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This excerpt was taken from the introduction to the new US War Resisters League
booklet on militarism and globalisation examines both the evolution of the
dominant economic system and the roots of the contemporary struggle for economic
justice.
Military violence and economic exploitation
Chris Ney
The relationship between military violence and economic exploitation is not new
nor is it limited to modern capitalist economics. The dynamic was present in the
former Communist societies and it was present before industrial capitalism
developed.
Many have argued that globalisation began more than five hundred years ago when
the Europeans first sent their armies to the New World. The conquest of the
Americas (and subsequent subjugation of Africa and Asia) produced fantastic wealth
for the imperialist countries of Europe, and death, destruction and unimaginable
suffering for the indigenous peoples of the conquered territories. Military
domination and commercial exploitation developed side by side as the imperialist
nations extended their conquest and occupation around the globe. Despite the end of
traditional colonialism in the post-World War Two era, the economic and military
dynamics have remained.
Forces of neo-colonialism
In the 1960s, African independence leader Kwame Nkrumah decried the forces of
neo-colonialism that placed economic control of the former colonies in global
institutions while granting formal political control to local elites. Latin American
scholars developed dependency theory, arguing that underdevelopment is not
part of a process that leads to social advancement, rather it is a process that drains
natural and human resources from poorer nations to the benefit of the richer
nationsa process similar to traditional or formal colonialism.
Today, in the aftermath of the Cold War and the collapse of communism, global
capitalism has taken on new manifestations around the world. The North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), established in 1994 by Mexico, the United States,
and Canada, may be a precursor to the kind of economic and political relationships
among nations that might one day cover the world.
The end of history
Champions of the free market proclaimed the end of history when liberal
democracy and capitalism emerged victorious in the struggle against communism.
Right-wing political leaders were equally ideological, proclaiming there is no
alternative (or TINA in shorthand). But around the world, the triumph of capital has
not led to a more benevolent state but to governments focused on social control.
Unencumbered corporate movement is accompanied by increasing restrictions on
immigration and a rise in ethnic prejudice and violence. While this pattern is most
obvious in nations ruled by military dictatorship, the states role in social control is
also manifest in the liberal democracies, most notably in the increase in police
brutality and dramatic expansion of prisons.
War and economic injustice
The War Resisters League has a long-established and well-known history of resisting
violence and opposing militarism in all its forms. The founders of WRL, who had
rallied in support of those brave few who resisted conscription during the First
World War, were pacifists, suffragists and socialists. Their earliest pledge was not to
support any war and to strive toward the removal of wars causes, including
economic exploitation. WRL members and other pacifists were among the earliest US
supporters of Gandhis anti-colonial struggle in India and of Martin Luther King Jrs
campaign to end government imposed segregation in the United States. Both
movements employed nonviolent direct action as an effective tool for political
struggle and personal transformation; both movements also focused attention on the
economic roots of violence and discrimination.
Creating creative tension
The movement against globalisation owes a great debt to those earlier justice
movements, following most closely, perhaps, the tradition of King, who wrote that
the power of nonviolence is to create a situation of creative tension in an unjust
status quo so that the injustice might be corrected. The protests that have followed
the institutions of globalisation around the world have created that situation of
creative tension: Whereas these institutions were once able to conduct their business
away from the spotlight of public attention, today they must contend with a better
informed and aroused public. People who live in the industrialised nations of the
global North have become aware of the impact of globalisation for the people of the
global South. IMF-imposed structural adjustment programmes, now the leading
condition for loans and international aid, demand that poor nations cut education
and health care spending, reduce social services, and shred the social safety net.
Inevitably, these policies lead to increased poverty, a widening gap between rich and
poor and deeper indebtedness. The resulting protest and instability often lead to
increased repression and militarisation of the state. The links between militarism and
economic exploitation continue.
The Gandhian way
While the protests against corporate-dominated globalisation have used nonviolence
to great effect as a consciousness-raising tool, the traditions of nonviolence may also
be the source of some of the solutions to the current problem of global greed and
exploitation. During the Indian struggle for independence, Gandhi emphasised that
his approach to nonviolence was 10 percent protest and 90 percent positive
programme. He recognised that India could not be truly free if it remained
economically dependent on Britain or any other nation. Moreover, formal political
freedom meant nothing to the majority of Indians whose basic economic needs were
unmet. Gandhis positive program included economic development based on Indias
village system: low-technology production, local control, and self-sufficiency. While
it may stretch the imagination to apply principles that were developed for a rural
agrarian society to more complex industrial and post-industrial societies, the
principles that currently lead the world economy are the precise opposite of those
Gandhi advocated.
Information about the War Resisters League packet on militarism and globalisation
an excellent resource for antimilitarist activists, both in the US and world-wide is
available on p31.
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