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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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2 POWER AND POLITICS I SURF, THEREFORE I AMUnless regulated by governments, private sec<strong>to</strong>r-driven R&D islikely <strong>to</strong> widen the technological divide between ‘haves’ and ‘havenots’.An effective state, motivated and supported by other ac<strong>to</strong>rs,could reorient the focus of technological development <strong>to</strong>wards theneeds of poor people by regulating research and funding of highereducation and R&D. Active citizens, in both North and South, couldcontribute <strong>to</strong> this outcome by pressuring private companies and states<strong>to</strong> include poor people in the benefits of new technology.Above all, the emphasis must be on the development of ‘appropriatetechnologies’, which address the needs of the poorest and mostexcluded people, and respect the sustainability of the ecosystem uponwhich they depend. India’s M.S. Swaminathan, winner of the 1987World Food Prize, applied Mahatma Gandhi’s words <strong>to</strong> this point:‘Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest person you have seen,and ask yourself, if the steps you contemplate are going <strong>to</strong> be of any use<strong>to</strong> him.’ 67Besides reorienting the focus of global R&D, developing countriesface the challenge of developing their own capacities <strong>to</strong> create knowledge,which are stymied <strong>to</strong>day by the flight of qualified professionals, luredaway by better pay and working conditions in wealthy countries.Unless this global problem is addressed, the higher-education systemsof developing countries will continue running up a down escala<strong>to</strong>r inorder <strong>to</strong> build their science base. The issue of migration is taken up indetail in Part 5.More worrying even than the brain drain is an emerging patternof global governance of knowledge that is biased against poor peopleand poor countries. Enshrined in ‘intellectual property rights’ (IPR)legislation at both national and global levels, increasingly aggressiveIP rules drastically reduce the flow of technology <strong>to</strong> poor countries,while requiring them <strong>to</strong> waste scarce funds and personnel on administeringa regime that only benefits foreign companies. By inflating theprice of all technology-rich products, the IP regime constitutes aharmful tax on economic development. Like migration, this problemis addressed in Part 5.57

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