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          | Globalisation: The New Rulers 
                of the World report by John Pilger  
                Journalist and filmmaker John 
                  Pilger's recent documentary 'The New Rulers Of The World' was 
                  broadcast on 18 July 2001. It investigates economic globalisation 
                  and specifically its impact on one country - Indonesia.  We highly recommend that every 
                  Muslim watches this programme - it shows in a very accessible 
                  form why there is poverty in the world and the truth about globalisation 
                  ( i.e. imperialism ). Unfortunately due to its content its broadcast 
                  will be restricted, for example no American television channel 
                  will show it. We present here a glimpse of what the programme 
                  contains, in the form of a few images and a few minutes of borrowed 
                  audio. For more information on John Pilger and this documentary 
                  please visit his web-site : http://www.johnpilger.com   
     1: 
                Globalisation 
                 
                  | " 
                      The facts of globalisation are revealing, a small group 
                      of powerful individuals are now richer than most of the 
                      population of Africa just 200 giant corporations dominate 
                      a quarter of the worlds economic activity: General Motors 
                      is now bigger than Denmark, Ford is bigger than South Africa 
                      ..." |      2: 
                Corporate Takeover Of Indonesia 
 
                 
                  | " 
                      Sweatshops - workers are paid on average the equivalent 
                      of 72 pence a day, about a dollar. According to the Indonesian 
                      government that's just over half the living wage" |  
 
                 
                  | ".. 
                      70 million live in extreme poverty .." |  
 
                 
                  | "... 
                      poor are markedly poorer while the very wealthy are becoming 
                      staggeringly wealthy... a wedding of the Indonesian elite.." |  
 
                 
                  | " 
                      ... less than 5 miles away is a labour camp that's home 
                      to workers that make the famous brands we buy in the high 
                      streets and the shopping malls - this is the human price 
                      paid for our fashionable trainers,our smart shirt and our designer label jeans..."
 |   
 
                 
                  | " 
                      ...the dormitories are made from breeze blocks and packing 
                      cases - when it rains, they flood, their are open sewers 
                      and no clean running water..." |  
 
                 
                  | " 
                      The factory's may look modern but once you step inside you 
                      feel the claustrophobia of the workers, working in temperatures 
                      reaching 40 degrees centigrade, the sheer frenzy of their 
                      production and you see their fatigue." |  
 
                 
                  | ".. 
                      you work 24 hour shift with just a couple of breaks and 
                      then two hours later you start another shift ... famous 
                      brands produced here include Nike Reebok, Adidas and Gap" |  
 
                 
                  | "the 
                      great sweatshops and banks and luxury hotels in Indonesia 
                      were built on the mass murder of as many as 1 million people 
                      ..." |  
 
                 
                  | ".. 
                      secretly backed by the United States and Britain and by 
                      western business leaders it brought to powerGeneral Suharto ... within a year of the blood bath Indonesia's 
                      economy was effectively redesigned in
 America, giving the West access to vast mineral wealth, 
                      markets and cheap labour, what President
 Nixon called the greatest prize in Asia."
 |      3: 
                The New Rulers Of The World 
 
                 
                  | " 
                      The World Bank and the IMF were set up near the end of World 
                      War II to rebuild the economies of Europe, later they began 
                      offering loans to poor countries but only if they privatised 
                      their economiesand allowed western corporations free access to their raw 
                      materials and markets ..."
 |      4: 
                Debt Repayment 
 
                 
                  | " 
                      the conditions of the IMF's latest loan include a reduction 
                      in subsides on certain fuel and food.Half this mans monthly wage of less than 40 pounds goes 
                      on medical treatment for his children who suffer from a 
                      serious blood disorder, as prices go up he can not even 
                      afford the special drugs that keep them alive.."
 |  
 
                 
                  | " 
                      Globalisation creates debts, and debts create misery, creates 
                      unemployment, creates the crisis .." |  
 
                 
                  | "... 
                      in effect the money stolen by the Suharto family is being 
                      repaid by us, by the children ..." |  © copyright John Pilger.   Back to GLOBALISATION HOME |  |