PCDForum Column #67, Release Date January 25, 1994
by Herman E. Daly
Most public discussions of free trade treat “protectionism” as a dirty word. The recent debates on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and current debates on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) are a case in point. Protectionism to economists usually means […]
PCDForum Column #69, Release Date February 1, 1994
by Willis W. Harman
Most of the debates on how best to address global problems such as
environmental degradation, climate-change, the punctured ozone layer, and
poverty fail to see them as symptoms of a more fundamental systemic condition.
We would easily see the absurdity in the situation of a patient who […]
PCDForum Column #50, Release Date June 25, 1993
by Vandana Shiva
While gender subordination and patriarchy are the oldest of oppressions,
they have taken on new and more violent forms through the project of
development. Through its appropriation and destruction of the natural resource
base this project has systematically removed from women’s management and control
the land, water and forest […]
PCDForum Column #54, Release Date June 25, 1993
by William E. Rees and Mark Roseland
Developing sustainable communities will require an unprecedented emphasis on
reducing urban sprawl and its unsustainable consequences. Such an effort must
simultaneously create more efficient use of urban space, reduced consumption of
material and energy resources, improved community livability, and improved
administrative and planning processes capable […]
Adapted by the PCDForum from Bishan Singh’s Column in:
Tuesday, August 10, 1993, The Sun
by Bishan Singh
We know that territorial colonialism has almost ended. But a
new colonialism of a more insidious and pervasive kind–economic colonization through
global market integration–is
flourishing. The new colonizing
powers are not nation states, but
rather gigantic corporations with
no national allegiance. The collapse of the […]
PCDForum Column #46, Release Date April 10, 1993
by Vandana Shiva
Often it is the voice of the people that calls attention to the
environmental costs of mal-development long before official agencies acknowledge
a problem. Peasant women were the first to voice concern over Himalayan
deforestation. Housewives at Love Canal first protested against the health
effects of dumping toxic waste. […]
PCDForum Column #58, Release Date September 1, 1993
by Stephen Viederman
Most discussions of sustainable development overlook a simple human reality:
the environment is the basis for all life and all production. It is not just
another special interest competing for attention. It is the playing field on
which all interests compete. This reality puts in perspective the substantial
body […]
What if the business elites of the world had joined in preparing a master plan to consolidate their
power and render democracy impotent? What actions might their advisors have counseled?
MEMORANDUM
December 1, 1983
TO: International Business Roundtable Members
FROM: Harry Winters, Staff Economist
SUBJECT: The Next Phase: The Uruguay Round of GATT
The Roundtable’s leadership council has decided it is time to
initiate the new […]
PCDForum Article #2, Release Date April 14, 1993
by Walden Bello
The Asia Pacific region currently lives with a basic contradiction. One
nation, the United States, is militarily supreme, while another, Japan, is
economically dominant. While this situation poses a serious threat to the
region’s stability, it also offers an opportunity to create a new order built on
demilitarization and respect […]
PCDForum Column #47, Release Date April 15, 1993
by Paul Wangoola
Many African NGOs are concluding that Africa’s survival depends on delinking
from the white dominated global market economy to create an African family
economy based on local, national, and pan-African self-reliance. Beginning with
the plunder of the slave trade and colonialism and extending through the
post-independence era of "aid," […]