EXPORT AT ANY COST: OXFAM'S FREE TRADE RECIPE FOR THE THIRD WORLD

Dr. Vandana Shiva 14 May 02

Oxfam International's report "Rigged Rules and Double Standards" on Trade, globalisation and the fight against poverty is a

brave attempt at combining two paradigms. However, when two paradigms are incommensurate, putting them together only creates a schizophrenic analysis. And this is the fate of Oxfam's report on globalisation.

Oxfam International makes a failed attempt to mix two paradigms -- one which gives precedence to people's democracy, another which gives precedence to trade, commerce, markets. The first paradigm on globalisation is based on principles of justice, democracy, sovereignty and sustainability and is held in pluralistic ways by the anti-globalisation movement which has exposed the distorted and unjust rules of trade in the W.T.O. and the World Bank/IMF trade liberalisation programmes, the second paradigm of globalisation as promoted by these organisations.

The first paradigm contextualises and embeds trade in more fundamental policies based on people's rights, democratic participation, and ecological sustainability. The second paradigm dismantles democracy, sovereignty and sustainability as "trade barriers", puts trade above other policy instruments. In disembedding trade from its social and ecological context, it dismembers society and disintegrates ecosystems. It creates poverty by destroying the fabric of economic and ecological security.

Ninety per cent of the Oxfam's report reproduces the critiques of globalisation, even though it fails to acknowledge its debts to the anti-globalisation movement and attempts to ridicule it by coining the term "globophobe". The anti-globalisation movement is not globo phobic, it is based on deep internationalism and solidarity. What it is against is the rules of free trade unregulated by ethics, justice, democracy and ecological limits. Oxfam also seems to be against these "rigged rules" of trade except when it comes to chapter 4 on Market Access and Agricultural Trade". In this chapter trade liberalisation and unregulated markets become the be all and all of economic policy. The chapter begins with the standard W.T.O./World Bank assumption --

Trade can provide a powerful engine for economic growth and poverty reduction. For that engine to function, poor countries need access to rich-country markets. Expanding market access and help countries to accelerate economic growth, while at the same time creating new opportunities for the poor. This is especially so for agricultural products and labour intensive goods, since the livelihoods of so many people living below the poverty line are concentrated in these sectors.

Market access is supposed to be magic potion for pulling the poorest out of poverty.

However, market access is just another word for export orientation and export domination. Trade is after all a relation between an exporting country and importing country. By putting all focus on market access to rich importing countries Oxfam hides and renders invisible the economic, social and ecological costs generated by export obsessed and export dominated policies of agriculture in poor Third World countries. While the market access suggests that rich countries are being called to make a sacrifice, it is the poor in poor countries from whom the real sacrifice is being demanded.

Increased exports in agriculture and market access also implies increased consumption in countries where non-sustainable consumption is already pushing the earth's limited resources beyond carrying capacity. How many more shirts and jeans can rich consumers wear, how much more green beans and strawberries can they eat? The Oxfam report is blind to the implications for non-sustainable consumption based on increased exports from poor countries to rich countries. And it ignores the fact that in agriculture more consumption in rich countries is based on less consumption of basic needs and hence more poverty in poor countries. Since agricultural trade is based on land, water and biodiversity, and supply of land and water is limited, export oriented agriculture policies divert land and water from production of staple foods for local consumption. Export domination shifts natural resource use to produce luxury products in poor