Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia
McKinney is running to recapture her Atlanta-area congressional
seat. She delivered the following speech to the Georgia Tech Globalization
Forum, April 22.
Tonight
we are here to talk about globalization. During my grad school
days, I sat through a few econ courses. And I remember that
my teachers could draw elaborate diagrams on the board, and write
mathematical equations that went the length of the chalkboard;
and they would always add at the end, "if all things are equal."
And so I emerged from graduate school a true believer, that free trade was
fair, if all things are equal.
But as I left the world of academia and entered the world of politics, my
first lesson learned was that all things are not equal.
I think I would like to start my remarks by remembering a comment that Venezuela's
President, Hugo Chavez, makes in the documentary, "The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised." In that film, he says that the people
who are labeled anti-globalizers are really not that at all. That they
are the true globalizers because they care about the world and all its people.
The most glaring effect of globalization that I have confronted is the impact
on the lives of real people for whom I am responsible.
My first encounter with people whose lives were impacted by what we call
globalization came as I sought to represent Georgia's old 11th District that
swept through Georgia's poor and rural black belt. Those most up in
arms at the time were our farmers who were agitated about NAFTA. Those
not up in arms, but who bore the brunt of NAFTA, were in one case, the women
of Sparta, Georgia - Hancock County. There, single mothers held families
together with their low-wage jobs in the textile plants. There, single
mothers lost their jobs when the plants moved away. I watched desperate
families endure desperate times. "All things being equal" didn't
take the women of Sparta, Georgia into account. As a caring single
mother, who also happened to be an elected official, I had to. That's
when I drafted legislation to take away tax breaks for corporations that
locate their plants overseas. It wasn't a sexy subject at that time,
but it was definitely a problem that I saw firsthand, affecting real lives
and real people.
Now, more people are paying attention to globalization because at first it
was just "them," now, it's a whole lot of us. Globalization
used to be perceived as something that happened to poor workers or the environment
in faraway places like China. Now globalization has come home.
So the first effect that I would like to mention is the effect that these
economic policies have on careers, creating uncertainty for real people as
they watch more and more jobs being sent off shore.
Estimates run into the millions of jobs that have been lost since George
Bush was sworn into office. How does one measure the anxiety level of American
workers who need these jobs; watch them leave the US; realize that some companies
even continue to get tax breaks when they leave; and then find that their
careers have been outsourced?
In all of my econ courses, I don't recall any of my professors ever adding
that to the equation.
Secondly, I am concerned about the worsening gap between rich and poor; not
just globally, but in our own country, too.
Globally, as many as 1 billion people fail to meet life's basic requirements
as defined by the UN. About three-fifths of the world's population
in developing countries live without sanitation. About one-third live
without safe drinking water. One-fourth lack adequate housing; one-fifth
live without modern health services; one-fifth of their children don't make
it through fifth grade; an equal number are malnourished.
Water shortage and contamination kill nearly 25,000 people a day. Diarrhea
kills nearly 4 million children every year. In Bolivia, when the US
multinational Bechtel tried to privatize the water supply, a revolution was
sparked. Now, we can add Bolivia to the list of countries that don't
like our policies.
In addition to global inequality, the United States is also experiencing
domestic inequality. According to the US Census, more than 34 million
Americans now live below the poverty line. That's almost 2 million
more impoverished than in 2001. Over 16% of our children live in poverty,
almost double the figures for 2001. The Veterans Administration estimates
that on any given night 300,000 veterans sleep on America's streets. The
VA estimates that during the year as many as half a million veterans experience
homelessness. Conservatively, one out of every four homeless males
who is sleeping in a doorway, alley, or a cardboard box in our cities and
rural communities has put on a uniform and served our country. Surely
America must remember them. But while our country spends one billion
dollars a week for war, we can't find money to provide our vets shelter and
a warm meal?
In addition to the highest unemployment in a decade and persistent health
care challenges for those Americans who do have jobs, a permanent underclass
is being created and that is not sustainable.
I'll just recite for you the findings from several studies published this
year:
United for a Fair Economy: “State
of the Dream, 2004” report states
that on some indices, the racial gap has actually widened since the murder
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Sadly, it will take 8 years to close
the high school graduation gap; 73 years to close the college graduation
gap; 581 years to close the per capita income gap; and 1,664 years to close
the home ownership gap.
The New York Times informs us that nearly half of all black men aged 16 to
64 in New York City are unemployed.
The Chicago Sun-Times tells us about a Hull
House Report entitled, "Minding
the Gap: An Assessment of Racial Disparity in Metropolitan Chicago.” According
to the Sun-Times, "the report describes two completely different cities,
documenting disparities in income, education, housing, transportation, health,
and safety."
According to the Hull House report researched by Loyola University, it will
take 200 years for the gulf that separates black quality of life from white
quality of life to close entirely.
One example cited in the report: "Whites are 125% more likely
to use marijuana than blacks; 181% more likely to use cocaine; 431% more
likely to use inhalants; 516% more likely to use LSD. And yet blacks
account for 79% of all drug arrests."
A University of Cincinnati report shows that African Americans are stopped
more often, frequently receive unequal treatment after being stopped, are
stopped for longer periods of time, and are searched and arrested more often.
A Harvard University study finds that the quality of health care varies by
race and at a recent seminar on the subject, one of the star panelists recommends
that blacks see black doctors to escape racism in health care.
Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, in his series "America Beyond the
Color Line," informs us that a full 40% of all black children are living
at or beneath the poverty line.
The Washington Post tells us that hundreds of children tested at least 47%
higher than the national average for lead poisoning.
The most recent report comes from the National Urban League, which reports
on the State of Black America,
2004. It reminds us that over "216
years ago, the authors of the US Constitution counted enslaved African Americans
as 60% of a white person. According to the total of the 2004 Equality
Index, the status of African Americans today is 73%" that of their white
counterparts.
Over 200 years of American progress equals 73%. No wonder the National
Urban League reports that 40% of blacks feel little or no improvement in
economics or social mobility.
Clearly this is a situation that is not sustainable.
Thirdly, I'd like to talk about a situation that is a growing problem: sexual
slavery and human trafficking. One major side effect of extreme poverty
throughout the world is the growing crisis of sexual slavery and human trafficking. A
recent U.S. Government estimate indicates that approximately 800,000 - 900,000
people annually are trafficked across international borders worldwide and
between 18,000 and 20,000 of those victims are trafficked into the United
States. This estimate includes men, women, and children who are trafficked
into forced labor and sexual exploitation as defined in the Trafficking Victims
Protection Act of 2000. Girls as young as 13 are trafficked as mail
order brides. Children are trafficked for domestic work. In Lithuania,
children as young as 11 are known to work as prostitutes. The Government
of Azerbaijan wants to crack down on child traffickers who are believed to
take children abroad and sell their organs for profit.
This is a human tragedy borne out of worldwide poverty. In fact, human
trafficking is the ultimate form of globalization: people doing anything
to generate commerce. And while this Administration speaks about the
scourge of human trafficking, it has done nothing to end the lucrative Pentagon
contracts that go to DynCorp, in particular, a company whose employees are
known to have engaged in sexual slavery, and are reported to still be doing
so, even today.
Globalization without a moral compass is what we're experiencing today. Here's
what John Kennedy had to say at his inauguration in 1961:
”The world
is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power
to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human
life…. To those
new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our
word that
one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to
be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect
to find them supporting
our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting
their own freedom - and to remember that, in the past, those who
foolishly sought
power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
”To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break
the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves,
for whatever period is required – not because the communists may be doing
it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free
society cannot
help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
Now, I'll end this as I began it. One vision of globalization has put
our entire planetary ecosystem at risk. I do not share that vision. However,
a different leadership can inspire us to have a very different vision. I
have a global view and I care about the world and all its people. John
Kennedy said it right; this Administration and those who think
like it get it wrong. |