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Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only. www.brucenixon.com The high cost of Western drugs and copyrights obstructing generic drugs (Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Imposing GM seeds linked to expensive pesticides that require extra cost and do not live up to yield expectations Attempts to copyright indigenous plants and trees used for traditional pesticides harm local farmers and peasants Western companies’ show lack of concern for environmental impacts and low employment standards The health, wellbeing and civil rights of indigenous peoples and forest dwellers are frequently disregarded Damage to local economies, livelihoods and food production Opening up local markets to rich country financial services suppliers undermines development of local financial services which may be more appropriate Encouraging cash crops for export takes away scarce resources, including water, needed for local food production Western factories have the same effect - local people are persuaded to sell their lands which provide a living and become factory workers Mega projects financed by World Bank displace millions from their lands Use of so-called marginal lands for crops like bio-fuel destroys an important part of the ecology The food supply is endangered by damaging local small farmers and ancient knowledge of farming in local conditions NGOs such as Christian Aid, World Development Movement, The Jubilee Debt Coalition Campaign and many others fighting these policies for a long time are succeeding. However, it is a continuing battle against the vested interests of the wealthiest countries. Poor countries need support in finding their own unique solutions – not exploitation. Africa need not be poor; it contains 40% of the world’s resources. An attitude of respectful partnership and seeking to understand, giving up the mentality of colonialism, exploitation and we know best is needed. Handouts and charity, however much needed, offer only temporary solutions and undermine local suppliers. More loans with interest worsen the situation. Instead, the emphasis needs to be on capacity building, infrastructure and technical assistance in greening their economies and well targeted grants. Tax avoidance and evasion Christian Aid reckon that through corporate tax evasion by transfer, mispricing and false invoicing, poorer countries lose some $160bn in lost tax revenues, roughly one-and-a half times the aid given by rich to poor countries each year. This would be enough to achieve the UN millennium development goals several times over. It could save the lives of 350,000 children per year. Because Western multinationals do not disclose where their profits are being made, Christian Aid is campaigning to get country–by-country reporting of where companies make their profits and how much tax they pay. However this is only a small part of the colossal tax evasion by corporations and “High Net Worth Individuals”, disclosed in Tax Justice Network’s website. So Christian Aid and Oxfam are campaigning for all tax havens to be closed. 70
Copyright Bruce Nixon 2010. All rights reserved. This electronic copy is provided free for personal, non-commercial use only. www.brucenixon.com "Developing countries are estimated to lose to tax havens almost three times what they get from developed countries in aid." Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, November 2008. Tax evasion by multinational corporations Climate change aid Whilst, under the Kyoto agreement, rich countries are under a legal obligation to help poor countries adapt to climate change, little has been delivered. Of the $18bn (£12.5bn) pledged by rich countries over the past seven years, less than $900m or 5-10%, has been delivered. The very small proportion that has been delivered has gone to the poorest countries like those in Africa. Much of this aid comes fro other aid budgets leaving less for health, education and poverty action. Britain has pledged $1.5bn but delivered less than $300m. Vulture Funds Vulture funds based in New York and London are the latest example of ruthless greed. It is reported that so-called vulture funds are buying up the debt of extremely poor countries and then suing them. At least 54 companies are known to have taken legal action against 12 of the world`s poorest countries in recent years, for claims amounting to over $1.8bn (£1.2bn). For example the government of the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo is incurring fines of $20,000 a week in a case brought by a New York-based vulture fund over a debt incurred from Tito's Yugoslavia in the 1980s. Another example is a London law firm seeking a $40m payment from Zambia on a $40m debt. Poverty and the growing income gap in UK Ours is a very unequal country. There is an escalating gap between rich and poor in UK and between North and South. Until thirty years ago, real incomes were rising and the poverty gap was reducing. I do not want to paint a rosy picture of that time. There were profound problems that had to be resolved, especially in the UK economy. The world had changed; we were not adapting. Mrs Thatcher was confronted with a major crisis. Unions were abusing their power. British business leadership and entrepreneurialism were in deep decline. However, “trickle-down” she promised did not deliver. In the UK, growth benefits the richest 10 per cent of the population 10 times more than the poorest 10 per cent. The ratio between bosses' rewards and employees' pay has risen to 98:1 from 39:1 ten years ago. Before the current crisis, average total pay for a UK chief executive was £2,875,000, more than 11 times the increase in average earnings and nearly 20 times the rate of inflation as measured by the consumer price index. Basic salary increases were more than three times the 3.1% average pay rise for ordinary workers in the private sector. Directors' basic pay rise, over double the rate of inflation, came whilst many of their companies were imposing pay freezes on staff and starting huge redundancy programmes to slash costs. The 10 most highly paid executives earned a combined £170m in 2008 – up from £140m in 2007. Five years before, the top 10 banked some £70m. Women bosses are still left behind. These figures do not include all the “perks”. There is a sharp contrast between the pension schemes of top directors and employees, many of whom face uncertainty. Pension schemes for ordinary workers have been steadily diminished, in some cases raided, over the past twenty years. Yet 26 top directors will retire on annual incomes between £500,000 and £1m plus; 71
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A better world is possible - Global Commons Institute

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