UNCTAD, Frantz Fanon, and Global Apartheid

Concerning UNCTAD, one wonders what is more useful -- to apply a
*political-economic* world system analysis (since UNCTAD is about trade and
development) or to apply a *psychological* world system analysis. Frantz
Fanon comes to mind.

REFERENCE:
UNCTAD, Plan of Action, Bangkok, 12-19 February 2000, 52 pages
http://www.unctad-10.org/pdfs/ux_td386.en.pdf

UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) is a champion of
the development of less developed countries and deals with international
trade and finance issues in that context. It has little money and works by
consensus building, data collection and analysis, policy advice, and some
technical assistance.

Frantz Fanon comes to mind when reading the recent plan of action of UNCTAD.
Behind all the political-economic analysis of the document there seems to
lie a fundamental sense of traumatization, victimization, of being
globalized with no help in sight. The plan begs to be interpreted in terms
of the "Black Skin, White Mask" syndrome described by Frantz Fanon.

The "black skin" side of the syndrome refers to the experience of a person
as being "non-white"/"non-Western"/"non-Northern", colonized, oppressed,
exploited, suffering, worthless and knowing it. The "white mask" side of the
syndrome refers to his/her consciousness and behaviour, which has
internalized the worldview, values and norms of the colonizers, and explains
his/her own worthlessness to himself/herself in those terms. As a result
there
is an internal psychological contradiction, a victim's psychology which
prevents the person from articulating his/her true interests and which, on
the colonizers' side, encourages a continuation of neglect, contempt,
oppression and exploitation. In South Africa this syndrome was observable at
a national level under apartheid; it is also observable at a global level
(psychology of global apartheid).

With respect to UNCTAD's plan of action, here is the "Black Skin" side
(traumatization, victimization, awareness of suffereing):
[the numbers refer to the numbered paragraphs of the cited document:]
UNCTAD's Plan of Action includes the following statements:
(#1) globalization creates "serious problems", "instability" and
"marginalization"
(#2) the "social consequences" of the financial crises of the 1990's are
still present
(#4) "there is no automatic process by which the income levels of developing
countries will converge towards those of developed countries"
(#6) "many areas of export interest to developing countries" have not been
suffiently opened, especially, (Northern), "(l)abour markets have not been
opened"
(#14) "The provisions on special and differential treatment in favour of
developing countries contained in these [sc international] Agreements" have
not been "fully implemented"
(#26) "the external environment facing LDCs [sc. least developed countries]
has remained difficult. Their share in world trade remains extremely low . .
 ODA flows . . . have continued to decline, . . . LDCs' external debt
burden continues to be unsustainably high, amounting to about 90 per cent of
their combined GDP"
(#33) "For the HIPCs [sc. heavily indebted poor countries], repeated
reschedulings of bilateral debt in the past have not significantly reduced
the amount of outstanding debt"
(#35) about commitments made at major United Nations conferences: "Many of
these commitments have not yet been fully implemented"
(#50) with regard to the implementation of the WTO Agreements, "most
developing countries consider that certain imbalances and asymmetries exist"
(#55) there is a "lack of equal opportunities for developing countries'
exports in the present system"

The "White Mask" side of the syndrome (internalization of the values and
norms of the colonizers, exploiters) is apparent in the document in
statements like the following:
(#1) Globalization has "opened new opportunities", "offers new perspectives
for integrating developing countries in the world economy"
(#4) "Globalization remains *potentially* a powerful and dynamic force for
growth and development"
(#6) "liberalization *can* improve the international competitiveness of
developing countries and promote growth" (my emphasis)

The psychology of victimization entails that the victim blames
himself/herself for his/her suffering and tries even harder to live up to
the standards of the victimizer. In UNCTAD's plan of action this translates
into numerous provisions for more "analysis" of how less developed countries
could "integrate" better into the globalizing world economy, coupled with
often heard pleas for more ODA, more debt relief, etc.

What the victimized/globalized do not dare to think and say is that they are
being exploited and that money is owed to them. In my calculations, the
non-OECD countries lose 1-2 trillion US dollars per year due to unequal
exchange. (See, Gernot Köhler, on unequal exchange:
http://csf.colorado.edu/wsystems/archive/papers/kohlertoc.htm)
Instead of pleading for a bit more of ODA and begging for more debt relief
and cowtowing to structural adjustment programs, UNCTAD could actually
* demand  *  "money back" -- namely, 1 to 2 trillion dollars per annum. This
is LDC money which is withheld (stolen) from them due to the economic
mechanics of the world system. In order to make such a demand, UNCTAD would
have to break out of, and emancipate itself from, the "Black Skin/White
Mask" syndrome described by Frantz Fanon.


My apologies for sending three posts in three days. This is the last of a
series of three.

Gert Kohler
Oakville, Canada