Abstract

1. What Kind of World Are We Living In?

1. Out of the world's 6.5 billion people, more than one billion are unemployed, or underemployed.
2. Out of these 6.5 billion people, only 500 million live in relative comfort and the vast majority of them live in the developed world; the other 6 billion cannot afford even the most basic elements of decent living.
3. This planet we live on can supply 110 per cent of basic foods, yet more than 30 million people die of hunger every year and more than 800 million suffer chronically from malnutrition.
4. In 1960, the world’s richest 20 percent earned more than 30 times as much as the poorest 20 percent. Now the gap has widened to more than 80 times between the same two groups.
5. The wealth of the 15 richest people in the world is greater than the Gross National Product of all the sub-Saharan African countries.
6. The 300 greatest fortunes in the world represent the equivalent earnings of the poorest 50 percent of the world’s population -- that's more than 3 billion human beings!
7. In most countries, poverty continues to be the daily rule of life; it is accepted economically, socially and politically. The welfare state, the culture of social responsibility, has become a thing of the past.
8. More than four billion people -- men, women, children, the sick, and the elderly -- are deprived of the most basic human rights: the rights to life, to health, to education, to clean water, to basic food, to housing, to employment, to dignity now, and to hope for the future. Today, these rights are enjoyed only by the rich and powerful.
9. This is true even in the U.S., the world's only remaining superpower. Rich and powerful Americans can afford a decent living. But more than 30 million Americans (10 per cent of the population) face a life expectancy of less than 60 years. More than 40 million Americans live without subsidized medical coverage of any kind. More than 45 million Americans officially live below the poverty line (but the actual figure is probably much higher). And in this richest of rich countries, 52 per cent -- more than one in six people -- are functionally illiterate.
10. A century ago, there were some 40 states in the world; that number has now increased to almost 200. But the world economy is still dominated by only five nations -- the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. In the Third World only three states -- South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan -- have made the list of developed countries. The rest are mired in conditions of chronic underdevelopment and never-ending poverty.
11. The per capita annual income in more than 100 countries is lower today than 15 years ago. That means some 1.5 billion people are measurably worse off than they were at the beginning of the 1980s. Some 800 million people today are undernourished and 95% of them live in the Third World. And about 500 million who are alive today will not live to see their 40th birthday.
12. Most of the highly populated states that are extremely rich in raw materials – Russia, India, China, Brazil, Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan and Mexico – are among the poorest countries in the world. The U.S. is the only exception.
13. After 500 years of being ruthlessly exploited in order to enrich Europe and North America, Third World nations now find themselves drained dry -- not only robbed of their natural resources, but also crushed under the burden of huge and endless debts to the very countries who oppressed, colonized and economically plundered them. It has been statistically proven time and time again that it is impossible for Third World countries to generate enough revenue to both pay off their artificially created debts and still achieve even a minimum level of social and economic progress.
14. Today in the Third World, two out of every five children suffer from physical and mental growth retardation; one out of every three is dangerously underweight; 30,000 children who could be saved by the simplest of medical and nutritional interventions are dying every single day; two million girls are annually forced into prostitution; 130 million children have no access to elementary education; and 250 million minors under age 15 are forced to work for a living as virtual indentured slaves. And every three years, the number of men, women and children who die from hunger and preventable or curable diseases, totals more than all who were killed during the six years of World War II.
15. As the developing world moves persistently towards democracy and freedom, the West has moved to manipulate election results and to blackmail nations whose people democratically elect the "wrong" leaders or parties. At the same time, Western nations are also actively compromising the rights and civil liberties of their Muslim minorities. The so-called "war on terror" is used to silence criticism from within and without.
16. The U.S. launches aggressive wars, and occupies devastated countries, while simultaneously lying to the world and to its own people. American soldiers, poor and young, are sent to die in overseas battlefields to protect the interests of the rich and powerful.
17. The U.S. tolerated Saddam Hussein’s abuses for many years and even supported him in his eight-year war with Iran. Then it did a major aboutface, invading Iraq and deposing Saddam. It now occupies a wasted nation, committing horrendous crimes against the Iraqi people. During three years of occupation, the U.S. has not built one new hospital, university, or highway. Instead it stole Iraq’s oil and has left the country deeply in debt.
18. Iran is also vulnerable to America's globalization-driven threat. Despite the fact that Iran signed the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Israel did not; and despite the fact that Iran followed NPT rules for developing nuclear technology toward peaceful ends, the U.S. and Europe created the global lie that Iran has been building a nuclear bomb. At the same time, the West collectively turns a blind eye to Israel's nuclear arsenal.
19. The occupying American army in Iraq is being trained and advised in its sordid duties by none other than the Israelis, who have committed some of the worst war crimes in history against the Palestinians on stolen Palestinian land.

2. Where We Go From Here?

3. A Road Map Towards Fair and Equitable Globalization

1. The debt of the developing world to rich and powerful northern nations must be completely forgiven, written off, for this debt is both an economic and political issue which is crippling the planet. There can be no hope of fair and equitable globalization while more than 80% of the globe is in debt to the remaining 20%. Forgiving this debt is not charity; it makes good business sense if the world is to survive in peace, and with justice. It is impossible to have fair and equitable globalization if the Third World debt problem is overlooked.
2. The results of First World research in medicine, technology, and communication must be made accessible to the Third World to make use of, adapting these resources to their needs and know-how. Making new vaccines available to developing nations, for example, will benefit everyone on the planet.
3. The separation of economics and politics must be implemented and upheld. Politically motivated trade sanctions imposed by rich and powerful nations against Third World countries must cease if we are to enjoy a stable and sustainable globalization. The use of trade by rich countries as a blunt instrument of domination must be stopped immediately.
4. To achieve fair and equitable globalization, unequal competition must be discouraged, especially where huge budgets are expended only for advertising.
5. Rich nations must stop robbing poorer nations of their most educated and talented citizens. Those accepted in the West as immigrants, the West must agree to compensate their home countries financially for the initial investment they made in educating them. Many outstanding young students from the Third World who complete their graduate and post-graduate studies at Western universities do not return home after earning their degrees. They instead contribute to the wealth of their adopted countries through research, innovations and patents which are not shared with the rest of the world -- especially their home countries, which cannot afford the high salaries and research facilities that rich nations offer their brightest and best young professionals.
6. The concept of a differentiated trade treatment for poor countries must not be considered an act of charity, but rather a necessary act of justice. It should recognize the enormous differences in development that prevent using the same economic yardstick to measure rich and poor nations, and acknowledge as well the colonial history that demands compensation be given by the rich to poor countries.
7. Rich countries must stop using violence, wars, destruction, or forced occupation, to rob weak nations of their national sovereignty and must pay fair prices for their natural resources.
8. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has become a financial institution serving mainly rich and powerful countries must be abolished. The economic and social welfare of poor countries are not high on its agenda. The IMF's agenda is geared instead to the interests of powerful creditor countries, at the expense of the economic stability of their debtor nations.
9. It is shameful that in 2006 -- more than 200 years after the American and French revolutions were fought for liberty, equality and fraternity -- that the West has now abandoned its traditional respect for human rights and civil liberties, both at home and abroad. The abuse of human rights by the U.S., the U.K. and Israel must stop, in order to create a healthy political environment, free from fear; only in such an open and constructive environment can a fair and equitable globalization flourish.
10. It is time now to envision an Arab Common Market, a Muslim Common Market, an African Common Market, or a Southern Hemisphere Common Market -- not only in the blueprint stage, but to be concretely realized and put into practice. It is possible, feasible, and the sensible thing to do, no matter how difficult it may seem. I am firmly convinced that the concept of Common Markets can achieve the fair and equitable globalization that humanity aspires to, while letting the current Apartheid globalization movement die a natural death.
11. The Third World must call for a rebirth of the United Nations as the true heart of international law, an institution working for peace with justice. International courts of justice must be given the power and the resources to deal with crimes against humanity, irrespective of who commits them -- and including those committed by the U.S. in Iraq, and by Israel in Palestine.
12. The Third World must collectively sponsor a UN resolution calling for the respect of democratic electoral choices made by peoples of Latin America and the Middle East.
13. The Third World must call for an end to the high concentration of Western media ownership in the hands of few rich and powerful families; the manipulation of American media by the American government; the marginalization of the cultures of billions of people in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Arab and the Muslim Worlds; and the genocide of indigenous cultures, especially in the Americas and in Palestine.
14. Fostering the current globalization model will serve only to perpetuate an increasingly selfish and greedy world. It is therefore incumbent on all of us to reintroduce collective fair and equitable values that will sustain and nourish the seeds of the future. This is a duty which rests upon all of the world's citizens; their governments, their political parties, their NGOs, their charities, their professionals, and their cultural leaders.