Wealth and power cannot exist if other people do not die, if people do not suffer in powerlessness and poverty and without dignity.... First World, the wealthy countries, cover up the greatest scandal in this world, which is the world itself. The existence of two-thirds , of humankind dying in poverty is covered up.
The new world order is ruled primarily by two global police forces: a military force dominated by the United States, and an economic force controlled by the United States and other Western powers. The "global economic cop" is the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which works closely with private Western banks and the World Bank to guide the international economy in preferred directions. Neither of these "global cops" is new, but their power has grown considerably within the framework of a new world order. Together they ensure a continuous transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.
The poor can rightfully protest police brutality at the hands of these "global cops" and their allies within third-world countries. The poor are victims of structural violence and injustice within the old order and the new. They are victimized not once, but twice. First, they are casualties of injustice within their own nations, because most third-world leaders organize economic and human resources to enhance the power and privilege of internal elites. Second, they are victims of injustice within the global economy, which is structured by Western countries to drain wealth from underdeveloped countries to themselves. This amounts to a double dose of exploitation for the third-world poor. They are marginalized within their own societies, and they are impoverished by an unjust international order that serves the needs of external elites.
The poor, in stark contrast to the rich, are denied access to housing, health care, education, and adequate nutrition. They have little economic power and even less political clout. The poor lack political power, and therefore they are unable to shape public policies to redistribute wealth-producing resources or to fund education, health care, potable water, sewers, housing, and roads that will meet their needs.
One problem with free trade is that the international market economy is dominated by multinational corporations and banks. These groups, which pursue and defend specific interests, are directly and indirectly responsible for the misery and deaths of millions of third-world people. Most underdeveloped countries depend on revenues from a few export commodities to finance development. These commodities, according to the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice, are often "sold on world markets where prices are set in U.S. dollars under conditions of very imperfect competition." Markets for most primary commodities are "dominated by a few corporations." Poor countries are selling their commodities in "markets where many sellers face only a few powerful buyers.''
Phrases such as the "new colonialism" and "contemporary recolonization" are synonyms for the new world order in which the IMF plays the role of global economic cop.
The structural roots of massive third-world poverty testify to the need for a radical break with both old and new orders of the dominant powers. An authentically new world order would condemn both the command economies dominated by elite bureaucratic parties and the international market economy dominated by national and international elites. It would also dismantle the economic policing powers of the International Monetary Fund...
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