Impunity Inc. – Reflections on the “super-rights” and “super-powers” of corporate capital

ODG, TNI

25/06/2013

Opinión

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Forty years after Salvador Allende denounced corporate power at the United Nations General Assembly (December 1972), millions of people all over the world are involved in struggles against the social and environmental injustice generated by transnational corporations.

Working together or in parallel, in multiple ways, and in all sectors of the economy, people are defending their territories, seeds, water, forests, food, biodiversity, health, culture, etc., from the aggressive actions of the transnational corporations, which expand their power in a system of “accumulation by dispossession.”

Impunity Inc. is a report produced as part of the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity. Through three case studies, it aims to provide inputs for reflection on the “super-rights” and “super-powers” of transnational corporations.

The report describes the abuses and violations of fundamental labour rights taking place on a day-to-day basis in the export-oriented garment factories in Morocco, highlighting the responsibility of the Spanish transnational Inditex. It outlines a similar situation in Nicaragua, focusing on the role of Pescanova. In both cases, it explains how all this occurs in the framework of the Association Agreements imposed by the European Union (EU), in a context where Lex Mercatoria and the protection of corporate interests continue to take priority over the basic needs of human beings. The report also looks atEurope’s social metabolism, examining the consequences of the EU’s substantial dependence on the increasingly strategic raw materials that it imports from impoverished countries. The cases of zinc mining in Bolivia, coal mining in Colombia and cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo, together with soya and sugar cane production in Argentina and Brazil, are used to illustrate the harmful impact of Glencore’s operations, analysing the extent to which trade agreements ensure the impunity of the large corporations. Glencore’s involvement in financial speculation on commodities is also described. Impunity Inc. then goes on to look at the physical scaffolding of free trade, focusing on the roll-out of the infrastructure mega-projects in South America (IIRSA-COSIPLAN), and highlighting the European Investment Bank (EIB) involvement, as well as European capital’s responsibility in these infrastructure projects and their financialisation. A separate section is devoted to the case of the mega-dams being built on the River Madeira in the Amazon, with the participation of Banco Santander, GDF-Suez, Abengoa, Voith, Siemens and other European companies.

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Conclusions

“We are faced by a direct confrontation between the large transnational corporations and the states. The corporations are interfering in the fundamental political, economic and military decisions of the states. The corporations are global organizations that do not depend on any state and whose activities are not controlled by, nor are they accountable to any parliament or any other institution representative of the collective interest. In short, all the world political structure is being undermined. The large transnational firms are prejudicial to the genuine interests of the developing countries and their dominating and uncontrolled action is also carried out in the industrialized countries, where they are based. This has recently been denounced in Europe and in the United States and resulted in a US Senate investigation. The developed nations are just as threatened by this danger as the underdeveloped ones. It is a phenomenon that has already given rise to the growing mobilization of organized workers including the large trade union organizations that exist in the world. Once again the action of the international solidarity of workers must face a common enemy: imperialism.”
Speech by Chilean President Salvador Allende to the United Nations, 4 December 1972

Forty years have gone by since Allende spoke these words. His message seems relevant today more than ever. Throughout this report, the aim has been to reveal the architecture of impunity that protects European capital in particular, although the reflections it offers could be extrapolated to all the transnational corporations around the world, including those based in the emerging economies.

As Berrón and Brennan point out (2012, 2), we need to strengthen a “social response to build counter-power, which identifies the different levels of resistance and can bring them together in greater coordination.” This report has sought to contribute to this by linking the spheres of the real-real economy, infrastructure mega-projects and financialisation with an analysis of the operations of transnational corporations and trade agreements. It has also underlined the need to remain vigilant and monitor the physical scaffolding which is put in place to enable the agreements in FTAs and AAs to become reality, as described in the case of IIRSA.

It is also important to emphasise that in the context of the growing financialisation of the global economy, the example of Glencore’s activities is only the tip of the iceberg which must be resisted by civil society organisations that have traditionally denounced the transnationals. Until now, their work has mainly focused on the social, environmental and labour impacts produced by these companies in the real economy. Now this work needs to be combined with a focus on the banking sector. The corporations are beginning to act directly in all spheres of the economy, including the system that allows them to engage in financial speculation (Teitelbaum 2012, 8). There, they operate in a world where they no longer need FTAs, EPAs or AAs, in a financial system that is completely de-regulated. This is why it is necessary not only to understand how these companies operate but also to look for new ways to respond. As Hildyard (2011) puts it, a “ well-functioning market ” is in fact the working of a system placed at the service of private interest , a system that makes it legal and legitimate for one person to accumulate wealth at another’s expense. The market is neither the place nor the means to raise funds to serve the public interest. Financial derivatives are instruments that only intensify the pernicious and anti-democratic character of the market. Therefore, it is not a question of making this system “a bit fairer.” It must be dismantled altogether.

With the current multidimensional crisis, as foreseen by Allende, corporate power is also digging its claws into the flesh of people in the rich countries. As well as controlling their consumption patterns and destroying their cultural and natural heritage for decades, it has now orchestrated an attack on public services and the social and labour rights of these peoples. Fortunately, an increasing number of protests are taking place in these countries. Examples of the struggle to defend rights and reject public spending cuts are now evident all over Europe. In this context, we need to multiply alliances and coordinate resistance and local campaigns. The success of every specific act of resistance is reinforced if it is coordinated at the global level, “ to prevent [TNCs] from moving to other places where [they] will try to apply the same strategy ” (Berrón and Brennan 2012, 2).

Through initiatives such as the Global Campaign to Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity, the networks campaigning against free trade, and those carrying out the important task of monitoring the financial sector and the “green” economy, we must unite all our forces and organise against the “super-rights” and “super-powers” of the large corporations. One key component of this will be to put in place an International Peoples’ Treaty, with the aim of proposing economic and political alternatives, as well as establishing binding legal mechanisms and an International Tribunal to enforce them, ensuring that corporations will be held accountable for their actions and punished for their crimes against society and the environment. We have no other choice. Neither do we have much time.

June 2013