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CAPE TOWN — South African President Thabo Mbeki created a stir at the beginning of the U.N. Earth Summit in Johannesburg when he called for an end to the system of "global apartheid" between the rich and poor countries of the world. "A global human society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few, characterized by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable," Mbeki said. Inflated and hyperbolic rhetoric is nothing new, especially at U.N. conferences. But in a certain sense — and despite his fondness for socialist economics — Mbeki is correct.
ROBBEN
ISLAND AND BEYOND It was here that Mandela and other political prisoners began to go blind pounding limestone rock for eight hours a day. They lived in six-by-six foot cells, just a short boat ride away across choppy and frigid Atlantic waters from a thriving metropolis. Their proximity to Cape Town served as a steady reminder of all that a repressive regime denied them. The Apartheid system was especially cruel to the current South African president as his father, Govan Mbeki, spent years imprisoned on Robben Island, too. South African Apartheid was engineered to enrich the privileged and powerful and to keep the poor and powerless — blacks, Asians, "coloreds" and other non-whites — ghettoized and disadvantaged. For example, a middle-aged native Cape Towner of Malay and Indian descent named Nazeem recounted for us the indignities of everyday life, how he and his family could not use white-only beaches and other recreational areas and how they were prohibited from blending in with white society. While that system died in 1990 with Mandela's release from prison and in 1994 with free elections for South Africa, another system of economic apartheid continues today keeping the world's poor locked up on an island of poverty not too far from the wealth and promise of the developed world. It is a system that is supported by Western trade policies, especially those of the European Union (and, sadly, some of those of the United States), and is given staunch support by environmental NGOs and other "civil society" groups here at the Jo'burg summit. OBSTACLES
TO GROWTH But there are some hopeful signs that the developed world is beginning to understand the damage of barriers to trade. Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said this week, "We must fight poverty through sustainable economic growth and development. The shortest route to a cleaner and sustainable environment is to raise the standards of living in developing countries." And earlier this week, Britain's development minister, Claire Short, warned environmentalists against "imposing rules that prevent poor countries from development." Otherwise, she said, the poor can say to developed nations, "You got your development, and now you're setting rules that make sure we will never be able to develop." Heinz Imhoff, the CEO of Syngenta, a leading global agri-business, echoed this sentiment. When asked about his company's efforts to increase the use of life-saving and food-enriching biotechnologies in Africa, he said, "If there were no barriers from NGOs who think they know better, we could start now." Speaking Monday from the summit, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "Markets must… be opened up to agriculture products from developing countries." So President Mbeki was right. There is, indeed, a system of global economic apartheid. It comes in the form of trade barriers and technology restrictions that block markets for poor people around the world. It just happens to be enthusiastically and vigorously defended by Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund, Friends of the Earth, and other environmental organizations. "If Africa is a scar on the conscience of the world, we have a duty to heal it" Blair said. Indeed, we do. |
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