Global Showdown: How the New Activists Are Fighting Global Corporate Rule

Gordon C. Shaw is professor emeritus in the Faculty of Administrative
Studies at York University.

Global Showdown describes in glowing terms the work of citizens’
groups in rallying against the globalization of industry and the
consequent loss of national sovereignty. According to the authors, the
World Bank and the World Trade Organization are forcing Third World
countries to adopt policies that favor U.S.-based companies regardless
of the wishes of local citizens. Barlow and Clarke argue that this
problem is aggravated in Canada by the Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade (DFAIT), which strongly supports the NAFTA
agreement; NAFTA, with this DFAIT support, permits U.S.-based
multinationals to sell environmentally harmful products in Canada.

The authors also deplore the takeover of Canadian companies by those
same multinationals. They warn that Canadians may next lose control of
their public-based medical, postal, and educational services. They show
that the United States has pressured other governments to let American
companies enter foreign markets and build factories in spite of local
community opposition. (They describe how one such factory was stopped by
a powerful citizens’ group.) This thought-provoking book raises
important issues about the implications of free trade for national
sovereignty and cultural values.