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Archived Articles
General Analysis on Transnational Corporations
2005
Back to Current Articles | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1995 - 1998 Below a Mountain of Wealth, a River of Waste (December 27, 2005)
This New York Times report reveals the unjustifiable practices of the New Orleans based mining company Freeport-McMoRan in the world biggest goldmine in Indonesia. Once a region of untouched nature and indigenous cultures the company now abuses the area as a waste bin for the by-products of this modern gold-rush. Besides producing an unrecoverable environmental disaster, this transnational corporation has a long history of suppressing neighboring communities with the help of local military forces.Global Exchange’s List of “Most Wanted” Corporate Human Rights Violators of 2005 (December 12, 2005)
Transnational corporations have so much power that individual citizens find it very difficult to hold the companies accountable for wrongdoings. Global Exchange published a list of the world’s worst corporate human rights abusers. Citizens have already started suing some of them, through legislation like the Alien Tort Claim Act, but many of the named corporations continue to violate human rights with impunity.A Big Deal? Corporate Social Responsibility and the Finance Sector in Europe (December 2005)
This report raises strong doubts about voluntary approaches to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The study, which examines seven different cases and initiatives (including the UN Global Compact), shows that, in the absence of binding standards for corporate behavior, the finance sector consistently undermines efforts to reach development targets in both poor and rich countries. Binding standards and sanctions for transgressions could make corporations accountable for their social and environmental impact. (Corporate Responsibility Coalition)The Myth of CSR (November 11, 2005)
Transnational corporations represent the most powerful actors on globalization’s scene. Social responsibilities should accompany their economic power. This article argues that initiatives like the United Nations “Global Compact,” based on a “voluntary” approach, are not able to guarantee decent human and labor rights standards. Instead, mandatory rules on companies could address this challenge. (onPhilanthropy)Behind Gold’s Glitter: Torn Lands and Pointed Questions (October 24, 2005)
In past centuries, gold represented a valuable natural resource that strengthened empires, economies and currencies. Nowadays, more than 80% of gold mining activity serves rich countries’ jewelry demand and it takes place mostly in poor countries. Toxic wastes from mining pollute oceans, rivers and soil, and gold mining companies are exposing workers to indecent and dangerous conditions. As this article points out, this should be too high a price for rings and necklaces. (New York Times)The Unocal Settlement: Implications for Developing Law on Corporate Complicity in Human Rights Abuses (Fall 2005)
This report gives new hope that transnational corporations (TNC) will be held accountable for human rights violations. Burmese villagers successfully used the Alien Torts Claims Act (ATCA) to sue Unocal, a company operated by the petrochemical corporation Chevron, for human rights abuses in construction of a gas pipeline. The report also discusses other cases that have established precedent for actionable claims on TNCs. (Washington College of Law)It Would Seem That I Was Wrong About Big Business (September 20, 2005)
Not all companies oppose government environmental regulation of their activities. During a conference on climate change and the role of corporations, several companies lobbied for new industry-wide rules and policies, reasoning that “it is regulation that creates the market.” This article argues that governments do not act because they are siding “with the dirty companies against the clean ones.” (Guardian)Berlin Declaration 2005 – Stop Irresponsible Gold Mining (September 18, 2005)
This document, issued five years after the Berlin Declaration on cyanide based gold mining, calls for mining corporations to stop their violation of human rights and destruction of the environment. It also urges governments to hold such companies responsible for their infractions, and to defend citizens’ right to information about projects, including their right to reject them. The declaration stresses the need “to put people before profits.” (Foodfirst Information & Action Network)Amnesty Accuses Oil Firms of Overriding Human Rights (September 7, 2005)
According to Amnesty International, the host country agreements signed by Chad and Cameroon’s governments prioritize the interests of oil companies over the human rights of local people. The agreements forbid "any person to undertake activities which may interfere with the construction, operation and maintenance" of the pipeline running through these countries. "Human rights are not negotiable items that companies and governments are permitted to eliminate by contract," says an Amnesty legal adviser. (Guardian)India: Everything Gets Worse With Coca-Cola (August 22, 2005)
Pollution control authorities, political parties and international NGOs have become involved in the battle between a small Indian community and the Coca Cola corporation. Since 2001, the Atlanta based company has contaminated deep water aquifers through its $25 million bottling plant in the Plachimada village. Today, this issue is a symbol of global and powerful resistance against transnational corporations in defense of water rights. (Inter Press Service)Int'l Unions Gather in Chicago to Craft Strategy (August 20, 2005)
In the present context of states ceding some of their traditional powers to transnational corporations, workers need to organize their efforts at a global level to maintain their fundamental rights. In response to this challenge, the Union Network International's annual convention convenes in Chicago. Fifteen-hundred delegates from 150 countries meet to discuss labor strategies and ways to promote unionization and collaboration over international borders. (Reuters)Liability Forges a New Morality (August 3, 2005)
Lawyers’ use of the Alien Tort Claims Act as a legal device for seeking damages for human rights abuses is changing the moral landscape of multinational corporations (MNCs). Even though most cases against corporations do not result in legal victories for the plaintiffs, the suits still force CEOs of MNCs to focus more stringently on corporate social responsibility in order to protect their brands and deflect negative press. (The Age)Africa's New Best Friends (July 5, 2005)
Debt and poverty are only symptoms of Africa’s true problem: a global power deficit. This deficit allows Group of Eight nations and their corporations “to run other people’s lives.” Without global constraints on these corporations, they will continue to impoverish millions of Africans. While they hype the “make poverty history” rhetoric, the G8 leaders deny that there is a “conflict between ending poverty and business as usual” for the corporations that have plundered and pillaged Africa’s resources for profit. (Guardian)“Greenwashing” Does Not Make the World Cleaner (July 3, 2005)
Despite scientific evidence that carbon emissions accelerate global warming, governments have done little to regulate corporations, the major offenders in greenhouse emissions. Global corporations, meanwhile, spend millions on public relations campaigns that depict them as environmentally friendly. Group of Eight governments operate similarly, hyping up their commitments to the environment while they remain the same: powerful governments “backed by industry.” This Inter Press Service article asks civil society to hold governments accountable and ensure that “people’s voices are louder than the voices of corporations.”The G8, Globalisation, and the Last Wave (June 30, 2005)
This Ethical Corporation article examines the “three great waves of globalization” and the role of corporations in shaping human history. “More than any time in history, humankind faces rival and increasingly incompatible viewpoints and realities, with the role of corporations front and centre.” World citizens face “two dramatically different roads”— the road that continues the self-serving behavior of global competition for dwindling resources, championed by corporations, and a road that promotes adaptation and rethinking of our lifestyles and corporate behavior to ensure a better tomorrow.South America's Mining Wars Heat Up (June 28, 2005)
A new Latin American mining rush is underway due to rising global metal prices. As transnational mining companies become more aggressive in their pursuit of profits, local populations are fighting harder to protect their natural resources. The proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) contains an expanded investor-state clause, which could offset populist victories by allowing transnational corporations to sue poor nations for lost economic opportunity. If CAFTA is ratified, governments will have to face millions of dollars in corporate lawsuits in order to protect their ecosystems, people, and resources. (AlterNet)We Need GM Food Like a Hole in Our Kidneys (June 21, 2005)
Corporations such as Monsanto have been touting genetically modified (GM) food as the answer to global hunger, and the “future” of agriculture. However, in fact, studies show that GM foods pose a threat to human health. GM foods cannot alleviate hunger; but may actually have the opposite effect, as they are more expensive for farmers to grow and allow corporations to have greater control over farmers’ income. (Common Dreams)The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline: BP’s Time Bomb (June 2, 2005)
British Petroleum (BP), the world’s third-largest oil and gas company, has a legacy of human rights violations and damage to the environment. Unfortunately, its newest project, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, is no exception. BP has control over the land around the pipeline, and is not party to any national environmental, social, or human rights laws. The oil from the new pipeline will be shipped primarily to US and European markets. (CorpWatch)Revealed: The New Scramble for Africa (June 1, 2005)
A Guardian investigation reveals that the world’s most powerful nations – the US, UK, China and France – are keeping impoverished African countries in debt and vulnerable to natural resources exploitation. Giant western corporations are readily providing these countries with “huge oil-backed loans,” and “are competing for profit” by providing kick-backs to corrupt officials in exchange for lucrative deals. The British government will push more African countries to sign up to a transparency code at the July 2005 G8 summit in Scotland, but “campaigners say that…improvements in Western behavior so far appear slight.”Chiquita's Children (May 10, 2005)
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of Nicaraguan agricultural workers were exposed to a strong pesticide called Nemagon that fruit companies Dole, Del Monte and Chiquita used to protect their banana crops. The workers, who now suffer from kidney failure, cancer, diminishing eyesight and weakening bones, are waging a long-running legal battle against the transnational giants that refuse to pay for the damage. (In These Times)Farming for Families and Food, Not Corporate Profits (April 19, 2005)
This article from Foreign Policy In Focus analyzes the movement against corporate control of agricultural markets, focusing on the detrimental effects of subsidies, overproduction, and dumping. “The same forces that are working against farmers in Africa and El Salvador are working against farmers in Iowa,” because corporate control of global agriculture affects local producers around the world. Groups like Via Campesina have mobilized the global farmers’ struggle to “create a space in global agricultural politics for ‘food sovereignty,’” fighting for autonomy over food production and local knowledge.Fast Food Seeks Influence in WTO (April 19, 2005)
Major US fast-food producers are taking an interest in the Hong Kong WTO meeting, where the Doha Round of trade negotiations will continue. These corporations are hoping to influence the talks by holding meetings with high-level US negotiators and publicizing the “benefits” of “freer food trade” through the formation of the Food Trade Alliance. While NGOs and civil society groups are left no choice but to voice their opinions on the streets of Hong Kong, big business and transnational corporations get a front-row seat at the trade talks. (Wall Street Journal)The Ethical Revolution Sweeping Through the World's Sweatshops (April 16, 2005)
After a decade of adamant attempts to deny any wrongdoing, multinational clothing companies like Nike and Gap are beginning to admit that they have abused and exploited their workers. At the same time, anti-sweatshop activists have moved away from organizing boycotts and demonstrations, and now co-operate more with companies and labor unions to improve the conditions and increase the pay of apparel workers. (Independent)UN Human Rights Commission Resolution on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (April 15, 2005)
By adopting this resolution, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights decided to appoint a special representative to outline global human rights standards for corporate responsibility and accountability. While many NGOs welcomed the decision, three countries, the United States, Australia and South Africa, voted against the resolution, accusing it of having an “anti-business agenda.”Part of the Problem: Trade, Transnational Corporations, and Hunger (March 2005)
Advocates of free trade have long pushed for the liberalization and acceleration of the global food trade. Bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO) treat agricultural goods like any other consumer good. But as the number of hungry people in the world grows, critics are raising questions about who benefits from liberalizing the food trade. Transnational corporations (TNCs) like Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, and Monsanto have profited tremendously from the food trade, while rural farmers and the global poor suffer the consequences. (Center Focus)Like the US, Mexico Feels Wal-Mart Era (March 15, 2005)
As Wal-Mart keeps increasing its share of the Mexican retail market, competitors seek to find their own survival strategies. While some merchants try to bring their prices down, others specialize in exclusive products like imported foodstuffs that are not available from the world’s largest retailer at their “everyday low prices.” (Christian Science Monitor)Coca-Cola Faces Campus Boycotts over Colombia Murders (March 2, 2005)
Students at about 90 US university campuses urge bans against Coca-Cola because of the alleged murders of labor activists at the company’s bottling plants in Colombia. Despite the fact that Coca-Cola denies any involvement in human rights abuses, experts say boycotts may hurt the company’s image among young people, who are its most important marketing target. (Bloomberg)Don't Blame Wal-Mart (February 28, 2005)
Who created a Wal-Mart that busts labor unions, exploits its employees and turns small communities into ghost towns? We all, claims this New York Times op-ed. Consumers who continuously put low prices before anything else encourage companies that hammer workers and communities. “The problem is, the choices we make in the market don't fully reflect our values as workers or as citizens,” says the article. To strike a better balance between the consumer and the citizen, the author proposes “laws and regulations that make our purchases a social choice as well as a personal one.”Power Hungry: Six Reasons to Regulate Global Food Corporations (January 2005)
This report from ActionAid shows how trade liberalization concentrates power over the global food market into fewer hands. Five companies now control 90 % of the world’s grain trade and one company, Monsanto, manages 91 % of the global genetically modified seed market. Market concentration drives down prices for staple goods like wheat, coffee and tea, hurting farmers and small producers in poor countries.
2004
Back to Current Articles | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1995 - 1998 EU: Corporate Lobbying Grows (December 22, 2004)
Campaigners and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urge the European Commission to “curb the excessive influence" of murky and influential corporate lobbying in Brussels. The NGO coalition calls for advocacy legislation based on transparency and accountability, under which lobby groups, corporations and public relations firms would have to report openly about their agenda and financing. (Inter Press Service)Durban's Poor Fight For Clean Air (December 14, 2004)
In many poor and newly industrialized countries, legislation on pollution has failed to keep pace with mushrooming industries. In Durban, South Africa, where petroleum plants are located next to poor residential areas, inhabitants have suffered the health costs of polluted air for years. The South African government’s slow movement towards stricter environmental laws shows the continuing influence of powerful corporations. (BBC)Campesinos Vs Oil Industry: Bolivia Takes on Goliath of Globalization (December 5, 2004)
By opposing water privatizations and further establishments of foreign oil corporations, Bolivia – the second most unequal society in the world - resists the “violence of neo-liberalism.” While economic globalization has increased the power of corporations, Bolivians want to regain power over the decisions that shape their daily lives. Corporate exploitation of Bolivia’s natural resources translates into only $18 per $100 of extracted oil staying in the country. (Global Exchange)The Patent Controversy (10 December 2004)
India might face World Trade Organization retaliation for non-compliance if its government fails to pass a Third Patents Amendment Bill before January 1st, 2005. This Yale Global article stresses that patents “are not a gift for drug companies to exercise power without responsibility,” challenging drug corporations’ claims that patents are crucial for recouping their research and development costs. Further, it encourages the Indian government to rethink the amendment and stand up to its obligations to both the country’s own population and the world's poor.Bhopal 20 Years On: Polluted Water, Chronic Illness and Little Compensation (November 29, 2004)
Commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal pesticide disaster, Amnesty International issued a report criticizing the Indian government and the responsible US corporation, Union Carbide, for ignoring a continuing human and environmental crisis in the area. No one has been held accountable for the disaster that has killed at least 22,000 people since 1984. (Independent)Clouds on the Organic Horizon: Is Organic Farming Becoming the Victim of its Own Success? (November 25, 2004)
Growing US consumer demand for organic products means boom times for large scale “organic” production by food conglomerates such as Wal-Mart, 7-Eleven and Coca-Cola. This CorpWatch article argues that the trend in corporate organic branding reflects a false commercialization of the term organic, as real organic products can only be produced on a small scale.Israel: Caterpillar Should Suspend Bulldozer Sales (November 22, 2004)
Human Rights Watch urges the US-based heavy equipment company Caterpillar Inc. to follow its own “Code of World Business Conduct” and suspend its sales of D9 bulldozers to the Israeli army. The Israeli army uses the bulldozers as its primary weapon in demolishing Palestinian homes, infrastructure and agriculture, violating human rights and laws of war.Plan Colombia Benefits US Oil Companies (November 12, 2004)
Under the Clinton administration, the US incorporated the International Monetary Fund’s structural adjustment agenda into its aid and military plan, Plan Colombia. Citing the case of US oil giant Harken Energy as an example, this article illustrates how Plan Colombia has enabled transnational corporations to exploit Colombian oil reserves without benefiting the country. (Colombia Journal)Workers Left Sterile by Pesticide Seek Justice (November 12, 2004)
Even though the US Environmental Protection Agency banned the cancer and sterility producing pesticide DBCP in 1977, US corporations continued to use the pesticide on Latin American banana plantations. Tierramérica describes the affected workers’ unsuccessful lawsuits and reveals the economic and political power of transnational corporations.Nigeria: Are Human Rights in the Pipeline? (November 9, 2004)
The Amnesty International report “Nigeria: Are Human Rights in the Pipeline?” examines how oil-related transnational corporations (TNCs) and the Nigerian government seriously violate the human rights of individuals and communities through their actions. In addition, the document examines how some TNC corporate social responsibility projects such as schools and roads have fueled severe local conflicts over resources.Multinational Corporations Reap Profits from Child Labor in India's Cottonseed Farms(October 6, 2004)
Despite stated commitments to codes of conduct and social responsibility, multinational corporations continue to use child labor - which now accounts for 60% of the total labor force in Indian cottonseed production. Non-governmental organizations stress that multinationals must pay fairer cotton prices so farmers can hire adults instead of children. (One World)Drug Industry Scandal a 'Crisis' (October 4, 2004)
This article investigates the crisis within the pharmaceutical industry where the profit pursuits of corporations fuel biased research, which emphasizes only positive results of their products. Studies on the drug market reveal that over-consumption of hazardous anti-depressants produce a shocking number of deaths. (Inter Press Service)No, the Conquistadors Are Not Back. It's Just Wal-Mart (September 28, 2004)
In spite of protests and accusations of corruption, Mexican state officials have issued permission for Wal-Mart, the biggest private employer in Mexico, to establish one of its subsidiaries next to ancient Aztec ruins. Opponents call this the “new conquest,” others state that the project means “driving the stake of globalization into the heart of Mexican antiquity." (New York Times)The Secret Trade Courts (September 27, 2004)
In poor countries with weak judicial systems, one-sided arbitrations commonly resolve disputes between poor host countries and powerful transnational corporations. This New York Times article calls for fairer arbitration panels that focus not only on the interests of corporations, but also look to the needs of the national governments. (New York Times)A Happy Birthday? The Chad/Cameroon Oil Pipeline One Year On (September 23, 2004)
The case of the Chad/Cameroon Pipeline reveals that cooperation between the World Bank and multinational corporations does not create a formula for development, but rather generates a “weapon of mass poverty.” This article argues that the Bank supported the establishment of oil consortiums and incorrectly considered them as development agencies. (Pambazuka News)Havens that Have Become a Tax on the World's Poor (September 21, 2004)
The Tax Justice Network calls for measures against the growing number of tax havens, where corrupt politicians and multinational corporations hide revenues from taxation. The technological revolution and the liberalization of the marketplace have triggered this process, which hinders poor countries’ access to billions of dollars for aid and development. (Guardian)Spurred by Illness, Indonesians Lash Out at US Mining Giant (September 8, 2004)
The world’s biggest gold producer, the Newmont Mining Corporation, might face charges for dumping toxic waste in the ocean near its mining site in Buyat Bay, Indonesia. Environmental groups state that the waste has caused severe skin diseases among the local population and is destroying the area’s main source of income – the fishing industry. (New York Times)Certified Globalization (26 August 2004)
This article encourages the certification of products - such as the labeling of “Fair Trade” products – as a way to improve corporate social responsibility. According to the text, branding is increasingly becoming an integral part of the “governance of globalization.” Meanwhile critics caution against corporate “greenwash,” as companies use branding to market their products. (Yale Global)The Vanishing Corporate Profits Tax (August 2004)
The global economy allows transnational corporations to minimize their tax obligations. As a result, states suffer diminished tax incomes leading to lower social expenditures. This article suggests two remedies; one within the nation state – the creation of a unitary tax - and the other through a new global tax jurisdiction, which would enable a global development fund. (Transnational Institute)Not in Their Backyard (July 14, 2004)
Corpwatch highlights the effects of the US Supreme Court decision that allows foreign citizens to bring cases to US courts under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). Though the ATCA ruling has most often led to human rights cases against transnational corporations, this article suggests the ruling will also help foreign citizens address prisoner abuse scandals in the US.Dealing with Joel Bakan’s Pathological Corporation (July 2004)
This paper argues that ideally governments should hold corporations accountable through “strong internal regulations backed by strong international law and enforcement institutions.” However, as globalization has forced governments to deregulate corporate activity, NGOs can temporarily fill this “governance deficit.” (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre)We Want Real Justice for Bhopal (June 25, 2004)
This interview provides a gripping account of the horrors of the 1984 chemical spill in Bhopal. These activists, motivated by the loss of their family members and their continuing struggle against residual health effects of the disaster, explain how the lack of international law allows Dow Chemicals to evade their pleas for help. (Socialist Worker)The Real Impact of Shell’s Work (June 23, 2004)
"Shell's promises and commitments are not all they seem." In fact, the corporation is responsible for environmental degradation, leading to human rights concerns around the world. Residents of Port Arthur, Texas are suing the company for such infractions; however, legal recourse is not available to many of the communities who have suffered from Shell's pollution. This press release and the full text of "The Other Shell Report" by Friends of the Earth chronicle some of these cases and recommend legal actions and changes in corporate behavior to combat future injustice. (OneWorld)MP's Briefing: Every Little Hurts, Why Tesco Needs to Be Tamed (June 17, 2003)
England's largest supermarket chain, Tesco, is harming both local and international industry by forcing thousands of specialty stores in the UK out of business. With fewer stores to engage in international purchasing, the corporate giant, has more leverage to pressure growers and manufacturers to lower prices; subsequently, these reductions are compensated by parallel reductions in worker's wages and benefits. Friends of the Earth recommends new legislation to prohibit corporate exploitation and monopolization of industry. (Friends of The Earth)Inauguration Pipeline: CED Press Release (June 12, 2004)
The Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline, which is supported by both governments as well as Exxon Mobil, Petras and Chevron, is the largest "development" project implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet it has failed to raise standards of living for the resident population. Indigenous people's rights, environmental protection, and the local socio-economic balance will all suffer from this installation. (Centre Pour l'Environnement et le Developpement)Landmine of a Decision (May 25, 2004)
The Nambian economy has become dependent on the Rio Tinto Corporation's financial contributions, yet the environmental destruction caused by its uranium mine is risking rural livelihoods in many communities. Unfortunately, "if mining is a dirty business, mine closures often prove to be even messier." This article sifts through the economic, environmental, and human rights issues that cloud the debate about the mine closing. (CorpWatch)Barren Justice (May 13, 2004)
Many of the pesticides used in produce cultivation cause extreme health consequences for field workers, including sterilization, cancers, and rashes. Yet no one is willing to take responsibility for protecting workers or compensating them when ailments do occur. Tens of thousands of farm workers in Latin America are seeking legal action, but results are slow and limited; the passage of CAFTA will only make them more so. (CorpWatch)Venezuela: Chavez Dumps Monsanto (May 5, 2004)
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has banned the cultivation of genetically modified crops in Venezuela, canceling a contract with Monsanto, a US agribusiness company. Chavez argues that to achieve food sovereignty, Venezuela must stop relying on transnational corporations and strengthen its local production, particularly of indigenous species. (Green Left Weekly)Always Wal-Mart (April 23, 2004)
In 2003, Wal-Mart had $256 billion in sales, and was the largest employer in the US. This article argues that Wal-Mart uses cost-cutting measures that hurt local retailers, pays its employees extremely low wages and squeezes suppliers – all to keep prices low and competitive, and to ensure that consumers return. (TomPaine)Farmers Starved of Cash, Says MP (April 21, 2004)
This article claims that the directors and shareholders of Tesco, a UK supermarket chain, are benefiting from its record profit, equal to half the income generated by the entire UK farming industry, at the expense of the farming community. Environmentalists accuse Tesco of treating its farmers unfairly, paying the lowest prices to suppliers, using its “muscle” to put small shops out of business, and selling furniture from illegally logged timber. (Guardian)Do Companies Have Human Rights Responsibilities?(April 2, 2004)
Growing pressure from litigation in the US and the UK has encouraged an increasing number of corporations to acknowledge their social responsibilities. This article defines corporate responsibility and explains how companies can benefit by enacting conscientious policies. (OneWorld)Unsafe Practices Kill Timorese Worker (March 31, 2004)
Union activists have claimed that the poor work practices of Perkins Shipping, an Australian company, has caused the death of an East Timorese dockworker at a Dili wharf. Labor activists are critical of Australian companies operating in East Timor that take advantage of the poor enforcement of labor laws. (Green Left Weekly)Law and Disorder, Corporate Style (March 1, 2004)
Transnational corporations often make alliances with local militias or create their own private armies. Law experts advise human rights activists to push for legislative reform and investigate civil litigation if they want to make corporations accountable for abusive actions in other countries. (Rabble)Play Fair at the Olympics (March 2004)
Many transnational companies fail to protect workers from sexual harassment, intimidation and physical and verbal abuse. Oxfam, Global Unions and members of the “Clean Clothes Campaign” demand that Puma, Fila and other sportswear companies implement credible labor-practices, commit to accountability and encourage trade unions. (Play Fair)Coke’s Killers; Soft Drink Giant to Review Union Deaths (February 24, 2004)
Colombia is the world’s most dangerous place for union activity with 3,600 deaths in the last two decades. In These Times criticizes Coca-Cola for not investigating the torture and deaths of Colombian Coca-Cola employees involved in union activities.Dark Side of Free Trade (February 20, 2004)
This article argues that despite the economic expansion in the US where the stock market and multinationals are “doing just fine,” job creation has the lowest expansion on record. The article criticizes multinationals for forcing job, wage and benefit cutbacks, all in the interest of generating larger profits. (New York Times)Money for Nothing and Calls for Free (February 17, 2004)
Cheap labor in poor countries is driving the current boom in transnational call centers. In India, call centers employ 200,000 people with estimates of this growing by 68 percent over the next year. This article argues that call centers in poor countries provide little skill development, whilst creating social and health problems for workers. (CorpWatch)Trading Away Our Rights: Women Working In Global Supply Chains (February 8, 2004)
This new Oxfam study criticizes big brand companies such as Taco Bell, Tesco and Wal-mart for “driving down” employment conditions for millions of women workers around the world. The study argues that this denies women’s fair share in the benefits of globalization, including its potential to “lift people out of poverty.”Switzerland Investigates Trading Companies That Profited from Saddam Hussein's Oil (January 31, 2004)
The Iraqi Oil Ministry suspects eleven Swiss oil companies of breaching UN sanctions by offering bribes to the Saddam Hussein Regime in exchange for oil contracts in Iraq. Le Monde argues that Switzerland is “at the heart of a contraband system… put in place to bypass the embargo imposed by the UN in 1990.”What Just One Company Can Do to the World (January 29, 2004)
Friends of the Earth International examines ExxonMobil’s contribution to global climate change over its 120 year existence. The company is responsible for 5 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, 70 percent of the emissions came after 1967, when scientists first warned about the consequences for the global climate. (Inter Press Service)“Green” Finance Campaign Bags Citigroup (January 28, 2004)
Citigroup, the world’s largest private financial institution, adopted a comprehensive environmental policy setting new standards. It includes the notion of “no-go zones” that will bar the bank from financing logging activities in tropical rainforests. While welcoming the bank’s initiative, activists hold their applause to wait for its implementation and increase pressure on other banks to equally raise their standards. (Foreign Policy in Focus)Behind the Mask: The Real Face of Corporate Social Responsibility (January 21, 2004)
“Corporate Social Responsibility” has developed into a big industry promoting and improving the public image of some of the world’s largest corporations. Christian Aid calls for international regulation of corporate behavior to guarantee the protection of the rights of people and the environment in developing countries.Water Privatization: The World Bank’s Latest Market Fantasy (January 2004)
This article reports on the World Bank’s “latest obsession” of promoting the interests of global water corporations. Despite growing public opposition and evidence that privatization of water further disadvantages the poor, the World Bank increased funding of water privatization projects fourfold from 2003 to 2004. (Polaris Institute)
2003
Back to Current Articles | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1995 - 1998 When Chinese Workers Unite, the Bosses Often Run the Union (December 29, 2003)
In China’s fast-growing export industry, foreign companies often disrespect Chinese labor law. They fail to allow workers to organize in unions. Moreover, Chinese migrant workers still do not enjoy basic labor rights. They receive less than the legal minimum pay and work overtime hours that greatly exceed regulated maximums. (New York Times)Coca-Cola Plant Must Stop Draining Water (December 19, 2003)
A state court of the Indian state of Kerala ordered Coca-Cola to stop drawing ground water for a bottling plant supplying most of southern India. In its judgment, the court argued that ground water belonged to the entire society, and that the company had no right to break the natural water cycle by extracting this much natural wealth. (Guardian)Cancun’s “Ghost” to Haunt New Trade Talks (December 16, 2003)
The “Singapore Issues” demand further liberalization of the world markets, promoting the activities of multinational corporations. Poor countries resisted EU pressure to include negotiations on these contentious issues in the WTO, causing the failure of the Cancun meeting. Now they must stay firm and continue calling attention to the injustices of the global trading system, says the Nation (Kenya).USAID Forges a New Model for Development Assistance (December 9, 2003)
The US shaped a new model for development assistance, explains the director of the US Global Development Alliance (GDA). She defends her government’s intent to include corporate entities that want to “be part of the development process,” arguing that companies’ investments provide the greatest part of financial flows toward poor countries. (allAfrica)Wal-Mart in China (December 8, 2003)
By expanding to China, Wal-Mart not only exported its selling format, but also its poor labor standards. As in the US, the company pays its 16,000 workers in China very low wages and prohibits unionization. In addition, the Chinese government pursues its desire for foreign investment and jobs and prefers allying with the big business instead of protecting workers’ rights. (The Nation)Water Wars (December 4, 2003)
Due to increased consumption and pollution, water has become the “blue gold” of the 21st century. Yet instead of ensuring the fundamental human right to access clean water, global trade agreements follow the dominant economic philosophy of the “Washington Consensus.” They treat water as a commodity, and award its control to big transnational companies. (Polaris Institute)Ecuador: Texaco Leaves Trail of Destruction (November 30, 2003)
From 1972 to 1992, Texaco exploited the oil fields in Ecuador, pumping 1.5 billion barrels of oil. But the company did not use disposal methods that became common standards in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. Instead, it dumped its waste directly into streams and the jungle, destroying land, sickening residents and contributing to the demise of indigenous tribes. (Los Angeles Times)Mapuche Land in Patagonia Taken over by Benetton Wool Farms (November 25, 2003)
With holdings amounting to forty times the size of Buenos Aires, textile producer Benetton is the largest landholder in Argentina. Benetton will use the vast plains for intensive wool production, threatening to evict the Mapuche Indians from their land. To the Mapuche, Benetton represents the “newest conquistador in 10,000 years of land struggles.” (CorpWatch)Is Modern Germany Lying to Itself? (November 13, 2003)
Many Germans continue to believe that their country spearheads progressive social and environmental policies. This openDemocracy article though, argues that corporations, and not social ideals, increasingly drive German policies.The Cobwebs on Credit (November 11, 2003)
Export credit agencies (ECAs) fund most of the poor world’s mega-construction projects, helping corporations to export or invest overseas. But ECA-backed projects bear many risks – for example, more than 30 percent of the guarantees provided in France and Britain served to finance international arms sales. This article urges the OECD to make “common, higher standards” mandatory and to require the publication of information about projects. (World Press Review)Kremlin’s Corporate Seizure as a War of Elites (October 31, 2003)
Russian President Putin ordered the arrest of Michail Khodorkovsky, Russia’s richest man and the main shareholder of oil giant Yukos. Investors fear that this move signals the return to power of a more conservative political elite that demands control over the country’s business. (Christian Science Monitor)Global Businesses Profit from Congo War, Groups Charge (October 28, 2003)
International NGOs urge the Security Council to press the US and other western countries to investigate the involvement of transnational corporations in profiteering from the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They charge TNCs with fueling and perpetuating the conflict by purchasing the natural resources from warring parties. (OneWorld)Chad: Plenty of Oil to Export, But No Electricity (October 28, 2003)
Despite rich oil resources in Chad, the country has to import oil from its neighbors to run its only power plant. While Chad fails to provide electricity to more than two percent of its population, US oil giant ExxonMobil very effectively exploits Chad’s oil fields for export to the US. (Integrated Regional Information Network)Foul Trade (October 24, 2003)
This Yellow Times article argues that free trade agreements such as NAFTA undermine governments’ possibilities to regulate corporations. Instead of benefiting the people, trade agreements ensure that producers can always “access the cheapest possible labor pool.” NAFTA has become the “realization of the dream of the corporatists that free-market capitalism should rule the world.”Q & A on Bolivia (October 17, 2003)
People in Bolivia mobilize en masse to oppose the government’s plans of selling the continent’s second-largest natural gas resources to a consortium of multinational energy companies. They worry that this new round of exporting valuable natural resources will once again benefit only a few people, instead of turning into real development. (ZNet)Crops on Steroids (October 3, 2003)
Despite an EU embargo against imports of genetically modified organisms and uncertainty about the effect of GMOs, South African farmers increasingly cultivate GM maize and cotton. At the same time, US corporate giants Monsanto and Syngenta flood the department of agriculture with applications for GM seed permits. (Financial Mail, South Africa)Cronies Reap Iraqi Contracts (October 1, 2003)
Former US President Harry Truman detested war profiteering and insisted that Europeans had control over the post-World War II Marshall Plan. Paul Krugman does not see the same benevolent spirit after the war in Iraq. He cites examples of US-endorsed cronyism in the country's telecommunications and electricity. (International Herald Tribune)Race to the Bottom, Take II (September 15, 2003)
A coalition of NGOs urges OECD members to make the environmental guidelines for Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) binding to stop ECA financing of “destructive projects” that violate international environmental standards and human rights. (ECA-Watch)Suez’ World Water Wars (September 9, 2003)
The presence of French-based water giant Suez at the WTO negotiations demonstrates the corporations’ influence on the trade debate. Corp Watch warns of side deals which could lead to full-scale privatization of water services and thus end universal service to all citizens.Bank Silent on Corporate Corruption in Lesotho (September 8, 2003)
Although Lesotho convicted several Northern companies of bribing their way into the World Bank-funded Lesotho Highlands Water Project, the Bank hesitates to exclude those companies from future contracts. The Bretton Woods Project questions the sincerity of the Bank’s commitment to apply the same standards to corrupt Northern and Southern companies.World Investment Report 2003 (September 4, 2003)
While governments have pushed for liberalization of foreign direct investment (FDI), and introduced a large number of international investment agreements, this UNCTAD report documents a downturn in FDI.Business Targeted for Rights Abuse (September 4, 2003)
Human rights organizations are suing one of Burma’s corporate partners, the US oil company Unocal, for having supported human rights abuses by the Burmese military. The Christian Science Monitor points out that a victory in this case could lead towards greater corporate accountability.A Shared Vision: The EU Water Policy and European Water Corporate Interests (September 2003)
European governments use the WTO agreement on trade in services (GATS) to serve the interests of their national water corporations, says the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The EU claims that liberalizing water services will contribute to poverty eradication. Yet liberalization may undermine existing and efficient initiatives of water distribution in poor countries.The Right to Food (August 28, 2003)
UN special rapporteur Jean Ziegler worries that transnational corporations’ control over the food system might hinder people’s access to food. He calls for the rapid development of a coherent legal framework that forces transnational corporations to comply with human rights standards such as the right to food.Multinationals Should Face the Same Rules No Matter Where They Set Up Shop (August 11, 2003)
Although many local and national laws exist to regulate multinational companies in poor countries, governments often do not enforce laws in fear of losing foreign investment. Therefore, international organizations and NGOs must designate and enforce stricter international standards for multinationals. (Guardian)Business Rules: Who Pays the Price? (August 2003)
This report by Friends of the Earth International and Corporate Europe Observatory documents the powerful influence transnational corporations exert on the WTO process.Victory at McDonald's (July 31, 2003)
Consumer activist groups pressured McDonald’s executives to require their meat suppliers to phase out dangerous growth hormones. This type of successful civil action may serve as a precedent for structural changes in the entire industry. (The Nation)It’s an Anti-Social Contract (July 29, 2003)
The Russian federal government plans to establish a ‘social contract’ with the country’s oligarchs. Boris Kagarlitsky calls this contract ‘anti-social’, as a closer alliance of economic and political powers prevents society from independently monitoring business. (Moscow Times)Business Meets Its Match (July 2003)
US companies oppose the socially and environmentally responsible industrial standards set by European companies and governments. The dispute demonstrates the fundamental difference in the way Europe and America view the role of the state in the market economy and the role of corporations in public life. (American Prospect)Pipeline's Profits May Bypass Africans (June 17, 2003)
Exxon-Mobil, the World Bank, and the US government promised that revenue from a new pipeline in Chad and Cameroon would go to education and poverty reduction, but those living in poverty have seen few benefits. (Los Angels Times)Unocal to Ask US Court Again to Dismiss Pivotal Human Rights Case (June 16, 2003)
Unocal seeks a limited interpretation of the ATCA that would deny human rights advocates a legal tool to hold the energy giant accountable. (Global Ethics Monitor)Nike v. Kasky: Corporations Are Not Persons (June 4, 2003)
Marc Kasky accused Nike of releasing false press statements to cover up illegal employment practices in its factories in Asia. Nike argues that it has the right to free speech. Civil society fears the claim to “corporate citizenship/personhood” will deceive democracy. (Truthout)Banking Principles Won't Protect Environment (June 3, 2003)
Banks have adopted voluntary guidelines—known as “Equator Principles"--for financing sustainable development projects. But the banks have released little information on how they will implement these rules. Environmentalists believe banks want to improve their environmental image and not their practices (Rainforest Action Network)NGO Collective Analysis of the Equator Principles (June 2003)
NGOs critically compare the banks’ Equator Principles to the Collevechio Declaration made by over one hundred civil society groups in Davos 2003. NGOs reveal loopholes in the banks’ commitment to sustainability and provide information on ways for the banks to implement socially responsible financing.(Focus on Finance)Bechtel: Profiting from Destruction (June 2003)
CorpWatch, Global Exchange, Public Citizen recommend that the US government suspend its contract with Bechtel to reconstruct Iraq. The company has violated human rights, environmental standards, and financial regulations.Unlimited Companies. The Developmental Impacts of an Investment Agreement at the WTO (June 2003)
Action Aid argues that the European Union and Japan, the major proponents of an investment agreement at the WTO, do not aim at helping poor countries but at securing improved rights and greater protection for their own multinationals.Church Groups Launch Global Corporate Code of Conduct (May 20, 2003)
Major church groups around the world, in partnership with developing country NGOs, have launched a global corporate code of conduct to promote socially responsible investing. The “Global Bench Marks” focus on labor rights, the environment, adequate health care, and community sustainability. (Inter Press Service)'Pay for Destruction,' Indigenous People Tell Corporations (May 16, 2003)
Many of the world's 350 million indigenous people subsist on their natural environment. When transnational corporations destroy this life-giving resource, they must be held accountable. (Inter Press Service)Just Don't Do It (April 25, 2003)
If the US Supreme Court rules in favor of Nike in the case of Nike v. Kasky, corporate power could dramatically expand and erode the already weakened powers of democratic governments and their citizenries. (Tom Paine)Sugar Industry Threatens to Scupper WHO (April 21, 2003)
The US Sugar Association, together other US corporations including Coca-Cola and Pepsico, have asked US Health Secretary Tommy Thompson to make sure the World Health Organization withdraws a report recommending limited sugar consumption. WHO calls the pressure tantamount to blackmail. (Guardian)The World's at Bechtel's Beck and Call (April 20, 2003)
“Bechtel's tentacles extend deep into the corridors of power,” says this Independent article of the company slated to rebuild postwar Iraq for a hefty profit. Bechtel has a reputation for fierce secrecy and exorbitant fees, but that hasn’t stopped the company from winning lucrative contracts around the world.Citigroup Yields to Pressure from Environmentalists (April 17, 2003)
The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) says Citigroup has made a “good-faith commitment” to work on policies for socially and environmentally responsible financing. RAN recently launched a high-profile campaign criticizing Citigroup for funding fossil-fuel development and projects in endangered ecosystems. (OneWorld US)Corporations Are People, Too (April 15, 2003)
Powerful railroad barons fought for twenty years in the nineteenth century to claim that corporations deserved protections as individuals under the Bill of Rights. Finally, the railroads seized on an obscure reference in a court reporter’s notes to claim unprecedented power, reversing measures to keep institutions subordinate to people. (Tom Paine)Rumsfeld’s Old Flame (April 10, 2003)
This Tom Paine article tells the “sordid little tale” of how US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld courted Saddam Hussein in the 1980s on behalf of Bechtel Corporation to build a pipeline to Jordan. Saddam’s decision to go with better pipeline deals from Turkey and Saudi Arabia “signaled the end of US-Iraqi oil diplomacy.”Dyncorp Rent-a-Cops May Head to Post-Saddam Iraq (April 9, 2003)
With the Pentagon reportedly seeking peacekeepers more “corporate and efficient” than the UN can provide in postwar Iraq, US-based Dyncorp is getting ready to step in. Dyncorp security forces have a record of human rights violations and fraud in Bosnia, and have been sued for indiscriminate chemical spraying in Colombia. (CorpWatch)Lawmakers Seek Halliburton Probe (April 9, 2003)
Two US congressmen are calling on the General Accounting Office (GAO) to investigate how Vice President Cheney's former company landed a multi-million dollar defense contract in Iraq. The GAO has documented "questionable" practices by Halliburton in the past. (Los Angeles Times)Australian Firms Eye Spoils of War in Post-Saddam Era (April 7, 2003)
Australian companies are lining up in anticipation of post-war construction contracts in Iraq. Critics charge that the US will reward Australia with business contracts only if Canberra pushes for a diminished UN role in reconstruction efforts. (Inter Press Service)Escravos Crude Pipeline Blown Up (April 7, 2003)
Just as Shell and Chevron were preparing to restart production in Nigeria, youths suspected to be from Ijaw communities damaged an oil pipeline with explosives. Ijaw communities had warned they would not allow production to continue until the companies had satisfied their demands. (This Day)Bribe Inquiry Launched in Mobil's Foreign Deals (April 5, 2003)
Oil consultant James Giffen has pleaded not guilty to charges that he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying $78 million in bribes to Kazakh officials on behalf of Mobil Oil. The case may force US oil companies “to take stock of all their business practices and how they use agents,” says an energy expert at Rice University in Houston. (Bloomberg News)Married to the Mob (April 3, 2003)
Corporations should be held responsible for unethical practices such as child labor and tax avoidance, but as long as consumers continue to demand ever-cheaper goods and services, business will find ways to deliver. Much of success or failure of a “corporate social responsibility” movement depends on ethical consumerism, argues this openDemocracy article.Corporate America's Most Wanted (April 3, 2003)
“When it comes to learning from its mistakes, corporate America has fallen off the rehab wagon more times than Robert Downey, Jr.,” sneers writer Arianna Huffington. Huffington compiles a list of the “worst and slimiest” corporate crooks still on the loose. (Arianna Online)Candidate for Production Job Is a Retired Shell Executive (April 2, 2003)
Oil industry experts say the Bush administration is likely to tap Philip J. Carroll, former chief executive of Shell Oil Company, to oversee Iraqi oil production after the US ousts Saddam Hussein. While Bush insists that the sale of Iraqi oil will benefit the Iraqi people, industry experts say the world community and Iraqis themselves remain skeptical. (New York Times)Battlefield Is A Showcase for Defense Firms (April 1, 2003)
Arms industry analysts say powerful and precise performance by new US weapons technology in Iraq could bring a significant boost in foreign sales, mirroring the frenzy of arms sales that followed the first Gulf War. Industry observers warn that US firms will arm unstable regimes and fuel further violence. (Washington Post)Bhopal Gas Victims to File Appeal in US Court (March 28, 2003)
A US district judge dismissed a lawsuit against US-based Union Carbide for the world’s worst industrial disaster in Bhopal, India 18 years ago. Survivors vow to continue to fight for compensation for the health and environmental damages from the gas leak. (OneWorld South Asia)Panel Finds Manipulation by Energy Companies (March 27, 2003)
Widespread manipulation and misconduct by Enron, Reliant Energy Services, BP Energy and other corporations was responsible for California’s energy crisis during 2000-2001, ruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. California state officials had to fight for two years, in the face of public ridicule, to expose the corporate profiteering at the heart of the crisis. (New York Times)Busting the Water Cartel (March 27, 2003)
An attendee at the World Water Conference in Kyoto reports on the debate that emerged between proponents of water as a salable commodity and water as a basic human right. She writes, “efforts to turn the Forum into a thinly veiled commercial for corporate solutions to the global water crisis backfired.” (CorpWatch)Channels of Influence (March 25, 2003)
Clear Channel Communications, a Texas radio giant with close ties to President Bush, is responsible for organizing the majority of “grassroots” pro-war rallies across the country. The Federal Communications Commission is currently considering a deregulation plan that would allow Clear Channel to expand its US media dominance, raising further questions about Clear Channel’s motives. (New York Times)Activists Call for Moratorium on Turkish Pipeline (March 25, 2003)
Environmental and Kurdish rights groups say BP has failed to prevent Turkish security forces from committing human rights abuses along its pipeline construction project in eastern Turkey. The activists worry that the US invasion of Iraq has prompted Turkey to crack down harder on the predominantly Kurdish region. (OneWorld US)Drug Giants ‘Next Tobacco’ Warning (March 24, 2003)
An influential group of investors has warned the pharmaceutical industry that its refusal to make drugs more affordable to poor countries could jeopardize their investments. The group says that the AIDS crisis in particular could produce a social and economic meltdown in poor countries, with potentially disastrous consequences for the industry. (BBC)With War, Africa Oil Beckons (March 21, 2003)
As the bombs drop on Iraq, US President Bush is quietly courting Cameroon and Chad, both known for pervasive corruption and human rights violations, to secure support for US oil exploitation. Exxon-Mobil and ChevronTexaco have nearly completed an oil pipeline across the two countries, ignoring protests from environmental, human rights, and development advocates. (Los Angeles Times) Genetic Pollution: Biotech Corn Invades Mexico (March 20, 2003)Halliburton Makes a Killing on Iraq War (March 20, 2003)
A subsidiary of Halliburton, Vice President Cheney’s former company, secured a 10-year contract to run US military operations for millions in profit, working currently alongside soldiers in Kuwait, Turkey, and Central Asia. Halliburton still pays Cheney as much as $1 million a year. (CorpWatch)Elf Was “Secret Arm of French Policy” (March 19, 2003)
Investigators in the Elf Aquitaine trial in France found out that Elf, until its privatization in 1994, worked much more as an “unofficial arm of France’s murkiest diplomacy” than as a normal oil company. By the 1980s, Elf had expanded into many African countries thanks to secret “commissions” paid with the blessing of the French government. (BBC)After 26 years, UK Food Group Squeezes Poverty-stricken Guyana for £12 Million (March 16, 2002)
Debt relief advocates plan to launch a campaign against Big Food Group for demanding a tenth of Guyana’s annual national income in compensation for a sugar business Guyana nationalized in 1975. Guyana is one of the poorest countries in the world. (Observer)Indigenous Struggle in Ecuador Becomes A "Cause Beyond Control" (March 13, 2003)
Indigenous communities in Ecuador oppose oil concessions on indigenous land, but the Ecuadorian government calls the indigenous movement a force majeure, or a “natural disaster.” Human rights advocates fear the government will force indigenous communities to accept environmentally destructive oil development in their territories. (CorpWatch)Beware War, Greed and Nationalism, Warns Roy (March 12, 2003)
In an interview with South Africa’s Daily News, acclaimed author Arudhati Roy explores the interconnectedness of corporate globalization, the war on terror and the rise of nationalist and religious fascism. She posits that individuals have both the opportunity and the power to oppose these powerful forces.Reps Order Shell to Pay Ijaw $1.5 Billion Compensation (March 12, 2003)
The Nigerian House of Representatives has ordered Shell Petroleum Development Corporation to pay $1.5 billion in compensation to the Ijaw aborigines for environmental, health, and social damage caused by oil exploration since 1956. A house advisory panel also recommended that Shell finance development and empowerment programs for Ijaw communities. (Vanguard (Lagos))Communities Give Shell 2-Week Ultimatum (March 11, 2003)
Two oil-rich communities in Nigeria’s Delta State have given Shell Petroleum Development Company a two-week ultimatum to support infrastructure development in the impoverished villages or face an “explosion” of resistance. Local leaders also blasted Shell for using Nigeria soldiers to intimidate and harass local villagers. (Vanguard (Lagos))US Firms Set for Postwar Contracts (March 11, 2003)
US corporations, many of which have strong ties to the Bush administration, are hoping to win multi-million dollar post-war construction contracts in Iraq. One US based expert estimates that almost $1 billion in profits are at stake, as well as control over a new market. "These are going to become brand names in Iraq,” he says. “That's huge." (Guardian)Corporate Bill for Slavery (March 10, 2003)
A series of class-action lawsuits in the United States will attempt to hold major corporations including JP Morgan, R.J. Reynolds, and Aetna accountable for profits made from slave labor. If successful, the courts could require corporations to contribute to a fund for African American health, housing, education, and economic development projects. (Nation)US Abstains in the War on Tobacco (March 10, 2003)
The United States wants to derail a UN tobacco control treaty that would attempt to reduce the soaring rate of cigarette-related deaths around the world with anti-tobacco measures. Revealingly, Phillip Morris alone spent $3.4 million in 2002 to buy influence in Washington, particularly among Republicans. (Chicago Tribune)De-Globalizing Justice (March 2003)
International business lobbies are quietly launching a campaign to abolish the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows victims abroad to prosecute US based corporations complicit in human rights abuses. Human rights organizations are prepared to defend the Act, arguing that “in a world of transnational business, we need transnational accountability.” (Multinational Monitor)Greenpeace Protest Closes Esso Pumps Across UK (February 24, 2003)
Around 300 Greenpeace activists forced 100 Esso gas stations to close in the UK by shutting power to the pumps and locking the nozzles together. The protestors blame Esso and its parent company ExxonMobil for fueling a profit-motivated drive toward war in Iraq. ExxonMobil denies any connection with the Bush administration regarding military action. (Guardian)Corporates Take Toll on Rights and Environment, Says Amnesty (February 21, 2003)
Amnesty International accuses the US of failing to protect local activists who reveal environmental or human rights abuses by US based corporations. In one case, the US State Department asked a federal judge to dismiss a case brought by Indonesian plaintiffs suing Exxon-Mobil for torture and killings by its security forces in Aceh province. (OneWorld US)The Growing Power Of Big Business (February 20, 2003)
Few transnational corporations would be willing to admit they stand against environmentally and socially responsible behavior. Friends of the Earth says its proposal for a binding agreement on “global rights for people and global rules for big business” would reward those corporations that truly walk the walk. (openDemocracy)Foreigners Exact Trade-Offs From US Contractors (February 16, 2003)
The US weapons industry thrives on a modern form of bribery called “offsets” by which arms manufacturers guarantee aid and trade to client countries in exchange for arms sales. Arms corporations say offsets, little known to investors or the general public, are a necessary component in the global arms trade, helping countries justify the billions spent on military goods. (New York Times)Short Warns of Oil Boycott over African Corruption (February 11, 2003)
British Secretary Clare Short exhorts transnational oil companies to make payments to African governments transparent, arguing that companies have a responsibility to fight corruption in the countries in which they do business. However, the US opposes an international initiative that would reign in its powerful oil industry. (Guardian)WWF Ditches Oil Company Shares in Ethical Move (February 8, 2003)
British oil company BP, which has spent an enormous amount of money to market itself as environmentally friendly, suffered a symbolic blow when the World Wide Fund for Nature announced it would sell its BP stocks. WWF says BP’s activities, including oil and gas operations in Alaska, are no longer compatible with its socially responsible investment policy. (Independent)The “Aguas” Tango: Cashing in on Buenos Aires’ Privatization (February 6, 2003)
In 1993, Argentina ceded to World Bank, IMF and US pressure and granted the Buenos Aires water utility to a consortium controlled by French corporate giants Suez and Vivendi. The concession enriched a group of officials in former President Carlos Menem’s government, without fulfilling its commitments toward the poor. Yet, the World Bank called this privatization an “unprecedented success” and reproduced it in several countries. (Center for Public Integrity)Metered to Death: How a Water Experiment Caused Riots and a Cholera Epidemic (February 5, 2003)
In South Africa, water privatization and policies of “total cost recovery” caused more misery than development, says the Center for Public Integrity. Water companies and World Bank economists promised that privatization would help to build the country’s economy and improve water services. Yet it forced thousands of poor people to seek water from polluted rivers and lakes and led to South Africa’s worst outbreak of cholera.Water and Power: The French Connection (February 4, 2003)
While promoting the participation of French companies in water privatization projects abroad, the French government pursues a protectionist approach at home. Suez and Vivendi Environnement became the world’s largest private water companies, and they control the water market in France. In exchange, the companies illegally financed President Chirac’s conservative party. (Center for Public Integrity)Multinationals Ride Wave of Water Privatization, Investigation Finds (February 4, 2003)
A report from the Center for Public Integrity reveals that in the last twelve years, transnational corporations have extended their grasp on the world’s water utilities fivefold, raking in profits upwards of $5 trillion. The report also implicates the World Bank for promoting water privatization at the expense of poor people. (OneWorld US)EU Backs Poor Farmers' Seed Use (February 3, 2003)
The EU will review two proposals to limit the power of the biotech industry and protect the rights of poor and indigenous peoples. The proposals would require “bio-prospectors” to disclose the origin of biological materials used in new inventions, and would protect the rights of poor farmers to save and reuse seed. (BBC)Transparent Corruption (February 2003)
Multinational oil corporations try to abdicate responsibility for widespread corruption in the countries in which they operate, but they would benefit from ensuring that their payments to governments are not misappropriated, argues George Soros. Soros proposes that corporations be required to make all government payments transparent to the public. (DebtChannel)Delay of Pipeline Construction Pits Citigroup Against Pristine Forest (January 30, 2003)
Ecuador’s Environment Minister Edgar Isch temporarily halted construction of a Citigroup-funded oil pipeline project after developers damaged areas of the Mindo Nambillo cloud forest. Activist hope the suspension, which could cost Citigroup millions of dollars, will prompt the company to rethink its loans to environmentally destructive projects. (Rainforest Action Network)Nestlé U-Turn on Ethiopia Debt (January 24, 2003)
After receiving a flood of letters in protest from the global public, Nestlé backed down from its demand that Ethiopia pay $6 million in reparations. The company settled on $1.5 million, which it will pour directly into famine relief efforts. (Guardian)Nestlé 'Breaking Code on Baby Milk for Third World' (January 17, 2003)
Despite a twenty-year, internationally recognized campaign against promoting baby formula over breast milk in poor countries, Nestle and Danone corporations continue to provide samples of baby formula to new mothers in third world hospitals. Unsafe bottle feeding contributes to the death of thousands of infants every year. (Independent)The Free Rider Principle: How Privilege Is Subsidized (January 15, 2003)
Transnational corporations go to great lengths to avoid paying taxes, hording billions of dollars that could be spent on social services and infrastructure development. This article reveals the “perverse” ways in which ordinary citizens in both rich and poor countries subsidize the world’s corporate elite. (ATTAC)At Foreign Firm, Only Cambodia's Abject Need Apply (January 8, 2003)
Digital Divide Data (DDD), a data-entry company in Cambodia founded by two US-based international consultants, hopes to become a model for how global businesses can combine profits and social responsibility. DDD guarantees workers a fair wage, a 36 hour work week, and incentives to pursue educational opportunities. (Christian Science Monitor)Now Corporations Claim the Right to Lie (January 7, 2003)
Nike will defend itself in a lawsuit accusing the company of deceptive advertising by trying to prove that it has a constitutional “free speech” right to lie. Kasky vs. Nike will test the limits of “corporate personhood,” with enormous implications for democracy and corporate power in the US. (Tom Paine)Government's Green Agency Invests Millions in Companies That Pollute (January 7, 2003)
The UK government’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Agency, invests millions of pounds in companies with disastrous environmental records, including BP, Shell, and Barclays Bank, which finances logging in the Indonesian rainforest. Friends of the Earth calls the agency’s investment record “scandalous.” (Independent)The Ten Worst Corporations of 2002 (January 3, 2003)
For a year of notorious corporate crime, the Multinational Monitor has compiled a list of ten corporations that have been the most heinous.Coke and Pepsi Vandalize the Himalayas (January 1, 2003)
The Indian Supreme Court has ordered both Coke and Pepsi corporations to pay for environmental damages caused by the common practice of spray-painting advertisements on rocks in natural areas. CorpWatch India calls the ruling a “slap in the face” for the large TNCs.Public Money in the Pipeline (January/February, 2003)
Under the energy plan devised by Vice President and former oil executive Dick Cheney, the US government increasingly finances large oil companies’ most risky and volatile projects. In the name of “diversifying oil consumption,” the US throws billions of dollars into companies with disastrous environmental and human rights records. (Mother Jones)International Right to Know: Empowering Communities Through Corporate Transparency (January 2003)
A coalition of several influential NGOs are calling for international codes requiring that transnational corporations disclose information about the environmental and human impact of their work. The proposal is based on the US Toxic Release Inventory, which requires companies to disclose annual emissions of toxic chemicals. (International Right to Know Campaign)The Human Rights Responsibilities of Companies (2003)
Amnesty International summarizes the UN Draft Norms of Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights, and highlights the existing UN human rights standards to which governments and corporations are accountable.
2002
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Export Credit Agencies Explained (June 2002)
Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) are public government agencies that provide loans and insurance to private corporations. According to ECA-Watch, ECAs often support potentially harmful industrial projects in poor countries because no social and environmental standards bind them.
Girona Declaration - From Rio to Johannesburg (May 29, 2002)
From March 18-20, 2002, forty progressive activists assembled in Girona, Spain for a strategy session entitled “Rio+10 and Beyond: Strategies Against the Greenwash of Corporate Globalisation.” The session resulted in the Girona Declaration. (ATTAC)$1.4 Billion Global Settlement Includes Penalties and Funds for Investors (December 24, 2002)
The SEC, NY Attorney General, and others have agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with top investment firms designed to curb corruption at companies that have been involved in conflict of interest corruption. (AccountAbility)Nestle Insists on Ethiopia Refund (December 19, 2002)
Swiss-based Nestle demands that famine-stricken Ethiopia reimburse it for $6 million lost after the Communist regime nationalized a firm owned by its subsidiary company in 1975. While Nestle made $3.9 billion in profits the first six months of this year, Ethiopia faces one of the worst food crises in its history. (BBC)Mining Companies on Trial (December 18, 2002)
A dozen Chilean citizens have filed a lawsuit against major foreign mining companies, accusing them of negligently creating an oversupply of copper and driving down prices. The suit also charges the companies of “moral harm,” arguing that lost government revenue in copper, a major Chilean export, could have been spent on social programs. (Latinamerica Press)The Power of Corporations Towards Good Governance (December 18, 2002)
The director of Business Watch Asia writes that multinational corporate power has grown to such an enormous extent that state regulation of corporate activity has become imperative for global democracy and justice. If nothing tempers corporations’ thirst for profit at all costs, we will face a “brutal autumn in our earthly lives.” (Jakarta Post)New PAHO Report Describes Tobacco Industry Tactics to Derail Public Health Efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean (December 17, 2002)
The Pan American Health Organization’s report People Over Profits reveals that multinational tobacco corporations engaged in “comprehensive campaigns of deception” in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last decade. Tobacco corporations hired scientists to misrepresent the health risks of smoking and bribed officials to kill tobacco regulation legislation.The Industry Needs a Ruling in Favor of Truth, Not Nike (December 16, 2002)
When activist Marc Kasky sued Nike for a false advertising campaign claiming that the company does not run sweatshops, Nike claimed that its lies were about labor, not products, and therefore “non-commercial speech” protected under the First Amendment freedom of speech. The California Supreme Court rejected that argument, but Nike has appealed to the US Supreme Court. (PR Week)Bullet Proof (December/January, 2002)
BP is preparing to build a large liquid natural gas processing plant on West Papua. Given that the island is torn between a corrupt, brutal military with its hands in the illegal resources trade and a growing independence movement, this article argues that BP’s plant could worsen an already volatile political situation. (The Ecologist)Shell Oil and the Politics of Hype (December 4, 2002)
Oil companies are throwing millions of dollars into efforts to “greenwash” their image as environmentally concerned and responsible. However, the “beyond petroleum” slogans can’t erase their “history of oil spills, workers injured and killed on the job, and the spewing of cancer-causing pollutants into the environment.” (ATTAC)Ford Motor Is Linked to Argentina's 'Dirty War' (November 27, 2002)
A federal prosecutor in Argentina has filed a lawsuit against Ford Motor for colluding with the former Argentinean military dictatorship in its campaign against leftist opponents between 1976 and 1983. Ford allegedly “managed, participated in or covered up the illegal detention” of dozens of its employees. (New York Times)Capitalism Must Put Its House in Order (November 24, 2002)
“Every aspect” of the sunken Prestige oil tanker “was calculated to avoid tax, ownership obligations and regulatory scrutiny.” The disaster, and the general confusion over who should pay for it, brings to the forefront the pressing need for broader and binding corporate regulation. (Observer)Gap Hit By 'Sweatshop' Protests (November 21, 2002)
In a New York press conference, workers from Indonesia, El Salvador, and Lesotho exposed the low wages, health risks, and poor working conditions they endure at Gap clothing factories. However, a recent poll shows that most young people in the US “turn a blind eye to political and ethical malpractices” in their consumer choices. (BBC)Company Ethics? They're Not Our Business (November 17, 2002)
Since the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) entered into consumer consciousness in the last ten years, corporations have increasingly turned to slick marketing to portray a socially and environmentally responsible image. However, voluntary corporate commitment to CSR adds up to nothing more than lip service. (Observer)Apartheid Victims Sue Global Corporations (November 13, 2002)
A Washington-based legal firm is filing a lawsuit against twenty banks and multinational corporations for heavily supporting the former South African apartheid government’s crimes against humanity. Several US corporate giants, including IBM, General Motors, Exxon Mobil, J.P Morgan Chase, and Citigroup are implicated in the case. (OneWorld US)Water a Precious Tradable Commodity (November 13, 2002)
Only five percent of the world’s population buys water from transnational corporations, but annual revenues already reach forty percent of the oil sector. With this enormous potential for profit, water TNCs are pushing to legitimize the trade of water as a commodity through the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS). (Jakarta Post)Multinationals' Bribery Goes Unpunished (November 12, 2002)
The OECD must address the lack of effectiveness of its 1997 convention against corruption by multinational companies. “The OECD convention is simply not being taken seriously enough by many companies,” complains Peter Eigen, from Transparency International. (International Herald Tribune)Citigroup Under Fire for Lack of Environmental Standards (November 6, 2002)
Students and activists in the United States marked November 6 as a “Day of Action” against Citigroup for “quietly us[ing] its customers’ money to fund the most environmentally destructive logging, mining and fossil fuel projects in the world, laying waste endangered forests and driving the global warming crisis.” (Rainforest Action Network)EU Alleges Mob Ties to Tobacco (October 31, 2002)
The European Union accuses the tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds of selling cigarettes through organized criminal networks around the world to evade taxes. Among other allegations, the EU says R.J. Reynolds colluded with corrupt officials in the Balkans, Colombian drug cartels, and Uday Hussein of Iraq to circulate contraband tobacco products. (Los Angeles Times)War Inflates Cocoa Prices but Leaves Africans Poor (October 30, 2002)
In 1999, Ivory Coast abandoned fixed cocoa prices for farmers, which had ensured they made a decent living. Now, while chocolate makers like Hershey and local exporters make enormous profits on high cocoa prices, they pay small-scale cocoa bean farmers barely enough to survive. (New York Times)Privatization, TNCs and Democracy (October 23, 2002)
Asbjørn Wahl of ATTAC Norway argues that allowing transnational corporations to take over public services in Europe will result in a “redistribution of power in society from democratically elected officials to market forces and multi-national companies.”Who’s Minding the Store? Global Civil Society and Corporate Responsibility (October 7, 2002)
Thanks to the hard work of civil society organizations (CSOs), corporations have begun to adopt some socially responsible procedures. This chapter of the Global Civil Society 2002 looks at the historical foundations, current strategies, and limitations of CSOs’ work in promoting corporate social responsibility. (London School of Economics and Political Sciences)US Oil Company Unocal Liable for Human Rights Abuses in Burma (October, 2002)
Human rights lawyers have filed a lawsuit against Unocal, accusing the company of hiring Burmese troops who committed human rights abuses while building a pipeline for the company. The suit “may have a chilling effect on how multinationals operate overseas.” (Corporate Legal Times)The Battle for WSSD's Endorsement of the Need for Corporate Accountability (October 2, 2002)
The WSSD’s commitment to making corporations accountable for their actions marked one of the few NGO victories at the conference. However, NGOs accuse the US of attempting to “neutralize” the agreement on corporate accountability. (Third World Network)CEOs Say Environment, World Communities, and Terrorism All Affected By Big Business (September 24, 2002)
This informative and enlightening survey shows that while CEOs awareness and intent to be socially responsible has increased since 9/11, they are not allocating the corresponding funds. (Jericho Communications)World Investment Report 2002
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Report traces world foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and identifies potential for increased FDI. The report focuses on the increasing importance of transnational corporations for enhancing developing countries’ export competitiveness. (UNCTAD)Leading International Environmental Organisations Unite to Take Action for Corporate Accountability (August 25, 2002)
At the Earth Summit in Johannesburg NGOs from around the world united to form a coaltion called "People's Action for Corporate Accountability." This group has called on governments to create binding controls over corporations.Resolution: People's Action on Corporate Responsibility (August 2002)
People's Action on Corporate Accountability created this resolution at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg as part of their effort to push the world's governments to enforce citizenss rights by creating binding rules for corporations.Canadian Company Found Guilty of Corruption in Africa (September 17, 2002)
The Lesotho High Court convicted the Canadian firm Acres of paying bribes to win the contract for a World Bank-supported dam project in the country. The conviction raises questions about the Bank’s financial support of multinational corporations and its anti-corruption policies. (Halifax Initiative)Impunity for Multinationals (September 11, 2002)
Multinational corporations maintained a strong presence at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, touting their professed commitment to sustainable development. At the same time, multinational corporate activities continued to devastate the environment in Africa. (ATTAC)Earth Summit Will Not Only Fail to Tackle the Ecological Crisis; It Will Make It Worse (August 20, 2002)
“In the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals, the UN is helping companies to argue that voluntary self-auditing is an effective substitute for democratic control,” reports The Guardian. “Already the ‘global compact’ the UN has struck with big corporations, lending them credibility in return for unenforceable voluntary commitments, has alienated it from the very people who once sprang to its defense.”Who Really Rules Our World? (August 19, 2002)
“As government leaders meet in Johannesburg for the second Earth Summit, we have to ask why they are bothering,” comments Oneworld.net. “The real environmental destruction today is done by multinational corporations, which can simply move operations if one government becomes too difficult. What international body oversees them, or sets rules for their behaviour, or holds them accountable when they transgress?”Bubble Capitalism (August 19, 2002)
“Reversing the nation's deformed priorities will be a hard struggle but has renewed promise now that the [conservative] stock market bubble … has been demolished.” The Nation presents three dimensions of new thinking on endemic economic woes.As the Earth Warms, Will Companies Pay? (August 18, 2002)
“Global warming has been on the agenda of environmental activists for years,” reports the New York Times. But it is also a problem that can cost corporations billions of dollars. Investors with weakened confidence in corporate bookkeeping “are starting to look for … the hidden risks that could be associated with global climate change.”NASD Suspends 2 Executives of First Boston (August 16, 2002)
Securities industry regulators will fine and suspend two senior executives of Credit Suisse First Boston who directed the firm's collection of millions of dollars in inflated commissions. (The New York Times)Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights (August 14, 2002)
This draft text outlines transnational corporations' human rights repsonsibilities according to the international community. In 2003, the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights will revisit this most recent draft.(www.business-humanrights.org)Enron, WorldCom, Vivendi-Universal and Others - Or the Crisis of New Capitalism (August 14, 2002)
“The string of disasters suffered by the Enron, WorldCom and Vivendi-Universal (VU) groups are not independent events, and there are several lessons to be learned from their study,” reports ATTAC. “These accidents reveal serious breakdowns, if not failures, in the stock market system, as recently revealed by the majority of professionals and media organizations.”Corporate Reform: A Ship Sailing Nowhere (August 9, 2002)
“What makes the ongoing corporate crime wave not just a business scandal but a political one, is precisely the fact that there is simply no consistent institutional opposition to the corporate take-over of our politics -- certainly not from the Democratic Party,” says Arianna Huffington. (Christabella, Inc.)Individuals Struggle to Hold Corporations Accountable for Abuses (August 8, 2002)
The Alien Tort Claims Act, unique to the US and one of the few avenues available to address the human rights abuses of transnational corporations (TNC), allowed 11 villagers from Indonesia to bring a civil suit against ExxonMobil. But the US government has now made an attempt to block the lawsuit, claiming that it will hurt relations with Jakarta, an important ally in the war against terror. (Digital Freedom Network)Is This America’s Top Corporate Crime Fighter? (August 5, 2002)
William Lerach, “the plaintiffs' lawyer reviled and feared by corporate executives,” demonstrates “how a lawsuit's leverage can alter important points in a corporation's rules and standards,” reports The Nation. “Together with shareholder activists, labor's working capital, environmentalists and others, litigators can help make long-neglected questions of corporate power visible again, a necessary predicate for new politics.”Corporate Rights Come with Corporate Obligations (August 5, 2002)
“America's most powerful citizens, its large corporations, have all the rights of citizenship, but bear none of the obligations that come with being a citizen,” says former corporate lawyer Robert Hinkley. He proposes modifying the corporate duty to maximize profits with affirmative obligations that profits not come "at the expense of the environment, human rights, the public health or safety, the dignity of employees or the welfare of our communities." (Commondreams.org)Will Congress Investigate US Agencies' Enron Ties? (August 1, 2002)
Public financial institutions have doled out over $7 billion towards Enron-related projects since 1992, reports Corpwatch. In the wake of investigations into Enron's overseas operations, say insiders, federal agencies, and even the World Bank, might soon face the congressional inquisitors.Senator Says Merrill Lynch Helped Enron ‘Cook Books’ (July 30, 2002)
Merrill Lynch, one of the nation’s largest and most respected brokerage firms, has been accused of compromising its business practices to win more investment-banking fees from Enron. (The New York Times)Is There Hope for a New Ideology? (July 30, 2002)
A study of the 70 largest corporations in the U.S. over a 20-year period found that corporate crime was more the rule than the exception. Ninety percent of the corporations studied were habitual offenders of laws regulating advertising, labor, trade, patents, copyrights and more, reports the Miami Herald.Making the Most of a Scandal (July 29, 2002)
“The ongoing corporate scandals,” says Mother Jones, “represent a unique opportunity to pursue real reform—an opportunity many on the left seem to be ignoring as they exult over President Bush’s discomfort.”Fast Tracking Fast Track (July 25, 2002)
Members of Congress have “reached an agreement to give President Bush Fast Track authority to secretly negotiate a ... Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement,” reports The Nation. The plan opens the way for “a sweeping expansion of corporate power.”Citigroup, Heal Thyself (July 24, 2002)
According to Ralph Nader, many of the current financial scandals can be blamed on “Congress' decision in 1999 to allow banks, insurance companies and securities firms to merge and form giant financial conglomerates such as Citigroup,” which misrepresented transactions with Enron. (Essential.org)Peru: Grassroots Activism Has Domino Effect (July 24, 2002)
Residents of Tambogrande, in Peru's top fruit-growing region, held a referendum on plans by Canada-based Manhattan Minerals Corp. to mine under their town. Ninety-eight percent voted “no,” and other communities are taking note. (ATTAC)Capitalist Crisis and Corporate Crime (July 22, 2002)
The deepening structural crisis of the economy, combined with the crisis of legitimacy of neoliberal capitalism, promises a volatile future, argues Focus on the Global South.The Cost of Global Crony Capitalism (July 21, 2002)
New York Times editorialist David E. Sanger argues that the diplomatic cost of the capitalist crisis may be overlooked; corporate scandals could affect America’s “soft power.”Corporate Socialism (July 18, 2002)
“Corporate socialism”—the privatization of profit and the socialization of risks and misconduct—is displacing capitalist canons,” argues Ralph Nader. “Civic and political movements must call for a decent separation of corporation and state.” (Washington Post)Exxon Under Fire in Indonesia (July 16, 2002)
Villagers in Indonesia’s Aceh province have brought suit against Exxon Mobil, charging that the company turns “a blind eye to brutality by Indonesian soldiers, who have a long history of human rights abuses and have been paid to ensure the plant's security.” (The Moscow Times)Bush: Corporate Confidence Man (July 10, 2002)
Corpwatch points out serious omissions in President Bush’s Corporate Responsibility Plan: no requirement that stock options be recorded as expenses, no support for corporate whistleblower protections, no caps on CEO pay, and no mention of offshore tax havens or human rights abuses.Cracking Down on Corporate Crime, Really (July 4, 2002)
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman suggest three measures to significantly reduce the toll of corporate crime and violence. (Common Dreams)Xerox Admits India Pay-offs (July 2, 2002)
Xerox, once the king of photocopiers, has admitted its Indian subsidiary made "improper payments" to win government contracts. (BBC News)Bad for Business (July 1, 2002)
Criticism of corporate America of the type once seen only in The Nation and similar publications now shows up on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. (The Nation)How Paradise Lost a Radical Public-Private Venture (June 26, 2002)
Midway National Wildlife Refuge has become a model of what can go wrong in managing wildlands through a public-private partnership. (Christian Science Monitor)New WTO Chief Plans Rules to Limit Corporate Influence on Trade Negotiations (June 19, 2002)
WTO Director General Designate Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi recently announced plans for new rules to govern the behavior of multinational corporations. Activists were encouraged but stressed the need for binding, not voluntary, rules and “parallel measures in national capitals where much of the corporate influence over trade policy takes place.” (ATTAC)Belgian Buyer in Protested Peru Privatizations May Have Bribed Fujimori (June 19, 2002)
Peruvian prosecutors announced an investigation into allegations that Belgian buyer Tractebel bribed Alberto Fujimori with 10 million dollars during a bid for two electrical plants due to be privatized. (AFP)New UNCTAD Trade and Development Report Throws Washington Consensus into Doubt (June 18, 2002)
A new UNCTAD report notes that a massive increase since the early 1980s in the volume of exports from developing countries has not added significantly to developing countries’ incomes. (New Economics Foundation)Corporations Gain Access to Mayors as Sponsors of Conference (June 17, 2002)
The Associated Press reports that the US Conference of Mayors “has drawn more than 200 leaders from around the country … to discuss issues from affordable housing to the environment. But the conference is also being attended by corporations that are coming under fire for providing financial contributions that critics say give them access ordinary citizens couldn't afford.”ExxonMobil-Sponsored Terrorism? (June 14, 2002)
“A year ago,” reports the Nation, “the Washington-based International Labor Rights Fund filed a lawsuit against the energy behemoth, claiming the Mobil half of the conglomerate in the 1990s paid and supported Indonesian military troops that committed human rights abuses in the war-torn province.”Plutocracy and Politics (June 14, 2002)
New York Times commentator Paul Krugman delivers a sharp comment on America’s 10 most highly paid CEOs and on income inequality in the US.No to GATS - Yes to Public Services (June 13, 2002)
Demonstrators gathered in Geneva on June 9, 2002 to protest the Swiss government’s secret renegotiation of the General Agreement on Trades and Services within the WTO. Protestors denounced the liberalization and privatization measures imposed via the GATS, arguing that they benefit large enterprises and financial investment companies at the expense of public services. (ATTAC)Delegates Gather in Bali to Prepare for August Earth Summit (June 13, 2002)
The UN Environment Programme will co-sponsor with Business Action for Sustainable Development (a collection of corporations) the Awards for Sustainable Development Partnerships. Critics believe that the UNEP should eschew such awards and voluntary partnerships in favor of binding rules on the behavior of multinational corporations. (Corpwatch)Sparks Fly Over Philippines Electricity (June 12, 2002)
The state-run National Power Corporation (Napocor) entered into supply contracts with private generating companies after a shortage of generating capacity in the 1990s. The resulting over-capacity left Napocor with contracts that mean it has to buy the power these companies supply, even if there is no demand for it. And the (non-)consumers foot the bill. (BBC)Profits vs. Public Interest (June 11, 2002)
“The reason corporations are prone to violate the public interest is that corporate law dedicates the corporation solely to the pursuit of its own interest -- making money. Nothing in corporate law balances this dedication with respect for the public interest.” (Miami Herald)Ten Planet Trashers: Why Corporate Accountability Matters (June 1, 2002)
In the ten years since the Rio Earth Summit, the US has opposed measures designed to increase corporate accountability. Friends of the Earth has compiled a list of companies “whose activities since Rio demonstrate the need for binding rules on corporate behavior.”Mounting Pressure to Liberalize Services (May 29, 2002)
Leaked documents show that corporations are the driving force behind European Commission proposals to the Council of Trade in Services to liberalize basic services such as water supply, electricity, telecommunications, news agency services and banking, among other things. (International South Group NetworkThe Hidden Dimensions of Globalization: What is at Stake Geoculturally (May 29, 2002)
Members of planeta.org’s scientific committee examine the following question: Should cultural industrialization, led by a small number of large media conglomerates, radically change the ways we think about managing cultural relationships?Democracy in Communication (May 29, 2002)
“The Italian situation of total television monopoly and of almost total media monopoly,” reports ATTAC, ensures that the media, dependent on powerful private interests, has rejected almost totally its critical function.How The Rich Elude The Tax Man: The Devastating Results Of Offshore Tax Evasion (May 28, 2002)
The Internet and debit cards have made offshore banking an attractive option for the rich. Lawyers, accountants, and bankers make this option ever easier. Multinational corporations benefiting from offshore banking, and tacit US government support of tax heavens, guarantee a prosperous future for offshore banks. (Americans for Democratic Action)Corporate America and Israeli Occupation (May 23, 2002)
A Palestinian-American businessman living in the West Bank discusses the myriad ties between corporate America and the Israeli occupation. (The Progressive Response/Foreign Policy in Focus)Meat Production is Making the Rich Ill and the Poor Hungry (May 21, 2002)
People the world over are going hungry because much of our arable land is used to grow feed grain for animals rather than food for the undernourished. “The worldwide demand for feed grain continues to grow,” reports the Transnational Corporations Observatory, “as multinational corporations seek to capitalize on the meat demands of affluent countries.”Corporations are Inventing People to Rubbish Their Opponents on the Internet (May 21, 2002)
Nature published a retraction of an article criticizing GM corn in Mexico following a barrage of outraged emails. The emails were prompted by listserve postings purported to have come from private citizens but originating instead with a public relations firm contracted by Monsanto that specializes in “viral marketing.” (Transnational Corporations Observatory)Corporate Bribery on the Rise Worldwide (May 14, 2002)
Developing countries criticize Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perception Index for failing to address the role of multinational corporations in bribery scandals. In response, TI has produced a Bribe Payer’s Index, to identify the external sources of corruption. (Inter Press Service)Price Fixers Caught in $15 Million Power Sting (May 4, 2002)
A cartel of corporate executives who fixed prices to supply billions of dollars worth of equipment to the power industry were fined almost $15 million by the Federal Court in Australia, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.Companies Guilty of Greenwash May Soon be Found Guilty in Court (May 3, 2002)
Though the question of whether Nike presented false information in its public relations campaign must still be determined by a lower court, the California Supreme Court has ruled that such campaigns amount to advertising, not free speech, and are therefore subject to the same legal controls as advertising. (Mother Jones)Cheney's Former Company Wins Afghanistan War Contracts (May 2, 2002)
“As much as 10% of the emergency US army operations overseas are contracted out to private companies run by former government and military officials,” reports Corpwatch. Though critics claim that private companies operate with no public oversight, the Pentagon is rumored to be considering an expansion of the
