The Revenge of Athena Science, Exploitation and the Third World The Revenge of Athena

Energy

Energy planning and consumption in the Third World is skewed to meet the needs of the elites and minority, while the energy needs of the majority is unfulfilled. For example, in Sri Lanka less than one per cent of the total population accounts for almost 45 per cent of the total domestic consumption of electricity in the country.

The energy consumption between the First and Third World is also very unequal. An average Indian for instance, consumes less than one thousandth of the energy consumed by an American.

Modern science and technology, which is based on the unscrupulous exploi­tation of the earth's limited resources, is also very inefficient. On the other hand traditional societies, which were based on agriculture and small scale industries, are efficient and less destructive. For traditional agriculture the energy effi­ciency is much higher than that of modern agricultural practices because they use freely available solar energy. In many cases, they are 50 to 250 times more efficient than the new technologies

The western approach to nutrition which emphasizes animal protein is also highly inefficient in terms of energy. Animals consume ten times the food energy that they deliver.

Modern technology that consumes more energy than it produces makes up the deficit by exploiting Third World countries. This is done by extracting energy and resources from the Third World at very low prices. Third World countries that imitate the western models of industrialization are aiding the West in their own exploitation. Dangerous and polluting forms of energy like nuclear power should not be used. The use of 'peaceful' nuclear power has now led to a large number of countries having the capacity to build their own atomic bombs. Nuclear power plants are also potential military targets for hostile countries. With these plants spread all over the world, a conventional war can now easily be turned into a nuclear holocaust. The nuclear waste from the nuclear plants also creates radioactive contamination which can last for hun­dreds of years.

Recommendations

While looking for alternative development paths the Third World countries must develop a sound energy policy which is efficient and serves the needs of the majority. The first condition is that agriculture must remain an energy produc­ing and not an energy consuming sector. Third World countries should embark on a project of developing and utilizing the renewable natural sources of

energy, such as solar, wind, wave and biomass energy, in such a way that they are not amenable to monopolistic control.

The planning and development of energy resources must be based on an understanding and evaluation of the needs of the majority with top priority accorded to the basic need for dignity for all. In the first phase it should be done with low energy intensity growth so that there is sufficient time to develop the benign energy sources. Planning and forcasting energy requirements for a soci­ety should be done by identifying the basic human needs and these needs should be studied explicitly to estimate the energy required for their satisfaction. It is recommended that a Third World network be formed for energy policy, con­sisting of people who are prepared to work on a needs based approach to energy planning.

Countries which have nuclear power plants should gradually phase out the use of nuclear power. In other countries, governments should be urged not to use nuclear power. Non governmental organizations and the public should join the protest against the use of nuclear power and armaments.

Agriculture

After serious examination and detailed deliberation on the status of agriculture in the Third World this conference has come to the conclusion that:

The resources, techniques and practices of the Third World in the fields of agriculture, irrigation, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries are in immediate danger of being wiped out under the impact of policies favouring modern western practices in all these areas, The new practices that are being introduced are inherently incapable of efficiently utilizing the resources available in the Third World countries and sustaining the Third World popu­lations. These practices are adversely affecting the productivity of land and are destabilizing the ecological balance. They are worsening the dependence of the Third World on the industrialized countries for knowledge, tech­niques and inputs in areas where indigenous knowledge and resources are capable of, and were till recently, meeting the needs in a satisfactory fashion. Moreover, logging and forest degradation has also caused tremendous soil erosion in Third World countries. Agriculture and connected practices being the major way of life of the Third World societies there is an urgent need to defend the indigenous knowledge, practices and resources in these areas from the western onslaught. We therefore recommend that the Third World countries should make joint efforts for the restoration of the indigenous way of life in these countries. Meanwhile the following steps should be under­taken as emergency measures:

1. A Third World Agriculture Documentation and Research Centre should be established to document the indigenous science and practice of agriculture and

irrigation in the countries of Southeast Asia. The centre should also collect information on the available agricultural and irrigation resources in these countries, and work on finding ways and means to put these resources to the best possible use through indigenous know how and practices. The Centre may have its headquarters in Sri Lanka and a regional office in each of the countries in South and Southeast Asia.

2. A Third World Foundation should be established for the preservation of the agricultural genetic resources of the Third World. The Foundation should:

a. Persuade and help the governments of South and Southeast Asian countries to take steps for the collection and preservation of the agricultural genetic resources in their countries.

b. Provide technical and financial help for the immediate establishment of long term storage facilities for the genetic resources in these countries.

c. Encourage research on the indigenous methods of collection and storage of genetic resources prevalent in these countries.

3. The governments of the Southeast and South Asian countries must be per­suaded to use only the tree species that are indigenous to this region in their afforestation programme. To help in this, a Tree Exchange should be estab­lished. The exchange should prepare a directory of the tree species in the region of South and Southeast Asia, and help the various governments in obtaining the appropriate species from the region for their afforestation programme. The Tree Exchange could be established in Malaysia or Indonesia.

4. A regional livestock organization for the region of South and Southeast Asia should be established. The organization should prepare a data base of the livestock breeds of the region and provide facilities for exchange of livestock breeds within the region. The governments of the region should be encouraged to restrict cross breeding of livestock within the breeds available in the region.

5. The Consumer Association of Penang and Third World nations should be requested to establish immediately a commission to consider the impact of the Green Revolution in South and Southeast Asia. The commission should study:

a. The origins of the policy of introducing western technologies and exotic seeds in the countries of the region.

b. The effect of the new technologies on the self dependence of the countries in matters of agricultural knowledge and inputs.

c. The effect of the new technologies on the productivity of law in these countries.

d. The socio economic impact of the new agriculture technology and practices.

e. Implications of the new technologies for the genetic pool and environ­ment of the region.

6. CAP (Consumer Association of Penang) and TWN (Third World Nations) should be requested to establish immediately a commission to investigate the

impact of the introduction of modern dairy practices in South and Southeast Asia. The commission should study:

a. Origins of the policy of introducing western dairy technologies in these countries.

b. Effect of the new technologies on the self dependence of these countries in matters of dairying.

c. Expenditure made on dairying infrastructure in these countries.

d. Effect of the new practices on the production of milk and meat in these countries.

e. Effect on the quality of meat and milk.

f. Effect of the new practices on the genetic base of indigenous livestock. g. Socio economic impact of the new practices.

h. Impact of the fluctuations in the European dairy market on dairying in these countries.

7. CAP and TWN should be asked to explore the possibilities of establishing commissions to study:

a. the impact of the introduction of modern fishery practices in the region of South and Southeast Asia.

b. Impact of large dams and irrigation practices on soil, water, tables, water drainage and health in the countries of the region.

8. CAP and TWN should be requested to explore the possibility of a regional organization for looking after the consumer interests of the region of South and Southeast Asia in the area of agriculture, food and drugs. A watch must be put on the activities of agribusiness in this area, and should collect and convey information of all new agricultural inputs (chemical, biological and mechani­cal), drugs and food products entering the area. For this purpose it will be necessary to establish a network of similar organizations in all countries of the region. The regional organization will co ordinate information gathered in these countries and convey it to other countries in the region.

9. All these steps should be undertaken by people in the region and with resources from the region.

Health

The western medical health system has infiltrated all societies in the world. Its apparent success is not due to its scientific credibility, but due to its aggressive salesmanship. In fact it has had incredible failures and perpetuated serious crimes, but all this is hidden from the public by the bribing of governments and medical personnel. The medical industry is a powerful political force in the modern world; health care is no longer concerned with the health of the people. Growth in the area of pharmaceutical products has led to the proliferation of useless and dangerous drugs in Third World countries. For example, in Bangladesh before 1982 some 1,700 worthless medicines were available. Pre­sently in Malaysia, there are over 25,000 preparations on the market.

Similarly, health education in the Third World is merely a copy of the western model with an emphasis on urban, curative health care. These systems have an unquestioned reliance on medical technologies which are imported to great cost. At present, health research is being carried out on 'exotic diseases' which absorb massive amounts of resources and funds which have to be diverted from the more serious diseases which affect the majority of people in the Third World. For example, increasing amounts of money is poured into Aids research, while the search for a cheap and readily available form of immunization for Hepatitis B which is a serious disease afflicting Asian populations, is neglected. Research and development in tropical diseases like malaria and diarrhoea is neglected because it is not lucrative.

Health for the majority of the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America and for growing number of marginalized people in western nations has become a serious problem. It is adversely affected by the poverty and insecurity that has developed during the last two centuries. There is sufficient evidence to prove that western science and technology, intrinsically wedded to the capitalistic ethic, have been the main ideological and material instruments in the destruc­tion of the self reliance of indigenous cultures all across Asia, Africa and South America.

Highly decentralized indigenous and self reliant health care systems based on the use of locally available plants, animals and minerals have also been sup­pressed. Over thousands of years they have developed a widespread folk culture that deals with primary health care problems, and forms of this culture survive even to this day in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The most significant feature in these systems is its autonomous and self reliant nature supported by an oral tradition of knowledge. In many Asian societies there also exists a comprehen­sive indigenous science which has its empirical roots in folk traditions. There is evidence that the indigenous health traditions carry the potential of making communities and particularly rural ones in the Third World, entirely self reliant in their primary health cai7e needs.

There is an awareness today in non western societies of the falsity of the myths about the poverty of their own cultures that has been inculcated by the western world. There is a new awakening to the strength and potential within their own roots. In the young generation the intoxication with the West is more or less coming to an end, particularly after their being witness to the terrible destructions that the modern civilization has brought in its wake. In the area of health the biggest challenge before the non western world is to revitalize its own indigenous health care system. This is a long term work that calls for devoted and steady efforts, because many 'current' weaknesses due to the 200 years of suppression have to be overcome.

In the immediate transitory phase an urgent task is to try and rationalize the western system of medical care that has been so exploitative of the people.

Proposals

1. Third World governments should adopt a rational drug policy based on the WHO policy on essential drugs, which recommends that a total of 200 drugs would be more than sufficient for a country's drug requirement.

2. Related to this policy, it should ban the use of dangerous and inefficacious drugs.

3. It should promote the use and manufacture of generic drugs.

4. The above should be important elements in the formulation of a national health policy.

5. This health policy should also incorporate the use of indigenous medicine.

On Revitalizing Indigenous Health Traditions

1. To document urgently the existing state of health traditions, the ailments they claim to treat, the medicinal plants, minerals or animals parts that they use, and social ethos in which they function.

2. To evaluate the indigenous traditions with the help of indigenous sciences and not western medical science. The western system has entirely different principles, concepts and categories and so is not competent to interpret indi­genous traditions

3. To lobby with WHO to establish Asian institutes for the research and study of traditional medical sciences.

4. To promote at local levels thousands of herbal gardens and medicinal forests throughout the Third World.

5. To create networks amongst non governmental organizations to facilitate scientific exchange on various theoretical and practical aspects of traditional medical sciences.

Telecommunications and Micro Electronics

Micro electronics, telecommunication and new information technology are seen by many as the most significant scientific development in the second half of this century. Technological developments in this sphere have led to predictions of an 'information revolution'. Some technocratic 'futurologists' claim that this new technology could democratize work and society. But all evidence suggests that the micro electronics industry is moving towards a tremendous concentration of capital, knowledge and power in a small number of countries and co operations.

Rather than eradicating unpleasant work, micro processors have led to a degradation of skills, dignity and job interest for the majority of those working with new technology. Only a few people, based in the developed countries, are engaged in the creative aspects of this work, with their results affecting millions of others. Control of micro electronics research and development, product

development manufacture, and the marketing of telecommunications services is perhaps more concentrated in the hands of a small number of powerful trans­national corporations than most other major industries. Research and development of microchips is concentrated in the United States and Japan, based on standards, codes and concepts which are wholly western in origin. Even European corporations are now finding themselves unable to compete with the US and Japan in the capital intensive area of micro electronics research and development.

Most of the companies involved with electronics and telecommunications research and development are highly dependent on military contracts for a large proportion of their work, and thus they collaborate closely with the military establishment at the developmental stage and give priority to military uses of the technology. Many of the civilian applications of micro electronics result only indirectly from this military work, and take second place when there are conflicting interests.

Unlike the capital intensive research and development phase, some parts of micro electronics production and labour intensive. Thus, although controlled by small number of corporations, the actual production has been spread around the world to take advantage of cheap, unorganized labour, and the various financial incentives offered by governments eager to attract foreign investment.The stages of electronics manufacture located in developing countries generally offers few opportunities for transfers of skills to workers or transfer of technol­ogy. These manufacturing plants are highly mobile, and, as conditions change, can be relocated or closed down without serious loss to the company. Electron­ics manufacture has now emerged as one of the least stable forms of foreign investment in developing nations.

Despite the clean image of the industry, workers in electronics factories are exposed to a very large number of hazards from a rapidly expanding range of highly complex chemicals, the health effects of which are only just beginning to be documented. In addition to chemicals which cause cancer, reproductive problems and poisoning, the nature of electronics manufacture can subject workers to eye strain and stress.

In the application of electronics to telecommunications, the control and domination persists. A very small number of corporations design and deploy satellite and undersea cable systems, while another handful of corporations operate the telecommunications services on these systems. These companies are almost entirely North American and European. The cultural biases inherent in the design and operation of these international communications systems in such matters as language, conceptual codes, short forms, clearly enforces a stand­ardization and conformity on users which ultimately changes the contents of communication, not only the form.

The major telecommunications systems are structured to ensure that infor­mation useful to corporations banks can be extracted from developing nations and used to gain competitive advantage. The most efficient communications

channels run throughout the North, and link the South with the North, but do not link the developing nations to one another. With these, corporations and banks can swiftly transfer financial, economic, political and labour informa­tion to enable them to out manoeuvre competitors, and destroy political oppo­sition to their plans. With this technology in place, national governments are losing their power to regulate the, activities of transnational banks and corpora­tions in their own countries. As Dieter Ernst has said, these new computer, communications and control technologies have made it possible for manage­ments to 'synchronize, on a worldwide scale, decentralized production with a strictly centralized control over strategic assets'.

The control and structure of the world's telecommunications system also assists the penetration of western entertainment, news, and advertising to the South, thus further asserting western cultural and political values, and expanding the market for western goods.

Just as companies use the telecommunications systems to amass business information, national governments are able to abuse this information technol­ogy for social control in policing, surveillance, and the creation. of highly efficient data bases on opposition groups and dissidents, thereby violating rights to privacy and laying the groundwork for repression on a massive scale.

As with the production of the telecommunication equipment, the operation of telecommunications services seeks to maximize profits, and thus the organization and management of telecommunications work takes inadequate precautions against health hazards for those workers operating the system, such as radiation dangers and eye strain from video display screens and stressful alienating work situations.

Proposals

1. Some nations, such as Brazil, have reserved their micro electronic produc­tion for local companies only and restrict the import of electronic goods, thereby developing an indigenous micro electronics industry. This greatly reduces dependence on foreign goods and can create products more appropriate to local needs and conditions. Efforts by developed nations, led by the United States, to block such moves by demanding the opening of these markets as part of trade agreements should be resisted.

2. Governments should be urged to accept that far from being a clean industry, the complex and sophisticated chemicals and processes used in the electronics industry present severe health hazards, the full extent of which have yet to be realized. Measures should be taken to identify and control health hazards in high tech industries.

3. Scientists, engineers and designers in the Third World should become highly conscious of the values implicit in micro processor technology, and strive to expose them, and where possible, eliminate these through imaginative reprogramming and redesign.

4. The control of the micro electronics industry by a small number of key transnationals is based on a monopoly of technology and know how. Third World governments and non governmental groups should look critically at the present criteria for copyright and patent laws imposed upon them by the devel­oped nations, and see if more balanced alternatives cannot be put in place, particularly in such priority development areas as health, housing, education and food production.

5. Non governmental organizations must make every effort to ensure that the access to the latest telecommunications systems does not remain the exclusive right of the foreign corporations, local corporations and governments, but should also be made open to non profit, non governmental organizations and individuals for the free exchange of ideas.

6. At the same time, Third World governments must take measures to ensure that telecommunications systems are not abused by transnational corporations to transfer funds rapidly from country to country thereby causing economic instability, or to amass and transfer information with which they can exert unfair influence or control over local economies, national governments, employees, or local companies.

7. Third World nations should implement registration and control of data bases which ensure that neither companies nor governments themselves can amass information about individuals which can subsequently be used to violate their right to privacy, curtail their civil and political rights, or to gain unfair commercial influence over them. At the same time, any such law controlling computerized information should not be phrased so as to allow governments unrestricted access to information held by non  governmental or opposition groups.

8. In order to reduce the gap between the powerful and the powerless, efforts by grassroots groups to learn about information technology, adapt it, and where possible set up small scale decentralized and democratic alternatives should be encouraged. However, when applying this technology, all organiza­tions should consider carefully the health and hierarchical effects of any equipment they introduce.