WWW.IFG.ORG
THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION (IFG) is a North-South research and educational institution composed of leading activists, economists, scholars, and researchers providing analyses and critiques on the cultural, social, political, and environmental impacts of economic globalization. Formed in 1994, the IFG came together out of shared concern that the world's corporate and political leadership was rapidly restructuring global politics and economics on a level that was as historically significant as any period since the Industrial Revolution. Yet there was almost no discussion or even recognition of this new "free market," or "neoliberal" model, or of the institutions and agreements enforcing this system—the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other such bureaucracies. In response, the IFG began to stimulate new thinking, joint activity and public education about this rapidly rising economic paradigm.
THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION (IFG) is a North-South research and educational institution composed of leading activists, economists, scholars, and researchers providing analyses and critiques on the cultural, social, political, and environmental impacts of economic globalization. Formed in 1994, the IFG came together out of shared concern that the world's corporate and political leadership was rapidly restructuring global politics and economics on a level that was as historically significant as any period since the Industrial Revolution. Yet there was almost no discussion or even recognition of this new "free market," or "neoliberal" model, or of the institutions and agreements enforcing this system—the World Trade Organization (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other such bureaucracies. In response, the IFG began to stimulate new thinking, joint activity and public education about this rapidly rising economic paradigm.
Unique in its diversity, depth, and breadth, the IFG works through an active international board of key citizen movement leaders; a small, dedicated staff; and a network of hundreds of associates representing regions throughout the world on a broad spectrum of issues. Our work is closely linked to social justice and environmental movements, providing them with critical thinking and frameworks that inform campaigns and activities "on the ground."
The IFG produces numerous publications; organizes high-profile, large public events; hosts many issue-specific seminars; coordinates press conferences and media interviews at international events; and participates in many other activities that focus on the myriad consequences of globalization. During the last few years, the IFG has launched a pioneering program that focuses on alternative visions and policies to globalization that are more just, equitable, democratic, accountable, and sustainable for people and the planet.
The IFG produces numerous publications; organizes high-profile, large public events; hosts many issue-specific seminars; coordinates press conferences and media interviews at international events; and participates in many other activities that focus on the myriad consequences of globalization. During the last few years, the IFG has launched a pioneering program that focuses on alternative visions and policies to globalization that are more just, equitable, democratic, accountable, and sustainable for people and the planet.
POSITION STATEMENT
The International Forum on Globalization (IFG) promotes equitable, democratic, and ecologically sustainable economies.We were formed in response to widespread concerns over economic globalization, a process dominated by international institutions and agreements unaccountable to democratic processes or national governments. Speaking the language of "free-trade" and poverty alleviation, organizations like the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank impose a development model which seems designed to benefit transnational corporations over workers; foreign investors over local businesses; and wealthy countries over developing nations. When the IFG first presented its globalization critique a decade ago, the economic globalization model was widely accepted. Today, the institutions of globalization are undergoing a crisis of legitimacy. Corporate scandals such as Enron and Worldcom, the failures of IMF and World Bank policies and programs, the recent break down of WTO negotiations, and other events reveal that the benefits of globalization that were promised by its advocates have not come to fruition.
The International Forum on Globalization (IFG) promotes equitable, democratic, and ecologically sustainable economies.We were formed in response to widespread concerns over economic globalization, a process dominated by international institutions and agreements unaccountable to democratic processes or national governments. Speaking the language of "free-trade" and poverty alleviation, organizations like the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank impose a development model which seems designed to benefit transnational corporations over workers; foreign investors over local businesses; and wealthy countries over developing nations. When the IFG first presented its globalization critique a decade ago, the economic globalization model was widely accepted. Today, the institutions of globalization are undergoing a crisis of legitimacy. Corporate scandals such as Enron and Worldcom, the failures of IMF and World Bank policies and programs, the recent break down of WTO negotiations, and other events reveal that the benefits of globalization that were promised by its advocates have not come to fruition.
Even the policy consensus that governed development thinking during most of the past two decades, the so-called Washington Consensus, has broken up with notable "defectors" such as former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz and the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University Jeffrey Sachs. From conservative circles, the Meltzer Commission, along with Walter Wriston, Henry Kissinger, and William Simon also have issued strong critiques against Bretton Woods institutions.
But perhaps the greatest indictment against globalization is the unprecedented global citizen movement that has emerged during the last decade, demonstrating that the benefits of globalization have gone to the few at the exclusion of many. This extraordinary alliance brings together numerous diverse groups and perspectives — union members, farmers, landless peasants, people of faith, women's organizations, youth organizations, environmentalists, AIDS and other health activists, politicians, civil servants, immigrants, peace and human rights organizations, intellectuals, consumer advocates, and many others. While promoters of globalization proclaim that this model is the rising tide that will lift all boats, citizen movements find that it is instead lifting only yachts. In fact, the actual beneficiaries are obvious. In the United States, for example, during the period of the most rapid economic globalization — the 1990s — the top corporate executives of the largest global companies made salaries and gained options in the tens of millions of dollars (often in the hundreds of millions), while real wages of ordinary workers either remained stagnant or rose insignificantly.
The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) reports that American CEOs were paid an average of 458 times more than production workers in 2000, up from 104 times in 1991. The degree of wealth concentration of the world's 475 billionaires is now worth the combined income of the bottom half of humanity. Meanwhile, the United Nations Development Program's 1999 Human Development Report revealed that the gap between the wealthy and the poor both within and between countries is growing steadily larger. It notes inequities of the current global trading system as one of the key contributors to this trend. Even the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concurred. In its Global Trends 2015 report, issued in 2000, the CIA maintained that globalization will create "an even wider gap between regional winners and losers than exists today. [Globalization's] evolution will be rocky, marked by chronic volatility and a widening economic divide…deepening economic stagnation, political instability, and cultural alienation. [It] will foster political, ethnic, ideological, and religious extremism, along with the violence that often accompanies it."
All over the world, evidence points to the failure of globalization and the so-called "free trade" policies of the last decade - loss of jobs and livelihoods, displacement of indigenous peoples, massive immigration, rapid environmental devastation and loss of biodiversity, increases in poverty and hunger, and many additional negative effects.
IFG PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES
IFG PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES are dedicated to examining the myriad effects of globalization and to promoting diverse solutions to the current model.We advocate alternative visions and economic policies based on the following principles:
LIVING DEMOCRACY: Democratic and accountable regional and/or international institutions that do not disempower or undermine sovereignty of communities and nation-states.
But perhaps the greatest indictment against globalization is the unprecedented global citizen movement that has emerged during the last decade, demonstrating that the benefits of globalization have gone to the few at the exclusion of many. This extraordinary alliance brings together numerous diverse groups and perspectives — union members, farmers, landless peasants, people of faith, women's organizations, youth organizations, environmentalists, AIDS and other health activists, politicians, civil servants, immigrants, peace and human rights organizations, intellectuals, consumer advocates, and many others. While promoters of globalization proclaim that this model is the rising tide that will lift all boats, citizen movements find that it is instead lifting only yachts. In fact, the actual beneficiaries are obvious. In the United States, for example, during the period of the most rapid economic globalization — the 1990s — the top corporate executives of the largest global companies made salaries and gained options in the tens of millions of dollars (often in the hundreds of millions), while real wages of ordinary workers either remained stagnant or rose insignificantly.
The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) reports that American CEOs were paid an average of 458 times more than production workers in 2000, up from 104 times in 1991. The degree of wealth concentration of the world's 475 billionaires is now worth the combined income of the bottom half of humanity. Meanwhile, the United Nations Development Program's 1999 Human Development Report revealed that the gap between the wealthy and the poor both within and between countries is growing steadily larger. It notes inequities of the current global trading system as one of the key contributors to this trend. Even the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concurred. In its Global Trends 2015 report, issued in 2000, the CIA maintained that globalization will create "an even wider gap between regional winners and losers than exists today. [Globalization's] evolution will be rocky, marked by chronic volatility and a widening economic divide…deepening economic stagnation, political instability, and cultural alienation. [It] will foster political, ethnic, ideological, and religious extremism, along with the violence that often accompanies it."
All over the world, evidence points to the failure of globalization and the so-called "free trade" policies of the last decade - loss of jobs and livelihoods, displacement of indigenous peoples, massive immigration, rapid environmental devastation and loss of biodiversity, increases in poverty and hunger, and many additional negative effects.
IFG PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES
IFG PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES are dedicated to examining the myriad effects of globalization and to promoting diverse solutions to the current model.We advocate alternative visions and economic policies based on the following principles:
LIVING DEMOCRACY: Democratic and accountable regional and/or international institutions that do not disempower or undermine sovereignty of communities and nation-states.
SUBSIDIARITY—FAVORING THE LOCAL: Rules and structures that consciously favor local control over issues that have local consequences; a model of subsidiarity that recognizes the inherent democratic right to self-determination and self-reliance. In regard to trade agreements and institutions, the IFG supports fair trade based on a framework that favors local production for local consumption, supplemented by long-distance trade for those goods and services that cannot be supplied regionally.
ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY: Environmental protection, sustainability and biodiversity are keystones of any viable economy. The current globalization system contributes to rapid destruction of the environment in a variety of ways: through vast increases in transportation infrastructure and fossil-fuel based transport, excessive resource extraction, harmful industrial agriculture methods, and other myriad problems intrinsic to globalization.
COMMON HERITAGE: Equitable sharing of common resources such as water, air, forests and other natural resources; recognizing that culture and knowledge are collective creations of communities and regions; and promoting the right of everyone to "modern" common resources that address basic needs such as healthcare and education.
DIVERSITY: Cultural, ethnic, religious and economic diversity are key to the vitality, resilience, and innovative capacity of any living system and must be respected.
HUMAN RIGHTS: It is the duty of governments to not only ensure civil and political rights, but also to guarantee economic, social, and cultural rights.
JOBS AND LIVELIHOODS: Sustainable societies must protect the rights of workers in the formal sector and address the livelihood needs of the greater numbers of people who subsist in what has become known as the informal sector.
FOOD SECURITY AND SAFETY: Local self-reliance in food production and assurance of healthful, safe foods should be central to any economic model. Current trade policies undermine local food security by emphasizing an import-export model, making people dependent on food sources thousands of miles away.
EQUITY: Social justice and greater equality—among nations; within nations; between and among ethnic, cultural and religious groups, classes, and men and women—are cornerstones of sustainable societies.
THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE: All economic regulatory activity should abide by the Precautionary Principle which states that when a practice or product raises potentially significant threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary action should be taken to restrict or eliminate it.
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ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY: Environmental protection, sustainability and biodiversity are keystones of any viable economy. The current globalization system contributes to rapid destruction of the environment in a variety of ways: through vast increases in transportation infrastructure and fossil-fuel based transport, excessive resource extraction, harmful industrial agriculture methods, and other myriad problems intrinsic to globalization.
COMMON HERITAGE: Equitable sharing of common resources such as water, air, forests and other natural resources; recognizing that culture and knowledge are collective creations of communities and regions; and promoting the right of everyone to "modern" common resources that address basic needs such as healthcare and education.
DIVERSITY: Cultural, ethnic, religious and economic diversity are key to the vitality, resilience, and innovative capacity of any living system and must be respected.
HUMAN RIGHTS: It is the duty of governments to not only ensure civil and political rights, but also to guarantee economic, social, and cultural rights.
JOBS AND LIVELIHOODS: Sustainable societies must protect the rights of workers in the formal sector and address the livelihood needs of the greater numbers of people who subsist in what has become known as the informal sector.
FOOD SECURITY AND SAFETY: Local self-reliance in food production and assurance of healthful, safe foods should be central to any economic model. Current trade policies undermine local food security by emphasizing an import-export model, making people dependent on food sources thousands of miles away.
EQUITY: Social justice and greater equality—among nations; within nations; between and among ethnic, cultural and religious groups, classes, and men and women—are cornerstones of sustainable societies.
THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE: All economic regulatory activity should abide by the Precautionary Principle which states that when a practice or product raises potentially significant threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary action should be taken to restrict or eliminate it.
