Wallace's Corner

A socialist perspective on today's events

Capitalism's United Nations Millennium

9 September 2000

The Millennium gathering at the United Nations in New York has been promoted as the world's largest gathering of "world leaders" - heads of capitalist state and government, their retinue of bureaucrats, secret service agents, appointees. The reportage to be covered by capitalist owned television, newspaper and radio by those who report with an uncritical and appalling apologism with so-called "analysis" awash only in a capitalist viewpoint. Cuba's state capitalist leader Fidel Castro will rub shoulders with those who rub shoulders with U.S. President Bill Clinton. Officials of state capitalist China will handshake with the grey bureaucrats of Tony Blair's "Labour" Great Britain. Yassir Arafat will exchange secret words with those who also beckon representatives of Israel, Lebanon and Syria.

The agenda of this colossal meeting is to address the questions of peace, poverty, world illiteracy and the environment.

Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN has come under criticism, not for the agenda proposed, but because he dared to invite representatives of multinational and transnational corporations to address these issues. His viewpoint is that "globalization" is a fact and that such powerful corporate entities are part of the problem and thus part of the "solution". Corporate business applauds. Politicians are wary that their roles as direct preservators of capitalism may be usurped. The liberal-left politicos are aghast.

One group, Corporate Watch has stated:

Most recently we've been working with a global coalition of groups to oppose Secretary General Kofi Annan's Global Compact with transnational corporations. Mr. Annan launched the Compact, which contemplates partnerships with companies like Nike, Shell and Rio Tinto -- corporations well known for their records of environmental and human rights violations -- in July 2000. We believe that the Global Compact threatens the mission and integrity of the UN. ("Corporatization of the United Nations", Corporate Watch website)
Socialists are not surprised at this latest farce and attempt to bring direct corporate influence into world government proceedings. It has ever been thus because the capitalist State is nothing but the representative of capitalist interests. It is the administrative body that represents the interests of the capitalist class as a whole. And it figures predominantly in the latest stage of financial, economic wheeling and dealing of the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the Organization of American States.

The United Nations itself, despite its high flown phrases of declaration, is the embodiment of the immediate post-World War Two agenda -- capitalist security in a capitalist world of the victorious allies. Historically it reflected the interests of super power rivalry between a "private" capitalist United States and a "state" capitalist USSR.

The UN "Charter", despite its sentimentality and phrases of liberal democracy, is reminiscent of the U.S. "Declaration of Independence", the French revolution's "Declaration Rights" and the former Soviet Union's Constitution before it and is a veil over the reality of naked class interest and the reality of a world divided by class. All have a basis on the preservation of a capitalist class, the capitalist system and the maintenance of an exploitive relationship with the working class.

Unlike those of the liberal-left political persuasion we do not call for a reform of the UN, nor do we spend our time to pressure against such open corporate influence

The UN is exposed finally for what it is. And we are not so naive to hold that yet another uphill battle must be waged by the working class, along with a myriad other losing battles, for the sake of trying to right capitalism's ills. We say this because the bottom line of capitalism is that profit has to be made and it has to grow. That is its driving force. It's be all and end all. It cannot be otherwise.

Are we saying that nothing can be done, that we should remain inactive? No. We are saying that halfway measures, trying to reform a system geared to exploitation with its resultant wars, hunger, hypocrisy, illiteracy must be replaced by a truly human society. But that also means creating a society not based on the profit motive.

We do not spend our time pushing the rock uphill in order to have it fall to the bottom again. Reforms can only be temporary measures that, in the end, do not solve the underlying problem. That uphill battle must be fought over and over again. Our solution hits at the root of all these problems -- capitalism itself.

It is capitalism that causes war.

It is capitalism that causes poverty.

It is capitalism that creates environmental destruction.

It is capitalism that allows ignorance.

It is capitalism that cannot fulfill the needs of human beings.

Peace, prosperity, a safe environment, democracy, etc., will elude the grasp of the best intentioned politicians. It is simply beyond their control.

Whether or not corporate representatives take part in the Millennium gathering is not the issue. The issue is capitalism itself.

Table of Contents - Wallace's Corner