Le Monde diplomatique on 14 Dec 2000 10:18:46 -0000


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[Nettime-bold] December 2000



   Le Monde diplomatique 
   
                         -----------------------------------------------------
   
   
                               December 2000
                                      
     
LEADER

Fears of the year

by IGNACIO RAMONET

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/01fears>
     
                                                  Translated by Ed Emery
     
     
A PRESIDENCY WEAKENED

Democracy American style *

by SERGE HALIMI and LOÏC WACQUANT

     The succession to Bill Clinton has proved laborious. The new
     president will enter the White House with an authority as disputed
     as the result of the vote of 7 November. In some states the
     difference between George W Bush and Al Gore was little more than a
     few hundred votes, in others just a few dozen. The elections for
     the Senate and the House of Representatives have been equally
     inconclusive. This will force Republicans and Democrats to work
     together in a less buoyant economic climate than some months ago.
     The likely compromise between the two parties (which have no
     fundamental differences between them) will not stop the
     institutional model of the US being gravely tarnished by the
     electoral and legal chaos in Florida. Beyond the issue of the
     miscounting of ballots in some counties, an entire political system
     has been exposed as archaic and exhausted.
     
                                             Translated by Harry Forster
     
When the penal state excludes four million voters

S.H. and L.W.

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/03penal>
     
                                             Translated by Harry Forster
     
When business "invests" four billion dollars

S.H. and L.W.

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/04business>
     
                                             Translated by Harry Forster
     
When information travels at "internet speed"

S.H. and L.W.

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/05speed>
     
                                             Translated by Harry Forster
     
     
CHINA WOOS THE MARKET

Farewell to the land of the Little Red Book *

by ROLAND LEW

     Twenty years after it launched its economic reform programme, China
     is preparing to join the WTO and become part of the world's new
     free trade system. Senior officials in Beijing say this decisive
     step in the transition to a market economy will stabilise China's
     external trade environment, promote growth and secure the
     "reformist" coalition around President Jiang Zemin and Prime
     Minister Zhu Rongji. But this is a high-risk strategy. Prematurely
     opening up an economy that is not ready to cope with international
     competition will have a huge social cost.
     
                                              Translated by Julie Stoker
     
Not working

by MARC MANGIN

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/07notworking>
     
                                              Translated by Julie Stoker
     
     
BUSINESS, OIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Should corporations care? *

by ROLAND-PIERRE PARINGAUX

     The battle of Seattle showed that, in today's global village,
     multinationals operate under the critical gaze of the media,
     international organisations and ordinary people. Public opinion is
     coming to believe that the big corporations must show regard for
     human rights, the environment and the wishes of local populations -
     especially in places where politics are violent and arbitrary. Yet
     many companies shrug off responsibility in the countries they do
     business in.
     
                                         Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
     
A global compact

R-P. P.

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/09compact>
     
                                         Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
     
Oil in the way of development

A-C. R.

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/10development>
     
                                         Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
     
     
SETTLEMENTS AT THE HEART OF THE CONFLICT

Fighting for a proper peace *

by ALAIN GRESH

     For two months the intifada has shown little sign of abating,
     showing the Palestinians' determination to see an end to settlement
     and occupation once and for all. The Oslo accords provided for a
     five-year interim period of autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza.
     That was up last year on 4 May. What is in question now is a
     definitive settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the
     negotiating rules are one-sided: Israel will not implement UN
     security council resolution 242, which calls for its withdrawal
     from the occupied territories, and the US, far from being
     impartial, always "advises" the Palestinians to agree to Israeli
     proposals. So there is a need to redefine a legal framework based
     on international law and security council resolutions, with the
     participation of other players - such as the UN, Europe, Russia -
     alongside the US. This is the only way there can be real peace,
     based on coexistence between two sovereign states.
     
                                        Translated by Wendy Kristianasen
     
Failed compromise at Camp David

by FEISAL HUSSEINI

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/12campdavid>
     
                                        Translated by Wendy Kristianasen
     
Replaying the pictures *

by EDGAR ROSKIS

     In the Middle East, as elsewhere, war also means the war of the
     media. For every bit of military strategy there is equally
     sophisticated and brutal media strategy. Its main weapon is
     pictures. But what are more effective, still photos or the moving
     images of videos? And what misunderstandings can creep in between
     the intentions of the photographer and the distributor?
     
                                        Translated by Wendy Kristianasen
     
     
RETHINKING FRENCH FOREIGN POLICY

Democracy has many hues *

by HUBERT VÉDRINE

     The world is no longer divided into two opposing blocs. France,
     which skilfully exploited that situation, now needs to redefine its
     foreign policy objectives. Is the world to be converted to western
     democracy, as some maintain? Is moral outrage a sufficient basis
     for cogent state policy? And is the right of intervention a cure
     for all ills?
     
                                              Translated by Barry Smerin
     
     
COMPULSION AND CONSUMPTION

The science behind shopping *

by FRANCK MAZOYER

     December is the costliest month for shopping and gifts. Consumers
     are psychologically vulnerable to various forms of subconscious
     pressure - light, smell, sound and touch - meant to transform the
     act of buying into an uncontrollable impulse. Pleasure, it seems,
     is all about consuming.
     
                                             Translated by Harry Forster
     
     
THE MYTHOLOGY OF PROGRESS

Communication breeds democracy *

by ARMAND MATTELART

     Whatever Al Gore's claims to inventing the internet, neither the
     technology nor the ideology surrounding it are new. Already, in the
     1950s, a whole mystique of electronic progress was being put in
     place, which had to do with the advent of a post-industrial society
     and the end of ideologies and political commitment. We were being
     told of a coming global society that would be informed and
     structured by communication - and of a future that would belong to
     American democracy and market forces.
     
                                                  Translated by Ed Emery
     
     
WORKING TOWARDS UTOPIA

Anarchist plans for Spain *

by FRÉDÉRIC GOLDBRONN and FRANCK MINTZ

     Defence of the existing order is often based on nothing more than
     claims that any deviation would lead to tyranny or chaos. Yet
     history abounds with examples to the contrary. Revolt, and the
     aspiration to democracy and solidarity, are always simmering
     beneath the surface. For a few months during the Spanish civil war,
     parts of the country pursued a new of form of social organisation
     that rejected the rule of wealth, power and bureaucracy.
     
                                              Translated by Barry Smerin
     
The revolution on film *

by CARLOS PARDO

                                              Translated by Barry Smerin
     
Three years of civil war

           <http://www.monde-diplomatique/en/2000/12/19civil>
     
     
A COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS?

At the sign of the panicked cow *

by DENIS DUCLOS

     With public opinion panicked by the mass media and BSE spreading to
     humans, the French government has decided to ban the use of
     animal-based feedstuffs for cattle destined for human consumption.
     Other European countries have taken similar emergency measures. A
     kind of collective psychosis seems to be taking root based on a
     belief that mankind's relations with nature are going badly wrong.
     
                                                  Translated by Ed Emery
     
     _________________________________________________________________

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          English language editorial director: Wendy Kristianasen
     _________________________________________________________________
   
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