Here you'll find in-depth information on a wide range of issues involving corporate power, corporate globalization and grassroots resistance to it. The sections in the Issue Library will be updated periodically, so the library not only serves as an archive, but also as a source of ongoing coverage. You can use our site search engine or peruse the issues below.

Agriculture and Biotechnology
Liberalization of the agriculture sector, aka corporatization of agriculture, is taking a huge toll on Indian farmers as the goverment ends farmer subsidies and increases incentives to agribusiness. In a country like India, where nearly 70% of the population derives a living from the land, the numbers of impacted is huge. At the same time, the corporations are pushing untested technologies such as biotechnology onto the sector, without regard to the massive social, human and ecological costs of such technologies.

Energy and Climate Change
The world's addiction to fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) is bringing us all to the brink of disaster. Life cycle of oil, gas and coal is marred with human rights abuses and ecological destruction. The burning of these fossil fuels is also significantly contributing to climate change. India can and must find ways to transition to renewable energy sources. This issue area looks at the role that oil, gas and coal companies play in maintaining their "oiligarchy" and also features numerous resistance movements to the fossil fuel industry in India and around the world.

Globalization and India
What are the policies that allow for increased corporate investment? How are these policies made and who influences them? Who benefits, who loses? And most importantly, how are movements in India fighting back the impacts and agents of economic reform? This issue area looks at the process of economic globalization, and offers the big picture which is impacting people in India and around the world.

We examine the politics of water -- often referred to as the "last frontier" by corporate executives. The business of bottled water in India has grown very rapidly, and is controlled by a handful of corporations, Coca Coal, Pepsi and Nestle among them. But that's not the end of it. India is now undergoing a rapid transformation in the way services are delivered, and water distribution systems are being privatized. If you can afford it, you get water, otherwise you are out of luck. Mega corporations such as Vivendi and Suez (of the Suez Canal fame) have all entered this busines in India, and we will see some major changes in the near future. But is this a good thing? How can a foreign company "own" the water resources of a country, and sell it to the highest bidder? In an economically poor country like India, this is a sure path to disaster, especially since the gap between the haves and have nots has been steadily increasing in the last decade.

World Social Forum
The World Social Forum in Mumbai, India- from January 16-21, 2004- offers social movements globally a unique opportunity to engage with social movements from South Asia - some of the most vibrant in the world. For those of us who belong to social movements in US, UK, Australia and other industrialized nations, it is especially important that we engage with social movements from the South in order to forge a unified platform that rejects the militaristic, neo-liberal agenda of the North and builds an alternative world centered on the human person.



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