Alternative Globalization

The author of this editorial in the Ethiopian newspaper questions the wisdom of developing countries staying within the WTO and letting themselves be squeezed by the developed countries. He says that the basic inconsistency of the WTO is that it provides protection to the monopolistic control of technologies but prohibits the monopolistic pricing of natural resources. He argues that the principle of monopolistic pricing adopted by the developed countries for their technologies should also be applied to the price of natural commodities held by the developing countries. He says “Microsoft has the freedom to charge high prices for its Windows software. In a similar way India should have the freedom to recover high prices for its bauxite and manganese ore.” Since the natural resources are a diminishing commodity, unlike technologies which are ever expanding, there is a stronger argument for protecting the commodities rather than technology. In the alternative globalization the author argues for poor countries should be encouraged to make cartels of their natural resources. Secondly the WTO should scrap laws regarding intellectual property and patents. And finally freedom of movement of people should be allowed but nations should have right to restrict the movement of capital.—YaleGlobal