6 June 2001
Today, the World Economic Forum (WEF) started its Southern African Conference in Durban. This meeting can either be an occasion for genuine engagement with the issues that matter to developing countries or for another round of bland assertions, in contradiction of evidence available directly outside the meeting site, that capitalist globalisation actually benefits developed countries only.
The WEF has long supported the interests of multi-national corporations and un-elected bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and the World Bank at the expense of poor and developing countries. Around the world the WEF promotes the ruthless logic of the market which rams privatisation, liberalisation, de-regulation down the throats of developing countries. As a result of these WEF promoted policies, 80 countries are now poorer than they were in 1990. A quarter of the world's population of 6 billion lives on less than 1 a day. During the past five years the world's poor have increased by 200 million.
The agenda of the WEF meeting in Durban includes topics such as:
As this agenda shows, the WEF puts the business of multi-national corporations first before the interests of poor people. The SACP denounces an economic system that continues to shift opportunities, resources, and power away from those most in need. We call for the reversal of these policies and the introduction of humane policies which place people before profits.
We believe that if the WEF meeting fails to address the needs of developing countries and the demands being made by the increasingly strong global movement for economic and social justice, it will be a lost opportunity. The SACP therefore argues for the creation new forums which will take the concerns of developing countries seriously.
CONTACT
Mazibuko K. Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Media, Information Publicity - South African Communist Party
Tel: 011 339-3621/2
Fax: 011 339-4244
Cell:083 651 0271
Email: sacp1@wn.apc.org