — the right
of each person to a voice and a means of living. It is about
who will rule the world: people or money?
I have the privilege of being a member of an extraordinary
international alliance of civil society leaders from both
Southern and Northern countries called the International
Forum on Globalization. We came together to educate the
world on the realities of corporate globalization and to
encourage the mobilization of a broad resistance movement.
For the past three years we have been working to define a
consensus among ourselves on an alternative to the corporate
global economy. Last December we published a report on
our conclusions titled Alternatives to Economic Globalization.
Initially, the question of whether global rule making should
COVER S T O R Y

live fully and well with
freedom, responsibility and
dignity. Thus, to restore human
rights and dignity we must
establish clearly the principle
that human rights reside solely
in living persons.

Korten’s Argument
According to Korten, there are
two worldviews. The first holds
that corporate globalization
constitutes world’s largest
corporations and world’s most
powerful governments, backed
by the power of money. The
objective is to create a single,
borderless global economy
where the mega corporations
are free to move goods and
money anywhere where there’s
a profit opportunity with no
government interference. Two
main tools used to attain these
objectives are privatization of

public services and assets and
strengthening safeguards for
investors and private property.
The proponents of this
worldview believe that
corporate globalization is the
result of irreversible and
inevitable historical forces that
drive a powerful engine of
technological innovation and
economic growth that is
strengthening human freedom,
spreading democracy and
creating the wealth needed to
end poverty and save the
environment.
The second worldview
advocates that the forces of a
newly emerging global
movement is a culmination of
planetary citizen alliance of civil
society organizations. It brings
together social movements with
a common cause, is selforganizing, is dependent largely

be centralized in global institutions or decentralized to the
extent possible to national and local levels was an important
point of contention. Those of us from the North tended to
favor a centralization of rule making and standards to set
and enforce uniform labor and environmental standards for
the world. Our Southern colleagues noted, however, that
when rule making is centralized, the rules are generally made
by the more powerful countries of the North and invariably
favor their interest. They called instead for an international
system that favors the localization of rule making at national
and community levels to secure the sovereign political and
economic rights of people — delegating upward only those
decisions that cannot realistically be made locally.
This would require a number of actions. Among others it
means eliminating the institutional form of the publicly
traded, limited liability corporation in favor of human-scale
enterprises locally and democratically owned by engaged
stakeholders who are liable for their actions.
A chapter on international institutions calls for dismantling
the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO and replacing
them with new institutions under the United Nations with
mandates exactly the opposite of the institutions they will
replace. In the place of a World Bank coaxing Southern
countries into ever deeper international debt and dependency,
we call for the creation of a UN International Insolvency
Court responsible for helping countries work their way out
of international debt. In the place of an IMF that prohibits
COVER S T O R Y

on voluntary social energy and
is committed to democracy,
equity, community and the web
of planetary life. The
proponents of this vision reckon
that corporate globalization is
neither inevitable nor beneficial.
It is the product of intentional
decisions and policies of WTO,
I M F, W o r l d B a n k , g l o b a l
corporations and politicians who
depend on corporate money.
Corporate globalization is
enriching the few at the
e x p e n s e o f m a n y. I t i s
replacing democracy with the
rule by corporations and
financial elites. It is destroying
planet’s wealth and society to
make money for the already
wealthy and it is eroding the
relationship of trust and caring,
which is the essential
foundation of a civilized society.

countries from exercising essential oversight over the flow
of goods and money across their borders, we call for a UN
International Finance Organization to help countries put
in place mechanisms to maintain balance and stability in
their international financial relationships. Instead of a World
Trade Organization preventing governments from holding
corporations accountable to the public interest, we propose
a UN Organization for Corporate Accountability to work
with citizens groups and nation states to break up
concentrations of corporate power and hold all corporations
with operations in more than one country to a high standard
of public accountability.

A common understanding is that MNCs have hired so many locals
and all, MNCs provides so many opportunities at the local level, if
we were to uproot them, thousands will be job less? How would you
respond to that?
It is true that global corporations have been restructuring
our economies everywhere to increase our dependence on
them. The reality, however, is that transnational corporations
provide only a tiny percentage of the total employment
anywhere in the world and most of the jobs they do provide
are low paying and insecure. The minute they can get a
better deal in another country, they are gone. Countries
that chose to build their economies based on providing low
paid workers to produce export goods for transnational
corporations need to keep in mind two things.
13

Korten on the Impact of
Corporate Power
The social and environmental
disintegration is accelerating in nearly
all countries of the world. Korten argues
that the only way most corporations can
produce the profits the financial system
currently demands is by passing off ever
greater costs to the society. We need
scarcely look beyond the daily reports
to find examples of the world’s largest
corporations profiting from the:
Depletion of natural capital by stripmining forests, fisheries and mineral
deposits, aggressively marketing toxic
chemicals, and dumping hazardous
wastes that turn once-productive
lands and waters into zones of
death.
Depletion of human capital by
maintaining substandard working
conditions.
Depletion of social capital by
breaking up unions, bidding down
g

g

g

Obviously suddenly uprooting the global corporations in
Pakistan and sending them packing would have disastrous
consequences in the short term. The more sensible path is
to gradually turn the thrust of policy in the direction of
favoring national ownership and the use of national labor
and resources to produce things for sale in the Pakistan
market in response to needs of Pakistani people — gradually
reducing foreign control and dependence.

at give a way prices and allowing them to charge what the
market will bear. Don’t confuse a push to privatize education,
water, health care, or prisons with a “donation.” Even
corporate foundations have become increasingly explicit that
their grants should be carefully targeted to serve the corporate
bottom line. Indeed, if they do otherwise they will be subject
to a shareholder revolt or even law suits for “giving away” the
shareholder’s money.

In this part of the world in particular and in the world at large,
MNCs and corporates are adapting a social legetimization strategy
by giving huge donations for public and social services? Do you think
they mean it or it is simply an extension of ecomonic and social
oppression?

In the United States corporations have extracted so many
tax concessions from local governments that local governments
have increasing difficulty funding public schools. Then
corporations step in to "help out" by offering the schools
money in return for exclusive marketing contracts that allow
them to promote and sell Coca Cola and other junk foods
in schools that are desperate for any source of additional
income. The corporations also step in with “gifts” of teaching
materials that present a corporate friendly view on
environmental and economic issues. Most are thinly disguised
combination of political propaganda and advertising aimed
at indoctrination and building brand loyalty.

I’m startled by your characterization. If global corporations
are freely and generously donating to the support of public
and social services in Pakistan it would be unique in the
world. In the United States, and to my knowledge pretty
much everywhere else in the world, most global corporations
are putting enormous pressure on governments to reduce or
eliminate their taxes to eliminate their contribution to the
support of essential public goods and ser vices.
The World Bank and IMF are similarly pressing government
to reduce expenditures on social services and ultimately to
privatize public utilities like water, electricity, and
telecommunications by selling them to global corporations
14

Is survival of countries and people possible in today's corporate lead
world without any engagement with big corporations/MNCs? If Yes,
then how? and If No (or if countries/people opt to invite them) how
can one best safe guard the public interest?
So long as corporations are setting the global economic, social,
and environmental agenda the very future of the species is
COVER S T O R Y

g

wages, treating workers as
expendable commodities,
and uprooting key plants on
which community economies
are dependent to move
them to lower-cost locations
– leaving it to society to
absorb the family and
community breakdown and
violence that are inevitable
consequences of the
resulting stress; and
Depletion of institutional
capital by undermining the
necessary function and
credibility of governments
and democratic governance
as they pay out millions in
campaign contributions to
win public subsidies,
bailouts, and tax exemptions
and fight to weaken
environmental, health and
labor standards essential to
t h e l o n g- t e r m h e a l t h o f
society.

Korten emphasizes the fact that
increase in economic output as
organizing principle for public
policy has led to the
b r e a k d o w n o f e c o s y s t e m’ s
regenerative capacities and of
social fabric that sustains
human community. He also
stresses that the continuing lack
of resources has led to the
intensification of competition for
resources between rich and
poor. And the poor invariably
lose. The governments’ failure
to respond has given rise to a
crisis of governance because
the power has shifted from the
governments to a few
corporations which are driven
towards short term financial
gains. In order to achieve short
term financial gains, the
corporations downsize to shed
people and functions and
tighten control over market and
technology through mergers,

at risk. The term suicide economy is not simply a metaphor,
it is the proper name of a process that is converting the
human, social, institutional, and natural capital of the planet
into corporate profits. Let me spell out what is at stake.
This graph addresses a very basic question. “How many
planets endowed with an area of biologically productive land
and sea equivalent to that of earth would it take to support
current levels of human consumption of food, materials, and
energy on a sustainable basis.
This graph indicates we passed beyond the limits of the
human burden this planet can sustain sometime around
1980. As a species we are now consuming at a rate of about
1.2 planets. Unfortunately, since we don’t have another two
tenths planet we are making up the difference by depleting
natural capital, both non-renewable capital, like fossil fuels,
and the renewable capital of our forests, fisheries, soils, water
and climatic systems. About 85% of what remains is
expropriated by the more fortunate 20% of the world’s
population to support our often wasteful patterns of
consumption. The least fortunate 20 percent of the world’s
people struggle to survive on slightly more than 1 percent.
Unfortunately, most people miss the true implications of
inequality because we are in the habit of thinking of money
as wealth — which it isn’t. Money is a claim on wealth. It’s
just a number that exists only in our heads. This next overhead
helps us see the deeper implications of this reality.
The next graph (top next page) represents world stock market
COVER S T O R Y

acquisitions and strategic
alliances. The corporations’
control of the media has
turned it into an active
propaganda machine constantly
assuring us that consumerism
is the path to happiness.

Korten on
Alternatives to
Corporate Rule
The corporations want the
world to become a mass
market for their products and
people their consumers – with
v i r t u a l l y n o o t h e r i d e n t i t y.
Power of money rather than
power of people should be the
defining principle for every
aspect of life. This is the
agenda of corporations.
David Korten, in his book,
When Corporations Rule the

1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

capitalization — the total value of all the stocks traded on the
world’s stock exchanges. It tracks growth in financial assets.
What we’ve tracked so far only goes through 1999, so the
graph doesn’t show the more recent down turn, but the basic
picture is clear. Bear in mind here that although some 50
percent of Americans own some stock, the richest 1 percent
of households own nearly 50 percent of the value of all stocks
owned by Americans. Globally the ownership of stocks is far
more concentrated. Surely less than 1 percent of all households
in the world participate in stock ownership in any
consequential way.
15

World, has beautifully outlined
concrete steps that need to be
taken if we want to reclaim
the people’s power from the
corporations and put a stop to
the total disintegration of our
planet’s resources and cultures.
According to him, corporate
globalization is being advanced
by the conscious choices of
those who view the world
through the lens of the
corporate interest. Human
alternatives do exist, and those
who view the world through
the lens of human interest
have both the right and the
power to choose them.
To defeat the corporate tyranny,
the action must start from the
grassroots:
Planetary Consciousness:
Consciousness should be the
first step; realizing,

understanding and then
resisting the destructiveness
engulfing humanity should set
the foundations for societal
transformation.

higher value to nurturing
love than to making money.
Valuing Local Economies &
Social Capital:
The challenge is to create a
locally rooted planetary
system that empowers all
people to create a good
living in balance with
nature. The goal is not to
wall each community off
from the world but rather
to create zones of local
accountability and
responsibility within which
people can reclaim the
power that is rightly theirs
to manage their economies
in the common interest.
The human purpose is
better served by a system
that divides corporations and
forces them to compete for
the favor of people, in the
true spirit of a competitive
g

Reclaiming Responsibility for
Life:
Taking back the responsibility
for our lives, and reweaving
the basic fabric of caring
families and communities to
create places for people and
other living things.
Bringing greater visibility to
the people and positive
initiatives that are laying the
f o u n d a t i o n s f o r
transformative change.
Our pursuit of material
abundance has created
material scarcity; our pursuit
of life may bring a new
sense of social, spiritual and
even material abundance.
Create societies that give a
g

g

g

The bottom half of this overhead is the Living Planet Index
— a measure of the health of the world’s forests, freshwater,
ocean, and forest ecosystems. This represents the life support
system of the planet, the living capital that is the ultimate
source of all wealth. The index has declined by 37% in the
past 30 years. From the perspective of the planet, the good
news is the species that bears the responsibility for this
devastation will be gone well before the index reaches zero.
It’s not especially good news, however, for us humans.

g

MAKING MONEY-GROWING POORER
40

World Stock Market Capitalization
Trillion Dollars

35
30
25
20
15
10
5

Source: 2003 Bloomberg L.P.

We are told that those who make money are creating wealth
that adds to the pie of society’s total wealth. No one loses, so
therefore no one should begrudge the wealthy their proper
reward for their contribution to the increased well-being of
all. Of course it’s a bogus argument. Inflation of the financial
bubble increases the claims of the holders of those assets
against the world’s shrinking real wealth far out of proportion
16

100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50

98
19

96
19

94
19

92
19

90
19

88
19

19

19

As I said, money is a claim on wealth. Money can grow
virtually without limit, but its growth is increasing the claims
of the few against the real resources on which all our lives
depend. In a full world, equity becomes an essential condition
of a healthy, sustainable society.

86

0

82

The rich and poor gap is increasing at an unprecedented pace. How
are the MNCs responsible for widening the gap?

Living Planet Index

Source: WorldWide Fund for Nature
Living Planet Report 2002

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

Prepared by David C. Korten 6/26/2003
The Positive Futures Network

www.yesmagazine.org

COVER S T O R Y

g

g

market. Let corporations
compete to earn their
profits. Let people and
communities compete to
create a good living for all.
Social bonding is as
essential to the healthy
functioning of a modern
society as it was to more
traditional or tribal society.
Corporate globalization is
l e a d i n g u s t o a n
evolutionary dead end. In
contrast, economic systems
composed of locally rooted,
self-reliant economies create
in each locality the political,
economic and cultural
spaces within which people
can find a path to the
future consistent with their
distinctive aspirations, history,
culture and ecosystems.

Defeating Consumerism
Some 80% of environmental
g

damage is caused by 20%
of the world’s population –
1.1 billion overconsumers.
Another 20% of the world’s
people live in absolute
deprivation. A major part of
t h e b u r d e n w e
overconsumers place on the
planet comes from our use
of automobiles, airplanes
and throwaways products
that come in unnecessary
packaging, and our
consumption of unhealthy
foods produced by methods
that destroy the earth and
leave what we eat poisoned
with toxic waste. Individual
choices can make a
difference. We can reduce
the amount of meat in our
diets. We can buy a water
filter to reduce our
dependence on bottled
water and soft drinks. We
can buy fewer clothes or a

to any contribution they may have made to real wealth. As
a result a fortunate few enjoy multiple vacation homes, private
jets, and exotic foods, while the least fortunate are displaced
from their homes and farmlands and condemned to lives of
homelessness and starvation that bears no relationship to
need, contribution to society, or willingness to work.

g

more gas-efficient car. There
are countless such positive
choices to be made.
If our goal is to provide a
good living for people, we
need to transform our food
and agriculture system much
as must transform our
habitats and transportation
systems. An appropriate
system would most likely be
composed of tens of
thousands of intensively
managed small, family farms
producing a diverse range
of food, fiber, livestock and
energy precuts for local
markets. Steps towards such
a system would include
carrying out agrarian reform
to break up large corporate
agricultural holdings.
Although moving toward
more localized food and
agricultural systems and
healthier, less fatty diets

CEO, Play, S&P 500, Corporate Profits, Worker Pay,
and Inflation , 1990-99
600%

CEO Play+535%
500%

400%

The gap between glutinous extravagance and dehumanizing
deprivation grows in proportion to the financial gap.
Furthermore, as the corporate scandals of the past couple of
years have made so glaringly evident, many financial fortunes
are not simply unearned, they are based on active and
intentional fraud, theft, and the destruction of human and
natural capital.
This brings us to another bogus argument. We are told that
economic growth is the key to ending poverty and that
environmental protection harms the poor. Again the truth
is much the opposite. Growth in economic output actually
accelerates depletion of the natural wealth on which all life
depends and intensifies the competition for what remains —
a competition the poor invariably lose.
In face, the entire economic and financial system is structured
to assure that the gap between rich and poor keeps growing.
As you see in this graph, worker play remained pretty much
even with inflation throughout the 1990s. The economic
gains went to corporate profits, owners of stocks, and CEO
COVER S T O R Y

S&P 500+297%

300%

200%

Corp. Profits +116%
100%

Worker Pay +32.3%
0%
1990

Inflation +27.5%
1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

compensation. This is not accidental. The tools of economic
and financial analysis seek to assure that every public and
corporate policy decision is made with the intent to maximize
returns to money, which means to people who have or control
money — call them the money people. If it appears that wages
are rising, the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to slow the
economy to increase unemployment and maintain a downward
pressure on wages. The announced purpose is to prevent
wage “inflation.” The unstated purpose is to make sure that
the gains of economic growth and productivity are captured
by money people rather than by working people.
17

would require adjustments in
our eating habits, this is not
a vision of sacrifice and
deprivation. Rather, it is a
vision of a fertile earth and
of vibrant and secure
human communities
populated by people with
healthy bodies and minds
nourished by wholesome,
uncontaminated foods. The
elements of this vision
simply require restructuring
the relevant system in line
with the human rather than
the corporate interest.
Reclaiming Political Spaces
and Decolonizing Culture
Corporations have no
natural or inalienable rights.
The corporation is a public
body created by a public
act through issuing a public
charter to serve a public
purpose. We, the sovereign
g

g

g

people, have the inalienable
right to determine whether
the intended public purpose
is being served and to
establish legal processes to
amend or withdraw a
corporate charter at any
t i m e w e s o c h o o s e . We
need only decide.
The problem is the system.
Incremental changes within
individual corporations or
political institutions cannot
provide an adequate
solution. The whole system
of institutional power must
be transformed.
Removing corporations from
political participation is an
essential step toward
reclaiming our political
spaces. With their
dominance of the mass
media and their growing
infiltration of the classroom,
corporations increasingly

While our politicians are cutting taxes for the rich and
launching pre-emptive wars on already devastated countries,
the UN World Food Organization reports that the number
of chronically hungry people in the world, which declined
steadily during the 1970s and 80s, has been increasing since
the early 1990s. The U.S. Department of Agriculture
estimates that by 2008 two-thirds of the people of SubSaharan Africa will be undernourished. Forty percent will
be undernourished in Asia.
In the United States, presumably the richest country in the
world, 3.3 million children experience outright hunger. Ten
percent of U.S. households, accounting for 31 million people,
do not have access to enough food to meet their basic needs.

This all is so daunting. How do we ever break the cycle of poverty?
What do you think can be done?
The only way to end poverty is to redistribute how we use
the available, sustainable wealth of the planet. To do that,
we must redistribute financial wealth. In summation: It is
impossible to grow our way out of poverty on a finite planet.
To end poverty we must achieve both equity and sustainability.
We confront a defining evolutionary moment for our species
that leaves us very little time to accomplish the following:
g

Bring the material consumption of our species into
balance with the earth.
18

g

g

g

g

control and shape our
primary institutions of
cultural reproduction,
constantly reinforcing the
values of consumerism and
the basic doctrines of
corporate libertarianism in
an effort to align
mainstream culture with the
corporate interest. To reclaim
our colonized political
spaces, we must reclaim our
colonized cultural spaces.
1. Special antitrust legislation
for the media should be
put in place to prohibit a
single corporation to own
more than one major public
media outlet, whether a
newspaper, a radio station,
TV station or home cable
service. It should ensure that
the outlet is not used
primarily as a means to
advance other corporate

Realign our economic priorities to assure all persons
have access to an adequate and meaningful means of
living for themselves & their families.
Democratize our institutions to root power in people
and community.
Replace the dominant culture of materialism with
cultures grounded in life affirming values of cooperation,
caring, compassion, and community.
Integrate the material and spiritual aspects of our being
to become whole mature persons.

The global economic and political crisis is at its core a
spiritual crisis and is properly the concern of every person
of faith because it involves profound values questions that
go to the heart of who we are and what we value.
We humans live by stories and our stories differ dramatically
among us. Indeed, you might say we are a species divided
by our stories. The great global clash between corporate
globalists and global civil society that caught the world’s
attention during the historic protest here in Seattle in 1999
against the World Trade Organization can be characterized
as a clash of stories so different as to be from two wholly
different worlds — which in many respects they are.
The corporate globalists — corporate officers, public relations
spinners, media, politicians and economists — inhabit a
world in which their power and privilege continue to grow
— leading them to see progress at every hand. In their story
COVER S T O R Y

interests. No individual
should be allowed to have
a majority holding in more
than one media corporation.
This would enhance the free
speech rights of the public
by limiting the ability of a
few powerful individuals and
corporations to dominate
access to the major means
of public communication.
2. I n c l a s s i c a l m a r k e t
economics, the role of
businesses is to respond to
market demand, not to
create it. Tax deductions for
advertising provide a public
subsidy for hundreds of
billions of dollars a year in
corporate advertising aimed
at enticing people to buy
things that they neither want
nor need and creating a
consumer culture detrimental
to the health of society and
the planet. Advertising, other
than purely informative

advertising based on
verifiable facts regarding the
uses, specifications and
availability of a product, is
not in the public interest. At
a minimum, the costs
should not be deductible as
a business expense. In
addition, as a pollution
control measure, a public
fee might be assessed on
advertising in outdoor or
other public spaces with the
proceeds used to fund
public-interest consumer
education. Factual product
information might be
provided on demand
through product directories,
including on-demand
directories that re accessible
through computer services
and interactive TV.
3. Schools should be declared
advertising free zones,
administration of public
schools should remain a

public-sector function, and
corporate-sponsored teaching
modules should be banned
from classroom use under
the ban on in-school
advertising.
Relentless, destructive and
overpowering, the corporate
factor has crept into our lives
and dominates almost every
aspect of our living. The great
struggle between the forces of
corporate globalization and the
forces of the emerging
movement – between financial
values and life values – is far
from resolved. But let us hope
that humanity’s long standing
dream of a truly civil society –
a dream shared by countless
millions throughout human
history – is an idea whose
time has finally come. It’s in
our hands to make it happen.

the deregulation of economic life and the removal of
economic borders is expanding human freedom and clearing
away barriers to creating the wealth that will ultimately end
poverty and save the environment. In their story they are
champions of an inexorable and beneficial historical process
of economic growth and technological progress that is
eliminating the tyranny of inefficient and meddlesome public
bureaucracies and unleashing the innovative power of
competition and private enterprise.

financial speculators and global corporations dedicated to
the blind pursuit of short-term profit in disregard of human
and natural concerns.

Their story portrays global corporations as the greatest and
most efficient of human institutions. It celebrates the Bretton
Woods institutions the World Bank, IMF, and World Trade
Organization as essential and beneficial institutions that are
expanding market freedom and driving the wealth creation
process by increasing safeguards for investors and private
property and removing restraints to a free movement of
goods and services that is creating unprecedented wealth.

In the eyes of civil society the corporate global economy is
a suicide economy that is destroying the foundations of its
own survival and the survival of the species. They see a
corrupt political process awash in corporate money and
beholden to corporate interests rewriting our laws to provide
corporations with massive public subsidies while eliminating
the regulations and borders that hold corporations
accountable to some larger public interest. They see the
World Bank, IMF, and World Trade Organization as leading
agents of this assault against life.

By contrast, civil society tells the story of a world in deepening
crisis of such magnitude as to threaten the fabric of civilization
and the survival of the species a world of rapidly growing
inequality, erosion of relationships of trust and caring, and
a failing planetary life support system.
Where corporate globalists tell of the spread of democracy
and vibrant market economies, civil society tells of the power
to govern shifting away from people and communities to
COVER S T O R Y

Civil society sees corporations replacing democracies of
people with democracies of money, self-organizing markets
with centrally planned corporate economies, and spiritually
grounded ethical cultures with cultures of greed and
materialism.

How would you conclude your discussion for readers of EDucate!
The truth lies with global civil society. The human future
depends on a deep economic transformation aimed at ridding
human society of the pathology of the global, publicly traded,
limited liability corporation.
19

Inspirations
& Reflections...

The greatest evil is not now done in those
sordid “dens of crime” that Dickens loved to
paint. It is not done even in concentration
camps and labor camps. In those we see its
final result. But it is conceived and ordered
(moved, seconded, carried and minuted) in
clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted
offices, by quiet men with white collars and
cut fingernails, and smooth-shaven cheeks
who do not need to raise their voices.
Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell
is something like... the offices of a thoroughly
nasty business concern.
C.S. Lewis
We are witnessing an unprecedented transfer
of power from people and their governments
to global institutions whose allegiance is to
abstract free-market principle, and whose
favored citizens are soulless corporate entities
that have the power to shape and break
nations.
Joel Bleifuss
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it
is a descending spiral, begetting the very
t h i n g i t s e e k s t o d e s t r o y. I n s t e a d o f
diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through
violence you may murder the hater, but you
do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely
increases hate. Returning violence for
violence multiplies violence, adding deeper
darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love
can do that.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
The smart way to keep people passive and
obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of
acceptable opinion, but allow very lively
debate within that spectrum – even
encourage the more critical and dissident
views. That gives people the sense that
there's free thinking going on, while all the
time the presuppositions of the system are
being reinforced by the limits put on the
range of the debate.
Noam Chomsky

20

WAKEUP
CALLS!!!
Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51
are corporations; only 49 are countries (based
on a comparison of corporate sales and country
GDPs).
The Top 200 corporations' combined sales are
bigger than the combined economies of all
countries minus the biggest 10.
The Top 200s' combined sales are 18 times the
size of the combined annual income of the 1.2
billion people (24 percent of the total world
p o p u l a t i o n ) l i v i n g i n ‘ s e v e r e ’ p o v e r t y.
While the sales of the Top 200 are the
equivalent of 27.5 percent of world economic
activity, they employ only 0.78 percent of the
world's workforce.
U.S. corporations dominate the Top 200, with
82 slots (41 percent of the total). Japanese
firms are second, with only 41 slots.
In 1970 there were approximately 7,000
corporations operating internationally. Today
there are approximately 60,000 transnationals
with over half a million foreign affiliates.
Trade between subsidiaries within the same
parent corporation now accounts for roughly a
third of world trade.
Mergers and a proliferation of strategic
partnerships among corporations are giving a
few producers an undue amount of influence
on the market. Market power often also
translates into political influence. The current
cascade of mergers is bolstered by the broad
trend toward privatization of state-owned
companies and public infrastructure,
deregulation and the liberalization of trade,
investments and capital markets.
Oxfam estimates that developing countries lose
tax revenues of at least $50 billion a year due
to tax competition and the use of tax havens.
The World Bank has predicted that by 2025
two thirds of the world population will not
have enough drinking water. Much of the
world's water corporations are privatizing supply.

U
R
on!
An Interview for EDucate!

ASHFAQ AHMED
By

Aziz Kabani & Somaiya Ayoob
I am confronted with a strange dilemma; intellectually I am deeply committed to humanity because of which I write
copiously about their grief and pain and protest at the injustice and cruelty perpetrated on them. But strange enough,
I do not like humans per se – the people around me, my friends, my relatives, my neighbors, my peers. None of them
please me and I criticize them severely time and again. A person who does not share my views or agree with me, I
cannot bring myself to even talk to them. What am I to do? Who do I confide in? Who should I expect to lend a
helping hand to me? Although I am in love with the abstract form of humanity, I cannot conjoin with its living,
breathing attribute, the humans themselves, in their hour of need and distress. The ignorant barely seem human to me
and like Mir Taqi Mir, I consider it a sheer waste of time to have a discourse with them. Inspite of this my love for
humanity is immense; I march on holding its flag. I want to break free from the burdensome contradiction but find
no one to support and (worse still) all paths leading to renaissance appear blank. I am wasting away, wasting away
in the depths of my love for humanity.
Translation of a Letter by Ashfaq Ahmed – a letter that sums up his philosophy about life and humanity.

Ashfaq Ahmed, one of the most famous playwrights, authors and public intellectuals of
Pakistan. In this exclusive interview with EDucate! he discusses the importance and significance
of cultural values and indigenous societal learning systems.

Q:

Do you think that our generation is
mesmerized and overwhelmed by the
West?

Before discussing the implications, I would like to
emphasize that our young generation is unable to
understand the ‘cultural vacuum’ that exists in our society.
At a surface level, they may be familiar with our cultural
heritage, for example, they may have heard about Bulle-Shah or Bhitai without any profound understanding of
their works. I feel that mere pace of the technological
progress is at times too much to handle or absorb by our
youth.
Let me try and further elaborate on my point. I feel that
‘ humanistic’ or ‘spiritual’ traditions and learning
mechanisms that existed in our society were a product of
deep thoughts and collective communal efforts. These
traditions and societal mechanisms, in my opinion, are
not really compatible with today’s fast paced random
systems of societal bonding and progress.
I also feel that there is an inherent and historical
difference between the moral values of this part of the
world and Europe or America. And I feel the difference
has increased in recent times as Europe and America are
leading so many regions of the world towards destruction
and annihalation. I therefore feel sorry to add that where
we used to send our children or youth for education to
the west, now it is literally like sending them to learn
how to hate and kill other human beings.
It seems that the quest is now for material wealth and
gain rather than progression in science and technology.
I think that even sceince which I thought was there to
discover for the betterment of humanity is falling in the
trap of developing ‘ultra sophisticated’ weapons for human
destruction.

do you feel that we are
Q: Generally speaking, or ‘westernized’? In both
being ‘modernized’
cases what do you feel that implications are?
You rightly pointed out that ‘westernization’ is equated
with ‘modernization’. We failed to trace out the meaning
of modernization in our culture and how to respond to
the challenges of western modernization academically and
more importantly intellectually. Unfortunately, we failed
to develop our academia which in turn would have
developed a contextualized understanding of modernization
through the lense of our cultural and moral values and
systems. do not have the human capacity to do such a
job. Our renowned universities, such as Jamshoro
University or Punjab University, are devoid of teachers
who could point out that modernization existed in our
society as well with all the necessary societal systems. Our
public intellectuals, I feel, have let us down. They have
shown no capacity what so ever to repond to the
challenges of social breakdown and apathy that I feel our

22

We failed to trace out the meaning of
modernization in our culture and how to
respond to the challenges of western
modernization academically and more
importantly intellectually.
youth is faced with today. I also feel that we have not
done justice to our religion and its teachings regarding
societal change.

Q: Do you think the family’s role is much
more important than school’s in bringing
about a positive societal change?
In a family, values and knowledge are transmitted
throughout the course of a child’s upbringing. It is, thus,
a natural phenomenon. It is not necessarily told; it is
practiced, observed and internalized.
Gradually, the cultural traditions of parents become a part
of their children’s lives. I believe no matter what you say
or project that you have liberated yourself from the
bounds of your cultural traditions it continues to play an
important role in an invisible manner and one cannot
completely be void of ones family or cultural values and
traditions. I think the good values of a family – values
that based on the principals of fairness and justice do
come in the way if one choses to go on a path that is
otherwise.
For example, when I returned to my village after
completing my Bachelors of Arts, the old cobbler of the
village, who has seen me grow and is guarding the
societal norms and values, would find some of my actions
inappropriate. When I would ask him as to why he
thinks my conduct is wrong instead of providing me with
a ‘scientific’ rational he woud simply reply by saying, “this
is not the way of your forefathers”. The real questions
then is, “what were the ways of our forefathers?” The
ways were: respect the elders, help others, participate in
one anothers happy and sad moments etc. He was
obviously no Socrates. But my point is that is how the
social system used to funtion.
Then came the school. A schooling system based on the
philosophies and teachings of people and ‘lords’ like
MaCaulay and Keynes. According to them life is all about
a quest for supriority by hook or crook. The entire system
of living will only be supportive to those who will ‘gladly’
relinquish their morality and spirituality or to those who
have none of those to begin with. Now these are the
people who developed the modern schooling system and
we are blindly following it. One system i.e. the system of
oppression imposed on my Buddhist culture, my Hindu

U R On...

culture, my Sikh culture, my Christian culture, my Muslim
culture. A system in which human being will succeed only
if they were to bow down to greed, injustice and finally
selfishness.

that the world could be
Q: You meanwe were to rid ourselves much
better if
from
systems that are economically driven?
Yes, I think we live in an artifical world or a world that
is artificially created by what you call in the language of
religion, Satan – an ‘evil’ called economics. This economic
system forces you to impose an education on your child
that motivates him/her towards maximum material gains.
You no longer recommend your brother to go to the
Khurasan University and learn poetry, or compare the
works of Khayam with the modern poetry or compare the
13th century poetry with Bhitai’s poetry or with Hyde’s
or Eliot’s. As I come to understand, the race for material
gain at times is not a matter of choice for us it is
something that is imposed on us.
I can assure you that within the next 50 years, this so
called democracy would loose its meaning and would
totally dismantle. It would be replaced by an emerging
and awful enemy called the ‘multinational’. Multinationals
would never let any form of democracy to grow. They
have the ‘money’ and are based on money. Eight percent
or perhaps more of the world’s wealth is under the
absolute control of multinationals.
My grandson usually corrects my pronunciation; he says
its multinational (mul-tae-national) and not multinational
(mul-tee-national), as I say it. When I tell him that we
had gone to school years back that’s why my accent is
obsolete, he gets nettled. So these multinationals have
control over our lives. We are not living a life of our
own choice – we are living a ‘manufactured’ life.
Nowadays, the propaganda on the media is that ‘we’ are
protecting democratic values or rather we are protecting
the civilized world. In reality, all ‘they’ are protecting is
the interest of rich people and the multinationals nothing

else! For example, there is a group of around two million
people in Pakistan including doctors, writers, industrialists
and journalists (we intellectual are also included in that
group). Whatever happens in this country, whether there
is democracy, dictatorship or army rule, we have little or
no concern with it. As long as our air conditioners and
geezers are functioning, we are comfortable. At times we
public intellectual may seem very bothered and concerned
about the plight of the people who are oppressed but I
believe most of us only put up a pretence. I feel that at
times our concerns are limited to mere talk and nothing
beyond that.
I have met Mao Ze Tung, you must have heard about
him. I was the only non-dignitary from Pakistan who has
met Mao and shaken hands with him. Since I was his
ardent admirer, I went to see him. But when I saw him,
I was speechless. Although we had only about five
minutes to talk but he was too nice and conversed with
me for more than ten minutes.
He told me how dear Pakistan is to China and why but
that’s a different story altogether. The most important
thing which he told me was that whatever you may
preach, unless it is not followed by a long march i.e.
masses you won’t get the desired results.

Unlike Mao, we try to run our social and political
movements and institutions from the top. We don’t try
to give an opportunity to the masses to become a part
of the process. We entice people to do what we say by
offering them incentives. In turn, people feel grateful to
us and think we must be doing something for them since
we look well-dressed and sympathetic. They consider us
their Sain (master).
Ironically there is no common point of interest for us. A
long march is a strange thing. It means to live with ideas
rather than holding back on them – in other words to
live with the people at the grassroots and involving them
in building social movements.

The reason why progressive ideas could
not trickle down is because we did not
try hard. We did not talk to people. We
did not live with them. We did not
march with them. Interacting and living
with people would help you recognize
reality.

Q: We think thatinprogressive thought exists in
our society
pockets. By progressive
thought we mean thinking ahead of our time
rather than submitting ourselves to the status quo
and overlooking limitations of the present system.
We often think why this progressive thought does
not trickle down to the masses and shape up as
an integrated intellectual/social movement?
Because we never meet people at the grassroots level. Let
me quote my own example, I call myself a progressive
person and yet I have not met so many living in distant
corners of Pakistan. A cobbler living in some remote area
may be very progressive in his own context. The local
people are very progressive in their work and in the way
they think. I cannot think the way they do. Their
progressiveness is evident from their creativity – they
create so many unique things. For example, I could never
think of making Ajrak (a shawl manufactured in Sindh,
Pakistan). I went to Shahkot to see the manufacturing
process and my God I was stunned. The whole procedure
was amazing; based on creativity with immaculate precision
and elegance. To me this is progressiveness, which we
really need as human beings.
Today, we do have a lot of progressive ideas which we
want to transfer to the grassroots but unfortunately these
ideas are not indigenous, we have borrowed them from
somewhere else. The reason why progressive ideas could
not trickle down is because we did not try hard. We did
not talk to people. We did not live with them. We did
not march with them. Interacting and living with people
would help you recognize reality.
I want to tell you people a story – a real one. I went
to college and after completing the first quarter I came
back to the village. I was considered as an important
person and had lofty ideas. I thought it was appropriate
to act superior, since I was studying in a city college, and
made my fellow villagers feel ashamed because they could
not achieve what I did. My mother asked me to go and
visit our village cobbler. In our village, old men were
addressed as Taya (paternal uncle). Taya Qasim used to
repair shoes under a tree in our village. I thought since
I am a literate person and amongst the very few in the
24

village, why do I need to go and visit a cobbler? But
because my mother had asked me to, I went to him.
When I met him, he praised me and wished me all the
best for my future.
Taya Qasim then asked what have I learnt from the city?
I asked him whether he knew of a subject called Zoology.
Then explained to him that it is the study of animals. I
also told him that there is another subject about flowers
and plants called Botany. Then I asked him whether he
knew that a housefly has upto three thousand eyes. You
see, the system in the eyes of a housefly is such that it
can see things from multiple angles. Not believing me he
reconfirmed the number of eyes twice. After hearing my
reply, he finally said, “damn the stupid fly; despite having
three thousand eyes, whenever she sits, she sits on dirt”.
And I became speechless. To me that was original and
progressive thinking.

schools, colleges and
Q: Do you think that our us arrogant? Not only
universities are making
that, they are taking us away from our own
values.
Yes! In the context of education, we use a cultural
expression zaivar-e-ilm say aarasta karna (decorating oneself
with the ornament of knowledge). I advise people to alter
this expression because a person who would wear
ornaments would invariably gaze at him/herself in the
mirror. If you have adorned yourself with that kind of
materialistic education, you would be self-absorbed and
obsessed with yourself. You would try to be in front of
the mirror all the time and will not consider others
worthy of our attention. Therefore, I urge that let people
be hungry, let them be illiterate but don’t let them be
deprived of self-respect.
I always advise my daughters and sisters to give due
respect to women who come to work at their houses.
The dignity of work must be upholded. It is fine to give
them clothes and incentives but first of all it is important
to give them the respect they deserve as human beings
and treat them as equal humans. Once we see them and
view them as equals we will be able to respect them and
by that we will eventually be able to respect ourselves.
A g a i n , y o u’ r e a b s o l u t e l y c o r r e c t , i n s a y i n g t h a t
contemporary and eurocentric education turns human
beings into very arrogant and egotistical creatures.
Therefore, whatever is being taught, it should be aimed
at helping individuals to become better people. In our
society, we have many well educated people but not many
good human beings. Educated people with high social and
financial standing, coming out of their cars, considering
themselves to be better human beings because they have
a privileged position in society. But they cannot become
good human beings unless they do not empathize with
others and have a sense of justice in them.
U R On...

Look at our traditional learning systems. We had deray1
where a Sain used to sit. Bhit Shah 2 is a glorious
example, where people visited Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai
for learning. Consider Buddha, who sat under a tree to
share people’s concerns and grief. Although he was a king
of a huge dynasty, he relinquished his empire for the sake
of seeking spirituality and being close to the common
people. This is how heigthened learning takes place.
People like Bhittai and Buddha tried to go deeper into
the human soul. This is how spiritual values are
developed and shared. And I believe, that today our
teachers and educators need to assume the same role in
order to make our education system more meaningful.

Do you think that the values embedded in the
the oriental cultures and religions could help
us resist the Western value system – a system
what you think is based on greed and
materialism?

Q:

I see it in a different way. First of all it seems very
difficult because of the mere magnitude and the might of

the western reference points that have been shaped by
the western educational institutions. Interestingly, when
a youngster goes to the US for studies, he starts offering
his Friday prayers in the Islamic Center. He would usually
not pray in his own country. Although he would become
a better Muslim ritualistically (as far as performing religious
obligations are concerned), as he would feel that his
identity is under threat. Ironically, in all other ways he
would try to become an American.
Let me tell you that our conflict with the West is not
based on rituals. They have no problem if you say your
prayers seven times a day instead of five or you fast for
two months instead of one. They have a problem with
the kind of lifestyle you follow i.e. your ideology that is
based on higher principles of morality and spirituality –
an ideology that motivates you to challenge injustice.

Q: Do you think that the present situation is
becoming hopeless?
No, I don’t think so. Honestly speaking, I cannot give

I strongly believe that our existence has a meaning. No matter how powerful
evil is; truth will keep on resisting it. Not the truth which we try to fabricate
but the truth that reflects our inner selves. This would emanate from all of us.
This truth is delicate like a spider’s web and yet it is so strong that it cannot
be easily splintered. If this was not a reality I would not have had hope.
that opposing system. Unfortunately, we are not fully
aware of the strength and potential that system possesses.
To be very honest, our society lacks the kind of
intellectual rigor which is needed to confront the Western
value system. We have to defeat the immoral systems,
whether western or eastern, with a greater sense of
morality. I have a high regard and deep respect for our
religious leaders but when you discuss your problems with
them, especially vis-à-vis this issue, you find them
struggling for answers. They have nothing to offer in
terms of intellectual guidance. I recently asked one of
them about the current global political situation and he
told me that ‘Inshallah’ (God willing) everything would
get better. I have no doubt that God will help us but
we have to have a strategy to deal with our situation.

Q: Why don’t we have such an alternative
system?
Because our intellectual class (tabqa) and the education
system is westernized. No matter what our people do,
they are unable to deconstruct fully or detatch fully from
1
2

you an explanation in words because there is another side
of the reality which can only be experienced and for
which words would not suffice – it is something that
relates to Sufis. I belong to a religion and a school of
thought which believes in the dominance of wisdom
(danai) and intellect (aqal) and which commands its
followers to reflect upon the universe by using one’s
intellect.
God clearly indicates to humans, in the Quran, to explore
the universe and seek His signs in it. I believe this is
what education is all about. I am not a pessimist. The
presence of 140 million people in this country and the
existence of billions on earth elevate my hope. I strongly
believe that our existence has a meaning. No matter how
powerful evil is; truth will keep on resisting it. Not the
truth which we try to fabricate but the truth that reflects
our inner selves. This would emanate from all of us. This
truth is delicate like a spider’s web and yet it is so strong
that it cannot be easily splintered. If this was not a
reality I would not have had hope. I am talking about
metaphysics; I believe that we have so far explored the
known world. We have not yet ventured into the
‘unknown’, which is infinite.

A place usually isolated, like under a tree or a hill where people would gather around a saint for seeking knowledge and spirituality.
Dwelling of a famous Muslim Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai in Sindh, Pakistan.

U R On...

25

SOCIETAL LEARNING
B O O K S

Bringing the Food
Economy Home:
Local Alternatives to Global Agribusiness
Helena Norberg-Hodge, Todd Merrifield and
Steven Gorelick
Published by Zed Books for the International
Society for Ecology and Culture

Bill Glassmire
One fundamental inequality in today's world is the
economic and cultural divide between the developed
North and the developing South. Challenging that
inequality will involve huge changes in both the South
and the North. In the South, and all over the world,
the hungry and the poor should have enough to eat
and should enjoy economic and cultural selfsufficiency. In the North, and all over the world, the
overfed and the rich should live more simply and
should still enjoy economic and cultural self-sufficiency.
In the last edition of EDucate! (Issue No. 2, Vol No.
2) the article “The Case for Local Food” by Helena
Norberg-Hodge explains how building local food
economies would provide everyone with enough to
eat, strengthen local communities, and nurture the
land. Now there is an expanded discussion of local
food economies in a new book “Bringing the Food
Economy Home: Local Alternatives to Global
Agribusiness”, by Ms. Norberg-Hodge and others. The
book is an accessible and comprehensive introduction
to the thinking behind the burgeoning ‘local food’
movement.
The bulk of the book is an extended explanation of
how the global food system contributes to many of
the problems which the world faces today, from
global warming to the decline of rural economies,
from extinction of species to loss of democracy, from
water scarcity to unsafe food. It shows, both with
common sense and with facts and figures, that worldwide economic and environmental havoc are an
inevitable consequence of ‘global food’.
An example particularly relevant to the South is the
story, told by Vandana Shiva, of the effects of the

26

F O R

A

B E T T E R

W O R L D

Green Revolution and genetically modified ‘Golden
Rice’ on the rice farms of India. Ms. Shiva explains
that the intensive input methods of industrial
agriculture both use too much water and make
people sick, and she argues that health, freedom
and true food security depend on the biodiversity
which results from small-scale farming. The book's
fundamental argument is that, because of the
widespread impact of the global food system, local
food is one of the most effective entry points for
solving the world's interconnected problems. The
benefits of localization include stronger links between
farmers and consumers, strengthening communities in
both the country and the city, direct participation in
economic structures, healing and nurturing the
environment, and reducing the disparities between the
North and the South.
This movement towards local food is especially
important in the North, because, as the book points
out, in the South a much greater proportion of the
population still lives on or close to the land.
However, there are lessons for the South. For
example, many Southern governments still use
subsidies for chemical fertilizers and for pesticides to
encourage large-scale agriculture for export, not
small-scale diversified farms to feed their own people.
The book describes a variety of ‘ideas that work’.
Most of the examples are from the North, such as
Community Supported Agriculture schemes in North
America and the United Kingdom and the Japanese
consumer cooperatives which link urban households
w i t h o r g a n i c f a r m s . H o w e v e r, o n e e x t r e m e l y
provocative story comes from Cuba, which in the
1990s shifted “away from chemical-intensive
monoculture for export, toward the production of
diverse, organic food for local consumption”. Cuba's
story demonstrates how quickly an entrenched
agricultural system can be changed when an entire
society – government, rural peoples, and urban
dwellers – joins in developing a local food economy,
and it shows the tremendous benefits which result.
In its conclusion, the book points out that localization
of our food systems will require changes at the
international, national, and local levels. It offers an
overview of what those changes might be, such as
renegotiation of international trade treaties, shifting
national subsidies to promote local food, buy-local
campaigns and other community initiatives. Actively
supporting ‘local food’ at all these levels is a
powerful way for each of us to begin bridging the
economic and cultural divide between the North and
the South.

SOCIETAL LEARNING
B O O K S

How ‘They’ Run
the World
The Global Economy or, Why We are
Poverty Stricken
Najma Sadeque

This publication is a remarkable effort on behalf of
Shirkat Gah, Women’s Resource Center. The purpose
of this book is to identify and discuss critical issues
pertaining to the multi-faceted development injustices
and inequities in the South, and its relation to the
flourishing North. This crisp and critical collection
talks of concerns like economic injustices in the
South, the controlling agencies and how millions in
our society suffer at the hands of those who
‘legitimately’ rob them off their resources. It aims to
bring to light such pending concerns of which most
of the population of our part of the world is a
victim. The first chapter titled “The Making of the
Third World – How it all Began” explains the
mechanism by which the developed world took
control over the developing nations’ resources and
how wealth got concentrated in a few hands.

F O R

A

B E T T E R

W O R L D

“Colonization of Agriculture” explains how the
Northern colonials took over the agriculture of the
South and pioneered the monoculture system. The
colonizers exploited the South’s resources and labor
for their own profits. The adjoining chapters highlight
other burning issues like “The Takeover of the South
– Trade and Bondage”, “Imitation of Nature – Settled
Agriculture”, “The Creation of Dependency – HighYield Variety Seeds”, “World Bank and IMF – Banks
that Dictate Economies”, etc. One of the critiques
“Not-So-Free Trade – Export-Oriented Versus PeopleOriented” underlines the West’s trade objective of
ever-increasing production and consumption. It stresses
how in the last couple of decades the South’s selfsufficiency has been damaged and how it has
become dependent on importing food from the North
– a situation artificially created by the latter. “The
Gene Banks and Food Security – Killing Bio-Diversity
for Control” discusses at length the importance of
bio-diversity to healthy crops and how the
multinationals have seized control over small
enterprises responsible for plant breeding, commercial
seed production and seed patenting – ventures with
sizable profits and tools for making the South
dependent on seeds as well as food. Other bravely
written accounts include “Militarization of World
Society”, “The Arms Industry”, “The Piracy of the First
World”, “Where We Stand Today” etc.
The book is simple, comprehensible and reader
friendly, especially for all those who are new to the
concepts of strategically unequal and violatory
development.
To order a copy or obtain more information, email
N a j m a S a d e q u e a t s h i r k a t @ c y b e r. n e t . p k o r
sgah@lhr.comsats.net.pk

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES AND PRACTICES PRESENTS ITS REVOLUTIONAIZING SET OF PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLISH AND URDU

Transform
A Quarterly on History, Development, Education & Culture

IDSP
Institute for Development
Studies & Practices Quetta,
Pakistan

aksulamal@yahoo.com – idsp@qta.paknet.com.pk – www.idsp.sdnpk.org
27

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