The Corporation
documentary by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan
Great movie! Corporations create the wealth of nations, hence, governments have given them liberty to do what they do best - generate income, lots of it, and as money makes the world go round, some corporations have become stronger than governments. The film examines the legal flaws that have allowed corporations to exert political pressure over governments in developed and developing countries. The creators of the film interview many great minds, who you should know and read, even if you find the ideas of this film too radical.

Gender and Technology:
Lessons from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
It is no surprise to anybody: the introduction of new technologies to reduce drudgery in women's lives and assist with income generation does not solve all problems of gender inequality. The article, Technology and Dynamics of Gender: Insights from UNIFEM's Experience, briefly describes some of the accompanying roadblocks to gender equality and introducing new technologies to communities in developing countries: paternalistic norms, land rights, market linkages, overall macro-economic environment, regulatory environment for the design, introduction and deployment of technologies, and undeveloped 4C's of information and communication technologies (ICT): content (other than English), connection (affordable access), capabilities (training), and control (encouraging women to be more involved in ICT and business).

Look Who's Talking: the US Condemning Human Rights in China
China suspended talks with the US on human rights issues after an announcement that the US will seek a UN Human Rights Commission resolution condemning China's human rights abuses. The US stated that areas of concern included extrajudicial killings, torture, repression of religious and political groups, and arrests of internet dissidents and HIV/Aids activists, reported BBC (China halts rights talks with US). The announcement came after the EU was preparing to consider lifting an arms embargo on China. The US, which has its own embargo in place, is opposed to the EU relaxing its measures.
It is well known that China has a horrible human rights record: remember the Tiananmen Square or Tibet, but why this sudden activity on the part of US? After decades of proliferating economic relations between China and the US, the US is in a bind: thousands of US jobs have relocated to China and the US trade deficit with China has been looming.
That fact that somebody is trying to make China speed up its democratic reforms is commendable but when the call comes from a country applying a double standard, the "true" agenda is being questioned. Over the last 4 years, the US has moved away from being a model for human rights. The Bush administration, using the war on terror as an excuse, has suspended so many civil liberties of its own citizens that some experts say, it will take the courts decades to reinstate civil rights of the pre-9/11 era. Interestingly, an independent US commission is looking into the actions of the US administration related to the 9/11 attacks. The commission was set up in response to allegations of Richard A. Clarke, ex-White House counter-terrorism aide, who accused Bush of ignoring terrorism prior to 9/11. (Watch BBC's interview with Clarke in US officials face 9/11 inquiry).
I wonder what will the commission conclude...

Saddam Could Have Profited From the Food for Oil Program, Duh!
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for an independent inquiry into allegations of fraud and corruption in its oil-for-food programme in Iraq, reported BBC (Annan seeks Iraq 'fraud' inquiry). But those of us that remember well the years between the 2 wars on Iraq by the Bush family know that the food-for-oil program was created not to benefit the people of Iraq but major oil producers.

Frail Democracy for Taiwan
President Chen was re-elected by a fewer of 30,000 votes.
But the controversy surrounding Taiwan's elections continues: first it was the assassination attempt, then China flexed muscles during navy exercises with France (at least this time it didn't fire missiles in direction of the island), now a petition has been filed with a court in to examine the validity of the poll. Mr Lien, leader of the Nationalist Party, said the shooting had unfairly influenced the election and he demanded that the results be annulled, reported the BBC (Taiwan opposition demands recount). The opposition is concerned with the large number of invalid ballots (10 times the narrow difference between the two contenders).
The elections have left the country separated. On one side are Mr Chen and his democratic party, who favour standing up to China and eventual independence. On the other are a large number of people who favour the status quo and are wary of doing anything to upset China, and a smaller group who favour reunification, according to BBC (Taiwan split after vote). The country has rock future. China will not ease out political pressure under which ever the US is backing out of support for Taiwan. Although, the US had been the strongest supporter of the country, economic relationships with China have forced Bush administration's support for the status quo. It is unlikely, that the US will stand up to China and support independence for the island.
Also read posts from March 15th and 19th, and BBC's
Follow up:
Taiwan hit by angry poll protests
Call for talks in Taiwan poll row
Taiwan leader denies vote-rigging
Taiwan to debate recount law
Taiwan court challenge delayed
and the conlusion of the story: Chen declared Taiwan victor

The New Rwanda: Ethnic Cleansing in Sudan
Arab militias raped over 100 women, abducted 150 women and 200 children, and killed over 80 people yesterday in Darfur in western Sudan, reported BBC (Mass rape atrocity in west Sudan). The conflict between the Arabic North, dominating the government, and the animist and Christian black south has existed since the country's independence in 1956 but the conflict has escalated in the last 20 years, reaching its culmination in the past year.
The Arab militias (janjaweed) are armed by the Sudanese government to strike back against the non-Arab population, who were accused of supporting the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). Janjaweed soldiers' salary comes from what they can grab and the promise of land cleared of those now living on it. The government has thus handed the janjaweed a license to terrorise the population of Darfur and given them the means to do so, reported the Observer (Don't breathe a sigh of relief for Sudan just yet).
The UN is comparing the conflict with the Rwandan atrocities. More than 100,000 people have fled across the border into Chad, but have continued to face cross-border raids, continues the BBC. (Also read the Guardian, Sudanese refugees flee killer militias)
This human crisis has remained unnoticed by the world. Only a handful of NGOs are allowed in, with insufficient resources. Village after village is basically being wiped out of the face of the earth, says BBC's Andrew Harding, in the mean time, the world is focused on other agendas: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.

Hours Before Elections: Taiwan's President Was Shot At
President Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President Annette Lu were shot at during a rally. The President received 11cm wound in his stomach and the Vice-President in her knee. President Chen is a proponent of Taiwan's greater independence from China. China sees Taiwan as a breakaway province which should be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary, BBC reported. Needless to say, Chen is not China's favourite in the elections. (For more details on the Taiwan-China recent relationship, review post of March 15.) China has not commented on the assassination.

Developing Countries - Junk Yard for E-waste for the "Civilized" World
Do you ever wonder what happens to your old computer? Despite international conventions, developing countries have long been final destination for first world toxic waste but recently, they've been able to assist developed countries deal with another type of hazardous waste: computer component's. Unbeknownst to most of us, computers contain many hazardous materials that are extremely dangerous for the environment and human health, such as: mercury, arsenic, cobalt, lead, selenium, etc. Read BBC's articles: E-waste rules still being flouted and How to make computers greener to learn more about the issue.

A Story about Protection of Indigenous Species, Emancipation, and Economic Development
This is a story of how Ms. Zoubida Charrouf, Professor in the Science Faculty of Mohamed V. University, in Rabat, Morocco brought to bear more than 15 years of research to establish the country’s first-ever argan oil processing cooperatives. With International Development Research Centre (IDRC) assistance, Professor Charrouf set out to protect the argan forest by improving the processing of argan oil and, in so doing, improve the lives of rural Moroccan women "usually condemned to domestic tasks and illiteracy."

A Modest Proposal: Let's Have Two GDPs
A proposal by a fellow blogger: Arianna Online.
Sustainable development indicators

China Moving Further Away from Communism: Economic and Human Rights Reforms
Karl Marx would not be amused, reported Canadian Globe and Mail (Right to private property enshrined in Chinese constitution). Chinese Parliament voted with overwhelming majority (of course, communists work, think and vote like one) that private property is "inviolable" and must be given constitutional protection. A separate amendment adopts the so-called Three Represents theory of former president Jiang Zemin, which proclaims that all classes of society - including entrepreneurs - should be represented in the Chinese Communist Party. (I thought communism was rule of the masses not the classes!) However, Chinese constitutional provisions, continues the Globe and Mail, are often ignored or never translated into useful measures for ordinary people.
Chinese Parliament also voted a mention of human rights in the constitution for the first time, reading: The state respects and preserves human rights, reported BBC (China endorses private property). But analysts say such a brief mention is ambiguous and makes no mention of political freedom.

China: the Global Trade Pariah
Two economic analyses of the Globe and Mail (Why China's boom is good for all of us
and Where have all the U.S. jobs gone?) explain why China is the new bete noire of global trade. The articles allude that it is not only the US and other developed countries that are suffering, but economies in transition and fragile smaller developing countries are not getting their fair share of manufacturing jobs because of a weak yuan.
If you ask me "blame the yuan" has become a too popular of a song. China is an enormous economy with tremendous potential, its emergence on the global economic scene has forced the rest of the world to start searching for new ways to compete in the global market place. But transitions are always painful and it is easier to put the blame elsewhere and not within ourselves.

Jordan Women
In the month of the woman, we continue with the coverage of gender issues.
UNIFEM's report on the Status of Jordanian Women: Demography, Economic Participation, Political Participation and Violence, showed that while many strides were made to enhance women's rights through improved legislation and greater advocacy, progress will continue to be hampered by gender inequities, Jordan Times reported. That women in the Middle East live in grave inequality is not surprising, what made the news is that this inequality is statistically recorded.
According to the report, physical abuse was 42 per cent of all forms of abuse in 2002. Educated women were however less susceptible to acts of violence, with this segment constituting only 1 per cent of physical abuse victims. Interestingly, while physical aggression decreased from 20 per cent in 1998 to 10 per cent in 2002, the percentage of sexual aggression increased from 61 per cent to about 88 per cent in 2000.
While women's economic activity nearly doubled from 3.3 per cent to 7.7 per cent between 1979 and 2002, their economic participation continues to lag behind that of males. Data shows that women continue to look for jobs longer, their unemployment rate is higher and face discrimination at the workplace. Also, women are largely employed in the sectors of education (41 per cent) and health (18 per cent), and are rarely venturing into other fields.
Although, Jordanian culture is changing slowly, the liberalization is most likely to continue at the same rate: Data found that 45 per cent of parents continue to regard sons as being more important than daughters but more importantly, 37 per cent of the Jodanian youth aged between 10-24 years agree with that attitude.
Read more about the plight of Middle Eastern women: UNIFEM Arab Women Connect

China's Dirty Tricks in Taiwan
On March 20, Taiwanese people will decide whether to continue the love-hate relationship with China and re-elect President Chen Shui-bian or reenact the return of the prodigal son and elect China's lapdog, KMT's candidate, Lien Chan.
China has always considered Taiwan as a rogue province. China and the China friendly Taiwanese opposition have pulled all dirty tricks in the book to sway the election in their favour. China has been accused for sponsoring KMT activities and intimidating the island by holding navy drills with France in the wake of the election. The KMT's election campaign included ads that compare President Chen Shui-bian to Hitler and accuse the current President of disrespect to human rights (as if China is really big on human rights!). Well, the ads were pulled out and the opposition apologized but the calculated move left the images of Chen as Hitler embedded in the minds of ordinary Taiwanese people.
Originally, the plans for March 20 were more ambitious - Taiwan's official name, flag, and territory status were the main topics in the election campaign. But a few weeks before the election, President Chen's speeches contained nuances of "continuing with the status quo" and "keeping the name "Province of China". The only referendum to be held on the 20th is whether to increase military spending to address the growing military threat from China.
Experts predict the election results to be very close. In the deemed unlikely win of the opposition, the independent status of the country could be threatened. With Hong Kong and Taiwan back within its borders, the economic and political might of the world's most populous nation would increase. This would make global efforts to stop China's gross human rights violations even more futile.
Read BBC articles:
China drill before Taiwan poll
Taiwan opposition pulls Hitler ad
Military balance goes against Taiwan
China 'trying to sway' Taiwan vote
Taiwan referendum bill sets stage
Taiwanese flood home for key poll
China's last blast on Taiwan poll

The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
by Hernando de Soto
De Soto's answer is property rights. What is truly remarkable about this book is that the author not only gives a fresh analysis of the every day life in developing countries but also proposes an action plan for addressing the shortfalls of property systems in the developing world. The action plan is based on the experience of now developed nations from over 200 years ago, when they were making their property laws more relevant and effective by incorporating the terms of already established social contracts.
If we don't learn from history, it repeats itself.

Jeffrey Sachs: Millennium Development Goals
An amazing speech by Jeff Sachs, Special Advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Director of the Millennium Project. Check it out!
Read more:
Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Project

Saudi Arabia Women Can Vote in Municipal Elections, if They Are Allowed to
Mr. Saleh al-Malik, a member of Saudi Arabia's non-elected parliament, said that there will be no clause saying that women are not eligible to vote or be elected and anyone aged over 21 would be entitled to vote, reported the Guardian. This means that women will be able to vote in October if their husbands allow them to, as Saudi Arabian women cannot drive, handle money or leave their home unaccompanied by a male relative.
It will take time to change deeply ingrained cultural norms. Saudi women were gradually allowed to hold certain professions, mainly in the educational and medical sphere, and to run their own businesses. Today, about 10% of private businesses are believed to be run by women. This fragile independence led to the unprecedented move last year, when 300 Saudi Arabian women signed a petition calling on the country's Prince to recognize their legal and civil rights.
Women do not vote even in Kuwait, even though the Emir has supported their emancipation. Conservative groups in parliament blocked law changes arguing that women's menstruation could cloud their political judgment.
The municipal elections and the broad law entitling everyone over 21 to vote are unquestionable signs that Saudi Arabia is changing.

Argentina and the IMF
Shortly before the deadline imposed by the IMF, the Argentine President Nestor Kirchner ordered to transfer a payment of $3.1-billion to the fund, the Guardian, the Globe and Mail, and the Buenos Aires Herald reported. Argentina had threatened to default claiming that a payment to the IMF would result in cancelling payments to schools and hospitals. The payment was made after President Kirchner agreed to negotiate a fair deal with its private creditors and the IMF acting director Anne Krueger agreed to recommend approval of the second review on a three-year 13.3-billion-dollar loan accord signed last September when the fund sits on March 22, 2004. The country owes about $90 billion to banks and private investors in Europe and North America. It has made no payments on these loans since December 2001. The Argentine government is offering $0.25 in the dollar while investors believe that the country could easily afford $0.65 in the dollar because of its growing economy.
Argentina, Brazil and Turkey are the largest borrowers of the IMF. A default on a loan by one of these countries could force the fund to raise borrower rates to its other clients to make up for the losses. However, half of Argentina's population has slipped into poverty as a result of the 2001 financial crisis.

Global HIV/AIDS Support from G8 Countries
A fact sheet published by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation lists how much G8 nations, with exception of Russia which is a recipient of aid, are spending on bilateral and multilateral (through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria) basis to fight global HIV/AIDS.

New Constitution for Iraq
The members of the Governing Council in Iraq signed an interim constitution in Iraq, BBC reported today. The new constitution, which states that Islam will be the official religion of the state, is quite progressive as it ensures equal rights of all (regardless of gender or religion), a right of minority groups to veto a future permanent constitution and a provision for rotating presidency. The former two provision were contentious with the Shia representatives. Shia muslim spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said that any law prepared for the transitional period will not have legitimacy until it is approved by the elected national assembly. Elections for representatives in the National Assembly will be held before the December 31, 2004. The electoral system was designed to secure representation of women of at least one-quarter of the Assembly seats.
The interim constitution will come into effect when Iraqi sovereignty is officially granted by the "Coalition" forces. This is expected to happen at the end of June 2004. In the meantime, the fighting in Iraq continues.

In the Eve of the International Women's Day: True Equality for Women at Work is Still Out of Reach
Global Employment Trends for Women 2004 report released by the International Labour Organization finds that the explosive growth in the female workforce has not been accompanied by true socio-economic empowerment for women, nor has it led to equal pay for equal work or balanced other benefits making women equal to men across nearly all occupations. More women work today than ever before. In 2003, 1.1 billion of the world's 2.8 billion workers, or 40 per cent, were women. However, women still face higher unemployment rates, receive lower wages than men and represent 60 per cent of the world's 550 million working poor.

South-South Cooperation: India, Brazil and South Africa Formalize Relationship
The Times of India reported that at the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Trilateral Commission meeting, the foreign ministers of the three countries unveiled an ambitious programme for cooperation in areas such as health, IT, civil aviation and defence. IBSA plan to launch a trilateral business forum to facilitate linkages between the private sector in the three countries, to work towards the "early reform of the UN to make it more democratic", to back each other for permanent seats on a reformed UN Security Council (the Hindu Times) and to support each other on WTO issues.
For background information on the trilateral relationship read post from Jan 30, 2004.

The New Globalization Wave
When you see that white collar jobs are being outsourced to developing nations, you know it that we are entering a new globalisation era. During the 70s, 80s and early 90s developed nations saw gradual exodus of blue collar manufacturing jobs to developing countries. Many companies took advantage of the abundant low cost labor but in the mid 1990s companies started to recognize that the labour force in developing nations was skilled beyond just hammering and sewing. In the past 10 years, India has attracted thousands of IT jobs, making Bangalore the Silicon Valley of the developing world, customer support (call centre) and financial services jobs. Read Thomas L. Friedman's article Small and Smaller published in New York Times to find out what technological advancements made Globalisation 3.0 and the India miracle possible (free membership required).

Siphoning oil out of Nigeria
ISP article about smuggling oil from Nigeria's southern Niger Delta region.

British Aid Conditional on Privatization
Guardian reported findings of War on Want report which claims that Britain's aid to some of the poorest countries in the world is conditional on governments privatizing services, such as water and electricity, despite evidence that the private sector has consistently failed to deliver those services at an affordable price and satisfactory quality.