This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 29, August 28-September 3, 2005
Attacking the World's Constitutions
Since
the 1990s, some 130 countries around the world have revised, amended or adopted
brand new constitutions to accommodate a framework for the sort of "market
democracies" that open up domestic labor, economic sectors and natural resources
for neo-colonial exploitation.
By Sonny Africa
IBON Features / August
2005
Posted
by Bulatlat
IBON Features--
In the Philippines, it is clear that charter change (Cha-cha) is being pushed by
ideological commitments to "globalization," pressure from powerful political and
economic interests such as the United States (US) government, and Philippine
government officials' sheer political self-interest.
But Cha-cha isn't unique to the country.
An increasing number of developing countries is
also dancing the Cha-cha, with the US and other developed nations
providing the music.
The impetus behind the wave of global charter
change is economic restructuring in the neoliberal framework. This entails the
removal of restrictions on the movement of capital and goods, the easing of
government regulatory power over the economy and the transfer of state-delivered
services to the private sector.
Reversing Nationalist Provisions
Economic restructuring through constitutional
change is not a new phenomenon. During the waves of colonization in the first
half of the 20th century, the great empire-building powers unilaterally drafted
charters for their colonies or simply forced them to adopt their colonizers'
constitutions.
But the current wave of charter changes can be
traced to the collapse of the Soviet bloc in the late 1980s, which prompted the
Western nations to declare the demise of socialism and the affirmation of
capitalism as the "end of history." The "free market" became the only option for
economic prosperity. Politically, the downfall of authoritarianism heralded a
wave of "pro-democracy" movements worldwide.
These two pressures resulted in what are
probably the most changes in national constitutions in such a short period of
history. Since the 1990s, some 130 countries around the world have revised,
amended or adopted brand new constitutions. The agenda behind these changes has
been to create the constitutional framework for the sort of "market democracies"
that open up domestic labor, economic sectors and natural resources for
neo-colonial exploitation.
This phenomenon is uncannily reminiscent of how,
during the waves of colonization in the first half of the 20th century, the
great empire-building powers unilaterally drafted charters for their colonies or
simply just forced them to adopt their colonizers' constitutions.
It also reverses the nationalist constitutions
of Latin America, as well as the many post-war independence constitutions
emerging from the anti-colonial struggles and liberalization movements in the
former colonies of Asia and Africa .
The most extreme charter changes now are the
US-imposed constitutions of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the drastic overhaul
of some 25 erstwhile "socialist" constitutions of former Soviet bloc countries
in Central Asia and Central and Eastern Europe.
In Iraq, for example, the US-led coalition
provisional authority (CPA) issued a whole series of laws opening that country
to private investors in blatant violation of international law.
These included Order 37, which reduced Iraq's
corporate tax rate from an estimated 40% to a flat 15%; Order 39, which allowed
foreign companies to own 100% of Iraqi assets outside of the natural-resource
sector and repatriate 100% of their profits out of Iraq; and Order 40, which
allowed banks to set up business in Iraq under the same favourable terms.
The CPA also privatized 200 state-owned firms,
which produced everything from cement to paper to washing machines, throwing
thousands of state employees out of work.
When Iraqi politicians resisted the
privatization of Iraq's state-owned companies, the US appointed an interim
government that would be bound by an "interim constitution" which protected the
US-favored investment and privatization laws.
The constitution even included a provision
stating that for the duration of the interim government, "The laws, regulations,
orders and directives issued by the Coalition Provisional Authority . . . shall
remain in force" and could be changed only after general elections are held.
Legal Reform Conceals Economic Restructuring
Although the focus on constitutional change has
inevitably been political, the driving motive has been to create the sort of
structures and "rule of law" on which market economies depend.
This link was recently made clear by Assistant
Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega, when he
complained that the macro-economic reforms being undertaken in the Latin
American region (such as liberalization of formerly protected economies to
foreign investment and products) were not accompanied by the creation of "clear,
impartial, predictable rules applied impartially to all."
Less conspicuous but far more numerous are
amendments and revisions with the same objective of deepening the
market-orientation of national economies. Noteworthy of singling out in Asia are
China's amendments in 1988 and 1993 embracing the private sector and justifying
market policies as "building socialism with Chinese characteristics."
Across Latin America and the Caribbean,
constitutional public controls over trade, investment and the national patrimony
were rolled back and key economic sectors were denationalized. In Africa, the
"globalizing" presence of IMF-WB stabilization and structural adjustment
programs reined in the nationalist stridency of post-independence constitutions.
Developed countries have scores of government or
government-funded agencies with substantial "rule of law" and legal assistance
programs. The most prominent of these include the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), the American Bar Association Central-Eastern
European Law Initiative, the British Know-How Fund (KHF), the German Technical
Cooperation (GTZ), the French Inter-ministerial Mission for Central and Eastern
Europe (MICECO) and the Dutch Center for Cooperation with Eastern Europe (CCEE).
The US also has considerable projects through
such groups as the Ford Foundation, the Robert Busch Foundation, the Open
Society Institute (with the Constitutional and Legislative and Policy
Institute), and the Civic Education Project (CEP). It also uses aid coursed
through the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) initiative as an incentive for
developing countries to undertake legal reforms.
Severe Consequences of Charter Change
The social and economic consequences of
neoliberal economic reform, whether implemented through charter change or in
spite of existing constitutional prohibitions, are severe.
Poverty rates and the number of poor in Africa
and the so-called "transition" economies of Europe and Central Asia have
increased between 1990 and 2000. In China, rapid growth and wealth creation has
created deep income disparities, high numbers of unemployed workers, horrific
working conditions and lost safety nets for the Chinese working people.
Already weak real gross domestic product (GDP)
per capita growth in Latin America continued to slow down throughout the 1990s
and turned negative in 2000 even as debt service payments, over the same period,
have more than tripled.
Violence is also an inevitable consequence of
neoliberal reforms as joblessness becomes widespread. In Iraq, the first major
act of former occupation Chief Paul Bremer was to fire 500,000 state workers
(most soldiers but also doctors, nurses and teachers) as part of neoliberal
reforms. This has led to an increase in the armed resistance against US
occupation forces.
The neoliberal attack on the world's
constitutions and its severe consequences are the context against which the
debate on charter change in the country should be held. IBON Features /
Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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