Anti-globalisation protests at OECD summit

By Vaiju Naravane

BOLOGNA, JUNE 14. Via Rizzoli is a small street leading to Piazza Maggiore, the fabulously beautiful central square of one of Italy's oldest and most beautiful towns. Several hundred policemen in riot gear are massed at one end of the street, while at the other is a crowd of protesters, mostly in their twenties and thirties carrying backpacks, banners, and protest buttons.

Stefano and Alice came to Via Rizzoli at 1 a.m. with their sleeping bags. At 5 a.m. this morning, they, along with some five hundred youth, tried to push their way through to the Piazza Maggiore, but were restrained by some of the 4,000 policemen. They have come here from Venice to protest against an international conference on ``Small and Medium Businesses'', organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Italian authorities.

``We want to protest against globalisation, against the savage capitalism this phenomenon has unleashed. The OECD, the WTO and other international organisations are all at the service of greedy multinationals. We have no more control left on our lives. They decide what we wear, what we eat. This must stop,'' says Alice, a student of politics at Palermo University. This is the third such protest in which she has taken part during the last month.

``I was at Florence protesting against the NATO meeting and later I was in Genoa to denounce the biotechnology fair. These companies all want to make profit and they are poisoning us with their genetically modified foods,'' she says.

Police in Bologna charged 14 people with carrying weapons after they seized rocks, steel bolts and other dangerous objects the protesters were planning to hurl during a rally. Several young protesters who stripped naked were charged with public obscenity and bundled away.

The conference, entitled ``Enhancing the Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Global Economy'', attempts to further international understanding of issues and policies affecting small businesses trying to compete in a fast changing economic climate.

The three-day conference, which was inaugurated by the Italian Prime Minister, Mr. Giuliano Amato, is being attended by Ministers from the OECD member-countries and 21 selected non- member countries, including India.

``This has been a tremendously enriching experience,'' India's Minister for Small Scale Industries, Ms. Vasundhara Raje, told The Hindu.

``I was extremely impressed by the Italian example. Small industries have grouped themselves into strong, unified clusters. They are thus able to negotiate for better loan conditions, can influence policies, so that Governments become facilitators instead of telling them what they can or cannot do. Their strength lies in their unity as clusters,'' the Minister said.

She warned that unless Small and Medium Enterprises strengthen themselves to face global competition they would be threatened with extinction causing widespread unemployment.

``In India it is estimated that there are around 350 small-scale industrial clusters and approximately 2,000 rural artisan-based clusters which contribute 60 per cent of the country's manufactured exports,'' Ms. Raje told the conference.

``At a time when the Indian economy is being increasingly liberalised, small scale industries which catered to the domestic market are seeing their economic viability threatened. But they are realising that fresh opportunities may be coming up. In today's world one has to produce for the global market, one has to carve a niche for oneself, '' the Minister said.

Small industries tend to lack a strategy for going global. They do not always have access to the information they need on export markets, administrative procedures, international standards or to new technologies. They lack international experience and management resources and they are often unaware of support services available to them. They are more vulnerable than large companies and they suffer disproportionately when things go wrong.

The number and diversity of such units mean that they are affected by a very wide range of policy instruments, including macroeconomic and competition policies. Existing policies mainly meet the requirements of large, established businesses.

Delegates will discuss ways and means of policy making which would protect and promote the interests of small businesses so that they can better adapt to globalisation.

The ``Bologna Charter'', a final declaration defining the guidelines for future strategies, is expected to be approved by the Ministers on June 15.

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Section  : International
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