Neo-liberalism and Youth Movement

Neo-liberalism and Youth Movement
Kwon Sang-gu

Neo-liberalism is a philosophy in which the existence and operation of a market are valued in themselves, separately from any previous relationship with the production of goods and services, and without any attempt to justify them in terms of their effect on the production of goods and services; and where the operation of a market or market-like structure is seen as an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action, and substituting for all previously existing ethical beliefs.

Transnational Capitalism, a Fact of Life! "The globalisation of finance will deprive a nation of its democracy, people's choice and common good"
- from Bernare Casseen, Chairman of ATTAC

What We Call Neo-liberalism

In 1945 or 1950, if you had seriously proposed any of the ideas and policies in today's standard neo-liberal toolkit, you would have been laughed off the stage or sent off to the insane asylum. At least in the Western countries, at that time, everyone was a Keynesian, a social democrat or a social-Christian democrat or some shade of Marxist. The idea that the market should be allowed to make major social and political decisions; the idea that the Government should voluntarily reduce its role in the economy, or that corporations should be given total freedom, that trade unions should be curbed and citizens given much less rather than more social protection-such ideas were utterly foreign to the spirit of the time. Even if someone actually agreed with these ideas, he or she would have hesitated to take such a position in public and would have had a hard time finding an audience.

Neo-liberalism is a set of economic policies that have become widespread during the last 25 years or so. Although the word is rarely heard in the Western societies, you can clearly see the effects of neo-liberalism here as the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer. Liberalism can refer to political, economic, or even religious ideas.

Neo means we are talking about a new kind of liberalism. So what was the old kind? The liberal school of economics became famous in Europe when Adam Smith, an English economist, published a book in 1776 called THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. He and others advocated the abolition of government intervention in economic matters. No restrictions on manufacturing, no barriers to commerce, no tariffs, he said; free trade was the best way for a nation's economy to develop. Such ideas were "liberal" in the sense of no controls. This application of individualism encouraged "free" enterprise," "free" competition - which came to mean, free for the capitalists to make huge profits as they wished.

1. THE RULE OF THE MARKET
2. CUTTING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES in areas like education and health care. REDUCING THE SAFETY-NET FOR THE POOR
3. DEREGULATION Reduce government regulation of everything that could diminish profits, including protecting the environment and safety on the job.
4. PRIVATISATION Sell state-owned enterprises, goods and services to private investors. This includes banks, key industries, railroads, toll highways, electricity, schools, hospitals and even fresh water.
5. ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF 'THE PUBLIC GOOD' or 'COMMUNITY' and replacing it with 'individual responsibility.' Pressuring the poorest people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health care, education and social security all by themselves, then blaming them, if they fail, as 'lazy.'

Around the world, powerful financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter- American Development Bank have imposed neo-liberalism. It is raging all over Latin America and Asia.

ASEM is not just over another WTO and MAI, and will make Seoul another Seattle, and Prague. - from a Korean activist in Anti-ASEM

From Seattle to Seoul

The torch of the international struggle against globalisation carries over into East Asia with the ASEM 2000 Seoul Day of Action Against Neo-liberal Globalisation on the 20th of October. It will be held at the same site where the Asian financial crisis swept through three years ago and left much of the region in ruin. It will be organised by the people who have lost the most and suffered the most from the direct impacts of the neo-liberal restructuring program promoted by international financial institutions. It will be another sign that international resistance against globalisation is truly 'international' and also will be a direct contradiction of those who claim that restructuring has succeeded in Korea.

The Korean progressive sector has marked the ASEM action, not only as an important people's struggle of the second half of this year, but as a struggle which will determine whether the people of Korea will be able to again build up a significant resistance against the unilateral restructuring program of the government and international financial institutions. The Korean People's Action Against Investment Treaties and the WTO (KoPA) and the People's Rally Committee are concentrating their efforts into organising the event.

Perhaps one of the aspects that will distinguish the struggle in Seoul from other similar struggles in Seattle, Washington, Melbourne and Prague, is the fact that major people's organisations and trade unions will be actively engaged in the preparations for the struggle from the start. They will not be absent, but rather will use the movement to promote their own agenda. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korean Farmer's League, both central members of both KoPA and the People's Rally Committee, have been at the forefront of the organising activities for the actions. It is significant that the president of the KCTU, Dan Byung-Ho will give the opening address at the rally on the 20th. The following is an except from his opening address draft:

"The workers struggling to block the second round of restructuring and plan for privatisation, actors and directors fighting to save the screen quota and preserve cultural diversity, the rage of the farmers who have had to burn the crops they have raised because of market liberalization, the heroic struggle of the temporary workers this past summer, the flame of the struggle against neo-liberal globalisation is already burning. We are positive that the resistance by the people of the world which started in Seattle was not just an 'incident.' The struggle in Seattle has continued in Washington, Davos, Bangkok, Melbourne, and Prague. These struggles were the anger of the people of the world who have had their democratic rights and livelihood taken away by neo-liberal globalisation, and a clear warning against trans-national capital, imperialism, and the governments of each country promoting such policies. The people of Korea support the struggle by the people of the world against neo-liberal globalisation and seek to follow in their footsteps. Today, we join hands with the people of the world in the struggle against neo-liberal globalisation."

Privatisation of Education Student Movement

Education have two aspects like those of a coin, one aspect from which education is a rite of passage to be given a social benefit, and the other aspect from which education could be regarded not only as the barrier between 'Have' and 'Not-Have', but also as a system producing economy-oriented human.
- from Pierre Bourdieu, French social scientist

Education Concept

The aim of education has deteriorated into producing competitive human resources for capital and the principles of market rules the lecture platform. People are realising that this change in higher education that we face today is closely linked to the restructuring of industry.

The spirit of inquiry towards knowledge, the spirit of assuming critical attitude towards the actual world, the spirit to open and share its knowledge with the common people has no ground to stand now. Instead, universities are changing into big enterprises (often considered as service industry) that are only interested in making more money and produce good quality, guaranteed manpower for capital. The government is cutting its financial support and students are told that they are consumers in the market of education. This undisguised nonsense is not finished. The studies such as human culture, philosophy, religion, and literature are disregarded and practical knowledge and technical education takes the most part of the curricula now. This is causing serious imbalance on the intellectual ground and forces education deeper into the capitals' control.

University

Since mid-1990s, there have been several movements to reform the university education. They are, in fact, meant to turn out competitive human resources suitable to the principle of capital along with the expansion of global capitalism.

The influence that student movements exercise over university society is getting smaller. There still remain some customary things such as on-and-off campus demonstrations and seminars on social unfairness. But these do not dominate many students' daily lives any more. Student union elections used to take the most important part in university life as well as in the student movements. Now, a lot of universities do not even have any candidates for their student union election. Moreover, students are paying less attention to or take less part in unions. You may easily notice that a lot of non-or-anti-movement candidates have won the election recently.

In the mid-1990s, university cultures began to change. There are three student cultures that are arising, namely: the mass commercial consumer culture; the remaining movement culture; and, the feminism and homosexuality movements as well as other protesting cultures against patriarchal order and the like, which were all disregarded or repressed by the previous social movement. The university culture is not free from the consumer culture anymore. Unlike in the past when the progressive university culture was relatively free from capitalist values, it now seems to be just a small fragment of the university.

The previous movement culture has already lost its appeal to many students. It is because the past demo-community discourses, as the dominating one in university communities, is gradually diminishing. On the other hand, some remarkable discourses such as feminism, homosexuality, anti-patriarchy and knowledge-power discourse, which were repressed or ignored in the 1980s, are now taking greater positions. A lot of small groups are coming forth along this trend, which concerns environmental, feminist, or homosexual issues.

Student Movement
Fighting for right to work and to get educated

To organise mass strife against neo-liberalism, we have to set forth the political vision on the conflicts that is taking place with the restructuring of the economy. Criticising the government and the capitals for the massive lay-offs and fighting for more work and social welfare are very important issues that we have to fight together with the workers.

The student movement could organise itself with the demands for better education and work. Besides fighting for these issues, we also have to plan ideological/political/cultural experiments like making our own curriculum and opening the intellectual assets to the public interest to change the function of the university.

Movement for peace

There is always the possibility of war in the Korean peninsula. The recent military conflict that has occurred in the north and south vessels show the high military tensions we face. We plan to fight for the peace in the Korean peninsula by organising campaigns for the reduction of arms and strengthening of interchange between the north and south. Also, we are thinking of an international campaign against the unfair military intervention.

Fight for democracy and human rights

The national security law still exists in Korea and it is used to oppress our movements and our thoughts. Our fight for democracy continues. To fight for the protection the minority and for human rights is itself peoples' democracy.

Neo-Millennium, Neo-International!

At the twilight years of the 20th century we are facing total barbarism and violence against the human race. Neo-liberalism cannot be the blueprint for the new millennium. The people fighting against the suppression and exploitation will continue and so will the solidarity of the people. The Korean students will be there with their clenched fists. Good luck all.

Endnote: Characteristics of the current educational reform

1. Neglect of pure, basic studies (such as cultural studies) resulted in unbalanced curriculum that emphasise practical, technical education.
2. Government-led restructuring deprives the students the chance to speak out. All decisions are made behind the curtains between the bureaucrats and a small number of officials that essentially destroyed the democracy that the student fought through the 1980's.
3. The government abandoned its responsibility to protect and support the people's right to be educated that caused heavy financial burden to the people and infringement to public welfare.
4. Finally, the current ranking system of universities will be strengthened thus resulting to more social inequality.

The educational reforms resulted to:

1. As government puts pressure on educational institutions that have financial problems, they are forced into endless and self-destructive race to survive in the market. Universities are run like an enterprise.
2. The current policy on education strengthens the competition between schools by ranking the quality of education it provide. A small number of so-called 'competitive' schools get most of the government's financial support. The gap between good and bad universities will continue to grow wider. Those who graduate from the better schools have a better chance of getting a decent job in the future.
3. As competition between students increase, the solidarity and political unity becomes harder to gain. The uncertainties of the future make students adjust themselves to the capital's logic's and choose to compete with other way to get admission to the society.

In this condition, student movement Korea is facing a turning point. Isolating will not be the answer. We will expose the barbaric sides of capitalism by political actions and strengthen the solidarity with the people - workers fighting for their labour, women fighting for sexual equality, comrades fighting for the protection of the environment etc.

The Death of Academism - Widespread Venture Boom!

Love affair? Long time ago! When are you going to work? Never mind! When are you going home? No time! I'm only thinking of a COMPUTER. That's my life and belief! Are you happy? - from a broadcasting copy

The privatisation of education started since the early 1990s. Subsidised by the Korea Ministry of Education, most of the technology college of many universities has been openly regarded as private institutes subsidised by the Jaeb ls, the Korean-style transnational corporation. Some students before graduate school were required to get into some private technological projects.

Finally, the golden age comes to the end. The technology departments strove to survive from structural adjustment after the IMF foreign currency crisis because a lot of the corporations and subsidiaries hit the bottom. The government and the corporations that survived the started restructuring the university technology education by looking at the social patterns based on information and the Internet. They urged professors and students to plunge into 'Internet-oriented Venture', certificating it as a high-valued industry. An economist reported, 'Asia has gone Internet-mad and its star-struck governments talk of reinventing their economies.', scoffing that 'This is the Asian vision of the high-tech future. Although most governments would love to create their own Silicon Valleys, none have more faith in their ability to do it than the Asia's tigers. Led by Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore, these countries aim to transform their economies through technopreneurship and e-business, taking advantage of the Internet opportunity to skip a generation of catch-up with the West'.

We do not mind if Korea can be one of the Asian 'Cyber Tigers'. The problem is that the Korean government is urging universities and their students to learn just about technology like the Internet. But we need humanities as well. Universities should meet both technology and humanity to produce social leaders, opinion leaders, and technicians. Now, government-owned universities are undertaking technology and market-oriented structural adjustment following the five-years plan drafted by the Education Ministry.

One shortcoming of Korea is the lack of an innovative workforce. Although Korea is often praised for its entrepreneurial culture, this label confusingly lumps together two distinct traits: a desire to chase profits, and an ability to think of new ways of making money. While Korean businessmen have proved that they are willing to take risks and to start their own businesses, they are often imitative opportunists. If somebody makes a fortune selling knock-off purses, a dozen others will rush in to do the same thing.

Neo-liberalism and Paradigm Shift

Youth and student movement for the common good and against capitalist-oriented society will flow where it should not flow. We, therefore, need our anarchist community. - from International People's Conference at Seoul in 1998

Expansion of Materialism and Capitalistic Viewpoint

Economic values have been regarded as important, especially since the economic crisis and the IMF bailout. Materials and money became the measure for value judgement. This tendency makes it meaningless to ask what life is for and allows people to ignore ways to achieve what they want.

Inequality deepened

Recent researches show that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened since the economic crisis. In 1998, the average monthly income of the upper 20% of urban workers increased, while the lower 20% were in the red. The bi-polarization in consumption is also remarkable. Those in the high-income class enjoy overseas travel to spend 7,000,000 won for fifteen days. On the other hand, the common peoples' average cost for a month of leisure has lowered from 164,000 to 109,000 (1495 in US dollars). This implies that the quality of life of the common people has considerably changed. With the middle class eliminated, the social strata in Korea is now between the upper 20/lower 80.

Common good and Human-centred value

The student movement has paid attention only to political struggle since the 1980s. On this account, several activities that could have been continuously accomplished in daily lives have been ignored. Regular volunteering activities are important in that, through them, the participants may accomplish their spiritual growth and change their consciousness and viewpoints. In addition, volunteering actions can bring about social change with little effort. Small cracks in the established bureaucratic society are valuable. We need to explore and develop various volunteering activities.

Student and Youth Movement

The main purpose of student and youth movement was to accomplish political reformation. It also tried to demonstrate its social power by gathering more people under one political slogan. This kind of goal and method used to be effective at the time when the target of struggle and the antagonistic relationship were clear. But it is not any more, especially in such a transnational period as these days. Above all, this kind of aim and method in movement seems to have failed to induce true internal changes in youth and students who participate in social movement.

The upcoming social movement should not remain in manifesting that society has not changed yet. Nor should it just say that the society is now improved to live in. The upcoming movement ought to head for directions to foster sound citizens with sound critical mind. They should be able to evaluate and examine social inclinations that would penetrate their daily lives. Through this, they should become awakened critical citizens capable of meditating on their own lives and exploring communal activities. This is, we think, the primary goal that ecumenical movement should head for.

Resistance is as international as Capitalism

Seattle was not a debacle that presages the death of globalisation. It was a watershed that will change the parameters of the debate, and will eventually - for democracy is messy - lead to the creation of a kinder, gentler global economy, one in which all citizens, including Asians, will have a greater voice.
A world federation with one country, one vote is not unimaginable in the next millennium. Beam me up Scotty! - Rajiv Lall, Straits Times, January 13, 2000

Global Network

Social struggles have taken on an international dimension over the last few years with the aim of demanding an equitable and responsible distribution of wealth. In 1996, the Zapatistas began this initiative by organising the First Intercontinental Gathering for Humanity and against Neo-liberalism, which united struggles from around the globe and called on the people of the world to create a network of resistance movements. This both laid the foundation and set the standard for many of today's movements against globalisation. It is not surprising that the Mexican government and the world powers seek to destroy the Zapatista communities in order to eliminate the starting point of this resistance against them. Then followed mobilisations at the international level or at campaigns on specific themes such as the World March of Women, successfully denouncing poverty and violence against women; initiatives following the setting up of the WTO, particularly the creation of the Peoples' Global Action against "Free" Trade and the WTO (PGA); as well as many other movements. These campaigns reveal the increasing rejection of the effects of a neo-liberal globalisation that serves the interests of dominant states, the financial sector and multinational corporations. Social questions are at the heart of this rejection.

Global Action Example
ANTI-WTO (Seattle, 1999)

1. Organise an event - like a march, a press conference, a teach-in in your community on or around the 30th of November.
2. By participating in a National Call-In Day on the WTO. The goal of the call-in is to show:
   - Broad opposition to expanding the WTO into areas such as investment;
   - Broad support for assessing the WTO's impacts to date on our health, environment and democracy;
   - Broad opposition to secretive, unaccountable institutions - like the WTO - ruling over us.

ANTI-IMF (Prague, 2000)
INPEG - Initiative Against Economic Globalisation

1. Counter Summit
2. Art of Resistance Cultural Festival
3. Parade Finale to the Counter Summit
4. Huge Celebration
5. Global Day of Action
6. Trainings and Workshops such as: Consensus decision making, when and how to use it; Facilitation, top tips for getting the most out of meeting;
   Non-violent Direct Action, enable effective and peaceful actions by defusing potentially violent situations; Media, learn how to frame your message for the media; Legal, know your rights and responsibilities; Medical, street first aid;
   Tactical, explore the variety of tactics for effective creative actions.
7. Continued Protests

Panorama of Moratorium (JUBILEE 2000)

The Jubilee 2000 call for debt cancellation is welcome and merits support, but is open to some qualifications. For one, the debt remains and someone has to pay. The historical record generally confirms what a rational look at the structure of power would suggest: risks tend to be socialized, just as costs commonly are, in the system mislabelled "free enterprise capitalism."

The World Bank estimated that Venezuela's flight capital exceeded its foreign debt by 40% in 1987. In 1980-82, capital flight reached 70% of borrowing for eight leading debtors, Business Week estimated. That is a regular pre-collapse phenomenon, as again in Mexico in 1994. The current IMF "rescue package" for Indonesia approximates the estimated wealth of the Suharto family. One Indonesian economist estimates that 95% of the foreign debt of some $80 billion is owed by 50 individuals, not the 200 million who suffer the costs in the "Stalinist state set on top of Dodge City," as an Asia scholar describes Indonesia in the Far Eastern Economic Review.

Mexico was hailed as a free market triumph and a model for others until its economy collapsed in December 1994, with tragic consequences for most Mexicans, even beyond what they had suffered during the "triumph." The World Bank and IMF praised the "sound macroeconomic policies" and "enviable fiscal record" of Thailand and South Korea shortly before the 1997 Asian financial crisis erupted. A 1997 World Bank research report singled out the "particularly intense" progress of "the most dynamic emerging [capital] markets," namely "Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand, with Indonesia and the Philippines not far behind." These models of free market success under World Bank guidance "stand out for the depth and liquidity" they have achieved, and other virtues.

Sands into Wheel (TOBIN TAX)

The effects of the crisis have not been confined to Asia, but have also spread to other emerging markets, particularly Brazil and Russia. There has been a general fall in investor confidence in emerging markets, leading to capital outflows, devaluation and stock market collapses. Many poor countries are suffering lower export prices due to the shrinking world demand. Petroleum exporters have been hit particularly hard, and the impact on African countries, dependent on primary commodity exports, has been severe. World Bank projections of GDP growth in Sub-Saharan Africa for 1999 have been revised downward from 4.5% to 3.2%.

Bail-out

Rescue packages are loans that must be repaid with interest, imposing a long-term fiscal burden on the governments concerned, and diverting money away from spending on socially beneficial strategies. They are furthermore associated with strict conditions. Countries have emerged from the crisis burdened by larger public debts and increased levels of foreign ownership of their economies, as well as diminished national control over the process of making policy. What were largely private-sector debts have effectively been transformed into public-sector liabilities.

Capital flows and aid budgets

A common feature of the countries affected is their reliance on private capital flows as a means of financing growth. This comes at a time of declining levels of official financial flows. Private capital flows now dominate total financial flows to developing countries, constituting 80% of all capital flows. Meanwhile, official financial flows declined from 29% in 1990 to 6% in 1994. Borrowings through commercial bank loans are also rising. The countries affected by crisis are among those, which have been the recipients of the highest levels of private flows.

These crises suggest the dangers of opening up to foreign short-term capital. Short-term flows may not have the same potential as long-term investments to contribute to development, and may in fact tend to impede it. International capital flows are volatile, fed by herd behaviour and inadequate information.

The need for a Tobin Tax

A reliance on volatile forms of short-term investment leaves the fragile economies of developing countries vulnerable to sudden changes in financial markets. One common thread in all these crises is the central role of speculative trading on foreign exchange markets. The increased frequency of the financial crises must raise questions as to the desirability of pursuing policies aimed at the progressive liberalisation and deregulation of financial markets, and urge the consideration of measures instead aimed at stabilising this volatility. A Tobin tax - a small universal tax on currency transactions - could help to deter speculation by making currency trading more costly.

Kwon Sang-gu, Chairperson, Korean Federation of University YMCAs