Mobilize the “quite”

By Ws Hag

“French politicians write lots of books to prove and hold public office, US voters favor the candidate they can envision sharing a beer with, African leaders like better docile people.” (See www.greatepicbooks.com/epics/june99.html)

Upcoming opposition groups must face the challenges head on. If they want to succeed, they must first loosen the ideological straitjacket and dare bring in new voices: entrepreneurs, intellectuals, and young people, expats who left the country for lack of opportunities and other different reasons. Otherwise, they will end up with the same gridlock, same arguments, and same lagging dogma the current government is locked up in. And this will be a huge quagmire, as is now, that can be undone for years where many would keep on in an inert position.

Nowhere have the government systematically dealt with its own oppositions as others do. It is indeed the responsibility of politicians to do better to rally the progressive mainstream. If they fail to do so, it is blatant that the country will face grave challenges not only to its democracy, but also to its valuable social integrity. The snail’s-pace economy is producing too few good situations, and the majority won’t be satisfied, or silent, forever.

Ordinary Eritreans fear a return to the chaos and poverty of the 1970s and 80s, fueled by recent border war and unending demarcation process. Businessmen and investors fear an increasingly capricious government that denies them what they need most - stability and a clear set of rules. What about politicians?

The man who is “so-called” an inspire to this fear is nearly all-powerful. He has exploited a string of the border incidents, most notably – the confrontation of higher officials, which left many behind bars and angered the world – to further consolidate his position. Many Eritreans think consolidating power in the leadership’s hand is the only way to bring the country’s feuding politicians to heel. But a system built on one man (if I may say so an undersized group) and held together by fear is proving to be much shakier than it looks.

As democracy was uprooted, power is leaking from head of the state to the military authorities. While decentralization is working in other parts of the world for the common good of governance, this kind of power transference, nonetheless, spawned local corruption and gave birth to regional dynamos. The joke today is that long-ago bribes went to a select few who got results except nowadays there are so many local hands to grease and it is level impossible to get things done.

Ordinary people call this period the time of stagnation. Economists, in contrast, call them “administrative barriers,” and they come in different forms and in different places – corrupt officials, demands for bribes or just bureaucratic delays. The problems are too big for individuals to tackle, as power has grown so centralized. Without local self-government, sensitive to local needs, “business can’t grow.” Unless this worry is lifted, the economy will continue to slide not just backward and hit bottom rock but it will be nowhere near that one can uplift it until a decade or two to overtake, if luckily.

The country, as a result, needs pragmatists if it hopes to have a grasp at the progressing world. It doesn’t matter whether the leadership is from the East or West, North or South, so long as it is able to catch the good fish. The people have to have a headship with solid promises and which can pronounce the “do not worry and we are going to reborn again” demonstration. Administrations that can keep and make the people undoubtedly united as before to look at their future and the vision of peace and even handedness.

The solutions, to launch judicial reforms, outline practical policy, incentives to foreign investors, involvement of citizens, etc. There is no end to the possibilities of reform, if the war-ravaged and poverty stricken land is able to open up to democracy. Nonetheless, it is all pretty vague right now, and the insiders are watching for any adjustment and improvement. The outsiders as well are concerned equally since most of them are left helpless and do not even know how to identify or solve the intricacy. There is a difficult balance to strike between bringing in those who are willing to change and excluding those who remain opposed to the government. The tragedy of the country is “a tragedy of mediocrity.”

It is good to keep in mind, however, that the overall objective during such time of opposing is to win the battle of ideas and the political struggle for freedom, rule of law, democracy and justice. The center of gravity in this kind of struggle, thus, is the local population. Wining and maintaining their support is crucial. Gaining the participation and contribution of the population and eliminating support for the ruling privileged is more important. Without political strategy to deal with the grassroots, even the best plans will never work.

Meanwhile the number of opposition groups in diaspora is sometimes mushrooming and at other times going into coalition. Perhaps we are hearing much about them everyday now because the debate has gotten so high-pitched. Not because they are the highest gear than before but it seems that the other side’s endurance is moving towards a critical down falling situation. It is now and again; the point of discussion hangs around only in considering no more than on the wrongs and statements of the government. Although, it is the most cynical contemplation to discount the importance of opposition, yet at times you find the level of the debate rather juvenile more often. The question is whether these oppositions can whip the muddle into shape as well as mobilize the people with crystal clear principles devoid of reviving any dictatorial methods to reach the important milestone.

I’m out and peace to all who care about it !!

Global Expansion of Trade and Sustainable Development

By Ws Hag

Whatever the balance of threats or opportunities, the reality of global trade expansion is beyond dispute. To this effect, I will discuss how trade expansion affects, both positively and negatively, on sustainable development.

Expansion of global trade can be seen as an affirmative end in terms of its economic and political impacts. This is factual as such expansion leads to economic growth through creating larger markets and introducing competition (Snarr & Snarr, Introducing Global Issues, p.245). Supplies of commodities also find their ways worldwide without much difficulty. Moreover, developing countries may have the opportunity to use foreign standards as an incentive to make new investments and implement new systems.

Likewise, the political force of global trade increases mutual dependence and encourages cooperation among nations (Aaron Cosbey, Lessons Learned on Sustainable & Development, p.9). This cooperation paves a way in lessening the degree of conflict and increases peaceful solutions to differences. As a result, both individuals and governments could enjoy the advantage of such composure for their progress.

Today’s scale of modern urbanization, transfer of technology, knowledge as well as idea, and employment opportunity are the result of such expansion (Review of “The Environmentalism of the Poor”, Journal of Agrarian, p.432). The awareness constructed by the global trade has a massive influence in the development of the people and societies as a whole. Accordingly, the part of social responsibility to tackle various issues related to development will rise concurrently.

The negativity of trade expansion globally can be described in terms of the range of technical requirements imposed by developed countries. Though the standards and technical specifications have positive impact, they will affect the progress of developing nations, as the conditions can be more burdensome (NIS Project, Globalization, Trade and Sustainable Development, P.11). This could develop in to constructing a complex system that distinguishes seriously among countries on the basis of their level of development (e.g. EU regulation on consumer health protection, US shrimp harvesting methods, labeling requirements, etc.). Hence, it can be explained as the potential tension that could frustrate the sustainable growth in developing countries, though attempts has been made to address their concern.

The effect in environment is another point which I refer to as appalling aspect. Global trade pushes environmental standards lower by allowing competition from firms that pollute more than expected (Louise Takeda, Political Ecological Economics: An Emerging Transdisciplinary Approach to Sustainability, p.43). The products themselves may be a cause for environmental damage in the process (e.g. energy efficiency, recyclability, etc.). Often, pollution from the products contributes to global environmental problems such as ozone layer destruction, biodiversity loss or global warming.

In fairness terms, the expansion by itself is not well distributed and inequality between nations is reflected (J. Martinez-Alier, Metabolic Profiles of Countries And Ecological Distribution Conflicts, p.11. The most benefited part of such global trade is the wealthy actors of the developed world. Hence, the development in such areas meets the needs of the people with the ability of future thought. However, the other part of the world is becoming victim of such unequal distribution of resources and forced them to stay behind with limited opportunities for development.

To sum up, global expansion of trade can be both good and bad to sustainable development. The challenge is to adapt our institutions so as the force of such trade expansion is channeled in to ways that contribute to sustainable development. Whether trade expansion advances or undermines sustainable development depends on how policies are crafted and linked case-by-case to get a win-win solution.