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| January 23, 2008 | Wednesday | Muharram 13, 1429 |
Limits of globalisation?
Classroom struggles
OTHER VOICES - European Press
PRESIDENT Musharraf’s remarks in Brussels about the West’s ‘obsession’ with democracy were not the first time that he uttered such sentiments in public. However, they serve as a disturbing reminder that even after almost a year of traumatic events in the country, he has made no attempt to recognise an age-old cure for the many evils inherent in the current political system. Had the situation not been so grave in Pakistan, it might have been easy to brush off the president’s comments as yet another myopic observation. Unfortunately, we are already at the brink, and the rejection of a true democratic order — yes, indeed like the West’s, with emphasis on fundamental rights and civil liberties for all, and not one that is tailored to meet the president’s vision — can only aggravate matters.
The absence of democracy has manifested itself in the introduction of draconian laws, curbs on the media, restrictions on free assembly, police brutality and the ‘disappearance’ of political and religious activists. The anger that the government’s highhandedness has generated has been witnessed in frequent demonstrations by members of civil society as well as in the large-scale rioting that took place following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. There are widespread apprehensions that the polls scheduled for next month will be manipulated. The public has shown little faith in President Musharraf’s assertion that this will not be the case. Never before has the situation in Pakistan been more conducive to the design of religious extremists and militants to gain a foothold as they are already doing in their bid to Talibanise the whole country. And yet President Musharraf is disparaging of the ‘obsession’ with democracy while, in the same breath he appeals to the West for more time (as if 60 years were not enough) “to reach what you have reached.”
Economic power may create anomalies where a strong nation is not necessarily one with foolproof democratic credentials, China being one example. But as globalisation continues and universal norms take precedence over those that are culture-specific, it is apparent that more than economic standing, it is democratic values that endow a nation with respect. It has done so in the case of the European Union which has stringent rules regarding the observance of human rights for member-countries as well as those aspiring to enter its ranks. Pakistan’s much mutilated Constitution also carries similar expressions of democratic values, stressing the ‘inviolability’ of human dignity, ‘the freedom of movement’, and the right to free speech (although the latter is not without restrictions), etc. Unfortunately, in a dispensation where one man (President Musharraf) and one institution (the army) call the shots, these and other arguments for democracy are likely to go unheeded by those at the helm who have so far shown scant respect for the rights of the common man.
THE five-day annual Davos meet of the rich and powerful begins today. This year it is being held at a time when the world economy appears to be faltering on the brink of a threatened bout of recession. It is signalled by the tumbling on the eve of the conference of stock markets worldwide. The sponsors and participants of the WEF would like the world to believe that the annual event sets the tone for the world economy in the year ahead. But the recent WEF performance has shown that the annual meets are no more than high-profile gatherings of policymakers and economists with little of substance taken up there. No one had mentioned even in passing at Davos last year the possibility of America’s sub-prime market debacle within six months. This debacle has by now caused much havoc, forcing the capital markets of the world to slow down their activities. This will affect the prosperity of the rich, and globalisation itself. Could it be that the current phase and form of globalisation has finally come face to face with its limitations? The World Social Forum, which on the face of it has been waging a quixotic war for the last seven years against the globalisation phenomenon, would do well to take a closer look at the dangers posed to the global economy by the risk-takers among the rich.
The theme of this year’s WEF is: “The power of collaborative innovation.” While those making presentations will be regaling their listeners with their soothing formulae in seminar halls, most others will assemble as usual in the backrooms to make lucrative deals. The politicos will also use the occasion to enter into mutually beneficial political arrangements. At Davos, economics and politics will interact, but it is an open question if the poor of the world will benefit from it. In this context, an innovative measure taken by the organisers is to invite people from around the world to respond via the Internet to the Davos Question: “What one thing do you think countries, companies or individuals should do to make the world a better place in 2008?” This attempt to make the conference participatory is an interesting idea. But it is clear that the voices of the millions who are illiterate, impoverished and famished will not reach those who can change their lives.
IT defies the imagination that today’s world still has areas where education is not only slave to poverty but also perpetuates it. Large scale educational reforms sweeping across most of the developing and the developed world have done little for a place such as South Africa, which may be the continent’s largest economy, but 43 per cent of its population lives below the poverty line and over seventy per cent of its schools remain inoperative. The country clearly has not recovered from the apartheid regime, which allocated funds according to the ethnic identity of a school. Nelson Mandela’s affirmative action has failed to rescue the educational system which remains plagued by not just infrastructural problems but a huge lack of teachers. Although Pakistan has no historical legacy of this kind to put up with, its case is not very different in that its educational quagmire results from institutions being victims of poverty and neglect, and largely class-driven.
According to a Unesco report, last year Pakistan was second amongst countries with the highest number of non-school going children. The primary reason is the government’s failure to provide good education to children who live in abject deprivation and cannot afford the high-fee private schools - the only ones providing good education to our children. As a result nearly forty per cent of boys and over sixty per cent of girls are out of school. State-sponsored schools are a shambles as are low-end private ones. Unsurprisingly attendance remains negligible because, even though education is free, there are related costs that prove too much for poor families to bear. More importantly, the poor state of education fails to hold children in the government schools and the drop-out rate is high. Good education is the most effective way to break the poverty wheel as it equips people with skills and knowledge to qualify for employment, which in turn contributes to the betterment of people’s lives and enables them to break out of the poverty barrier. The vicious cycle of lack of education and poverty, with each feeding on the other, needs to be broken. Only the government can help by making good education accessible to all.
Fishing until all the fish are gone
SCIENTISTS have been warning for years that over-fishing is degrading the health of the oceans and destroying the fish species on which much of humanity depends for jobs and food…Sharon LaFraniere showed how mechanised fishing fleets from the European Union and nations like China and Russia — usually with the complicity of local governments — have nearly picked clean the oceans off Senegal and other northwest African countries. This has ruined coastal economies and added to the surge of suddenly unemployed migrants…
…Having over-fished its own waters of popular species like tuna, swordfish and cod, Europe imports 60 per cent of what it consumes. Of that, up to half is contraband. Big factory ships from places like Europe, China, Korea and Japan stay at sea for years at a time.
...The United Nations banned huge drift nets in the 1990s, and recently asked its members to halt bottom trawling.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO)...has never had a reputation for environmental zeal. But knowing that healthy fisheries are important to world trade, the group has begun negotiating new trade rules aimed at reducing subsidies. As 125 respected scientists warned…the world is at a crossroads. — (Jan 21)
Idiotic Nashi
THE much-anticipated trial against four alleged organisers of the Tallinn riots began this week amid a tranquil atmosphere at home and the requisite show of propaganda on the part of Russia. The four men are accused of fomenting the rioting that rocked the Estonian capital last April….The defendants have denied their guilt... Regardless, prosecutors are confident that they have compiled a strong case against the four — all ethnic Russians — who face up to five years in prison.
...Some of them, if not all, were followed by security police for months before the rioting... Their phones were also tapped. Indeed, it is the latter that will likely serve as the prosecutors’ smoking gun…The four defendants are all members of Night Watch…and all four had staked their personal reputations on shielding the Soviet memorial from Estonian authorities…The court case will also be interesting in that it could shed light on Russia’s role in the mayhem…The Russian ambassador to Estonia, we know for a fact, regularly met with Dmitry Linter, one of the four accused… Secondly, the world witnessed how the pro-Kremlin youth organisation, Nashi, barricaded the Estonian embassy in Moscow and tried to barge into a press conference by the Estonian ambassador.
...Nashi activists have in recent days discovered that their road to Europe has been blocked. …Membership in the Schengen zone affords Estonia that right. — (Jan 16)