A couple of months ago, a friend sent me a powerful article by Delphine Rabet called Corporate Power in Global Governance. The paper argues that profit alone does not encompass the primary concern for corporate entities. Even more important is the consolidation of power. Rabet argues that when the quest for power is recognized as a central motivation, then the complex activities of multinational corporations can begin to make sense.
PUBLIC FORUM WITH GUEST SPEAKERS:
MANUEL PEREZ ROCHA, IPS Washington DC - Associate Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C. where he directs an advocacy and research project on "the Security and Prosperity Partnership and the NAFTA Plus Agenda." Manuel works in coordination with the Alliance for Responsible Trade in the United States and is a member of the Mexican Action Network on Free Trade (RMALC).
It's no secret that people in southwestern Ontario -- Londoners in particular -- are seriously pissed with Caterpillar. In fact, in an unprecedented show of support for labour, both London Mayor Joe Fontana and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty are on record as saying Caterpillar has been unfair to the employees of Electro-Motive.
Thursday afternoon I caught up with the president of CAW Local 27, Tim Carrie, in the lobby of the London Hilton during a break from closure negotiations with Caterpillar.
Meg Borthwick: So Tim, negotiations seem to be progressing ...
While many Canadian corporations and their subsidiaries have acted unethically and unlawfully in developing countries, they have been able to commit crimes abroad with impunity. Some corporations—particularly those in the extractive industries—have literally gotten away w...ith murder, hiring mercenaries to assassinate vocal critiques of their operations. In other cases, they wreak environmental havoc, exploiting weak environmental regulation in developing nations in order to carry out their operations with utter disregard to sustainability or the wellbeing of local communities.
On Dec. 3, just two days before Occupy L.A. was evicted by police, the General Assembly of the occupation passed a unanimous resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood.
Then on Dec. 6, the City Council of Los Angeles also voted, also unanimously, for a resolution making the same appeal.