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31 January, 2000The largest concentration of power the world has ever known is increasingly dominating our societies.
Since the communist system collapsed and capitalism was declared the winner, supporters of neo-liberalism have used the opportunity to stamp their minimalist view of society on the world.
They believe that the market should be free to make all decisions and that everything should depend on free and fair competition between the many actors in the market.
Anyone who wants to start a new company should be able to do; in fact, they say, the system itself will stimulate this type of development. The role of the state must be reduced considerably to facilitate the free market forces in playing their role. The need for legislation and norms would be less because there would not be any necessity for control.
Consequently, the role of politics should also be re-oriented, according to this new view of the world. In other words, the power of democratically-elected institutions, such as parliaments and governments, should be transferred to those who are in control of capital. The power of the state has to be reduced in order to give the people more power over their own destiny.
This is what they promised.
The reality, however, looks quite different.
Just 358 persons or families, through their ownership or control of transnational companies, have 10 times more capital today than all the governments in the world put together, according to the World Bank. This is the largest concentration of power that the world has ever known.
During the last few years, we have seen many companies buying and selling each other. Mega mergers make daily headlines: Daimler-Chrysler, Volkswagen-Rolls/Royce, Renault-Nissan, GM-Saab, Ford-Volvo - and this is just in the automobile sector, not to mention telecommunications, media and the Internet.
Communications providers are creating new mega companies, together with those creating the content of the communication. The consumer will have a final product delivered at home which has been created, designed, produced, quality-controlled, distributed and delivered by the same company which controls the whole chain.
This is a very dangerous development, which if it gets out of control, as is very likely, will create a new form of monopoly that will be even worse than the one people in the Soviet Union experienced during the communist system.
Democratically-elected parliaments and governments must not be excluded from power over economic policy and must regain authority over capital.
We have to react against the new monopoly, and we have to mobilise our resources to make our members aware of what is happening.
Of course, mergers and take-overs will always be necessary in order to restructure sectors of the economy, or when a company is in financial difficulty, or when a company needs to develop its strategy to secure its future, but they must not be allowed to become instruments of monopolies which will increasingly come to dominate our societies.
What can be done?
Here are some suggestions:
- Establish international standards to prevent companies monopolising a sector or part of the economy, supervised by democratically-elected institutions (like the European Parliament, by general election) and financed by a special tax on capital transactions (a so-called Tobin tax), together with an effective sanctions system.
- Use the mass media, communications systems to get people in general back into politics.
- Trade unions must play a major role in politics to ensure that the workers' voice is heard.
- Form alliances with other non-governmental organisations which share our objectives to mobilise people.
They believe that the market should be free to make all decisions and that everything should depend on free and fair competition between the many actors in the market.
Anyone who wants to start a new company should be able to do; in fact, they say, the system itself will stimulate this type of development. The role of the state must be reduced considerably to facilitate the free market forces in playing their role. The need for legislation and norms would be less because there would not be any necessity for control.
Consequently, the role of politics should also be re-oriented, according to this new view of the world. In other words, the power of democratically-elected institutions, such as parliaments and governments, should be transferred to those who are in control of capital. The power of the state has to be reduced in order to give the people more power over their own destiny.
This is what they promised.
The reality, however, looks quite different.
Just 358 persons or families, through their ownership or control of transnational companies, have 10 times more capital today than all the governments in the world put together, according to the World Bank. This is the largest concentration of power that the world has ever known.
During the last few years, we have seen many companies buying and selling each other. Mega mergers make daily headlines: Daimler-Chrysler, Volkswagen-Rolls/Royce, Renault-Nissan, GM-Saab, Ford-Volvo - and this is just in the automobile sector, not to mention telecommunications, media and the Internet.
Communications providers are creating new mega companies, together with those creating the content of the communication. The consumer will have a final product delivered at home which has been created, designed, produced, quality-controlled, distributed and delivered by the same company which controls the whole chain.
This is a very dangerous development, which if it gets out of control, as is very likely, will create a new form of monopoly that will be even worse than the one people in the Soviet Union experienced during the communist system.
Democratically-elected parliaments and governments must not be excluded from power over economic policy and must regain authority over capital.
We have to react against the new monopoly, and we have to mobilise our resources to make our members aware of what is happening.
Of course, mergers and take-overs will always be necessary in order to restructure sectors of the economy, or when a company is in financial difficulty, or when a company needs to develop its strategy to secure its future, but they must not be allowed to become instruments of monopolies which will increasingly come to dominate our societies.
What can be done?
Here are some suggestions:
- Establish international standards to prevent companies monopolising a sector or part of the economy, supervised by democratically-elected institutions (like the European Parliament, by general election) and financed by a special tax on capital transactions (a so-called Tobin tax), together with an effective sanctions system.
- Use the mass media, communications systems to get people in general back into politics.
- Trade unions must play a major role in politics to ensure that the workers' voice is heard.
- Form alliances with other non-governmental organisations which share our objectives to mobilise people.