Opinion & Commentary
Loud mobs hold democracy hostage
The build-up of demonstrations since the 1999 World Trade Organisation debacle in Seattle has a deja vu feeling for anyone who witnessed the rise of national socialism in the 1930s.
The demonstrators have the same passionate conviction that capitalism must be uprooted. Some anti-globalisation advocates thought the attack on the World Trade Centre well directed, so that al-Qa'ida supporters find the anti-globalisation environment favourable. The postponed Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which commences tomorrow at Coolum, is next on the anti-globalisation agenda.
The demonisation of multinationals is a key issue. It is couched in exactly the same language used by Hitler to attack Jews in the '30s. The multinationals are accused of exploiting their workers, notably in developing countries, accumulating vast profits and conspiring to control the world.
The multinationals are businesses and some are Australian businesses. Ear implants produced by an Australian multinational have brought hearing to thousands worldwide. World trade and multinationals have spread new technologies, creating low-priced, high quality goods and services for mass consumption.
Multinationals put breakfast foods on the table. They provide an array of electronics and the internet. Their fast-food innovations mean that working mums need not cook every night. In developing countries, multinationals have provided jobs where no jobs were before. They pay much higher wages than local firms, enabling developing countries to import rice and wheat from Australia at much lower prices than they can grow them in the tropics, and hi-tech goods from the US, Europe and Japan that they cannot yet produce at home.
A few multinationals do cut corners, particularly if corrupt and despotic governments allow and even encourage them to do so, just as a few Jewish businesses, like other businesses, cut corners in Germany in the 30s.
The ultimate costs of sharp practices, however, were and are enormous where national bankruptcy laws, the safety valves of market systems, operate. Enron has been caught. And as a result of its collapse, US laws will be strengthened to protect investors, including employee shareholders.
The anti-globalisation attack on the multinationals not only uses the language that scarified Jews in Germany and Austria in the 30s, but it is also based on lies. Unchecked by rational political behaviour, the lies of the 30s led to Kristallnacht, World War II and 30 million deaths.
Environmental action is most advanced in free countries. Freedoms are highly correlated with per capita income. Hard evidence shows that the more open a democracy, the higher the standard of living. The countries that are poor and falling behind the rest of the world are the ones that are closed in and at war with themselves and each other.
Without globalisation and its competitive markets, we will all be on track to Third World living standards and the freedoms enjoyed by the women under Taliban rule.
Of course, the demonstrators have every right to demonstrate. Young people in our liberal democracy should be concerned with more than their latest CD or designer sports shoes.
But CHOGM seems an ill-chosen target, for here developing and developed, black and white, get together for friendly talks about issues such as living standards and the environment. Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe is likely to be censured as a transgressor against decent political conduct.
If the demonstrations against CHOGM are marred by violence, if the participants are harassed, they will recall the screaming mobs that sheltered fascists in the 30s. As in those days, demonstrations are being infiltrated by violent thugs who encourage crowds to crash barriers and attack police and multinational outlets as well as local shops and restaurants.
In Genoa, small local businesses were worst hit. Well organised anarcho-fascists, recalling the excesses of communism and fascism, have taken advantage of high incomes, cheap fares and the internet (all of which follow from globalisation) to turn good natured ‘demos’ into fascist violence.
Al-Qa'ida supporters will be in the forefront, though hopefully our visa system will prevent too many from attending. If demonstrators and police are injured, or best of all, killed, they will regard the demonstration as being a great success. Those who shout loudest do not represent democracy. There are no quick and easy ways to improve the world.
Some 125 million people died during the 20th century because shouting mobs overturned democracies. The demonstrators have duties as well as rights. At the end of the day, they should be joining political parties and taking part in the electoral processes that can bring constructive change.
About the Author:
Helen Hughes is Professor Emeritus of economics at the Australian National University in Canberra and a Senior Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney.
