Larry Elliott (Guardian Unltd): Policy made on the road to perdition

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Monday October 13

Policy made on the road to perdition
By Larry Elliott

There was a wonderful moment at the recent Cancun meeting where the government wheeled out ministers from Britain's former colonies at a press conference. The hope was that Barbados, Ghana and Malawi would show gratitude for what the old mother country was doing on their behalf to tear down global trade barriers.
It was patronising and embarrassing, or at least it would have been without the intervention of Sam Mpasu, Malawi's commerce and industry minister. Asked for his comments about the benefits of trade liberalisation, Mpasu replied drily: "We have opened our economy. That's why we are flat on our back".
Mpasu's comments encapsulated the gulf in perception and understanding between those who call the shots in globalisation and those who are powerless. The process is shot through with paradoxes: why is it that in a world where human capital is supposed to be the new wealth of nations labour is treated with such contempt? How is it that the G7 can export neo-liberal economic policies to Africa yet the United States would not dream of accepting "structural adjustment" for its own malfunctioning economy? Isn't it strange that if a country like Zambia deviates from its IMF-imposed programme it gets punished, but if France thumbs its nose at the stability and growth pact, nothing happens?
The language of globalisation is all about democracy, free trade and sharing the benefits of technological advance. The reality is about rule by elites, mercantilism and selfishness. As one Guardian reader said last week, perpetuation of the status quo means "the rich nations, and those within rich nations, gaining control over a greater and greater proportion of the world's wealth and becoming increasingly ruthless to retain that control, particularly as resources become stretched, pollution mounts and the number of hungry mouths multiplies".

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