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Globalisation & Impact on Indian

Society
Transcript of  Sitaram Yechury’s Inaugural Speech

At Seminar On Globalisation & Its Impact on Indian Society

SV Kendram, Hyderabad, October 2001

The president of this session, Dr. Radhakrishna Murthy garu, eminent intellectuals, leaders of the

democratic and Left movement and my dear friends,

It is a great honour to be asked to inaugurate this seminar. From the list of the contributors and

those who are going to participate, I notice some of the best creative minds of Andhra Pradesh,

particularly of Hyderabad. I am, therefore, hesitant because I don’t think there is much that I can

really add in terms of intellectual caliber to the input that all these contributions would make. But,

nevertheless,  since I have been asked to inaugurate, I have to ful�ll this formality.

This seminar has been titled as “Globalisation and its impact on Indian Society” and I have been

asked to give an overview of the developments that are taking place. I will attempt to do that. But,

it would not be, I must confess, a very structured lecture. Various aspects of this theme that I

would like to touch upon, I am sure in the next two days you will deliberate in greater detail.

To understand the entire canvas of the term Globalisation, I think, at the outset, we must be clear

about it’s international dimension, before we talk about its impact in India. Because often there is a

misconception that this Globalisation is the result of some sort of  a conspiracy by the developed

countries. They are coming together to conspire against the rest of the world and what has been
put out in the name of Globalisation is nothing else, but a new recipe for the imperialist

domination over the world. There is an element of truth in this, but this is not the whole truth. We

have to follow, I am afraid, the method of  legal proceedings when you say that I shall speak the

truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The other two aspects of nothing but the truth

and the whole truth also have to be taken into account when we are discussing Globalisation.

Because it’s not only a conspiracy by the imperialist west. This point we must understand in terms

of the internal dynamics of capitalism and capitalist development. It was nearly 150 years when

Marx, (I am going back to Karl Marx not only because I am a Marxist or I belong to the Communist

Party. But I sincerely believe that the most penetrating analysis of capitalism was done by him and

in a prophetic manner, he said many things which are very very relevant to today’s conditions. I

will come back to some of these aspects later, particularly when we speak of culture and the impact

of Globalisation on that.) analysing the  development of capitalism, one seminal point that he made

was that as capitalism develops, there is a tendency towards centralisation and concentration of

capital and over a period of time, you will have fewer and fewer capitalists but larger and larger

capitalists. This, I think,   in the era of Globalisation has turned out to be absolutely true. Because,

what we see developing particularly before this new o�ensive which we call Globalisation came

into being in the world, is a very high degree of concentration of capital in a few hands.  The water

shed, in that sense, the distinguishing characteristic of this phase of Globalisation is what is now

often de�ned as Globalisation of �nance capital. This �nance capital which essentially was capital

that used to live of and live on the industrial capital has branched of to become a powerful source

on it’s own. It’s dimension can be understood, for instance, by the fact that world trade today is

some thing to the tune of seven trillion dollars annually. The �nancial �ows in the world today are

to the tune of some thing like 400 trillion dollars. That is more than 50 times the actual trade in

the world is actually taking place in terms of �nancial speculation and �nancial activity.  This

�nance capital that has grown in such a dimension has speci�c features.

Thanks to the technological advances it is instantly mobile across the globe in it’s search for pro�ts.

It can travel across the globe within seconds. So there is no barrier so to speak for the movement of

this �nancial capital and since the barrier for movements don’t exist the immediate demand that

follows from this development is that no sovereign nation or a country can  impose any barrier on

this �ow. So the development of this phase of Globalisation, with the expansion and concentration

of this international �nance capital, makes a corollary demand for maximising it’s pro�ts: There

cannot be any conditions, restrictions or barriers for it’s movement across the countries.  This is the

�rst characteristic, the demand on sovereign countries to adopt Financial Liberalisation, i.e., do not

impose any conditions on the �ow of �nance capital. This is one part that the developments taking
place.

The other part of development that is taking place internationally was the   high degree of

concentration of industrial capital. All of you are aware about the growth of the multinational

corporations and the dominance that they actually have over the world. In fact, some of these

corporations have annual sales, which are larger than the GDPs of many countries.   American

multinational corporations and, in fact, the top 200 companies in the world today are estimated to

account for nearly one-third of the world’s income. This concentration of industrial capital also

demands that in the search for maximisation of their pro�ts, conditions where there are minimal or

no restrictions imposed on the in�ow and out�ow of this capital into various countries. So

therefore, the demand that came in from the internationalisation of �nance capital to do away with

all restrictions on it’s �ow, is buttressed by the demand that comes from the centralisation of

industrial capital which also says restrictions should be removed and no country will have the right

to impose any conditions on the entry of this industrial capital into  those countries in search of

maximisation of their pro�ts by exploiting their resources and their cheap labour etc.

Therefore from both ends, from the development of �nance capital and the development of

industrial capital, there was a tendency in the international development of capitalism  to move

towards this phase of Globalisation, that we see now.  Add to this the similar demands on having

no restriction on trade �ows and the picture of globalisation is complete.

This is not happening because of the will of somebody but this is happening because internal  

dynamics of capitalism itself is such that it brings you to this point  where the higher degree of

concentration capital demands a newer global order. So that the fundamental aspect of capitalism,

that of maximisation of pro�ts, continues unhindered. So this independent sort of development of

the internal dynamics of capitalism is some thing that should not be ignored because otherwise it

appears as though everything is happening on the basis of the will of human beings: so and so is

good and so and so is bad. Since we have bad people governing the world today, you have this sort

of economic conditions that are developing. That is not the case. Actual concrete developments are

taking place. Remember in `Capital', Marx makes a very very pertinent point,  saying that pro�t is

the motive force of capitalist development, he says “With adequate pro�t, capital is very bold.  A

certain 10 per cent will ensure its employment anywhere; 20 per cent certain will produce

eagerness;  50 per cent positive audacity; 100 per cent will make it ready to trample on all human

laws; and 300 per cent and there is not a crime at which it will scruple, nor a risk it will not run,

even to the chance of its owner being hanged." So the objective law of capitalist development is

pushing the world towards this phase of what we call Globalisation. It is, therefore, the system and

not a set of any individuals or countries that are responsible for this development. 
The second aspect is the subjective utilisation of these objective conditions by the western

countries particularly by the United States of America-led imperialism.   With the collapse of

socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the economic counter-veiling power that existed

globally collapsed. These former socialist economies were also sucked into the vortex of the global

capitalism.  Once this happened, the onward march of global capital for maximising it’s pro�ts did

not have any sort of an obstacle that it used to face during the four  decades after the second world

war. In such a situation, you had a vision of a new world order that was articulated by present

Bush’s father, i.e., Bush senior, when he was the President of United States of America. This vision

envisaged the global domination of the West particularly of imperialism under the leadership of

United States of America. It was given a concrete and also a legal shape. The institutions of the

IMF, the World Bank, and the later-formed WTO in 1994 -- all became the instruments to put into

practice this new world order.

This is the current phase of Globalisation what we are talking about. I have noticed various papers

by distinguished participants on various sectional impacts of this Globalisation. I am not going into

those details, but what is the main objective of this entire process? The main objective in my

opinion is to create conditions where by the rest of the world, that is the developing world, is again

brought back into a bondage of economic slavery. Globalisation, as it is currently envisioned by

imperialism, is actually a blueprint for the economic recolonisation of the developing world.

Keeping both these objective and subjective aspects in mind, we will have to actually evaluate

what is happening at the global level and the impact that is taking place on our country. In the last

ten years you �nd that the lowest one-third of the world's people's  average per capita income

declined from 3 percent of the top one-third to 1.9 per cent and for the middle one-third, it

declined from 12.5 per cent to 11.4 per cent of top one-third. That is the lowest one-third

population of the world today gets per capita 1.9 per cent, what the top one-third earns and the

middle one-third gets about 11.4 per cent of what the top one-third earns. That is put together 13

per cent goes to two-thirds of the humanity and 87 per cent goes to the top one third and this trend

that is widening. The essential point that emerges is the intensi�cation of the exploitation of the

people on a global scale. There are more than 100 countries who are actually poorer today than

they were 15 years ago. That is, in absolute terms, there is a decline in their incomes

correspondingly, in absolute terms, there is increase in pro�ts generated by the global capital from

their countries. This process of   Globalisation, therefore, represents the classical shift in   the

balance of forces away from the people towards big capitalists. This is the political impact of this

Globalisation: shift in favour of multinational capital and their pro�ts at global level and, in the

process, economic exploitation of third world countries or the developing world has been
intensi�ed. Therefore, the singular-de�ning feature of Globalisation at the international scale is the

growing of inequalities. The growing of inequalities between countries and the growing of

inequalities inside countries between the rich and the poor.

As someone remarked, �nance capital is the single player in the world casino. The world is a

gambling place and this �nance capital is on its speculation march making super pro�t. So the �rst

direct impact on us are growing pressures to remove all restrictions on in�ow and out�ow of

�nancial capital.

The second, which is currently being negotiated in the WTO, which is called the multinational

agreement on investment MAI, i.e. remove all restrictions on the in�ow of industrial capital and

remove all restrictions on the repatriations of pro�ts. We, in India, have implemented this to a

large extent allowing the  free �ow of FDI. This Vajpayee government has gone to the extent of

opening up every sector.  The strangest thing you will �nd with this government is it has opened

up 100 per cent access to FDI in real estate. Even countries, which are advocates of liberalisation,

Globalisation etc, have restrictions on  foreigners acquiring  property.

The third area of globalisation is  the removal of all restrictions on foreign trade and provide access

of your markets for the products produced by the industrialised world. Bending over backwards to

appease US imperialism, this Vajpayee government has already, not only removed quantitative

restrictions, but also progressively reduced import duties so that virtually we move towards a zero

import duty regime. That is the goods from the advanced countries can come and take over our

markets and maximise pro�ts.

As a result, India is moving dangerously towards being enslaved again economically by the

industrialised west. You are aware, from the 9 th  of this month, the WTO meeting is going to take

place at Doha. Though we don’t know whether the venue will be Doha or some other place because

Americans have decided to land their land troops in Afghanistan yesterday so what happens in that

area we don’t know, but in any case it is very clear that Americans don’t want  postponement

because they see a very opportune moment because of this so called war against terrorism. There

will be very few countries that will be able to standup to US pressures.

Let us speci�cally discuss the impact on India.   You have circulated, I notice, Prof. Prabhat

Patnaik's paper, which tells us that  in ten years of reforms what has happened to Indian economy.

Therefore, I do not want to deal with the economy  in greater detail. Other aspects of Globalisation

and its impact on India,  I think, also merit attention. But on the economic front, let us to sum up 

what has happened as a result of globalisation.  If you look at it sector wise or if you look at its

macro-picture,  one myth that has been exploded is that Globalisation  has lead to a higher growth

rate in India. The pundits of Globalisation have been saying we have broken out of the so-called
Hindu rate of growth. The Hindu rate of growth they de�ne between 2 and 3 percent and they say

that Globalisation has given us growth rate of more than 6 percent. Now this point is brought out

in Prabhat Patnaik's paper. When you look in to it, in terms of the �ve year averages,  the highest

growth  was between 1986 and 1990, when you crossed 8 percent and after that in the next 5 year

averages you will actually �nd a decline. That you come down to from 8 to 7 and then to 6 percent

by year 2000. We have had an actually declining growth rate during this decade of reforms -- one.

Second, in macro terms you see particularly the accentuation of inequalities between the rich and

the poor. This has in a glaring manner lead actually to a contraction of the domestic demand. `Rich

have become the richer and the poor have become the poorer'  is unfortunately regarded a cliché.

But as most cliches do it makes sense. In the process of the poor becoming   poorer the actual

domestic aggregate demand declined. The net result has been the inability of large sections of the

people to buy leading to the inability of industry to sell   what it has produced resulting in a

recession. This, in turn, is resulting in decline in employment. This, in turn, again is  strengthening

the process of declining  domestic demand. This completes the vicious circle of the recession and

unemployment. The worst situation currently facing our country. In the �rst two quarters of this

�nancial year, if you take your core sector, that is basic sectors in the economy; steel, cement, coal

etc they have grown by 0.1 percent as compared to 6.3 percent in the  corresponding period last

year. So if your core sector has declined like this means that your entire industrial sector is in a big

crisis. And that is why the captains of industry when the budget was being presented I am sure all

of you were seeing on TV Mr. Rahul Bajaj was giving 9.8 points out of 10 points to this budget. I

remember, on the Doordarshan, I was called for the last session in the night. The anchor when he

called me said “Sitaram it’s been a boring day because there has not been a single person who

opposed the budget." Then I said you called me late you know, if you could have called me earlier I

could have opposed it earlier. He said  Mr. Rahul Bajaj gave 9.8 points out of 10 to this budget so I

said I would not give more than 2.  I said within 6months you will �nd this budget instead of 

reviving or kick-starting the economy will push the economy into greater recession. That has been

vindicated.

The classic feature of   liberalisation has been the intensi�cation of exploitation, capitalist

exploitation of the Indian people where by pro�ts have grown , people’s capacity to spend has

decreased, as a result of which, overall economy is in a phase of recession.  This is very typical of a

liberalised economy, because the objective is not overall economic growth but to maintain and

increase the levels of pro�ts of your capitalist class. This  impoverishes a large section of the people

to the extent that the  economic survey of this year has shown as that the employment growth rate

of last year has been close to 0 percent.  And if you look NSS data, it shows you that during this
phase of liberalisation, there is a drastic fall both in rural and urban employment.  If you look at

the primary sector, that is agriculture, for the �rst time, you have the growth of foodgrain output,

actually falling below the population growth rate and nothing typi�es the actual graphic

description of this liberalised economy as the mountain of food stocks you have on one hand and

the starvation deaths and distress suicides of farmers on the other. This is that glaring inequality

that we talk of which is exacerbated  after these policies have been brought in. Agriculture in that

sense has been going through a very serious crisis, with a third continuos year of either stagnation

or decline in it’s growth.

Now, this is typical again of Globalisation. One important feature of liberalisation is the States

withdrawal form economic activity in the name of free market -- the philosophy , the ideological

tenet of Globalisation.  This, in other words, means the State’s capacity to invest in the economy

declines leading to a decline in capital formation. Declining domestic capital formation adversely

a�ects the future health of economy. That is actually what is happening. State’s withdrawal has

two types of impact. One is that the gross domestic capital formation declines, which impacts on

the general economic growth. Secondly state’s withdrawal means whatever little responsibility that

the state has towards the people in terms of education, health, in terms of other social obligations, 

are progressively abandoned by the government. In other words, the people have a double pronged

attack on  them. Because of decreased economic activity the employment opportunities and their

livelihood get adversely a�ected. Secondly, because of the State's withdrawal from social sector

what ever relief they were getting that also gets reduced. The livelihood of the vast masses of the

people deteriorates sharply.

Impact of Globalisation in India has also many other dimensions. It has wide ranging impact on

everything else connected with our lives. It impacts our  entire culture or the entire value system,

on the milieu  in which we are living. Again I go back to Marx. 150 years ago, he actually said that

capitalism not only produces the object for the subject but it also produces subjects for the object.

He made a very penetrating statement. In today’s advertising world if you see this what is actually

being created.  You are creating human beings who are capable of consuming certain products. The

emphasis is no longer on creating the products that are required by the human beings rather

creating human beings that are required for the products. This is essentially the de�ning feature of

culture under  Globalisation. Human beings are reduced to the status of products who will consume

the other products that capitalism produces. This entire trend of culture -- consumerism,

degeneration etc -- creates it’s own atmosphere which e�ects every aspect of our life and society.

One immediate impact can be seen in the declining political culture. Globalisation has thrown up

in India absolutely newer avenues for corruption, which were unheard of or unconceivable ten
years ago. The entire range of corruption that you �nd in our country today and the political

corruption that you �nd as a consequence --   �ood gates have been opened by this process of

Globalisation.

Globalisation and liberalisation mean the opening up of areas for kickbacks and commissions to a

large extent. In the process, the entire culture of corruption if we may call it, has undergone a

`revolutionary' change where you �nd the ways in which money can be made has not only

expanded but it is having a tremendous impact on the political life of this country. This is an

important aspect because the causality here is actually genuine democracy and the obvious

consequence is the very sharp rise in political opportunism. This sharp rise in political opportunism

also is creating a degree of political instability which will seek to move the polity towards

authoritarianism. The degeneration of polity seeks to divorce politics from all democratic content

and reduce it to sordid bargaining and manouvering.   Very often, we see now   a days, the

corporate world saying separate economics from politics.  This is their politics! They are actually

saying that reform process should take place independent of what is happening in our political life.

They want to separate reforms from politics so that nobody can interfere and the politicians are

told that you can con�ne yourself either to destroying Masjids and building temples or giving

reservations! That is your agenda and do not talk of economics. So the attempt to separate

economics from politics in other words separate the political life of the country form the actual

economic decisions that are being taken, is a very important consequence of the process of

Globalisation. How this is impacting on our political life we are able to see in various aspects of the

type of governance that we are seeing in the last few years both at the center as well as in your

state Andhra Pradesh. 

The type and scope of corruption in the Globalisation period is enormously enlarged.   This is

having a direct impact on the polity: who will form the governments and who will not form the

governments. In 1998 when the Vajpayee government fell by one vote, what ever be the other

political aspects, the prospect of an alternate government with the support of left was some thing,

that the corporate world actively worked to make sure does not happen. Why? Because you had on

the agenda the privatisation of insurance sector, you had on the agenda the changes in the patent

laws that had to be brought about. Now the moment a government comes with the support of the

left then this entire process of economic reforms or liberalisation will not proceed at the same pace

that the corporate world wants. There are rumors of large amounts of money that were transferred

to make sure that such a possibility does not occur.  So, with this Globalisation, liberalisation you

have  an active involvement of the corporate sector and big money in de�ning or deciding  on

what type of government you will have,  what sort of parties  will come together with whom and
there fore the entire process of your political institutions and the political structure of our country

itself is being altered signi�cantly. Globalisation is having a serious impact on the content of

democracy that we have,  spread of democracy that we have.

Let us return to culture at large.   Globalisation is accompanied by a need to homogenise the

product, even the cultural product. The more homogenous the product, the  greater the market it

has whether. Where ever you go in the world, you will have the same soaps, same toothpaste, and

the same sort of other products that you will �nd in our country. The homogenisation of the

product is the �rst step in a globalised economy for maximisation of pro�ts by the multinational

corporations. Homogenisation of products also has a natural consequence in the homogenisation of

culture. Studies have shown that in Sub-Saharan Africa, people may not have anything to eat, they

may not know how to read and write but the moment you show them Walt Disney's mickey mouse,

they will recognise it. This is  homogenisation of a certain thought process and homogenisation of

certain symbols. Homogenisation of symbols requires cultural products to be produced on mass

scale. One immediate impact is that all the rich variations in the cultural legacies will be

eliminated in order to create the homogenised product. This is the essence of culture of

globalisation -- homogenisation of cultural products and symbols.

In India, the communal forces and communalism in a way also requires the homogenisation of 

culture.  For them, this is essential to portray that the entire cultural heritage of this country is a

monolithic heritage that is derived only from the Hindu religion.  The plurality and the diversity

and all that variety that we have is actually sought to be erased by giving a communal

interpretation of culture. The impact you will �nd also in education and in the entire area of

knowledge. Therefore, to homogenise this culture requires e�orts to actually rewrite or rede�ne

our own diverse cultural heritage and put it into one singular monolith.  This is the ideological

project of the communal forces.

So globalisation's need for homogenisation of cultural products globally dovetails with the

communal forces need to homogenise cultural products domestically. Sa�ronisation of education,

rewriting of Indian history, or the symbolism that is constantly being shown or assimilation of non

Hindu religions into the Hindu fold, this entire process that is taking place at the ideological

subterrian is directed towards this project of creating a homogenised culture which actually suits

the agenda of communalism. This is having a very deep impact on India and Indian society.

Ramjanma Bhoomi movement that is taking place in UP today or in what happened to the Taj

Mahal the other day when the BJP youth went and attacked it. I mean, Taliban attacks the Bamian

Buddha's in Afghanistan the BJP attacks the Taj Mahal in Agra. What type of di�erence do you �nd

between the two?  They are two sides of the same coin.  Mr. V.P. Singh, the other day, called Bal
Thackeray, the Osama bin Laden of India. The culture that is paraded  by globalisation actually

�nds a very strong ally in fundamentalists of all hue's and cries the world over. Incidentally it is an

irony of history that today the country that is being bombed,  Afghanistan, its people are probably

the only people in the world who have not seen the destruction of WTC on the television because

the Taliban banned TV some years ago saying it is anti-Islam! So In Afghanistan no body saw the

terrorist attacks. The poor Afghan who is being attacked by bombs does not even know what

happened.

Globalisation of Indian society, taken on the whole, we see the direct impact that is taking place on

the economy which is leading, on one hand, to the ruination of millions of people and, on the other

hand, to severely mortgaging our country. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India,

reviewing the accounts for last year has shown that India, a) is already in a foreign debt trap, b) 

the outstanding debt and liabilities of government of India today stand at more than 16 lakh crores

of rupees and the interest being paid is one and half lakh crore rupees annually. The country is

being mortgaged, millions of people being ruined, the economic fundamentals in terms of

infrastructure, the countries economic wealth being ruined and the assets and wealth of the people

of the country being looted. Public sector is being sold for a song.  In other words, bolstering the

private capitalist class and their pro�t making capacities at the expense of the country and the

people. This is the impact in the economic sphere.

In the sphere of polity, we have situations where political alignments are decided by which type of

economic policies will be pursued. The nature of political culture is de�ned on the basis of your

commitment towards liberalisation and to that extent the fall in political morality also takes place

correspondingly with a higher dosage of liberalisation and globalisation that takes place. The latest

example of this is the re induction of Mr. George Fernandez into the cabinet. Today no questions

are asked, except by people like us who keep on shouting. The government says go to hell. As long

as big business and capitalists are supporting this government because of the reforms that are being

implemented they do not care too much for people’s opinion. Three more years are there when the

elections are due. May be that year, they will consider the views of the people but otherwise

satisfying corporate sector and the capitalist world and foreign capital has become the de�ning

yard stick of political culture today.

The third area of this impact we have to take it into account is in the sphere of culture. It is having

a very very deep impact in India and is ably aided and assisted by the communal forces in the

country.  They also seek the same objective of homogenising the cultural product or homogenising

the cultural milieu that is there in our country which the communal forces seek to utilise for their

agenda. Globalisation uses it for it’s agenda of mass production of cultural products. Together they
are wreaking havoc with Indian society. It is a serious danger for India's unity and integrity.

Regarding globalisation, in that sense, there are various other aspects that we can talk about. How

it is impacting the State; how it is eroding the national sovereignty of independent countries;

whether the `nation-state' itself is a viable concept under globalisation or not. These are issues

which you will be discussing in your papers and I have not gone into it. Broadly speaking, these are

the three main areas of impact of Globalisation, that I wanted to share with all of you, of course, in

the background of the independent process of the dynamics of world capitalist system itself which

is being utilised in the present phase by the advanced capitalist countries particularly the U.S.A to

strengthen its hegemony over the world and extract the maximum exploitation of the third world

countries. I said earlier that what they seek is actually a blueprint for economic recolonisation of

the developing world.  That is the actual purpose and intent of the present phase of Globalisation.

In this light, our struggles against this will have to be de�ned. So �nally, I would end by talking

about how do you struggle against this? One aspect is to resist the governmental policies and

oppose this government's succumbing to the interest of foreign capital and to prevent the

government from going the whole hog that it wants to go in mortgaging our country and putting

the burdens on the people. Yes, we have our traditional forms of struggle and these are growing

both internationally and nationally, as you all know.

However, I would like to refer to what many people are saying that in today’s world of modern

information technology where you have now, 6.1 billion e-mails being sent every day, your enemy

also appears illusionary. It doesn’t appear tangible. I mean how are you going to determine against

whom to have a demonstration. At a point of time, a good friend of ours, Mr. George Fernandez,

that’s why I said at one point of time he was a good friend and not at the moment. In those days,

we used to go for joint conventions. Whenever the organisers used to bring cool drinks, he would

always look for thums-up or something  domestic, pick it up and show me and say you Marxists

will drink Coca-Cola but I will drink only Campa Cola, I am nationalist!  Then I used to tell him,

you may be drinking Campa Cola, but tell me where is the pro�t going. Coca-Cola has bought up

Campa Cola!  You can have your symbol of being nationalistic but basically the pro�t has gone to

the same multinational because he has already bought up the other company.

Many may say now comrades in this present new world how are  you going to struggle against the

intangible forms. That is wrong. I mean to say that the enemies are very tangible, they are actual

class forces that will have to be fought and the class battle will have to be sharpened. That is one

aspect. However, as the situation develops, new forms of struggles will also develop. All those of

you who are familiar with computer technology and use your e-mails will know a big movement is

growing today and has millions of followers world wide called the free software movement -- the
Linnux/GNU movement.  What is that? It is a revolt taking place at one level. We have to recognise

that this is a revolt that is taking place against new manifestation of capitalistic exploitation. This

is telling Microsoft that we will not give you super pro�ts for your control of your copy right of the

software.  We will have our alternative and  millions of people are doing this all over the world

voluntarily, not really connected with each other through any party or through any mass

organisation. But their voluntary response,   that is the essence of what Marx said, capitalist

exploitation by itself generates the rebellion against exploitation and that is what has to be

organised in order to over throw capitalism. But the fact that it is triggering a rebellion is

something we will have to understand. What is it the other new area where the struggles are

emerging? I am sure many of you are familiar with a book called NOLOGO by a person called

Naomi Klien. If you are not, I seriously suggest you procure a copy and read it. Two weeks ago, the

London Economist, one of the most respected but right wing journals of the world, had a cover

story on this NOLOGO calling it PROLOGO. The book is against corporate brands and the main

point it makes is that modern day capitalism is no longer interested in producing products, as I told

you earlier. It is interested in familiarising brands like  Nike, Coca-Cola etc. Where the product is

produced is not important. The product might be produced in Thailand or it may be produced in

Malaysia or produced anywhere but it is the brand that is important because it is the brand that

sells.  As a result,  in the advanced countries, millions of people are loosing jobs.  She explains the

whole situation and then she notes the protests that are emerging in the universities of the west.

How are these protests emerging? Suddenly in the night, she says, in Toronto a group of youngsters

decided to go and blacken all the logos, all the major advertisements and destroy their Neon signs.

Who are these youngsters? Why are they doing this? Behind this is the expression of revolt against

capitalist exploitation under new conditions.  It is �nding newer forms.

People through their own experience will �nd these newer forms and these newer forms are

emerging and it is through this newer forms, I think, the struggle against this entire process  of

globalisation will strengthen.  From Seattle to Genoa, if you see, who are these people; people of

the �rst world.  We have not been there.  They always invite us saying why don’t you come. We

can take even lakhs of people from here but how do you reach these countries with such expensive

travel costs! Ticketless travel is not possible on planes! Now they are forcing the G-8 countries to

go underground! The next summit of G-7 and G-8 was supposed to be held in Toronto in Canada.

They have now decided to hold it at a hill resort where the kings used to meet earlier where

nobody can reach. One will have to be dropped by helicopter or something so that people cannot

reach there. So the leaders of the capitalistic world if they have to meet, they have to meet in

isolation. They cannot meet amongst the people.   Such a situation is also coming where this
struggle against these policies is on the rise. This is what we will have to note and work out how

we in our country, I am sure that you will discuss in next two days, how we will be able to promote

these struggles into growing struggles world wide against the process of  Globalisation.

These were some of the thoughts which I wanted to share with you and I am sure  that in the next

two days you will discuss many of these issues in greater depth and come to some conclusions.

With this, I formally inaugurate this seminar.

Thank you for your attention.

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