GLOBALISATION

ZNET: Confronting Empire by Arundhati Roy
"The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they
are
selling - their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their
weapons,
their notion of inevitability."
--
I've been asked to speak about "How to confront Empire?" It's a huge
question, and I have no easy answers. When we speak of confronting
"Empire," we need to identify what "Empire" means. Does it mean the
U.S. Government (and its European satellites), the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and multinational
corporations? Or is it something more than that? In many countries,
Empire has sprouted other subsidiary heads, some dangerous byproducts -
nationalism, religious bigotry, fascism and, of course terrorism. All
these march arm in arm with the project of corporate globalization. Let me
illustrate what I mean. India - the world's biggest democracy - is
currently at the forefront of the corporate globalization project. Its
"market" of one billion people is being prized open by the WTO.
Corporatization and Privatization are being welcomed by the Government
and the Indian elite.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.


—Arundhati Roy

Porto Alegre, Brazil

January 27, 2003

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