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Sustainable Development Policy Institute Ninth Sustainable Development Conference Dec.14, 2006
Corporate-driven globalization is now in very deep crisis,’ stated Professor Walden Bello, winner of the Right Livelihood Award, known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, during his speech at the Ninth Sustainable Development Conference. In his thought provoking and evocative paper ‘The Crisis of the Globalist Project: Civil Society’s Role and Response’, Professor Bello discussed the existence of new space for Southern societies due to the limitations of unilateral powers and obsolete multi lateral institutions. At the unilateral level, the over extension of US economic and military power, EU – US fissures and current events in Latin America provide evidence that the tide is turning against neoliberalism. In terms of the legitimacy of multilateral institutions, the IMF and the World Bank as well as the World Trade Organization continue to find their popularity undermined as illustrated by funding and organizational indicators, he said. Southern economies are addressing their economic crises by increasing civil society representation and generating alternatives in the space being created by limitations within the globalist project. The World Social Forum despite its various shortcomings had created such space, Dr. Bello felt. He said that national and local priorities should ensure that the market was driven by society since the future hinges on an ability to cooperate rather than compete and move from the ‘realm of necessity to the realm of freedom.’ The session raised the important question such as whether dismantling the WTO was the best way forward as a rules based system was necessary for protecting the interests of developing nations? Other questions discussed the convergence between the war on terror and neoliberalism, the need to rectify inequalities within civil society, the role of the UN as a vehicle for social change and the need to question fundamental requirements in countering the tide of neoliberalism. Dr. Bello indicated that pre cold war alliances had changed and their divisions needed to be expanded upon by developing nations in order to create new spaces for engagement and called for a move beyond developmentalist and neoliberal models required to establish mechanisms that work to the advantage of developing nations.
In the session on ‘The Underbelly of Globalization- Gender and Economic Integration in South Asia’, Dr. Karin Astrid Siegmann from SDPI, Ms. Alessandra Mezzadri from the School of Oriental and African Studies, UK and Dr. Veena Jha’s findings were presented on the gender and globalization interface, paying special attention to South Asia. Dr. Karin Astrid Siegmann emphasized that though economic globalization creates economic opportunities for those endowed with productive resources such as human and physical capital, access to formal employment and geographical mobility, access of women and girls to resources such as rights to land, access to capital and technology, support for unconstrained mobility and equal access to education. need to be strengthened. Ms.Alessandra Mezzadri in her paper on the Indian garment sector pointed out that recent trends in the Indian garment industry were quite discouraging since they showed how the formation of class solidarity was purposefully suffocated by producer’s strategies for labor control. With reference to two of the new growing Indian garment export centers, Chennai and Bangalore, she explored strategies that show success in preventing the formation of a conscious and cohesive working class in Indian garment production. Dr. Veena Jha’s study examined whether export oriented change in the production sector can bring changes in the socio-economic condition of women in India. Her findings concluded that empowerment of women and export orientation of state economy are significantly related provided literacy rates and health indicators are also high.
Dr. Aliya Khan from Quaid-e-Azam University highlighted that the human face of globalization was gendered and stressed the importance of looking at all policies through a gendered lens. Mr. Mehmood Saleem, Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Development chaired the session.
The session on ‘Human Security in South Asia’, concluded that the mainstream discourse on human security was gender blind and stressed the need for genderising human security and making gender sensitive laws at national and international levels. Dr. Saba Gul Khattak’s presenting on ‘Gender Human Security-The case of Pakistan and Bangladesh’ said that the state not only granted security to women, but was also responsible for their insecurity as reflected in the Constitution of Pakistan. She stressed that both law and legislation, along with peoples’ attitudes and perceptions need to be sensitized. Mr. Nizamuddin Nizamani’s paper on ‘Balochistan Crisis-A regional Conflict Unfolding Over Suleiman Range’ brought vivid and horrifying details of the military operation in Balochistan to the forefront. He said that while the Government had claimed to arrest a few hundred insurgents, the local political parties have claimed that more than 4000 people had been imprisoned, only 200 of whom had been brought before the court. The Taliban insurgency, US Iran tension, Durand Line issue, Chinese investment and the alleged Indian assistance to the insurgents in Balochistan were significant security threats in Balochistan. He recommended drastic administrative measures, provincial autonomy, transparent elections and general amnesty in Balochistan for enhancing human security indicators in Balochistan. Urvashi Butalia from India said that crimes against women and children were a major part of modern warfare, just as they had been a decade ago during partition of India. Dr. Rukhsana Qamber chaired the panel.
The session on ‘Marine Fisheries: Compliance, Sustainability and Livelihoods’, chaired by Mohammad Ali Shah, President, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum called on the Government to implement the Sustainable Fisheries Policy drafted by PPF. Mr. Faisal Shaheen from Canada reviewed the proposed policy, while Mr. Khan Jamali’s paper outlined the dynamics of the fisheries sector and the challenges faced by Fisher Folk communities in meeting their day-to-day requirements. Dr. Shaheen Rafi Khan from SDPI gave an extensive presentation of the supply chains of fisher folk communities along the Pakistani coastline. Dr. Walden Bello while discussing the papers warned that if the microstructure power at local level did not change, the Community Participation Model may not be successful.
During the session on ‘Political Economy of Rehabilitation’, Dr. Abid Suleri and Sobia Ahmed from SDPI presented findings of studies conducted at SDPI on the ‘Role of Remittance in the earthquake Affected areas: A case study of Pakistan’ and ‘State of Livelihood assets in earthquake affected areas of Pakistan,’ respectively. Dr. Suleri highlighted the case of disrupted (international) remittance flows due to the October earthquake and asserted that households that had remittances supplementing there income fared better than households who did not have remittances coming in and appeared less vulnerable to the effects of the earthquake and their livelihoods were more resilient once remittance flows were re established. ‘Remittances reduce vulnerability and risk. Thus, it is important that governments and other aid actors re-establish remittance flows quickly, he recommended. Sobia Ahmed in her paper asserted that livelihood structures in the NWFP and Azad Jammu and Kashmir were not similar and it was important to keep this dissimilarity in mind when formulating livelihood policies in the future. She recommended formulation of a comprehensive livelihood strategy that encompasses support for gendered human development, strengthens weakened livelihood assets and pushes for sustained local economic activity.
In the panel on ‘Women, Conflict and Security’, Emma Varley from the University of Toronto in her paper talked about the post 1988 sectarian polarization in Gilgit and how the weaponization and militarization of that area had lead to unattended childbirths, missed abortions. Dr. Lubna Nazir Chaudhary from the State University of New York discussed the binary between voice and silence and argued for differentiated modalities of voices and silences in our representations, theorizing and writings about women. Nazish Brohi’s in her paper ‘Cartographies of Conflict’ critiqued the UN framework stressing that it was extremely inadequate in terms of indicating gendered realities and experiences in conflict since it misses out on looking at the culture of violence and fear. Dr. Masooma Hasan chaired the session.
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