Almost a decade ago, thousands of people died painful deaths when the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal leaked poisonous gas. The death toll in the world’s worst industrial disaster has reached 16,000 people while half a million more were stricken with incurable illnesses.
Since the “green revolution," structural adjustment schemes have been prioritised by institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund as suitable measures to provide advantageous solutions to Third World economic and growth management obstacles. The effects of structural adjustment are by no means uniformly beneficial.
After a decade of promoting foreign investment, Thailand now proclaims itself as Asia’s fifth economic ‘dragon’. Since 1991, the country’s annual GDP growth has been above 7%. For many third-world countries, Thailand’s success story reaffirms the paradigm of the ‘‘NIC’’ model of capitalist development in Asia.
As industrialisation spreads across Asia, waste and toxic hazards accumulate at a disturbing rate and pose a major threat. Many developed nations partially relieve themselves of the burden of toxic waste by exporting undesirable industries and processes to less-industrialised and less-regulated countries. The “grow now, clean up later” approach to development in Asia has established an environmental menace that may haunt the region for decades to come.
Is the ICFTU theory back-to-front? Is the so-called New World Order (NWO) in danger of being ‘killed off at birth by casino capitalism’, as the ICFTU maintains? Yes and no.
As the world recovers from a major war and many international forces and international alliances are being reassessed, implications for labour are far-reaching.
The fact that migrant workers are the main source of foreign exchange for some Asian countries further highlights the complexity and seriousness of a war whose real effects and implications are just beginning to be felt.
• May Day protests in the Philippines
• New confederation formed in Hong Kong
• General strike in South Korea
• Malaysian electronics workers organize
• Japanese company closes Korean operation
• Labour demands wage rises in the Philippines
• Hong Kong workers talk about 1997