Alternative Perspective
 Issue 18, January 29, 2003
 Compiled by Madhukar Shukla

Introduction: Alternative Perspective is an attempt to widen our awareness about issues related to business, environment, role and influence of media, geo-politics, culture, etc. It aims to share, on a regular basis, some of those pieces of news and information, which do not find place in the highly monopolised mainstream media. Please feel free to share/ forward/ distribute this newsletter to others who may be interested.



Note: The URLs of sources used in the text are numbered and given at the end of the Newsletter.

In This Issue:
  • What Makes US Companies Globally Competitive
     Corporate Welfare - i.e., government subsidies in the form of tax rebates, direct loans, below market insurance, granting monopoly commercial rights, economic stimulus package, etc., which can run into a few hundred billion dollars - is a somewhat less-discussed aspect of the global competitiveness of US companies/ economy. Contrary to the current myth, that corporate welfare helps creating jobs, helps small businesses, etc., it uses tax-payers money to provide welfare to those who are already well-offs[1]. A good case in point is the recent "economic stimulus" package of $364bn[2], which will mainly benefit the top 5% richest in the country. It is no wonder that these global companies are able to successfully compete in economies where IMF/World Bank (and/or the ideology of privatisation) puts a ban on subsidies!!!
    http://www.socialconscience.com/articles/welfare/

  • Poor but Prosperous
    One of the least industrialised, and poorest, states of India - Kerala - is an exception to the sterotype of a poverty-stricken state. It has a literacy rate equal to that of Singapore and Spain; an infant moratality rate one-fifth of India, and lower than that of China, Thailand, Brazil, or Saudi Arab; a population growth rate lower than USA or Sweden; and, a life-expectancy rate better than China or many Latin American countries. But it is a poor state, since the annual per capita income is just around $300!!!... There are both lessons and hope[3] in the story of Kerala. It also raises a legitimate question if poverty is just a socio-political construct[4].
    http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98sep/kerala.htm

  • The Empire Strikes Back: The Race to Kill Kazaa
    When printing press was invented, the Church tried to ban it; just about 10 years back, governments tried to ban internet access to ordinary citizens; and music recording companies prevailed to close Napster a couple of years back. Kazaa, another P2P file-swaping service is next in target. Even if it is possible to close this service which has servers in Denmark, software in Estonia, domain registered in Australia, and corporation registered in South Pacific island of Vanuatu - there are at least 130 such file-swapping sites on the net, and growing at the rate of 300% per annum[5]. The saving grace is also that history tells us that printing press continued to grow, internet continues to proliferate,and P2P has not died with Napster. So there is still a hope that, one day, we will have an economic system for ideas and information[6], which does not treat intellect with the colonial mindset of "private property"...
    http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/kazaa.html

  • Do Corporations have a "Right to Lie"?
    ...well, at least so Nike claims (a claim supported by other companies such as Mobil/Exxon, Bank of America, Microsoft, Monsanto, etc.). When a law suit was filed against the company for deliberating deceiving the public in a PR campaign, Nike did not defend its PR campaign as being accurate (i.e., it does not run sweatshops). Instead it claimed that just like any individual, the company also has a right to "free speech"!!!
    http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0101-07.htm

  • "Astroturfing" to Sell a War
    "Astroturfing", a term from the old hackers' dictionary, means "creating a fake grass-root movement". With internet, it is easy to do so also. Here is an example: Go to Google.com search engine, and type "demonstrating genuine leadership"[7] or "taking a courageous stand against Saddam"[8]... and you will find scores of identical letters sent to different newspapers around the world - which would have been quite OK, since some guy can decide to send the same letter to a number of publications. The only anamoly here is that all these letters sent under different names!!!
    http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7308


    Other Sources Quoted in the Newsletter:
    [1]: href="http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/epp/88/88a.html
    [2]: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,880088,00.html
    [3]: http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/1999-06/june_21shalom.htm
    [4]: http://www.idrc.ca/reports/prn_report.cfm?article_num=285
    [5]: http://australia.internet.com/r/article/jsp/sid/12772?clicked=hottopics
    [6]: http://www.eff.org/~barlow/EconomyOfIdeas.html
    [7]: http://www.google.com/search?&q=%22demonstrating+genuine+leadership%22
    [8]: http://www.google.com/search?&q=%22taking+a+courageous+stand+against+Saddam%22


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