OCTOBER 1981 - VOLUME 2 - NUMBER 10
R E V I E W S
OCTOBER 1981 - VOLUME 2 - NUMBER 10
World Development Report, 1981The World Bank, Oxford, 192 pp., $6.95.This is the fourth annual survey of current and prospective world development b}' the self-annointed intellectual monarch of that subject, the World Bank. It is the usual potpourri of skillful propaganda and glossy statistics by which the world system's managers regularly seek to relegitimize their efforts. The report focuses on what it terms "the three key features of global adjustment: trade, energy, and external finance." It recommends growth through more trade. This is no quick solution for poor countries: under a better case scenario, 632 million people will still be below the World Bank's poverty line in the year 2000. Institutional optimism endures on the ability of Third World countries to service their debts, and the Bank continues to support oil development and to downgrade alternative energy sources such as solar. The report claims to be based on extensive reviews of recent development scholarship, yet every page reveals the awesome intellectual stagnation that has plagued the Bank for years. Objections are disposed of like this: "most criticism of aid lacks a bases in factor experience." Given the inability of the Bank here or elsewhere to talk about real people in real world micro-development situations, this is an offensive statement. In spite of a flourishing critical literature, the Bank still refuses to distinguish between "growth," which benefits only the elite in a poor country, and "development," which spreads wealth among the impoverished and undernourished majority. Among many confused points, the following two are most striking. The Bank claims that the "underlying cause of hunger" is simply that the poor don't have enough money to buy food; the report ignores the fact that the poor are excluded from food producing resources by the few who run the country. The Bank claims that poor countries should "manage adjustment" by improving exports; it ignores the recommendations of many United Nations agencies and development scholars who recommend that such nations pursue participatory development, relative self-reliance, and South-South relations. Given the awesome record of failure chronicled for the less developed countries ("being left behind by world growth, and facing a further deterioration in their prospects'), one might expect some sort of apologia from the Bank. None is proffered. Poor countries receive only lectures in lowering expectations. The Akawaio, the Upper Mazurini Hydroelectric Project and National Development in GuyanaThis study examines the culture of the Akawaio, a group of Carib-speaking Indians living in the Upper Mazurini region of Guyana, and how they would be affected by the construction of a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Upper Mazurini River. Written by William Henningsgaard of Harvard University, the 37-page report also discusses reasons for the site's selection, the history of the project, Guyanese government policy toward Amerindian land and resettlement, and the projected environmental effects of the dam and related proposals, which include construction of an aluminum smelter. According to the report, the impact of fluctuating market prices on Guyana's export-dominated economy could be eased by the planned dam construction. Dependence on imported oil would be reduced, and bauxite, one of the nation's top three exports, could be processed in Guyana, resulting in profit retention for the country. Guyana has applied to the World Bank for funding for the project, and a decision is scheduled to be made in October. The report also claims, however, that construction would be detrimental to the culture of the Akawaio. These people, who live a generally traditional lifestyle, would be forced off the land they have inhabited at least since the seventeenth century. The study was published by: Cultural Survival - Jay Egenes The Asia Monitor Resource Center in Hong Kong plans a two-year project based on the belief that irresponsible activities of foreign-based corporations (TNCs) operating in Asian countries have had a significant impact on the health of workers and consumers in Asian communities. They are now collecting information from around the world on:
They are also contacting various labor, health, religious, social action, academic and other concerned organizations world wide to get an understanding of what resources are available on occupational health & safety and on consumer education. They have already gathered information about various TNCs operating in Asian countries, and about the chemical industry in general. They plan to use the information to prepare at least three primers for health, labor and social activists in Asia. The primers will be about chemical hazards in the electronics industry, in the use of agrochemicals, and in the consumption of dangerous pharmaceuticals. They also plan to help prepare in cooperation with these three groups "case study" booklets which will document the research or survey techniques they decided to use and the education-action followup they take. Finally, they hope to produce a handbook of sam ple step-by-step research and education-action methods which have been developed and tested by health, labor and social activists in Asia. How others can participate:
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