“The New Rulers of the World” Analysis

          “The New Rulers of the World” is a documentary which shows us the working conditions in, what is referred to as the “backyard of globalization”, Indonesia. Ever since the 16th century, Indonesia has been pilled for its vast resources, such as copper, gold, oil, or exotic timbers. “Where the old imperialism meets the new”, said John Pilger, referring to the Dutch colonization in the 16th century and globalization, which represents new imperialism.

            The goal of globalization should be to create wealth and reduce poverty, but instead what we see is a small number of corporations, some bigger than countries (General Motors is now bigger than Denmark), controlling the world’s economy and taking advantage of cheap labour and non-existing working conditions in countries such as Indonesia. Due to the unemployment rate and the 1-dollar-a-day minimum wage, people are forced to take any job they can find.

            Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights (UDHR) clearly states that “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Yet companies such as GAP, Nike and Adidas are using this almost slave-labour to produce their products. Working conditions are appalling. Despite Article 24 of the UDHR, “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay”, people can work 24-hour shifts and 12 hours overtime, what is basically 36 hours working non-stop, not being able to sit down and with only a few breaks in places which can reach 40º C (commonly referred to as “sweat shops”). Probably what shocked me the most was the profit that these companies take from using this form of slave labour to produce their products. For each pair of shorts that GAP sells in the United Kingdom for 8 pounds sterling, the worker gets 4 pence, which is, let’s face it, nothing.

            As mentioned before, globalization should be about creating wealth and reducing poverty, but instead what we see is the widespread of inequality throughout the world. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The real new-ruler of the world is profit, and companies will do anything for it.

by João Tavares – 11.ºH