The Cybernetic Revolution and the Crisis of Capitalism (page 8 of 11)
By Jerry Harris and Carl Davidson
The Chicago Third Wave Study Group

Second, the transition to second wave industrialism is often creating ecological havoc, just as it did in the northern hemisphere in the last century. But today, the capitalism of the North also uses the South as a dumping ground for exporting the ecological costs of its "second contradiction." One of the starkest pieces of evidence of this was an internal memo written by the World Bank's chief economist, Lawrence Summers. He stated: "I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable...because foregone earnings from increased morbidity" are low. He adds that "the under populated countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles...." (The Economist, Feb. 8, 1992). These rather cold-blooded economic calculations expose a global system of ecological destruction where national borders are viewed only as a footnote to the capitalist market.

Finally, within some rapidly developing third world countries, a small but dynamic third wave sector is developing simultaneously with the second wave. India, for instance, has a growing pool of talented--and relatively inexpensive--computer programmers ready to work for any employer reachable by modem or Federal Express.

The second wave changes are most obvious. Among the top 20 manufacturing exporters in the world are Hong Kong, South Korea, Brazil, and Singapore. Countries like Mexico, Argentina, South Africa, and Iraq have decisively entered the industrial era. Others like China and India still have a majority of the population tied to the land, but have developed advanced zones in their huge urban centers.

These changes are causing tremendous social upheavals and stress as class structures are transformed. Not only is finance capital highly mobile, but also industrial capital. This capacity to rapidly shift production has provided continual escape from unionization, where subcontractors establish sweatshops in newly industrialized rural areas.. It has also brought millions of women into the Third World workforce in the most low-paid and insecure jobs. The growth of temporary and contingent labor is thus a worldwide trend.

Capital mobility also reinforces political authoritarianism. Writing on the Philippines Jane Margold points out..."As a speeded-up flow of capital, information, goods and services circulates transnationally, foreign investors are well-positioned to manipulate the Philippines state's fears of long term economic marginalization....A rational is then produced for the deployment of military, police and thugs to discipline striking workers..." (p. 8 Philippine Labor Alert, Sept-Dec. 1993). Certainly this is a pattern found throughout the Third World.

This mobility is transforming key aspects of imperialism. Where territorial and resource control were of major importance in past decades, they are less so today. The method of international capital laying roots deep into a colonial society, and dominating through a permanent financial occupation, is changing. Today the control of the overall global market is more important than national economies. Local labor markets are used and abandoned in a rapidly changing sea of opportunity and competition. With important exceptions like Mexico's relationship to the U.S. via NAFTA, the long term exploitation of any one country or bloc of countries is not the main strategy of imperialism. Again, as Wriston points out, capital goes where it wants and stays where its treated well. Its no accident that he titled his book, "The Twilight of Sovereignty". The export of capital is still the key aspect of imperialism, but capital mobility and the threat of denying capital is taking precedence over long-term occupation as a means of control.