U.S. using its power for own interests

S. Faizi, Contributor, Nusa Dua, Bali

There are people who still talk of the looming threat of the world being taken over by American imperialism, as if they do not recognize that U.S. imperialism has become a glaring living reality of our time.

The Bali talks prove, over and over, the emergence of a frightening nation to whom all countries must submit themselves, albeit in varying degrees, leaving no one to address the issues of concern to the collective human civilization.

The Secretary General spoke for the overwhelming majority of humanity when he raised the five key issues to be addressed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in his, by now, famous speech at the American Museum of Natural History.

However, the U.S. permits the references to these issues in the Conference document only in ways that accommodate the insatiable greed of Corporate America. At every possible opportunity the U.S. wants to introduce formulations in the text that question the mandate of the democratic institutions within the UN.

Even an attempt to mandate the Regional Commissions to promote the implementation of regional strategies for sustainable development was opposed by the U.S., which argued that the regions cannot implement their own strategies using funds contributed by the U.S. That represents a new level of challenges to the accepted principles of international cooperation.

WSSD was meant to be all about actions to pursue sustainable development, but actions are an anathema for the U.S. They would blissfully invert the principles of sustainable development to clear the way for the further entrenchment of corporate avarice. Obviously, that is the only kind of action that they would agree to.

Biodiversity, for the U.S., is still a global resource and it is natural that they condemn the Conservation of Biological Diversity (CBD) that regards the piracy of biodiversity an international offense.

Corporate America wouldn't allow space for the largely innocuous Kyoto Protocol even in their dust bin. Here in Bali the U.S. is holding the community of nations as hostages. The U.S. position has grown from hegemony to hegemony since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

The U.S., supported by its "yes men" states, vehemently opposed the phrase "poverty eradication" at the final preparatory committee (PrepCom) meeting of UNCED in 1992 and their neocolonial argument that poverty eradication is a function of the market, is being pushed here through "partnerships."

Human civilization grew up through partnerships created by virtue of cooperation, here the same term is being used by the indefatigable champions of mutual competition and exclusion for the corporate invasion of the UN and as the answer to the need for actions by governments, the greatest stakeholder in any society.

What is even more worrying than this reign by American imperialists is the ready acceptance of the American regime by the South. I have no problem with the Caucasian cousins of America remaining "yes" states as they are common (though differential) beneficiaries, but the South, living in fear, refuses to put up even a charade of resistance.

The Southern delegations once again remain re-active and defensive. They do not have the political will or technical capacity to pursue an offensive strategy that they had demonstrated in the exceptional case of negotiating the CBD. I wish if we had another Ambassador Ting here. Bali is witnessing the whittling away of the UN mandate that has been the only shield against the tyranny of globalization of Western capital.

The NGOs, with some honorable exceptions, are showing signs of collaborating with the U.S., although they sport radical costumes. Most of them are, after all, part of the perennial conference cargo.

What is the alternative left for the wretched of the earth to face the twin crises of environment and development? My only fear is if they would not choose to turn to the dangerous lanes of violence, for death remains a decent option for them over an acceptance of the tyranny of imperialism. Will the WSSD care?