Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

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The philosophy of the Trilateral Commission, the so­called Washington
Consensus, puts the needs and rights of capital and corporations above those of
nation states and their citizens, and is fundamentally opposed to the concept of
citizen and nation­state democracy as enunciated by the UN Declaration of
Human Rights. According to the doctrine of the Washington Consensus,
governments have to be willing to give up their controls on foreign investment,
and must prepare their citizens for competitive labour conditions and the
privatisation of education, health, social security and the entire infrastructure
on which corporations depend. ‘Later’, they say, labour and human rights
issues will be addressed. The globalisation of this ideology requires the
technology to create a borderless economic system, as well as the political
cooperation of national governments to establish a set of globally recognised
rules to protect investors.
World Economic Forum (WEF)
The WEF is another powerful and unaccountable body that makes major
decisions about the kind of world we will live in. Like its kindred organisations,
the WEF is an exclusive, unelected, invitation­only organisation – a think tank
and a driving force behind the global economy. It has consultative status with
the UN, a staff of 80 and a corporate­funded annual budget of US$10 million.
Members include CEOs from the world’s top global corporations, academics,
trade ministers and heads of state. Élite members of the media attend as guests.
WEF summits allow the richest and most powerful corporations in the world to
mingle with national trade representatives and with each other, to make
business deals, and to determine global political and economic policies.
Before the rise of anti­globalisation protests in the 1990s, the WEF held its