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DEC 2001 FEATURES: Corporations Behaving Badly: The Ten Worst Corporations of 2001 INTERVIEW: Report from Doha: Intrigue at the WTO, as Developing Countries Try to Keep Their Heads Above Water DEPARTMENTS: Editorials The Front |
Ten Worst Corporations of 2001
Corporations Behaving Badly: The 10 Worst Companies of 2001By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman The U.S. Supreme Court says a corporation is a person, or at least must be treated like one when it comes to most constitutional protections. Like the right to speak. And the right to act in the political arena — giving campaign contributions, lobbying and advocating its agenda. Now, if a corporation is in fact a person, with full constitutional rights, then it should act like a moral human person. And what is the fundamental basis of morality? Caring about others. So, a corporation, to act like a moral human person, is going to have to care about others, not just about its own bottom line. It is going to have to care about its human compatriots. But the vast majority of major corporations do not give a damn about human persons. As such, they are immoral to the core. Or, maybe even worse, they are amoral. We say, if you are not a human person, and you cannot act like a moral human person, then you should be stripped of your constitutional protections. MORE>> Report from Doha: Intrigue at the WTO, as Developing Countries Try to Keep Their Heads Above WaterAn Interview with Cecilia Oh Cecilia Oh is a researcher with the Third World Network. She works in Geneva, following developments at the World Trade Organization (WTO), particularly related to intellectual property. The Third World Network is an independent international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the Third World and North-South issues. Its international secretariat is based in Penang, Malaysia. MORE>> Editorial: An Assault on DemocracyMonitor Staff War is virtually never good for democracy. Wartime invites suspicion and clampdowns on civil liberties. It provides a rationalization for all kinds of “exceptions” to standard democratic procedures and for dispensing with due deliberation of controversial policy choices justified as wartime expedience. But even judged by the typical standard of wartime constriction of democracy, the Bush administration has capitalized on its war against terrorism to a remarkable degree. MORE>>
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