FYI, a forward. TR
>
>Subject: 200 Companies Control the World
>Date: Wed, 30 Apr 97 10:49:28 CDT
>From: "Jagdish Parikh" <jagdish@igc.apc.org>
>
>(WNR Editorial 28-4-97) heiko@easynet.co.uk
>
>WNR Editorial 200 Companies Control the World
>
> Le Monde Diplomatique for April 97 reported the latest research into
> the incredible pace of the concentration of Capital. This is leading
> to what Le Monde calls a "A Global Government of the Multinationals".
>
>It reports that, Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union have been
>"colonised" in the name of "the glories of the <free market>" and
>that, inspite of 41 million unemployed in the advanced capitalist
>countries, "the manufacturing industries worldwide (excepting those of
>China) only operate at 70-75% of their capacity". "The top 200
>companies are conglomerates whose planetary activity cover all sectors
>without distinction, the primary, secondary and tertiary, the grand
>agricultural exploiters, the manufacturers, financial services,
>commerce, etc. Geographically they are divided between ten countries:
>Japan (62), the United States (53), Germany (23), France (19), Britain
>(11), Switzerland (8), South Korea (6), Italy (5) and the Low
>Countries (1)." Their turnover at 7,850 trillion dollars was equal to
>30% of world GNP in 1995. Le Monde Diplomatique explains that in
>reality the concentration is even greater than the figures indicate.
>For example the world's number one company Mitsubishi owns five
>companies in the top 200. Their empire pays 37% of the funds of the
>Liberal Democratic Party of Japan thus completely corrupting the
>political system. In South Korea, 6 of whose companies leapt into the
>top 200 between 1985 and 1995, Daewoo the largest, now has a turnover
>of over $ 52 billion (US), ahead of Unilever and Nestle. The largest
>30 company groups in South Korea have a turnover over 4/5ths of the
>country's GNP. These companies support the, "ruthlessly repression of
>the working class and the liquidation of the rights of the
>individual", says the report. Such dictatorial concepts pervade in the
>older centres of world capital as well. The Director General of
>Nestle, Helmut Maucher presides over the European Round Table of
>Industrialists, the elite club of 47 companies. "An implacable
>opponent of the European Social Chapter, he is an militant fighter for
>the flexibility of work, like all the members of this caste". Le Monde
>Diplomatique explains that the "Global Government of the
>Multinationals" is run by "Totalitarian Structures". This latest
>evidence of the increasing concentration of wealth and their
>dictatorial hold on political and economic life, comes after the
>shocking United Nations Human Development Report 1996. This revealed
>that, "the assets of the world's 358 billionaires exceed the combined
>annual incomes of countries with 45% of the world's people." (p2) The
>UN Report showed that the idea that, "the only way to finance growth
>would be by channelling the initial benefits into the pockets of rich
>capitalists"...has ..." been disproved by recent evidence of a
>positive correlation between economic growth and income
>equality"...(p6) If there is not a radical shift towards
>egalitarianism and control of the major corporations in the interests
>of working people, then the predictions of the UN, of a "world
>gargantuan in its excesses and grotesque in its human and economic
>inequalities", will become a terrible reality. Trade Unionists and
>Socialists worldwide must make it their responsibility to combine
>together through computer networks which will link the unions in the
>largest 200 companies together. In this way we can act to defend the
>workers, protect the environment and the consumers. Unions monitoring
>the activities of these companies will be able to shatter their
>"Totalitarian Structures", establishing in their place direct
>democratic control over decision making processes through worldwide
>workers' councils.
>
>(WNR Editorial 28-4-97) heiko@easynet.co.uk
>
>
>