Stop Free Trade

Stopping corporate globalization is the first step in creating a world which is not designed to help the rich get richer at the expense of the poor, but to create equal benefits for all.

“Stop corporate globalization: another world is possible” – this is the message clearly sent out by the “Our World is Not for Sale” network. This global network of organizations includes activists and social movements who are committed to challenging the trade and investment agreements which in effect only serve to increase the power of the already most powerful corporations at the expense of ordinary people and the environment in which they live.

Stopping Corporate Globalization – Why?

Corporate globalization is not the only way, and free trade is not equally beneficial to all who take part in it. As in many other situations, the rich get richer and more powerful at the expense of the poor and vulnerable. It doesn’t have to be this way. There is another vision, a global economy which is built on the principles of ecological sustainability, economic justice, real democracy that puts the interests of the people above the interests of profit and corporations. An economy which is built around the grass roots level of producers and consumers, farmers, workers and laborers, fishers, peasants, small producers and family businesses, who are stifled by the current system, used and abused, with small producers being swallowed up by the big corporations, and many peasants being forced to work in sweatshop conditions just to be able to earn enough money to eat.

The indigenous people of the world are the real treasures which ought to be nourished and allowed to flourish, bringing with them the diversity of their unique cultures, yet all benefiting harmoniously – sounds perfect doesn’t it? Development of local economies and trade ought to be paramount in any master plan. Democracy should not just mean holding elections; it should mean that people are in an empowered position to make the decisions which directly affect their lives. Well, it can happen, but not while the politicians and corporate ‘bigwigs’ are busy lining their own pockets at the expense of the real people.

Corporate Globalization – There is Another Way

In 1995, the WTO was established with the promise that it would bring greater prosperity, reduce poverty, increase employment, diminish inequality and promote sustainable development through free trade, all around the world. Well, here were are now, fifteen years on and it is abundantly clear that the exact opposite has happened.

If you keep on doing what you always did, you keep on getting what you always got. It’s time to change, stop corporate globalization and take another direction.