The 400-lb gorilla vs the skinny global justice movement

The real war in our world today is not “the war on terror” but a larger, more critical struggle for the soul of our world.

A monumental battle is taking place between those who want to ram through neo-liberal economic policies that favour the large multinationals and those trying to formulate more enlightened pro-people economic policies that promote social justice and harmony with Nature and the spiritual realm.

It is a struggle that is manifested in most countries around the world in different ways. Think about it.

The following is an excerpt from a piece I wrote for the Malaysian Herald last August:

In one corner of the ring, sits a 400-pound gorilla, the United States surrounded by its elite network power brokers, promoting a neo-liberal globalisation that largely benefits transnational corporations, widens income disparities and harms the environment.

In the other corner of the ring, you have the skinny global justice movement, surrounded by activists and boosted by the support of people like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia who want to provide a real alternative to the neo-liberal order.

These countries have been investing heavily in health care and education and using oil revenues to empower the rural poor. Such pro-people policies have put neo-liberal pro-corporate policies in a very bad light.

No wonder George Bush hates Hugo Chavez’s guts – and Chavez calls Bush a ‘devil’. But it goes well beyond name-calling. Behind it lies a struggle for the very soul of the world. In essence, it is a struggle between the corporate-led model of globalisation (favouring the elites and transnational corporations) and pro-people economic policies that favour the vast majority of people who are poor.