Re: A fairer distribution of the benefits of globalization

[more critique of Paul's economic reductionist win-win position. You are
forgetting when people specialize, they are in competition with other
specialists for the same item in globalized contexts.  These globalized
contexts lead to a sitaution where the buyer sets the rules of the game
almost entirely, while the sellers compete with each other. Thus, instead
of considering globalization an 'different' opening and a competitive
context, consider that it is a closing, a consolidating context that
demotes geographic representation of populations (called democracy)--with a
high degree of debt severance holding the trade lines of specialization
together.]


The Communist Victory in Moldova: a Predicted Surprise (english) 
by Flavio Cardone 8:07am Fri Mar 30 '01 
fcardone@chez.com 

Written by a former diplomat, the article sketches events in Moldova, where
a few weeks ago the Communist Party won more than two thirds of the seats
in Parliament and analyses the reasons for the victory 

The Communist Victory in Moldova: a predicted surprise 

On 25 February, voters went to the polls to choose the new Moldovan
Parliament, which will elect the next President. The results show that the
Party of the Communists of the Republic of Moldova (PCRM) achieved an
overwhelming victory, and will have 58 of the 76 seats of the next
Parliament, while the runner-up, the Popular Christian Democratic Party
(PCDP) ­ so aligned to the West that its emblem features the blue
background and starred circle of the European Union and a figure resembling
the Statue of Liberty ­ only managed to achieve nine seats. The PCRM will
therefore be able to govern undisturbed for the next few years. Some
analysts were very surprised at the results, dismayed that voters of a
country that less than ten years ago did not even exist, a former Soviet
Socialist Republic (SSR), voluntarily chose to return to Communism.
However, given the situation of Moldova, it is not surprising at all, and
was actually very predictable, if not inevitable. 

Moldova itself had never been an independent country until the dismantling
of the Soviet Union. It had always been part of Romania (or vice-versa);
the old Principality of Moldavia comprised a larger region, which today is
in Romanian territory. With the Second World War, the Soviet Union took a
large piece of Romania, a small part of the Ukraine east of the Dniester
river, added them up, and created the Moldovan SSR. Landlocked Moldova,
following independence, faced dismal conditions. At first, there was much
hope in the new capitalist system, and the first elections were won by the
Agrarian Party, reflecting the agricultural prevalence of the country. It
was a time when the political composition of the country changed quite
often, as the experiment with democracy was still very new. Later, the
situation stabilized, and in the next elections the PCDP had a partial
majority. However, as in many former Soviet Republics, the living
conditions, under unfettered capitalism, rapidly deteriorated, and people
longed for the old days. 

Among all the old SSR’s, Moldova is one of the countries which faces the
most problems: it has two separatist movements ­ the Gagauz, of Turkish
origin, in the South, who now exchanged their claims to independence for a
high degree of autonomy, and Transdniester, the area which was part of the
Ukraine before the Second World War, which has a Russian majority, issues
its own currency, claims to have a separate government and warrants the
presence of Russian troops in the region to ensure stability. Furthermore,
the opening of the market and the competition with Western products
destroyed local industry, which in a textbook international division of
labour scenario (in which in an unrestricted market, a poor country does
not produce anything which requires extensive scientific research) made
sure that Moldova specialized in low-technology and labour-intensive
products: food, wine and tobacco. Following again the most predictable
consequences of the division of labour, the deterioration of the terms of
exchange, that is, the rising cost of the technology-intensive products in
terms of labour-intensive ones, made sure that Moldova became even poorer. 

This is a classic International Monetary Fund (IMF) prescription: if a
country opens completely its markets and allows all imports, the consumer
[i.e, the corporation doing the buying] will gain, because he will have
access to the best products everywhere, cheap American or European
electronics, and cheap local foodstuffs. The prescription, says the IMF,
must be followed so that the IMF can lend money for infrastructure, because
the prescription ensures stability and therefore repayment of debt. Of
course there are side effects: it generates huge transfers of money to the
IMF ­ loans are not cheap ­ and to the exporters of the
technology-intensive products; it also makes the consumer very poor, and he
ends up not being able to afford anything which is now offered to him. The
infrastructure ­ what the IMF money was financing ­ crumbles down because
all the funds are used to repay the debts. 

In 1996, 30% of Moldova’s foreign loans were with the IMF . The
consequences were catastrophic: the fertility rate is below two per couple
, as few people can now afford to care for their children, and even married
couples, for economy, live with their parents. The steady decline of the
population is also caused by massive emigration (compare the population
decline of 0.2% to the decline in labour force of 15.3% , and the large
female to male ratio in the population ­ it is usually men who emigrate).
While both the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the Gross National Product
(GNP) per capita grew respectively, in the last ten years of Communism, by
3.0 and 2.5% , the first ten years of capitalism made these indicators
decrease by 11.3 and 6.8% . The GNP per capita fell from 690 US$ in 1995 to
370 US$ in 1999 . Industry declined by 25.6% in 1998, agriculture by 17.1%
in 1999 . According to the CIA factbook, 75% of the population lives under
the poverty line. The indebtment with the IMF continues to grow, however,
as the interest charges add up: in 1998 , the total debt was 60.5% of the
GDP (20.9% of exports as interest), and the debt as percentage of exports
was 104.7%. The three figures, in 1999 , had gone up to 81.4%, 25.3% and
137.9%. Consequently, everything indicates that Moldova has now contracted
debt that it cannot pay and which, as in all cases of usury, leaves the
life of the debtor in the hands of the creditor. 

It is no surprise, therefore, that the PCRM has secured an overwhelming
majority in parliament. All standards of living were better in the days of
the Soviet Union. While in those days people had to wait years to be able
to rent a flat, at least they could hope to eventually have one. Old people
had pensions that enabled them to live poorly, while today these pensions
are blatantly insufficient for sheer survival. Insecurity is rampant ­
because the difference between worker and employer is so great, people are
very afraid to lose their jobs, which happens nonetheless because of the
recession. The education and health structures, however precarious,
somewhat worked, while now they suffer from lack of funds. 

One should also note that the reversion to Communism is not a trend to be
found solely in Moldova: in Romania, in the latest presidential elections,
the run-off ballot was between Corneliu Vadim Tudor, of the Party of Great
Romania ­ distinctly right wing and xenophobic ­ and Ion Iliescu, who won
the vote, a former Communist and, at present, member of the
Social-Democratic Party. Also in Belarus the memory of the old days
attracted many voters, and therefore the government distinctly aligned
itself with Russia, engaging in military agreements and shunning the West.
Other countries did not follow this trend ­ Poland, Hungary and the Baltic
States, to name a few, are decidedly Western and the first two should soon
join the European Union (EU). 

The EU, however, does not advocate unfettered capitalism as the IMF does.
In the EU, the workers have much protection, there are left-wing
governments with, as in the Italian case, Communist participation. Health
care and education are free. Therefore, although generating a large system
change, adapting one’s country to EU standards is more palatable to the
population and does not create the social rupture that adherence to the
IMF’s pure capitalist system does. In Poland, for instance, overall
standards of living have improved. While old people have the usual problems
with pensions, which in all former Communist countries decreased in
purchasing power, the workers are better off than they were before. The
social fabric was not torn apart, and although strained, managed to remain
cohesive. 

Romania unfortunately is now famous for the huge numbers of children who
live in the streets of its capital. But its Communist dictatorship was in a
way atypical, and imposed very low standards of living than those at
present. However, the fear of poverty, the longing for a more stable past,
ensured the Social-Democratic victory. Moldova was too small, and very ill
equipped to face the competition with the rich countries. Soon, the initial
enthusiasm with capitalism petered out. When the population realized that,
in spite of all the Western propaganda to the contrary, they were actually
much worse than before, they decided to return to Communism. 

In Western countries, capitalism is too emmeshed in our lives. It has
already grown in the social body, and its outright elimination does not
seem, at present, feasible. The interests which control our governments are
now too great and too powerful to be challenged, and they have already
secured the means to ensure that their objectives will be fulfilled in any
case ­ as shown in the latest US presidential election. Moldavia, however,
did not have a capitalist history. It was an implant barely ten years old.
It was patently not working and removing it would not wreck havoc with
people’s lives ­ they had been quite used to living under Communism.
Capitalism ­ it is said ­ contains itself the seeds of its destruction. The
results of the elections in Moldova show that pure capitalism ­ IMF style ­
is of such destructive force that a population that can do so, will reject
it as alien to human solidarity. In our case, however much we may try to
change the system, it has become part of our nature, as we have always
lived with it. It is only by changing our very own nature that we will be
able to achieve concrete results in our own societies. 

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                    Two Moldovan women arrested for selling human remains
(english) 
                    by The Associated Press 7:23pm Sat Mar 31 '01

                              CHISISNAU, Moldova (AP) Two women have been
arrested in impoverished Moldova for selling
                              meat that tests revealed to be human remains,
police and Interior Ministry officials reported
                              Saturday. 

                    A customer reported the women to police Friday after
buying the meat, which they were selling in plastic bags outside a
                    butcher's shop in downtown Chisinau, said the
officials, who refused to be identified. 

                    The women, whose names were not released, told police
that they acquired the meat from a state cancer clinic in
                    Chisinau. 

                    Police said they did not want to immediately make an
official statement because they did not want to create public
                    panic. 

                    Moldova, a former Soviet Republic, is among the poorest
countries in Europe, with an average monthly salary of just
                    $30. Many of the 4.5 million inhabitants, especially in
rural areas, are paid in crops and other objects. 

                    http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20010331_639.html