'MNCs are representatives of imperialist forces'

Arindam Roy

[Friday, May 28, 2004 12:28:01 am TIMES NEWS NETWORK]


ALLAHABAD: Rejection of the BJP-led NDA government by the people of the country, which was anti-people, has deeper implications. Senseless privatisation and sale of profit-making companies, leading to large scale VRS in the industry, along with suicide by farmers, called for a change. And change has happened, said KK Shukla, a lecturer of sociology.

In an interview, he added, the rise of globalisation is an extension of industrial growth, which occurred on a large-scale since the Second World War. The imperialist nations, or the centre of the development, traditionally depend on the periphery, the third world countries, providing a prototype of the supply and profit markets that had existed.

It is expected to grow with the global capitalism, represented by the multinational companies (MNCs).

He hoped that with the participation of the Left, in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the statement that development would have a humane face sounds credible.

"For a vast majority of the people of the periphery (third world nations), development does not yield a better life or a brighter future, but intensifies misery and exploitation," he opined.

The hope for them, Shukla said, is to break the global capitalism and move ahead like Cuba, Vietnam, China, North Korea, etc. Quoting Lenin, he said, there are strong notions to expect that the 'centres of accumulation' would shift from more advanced to less advanced areas, in search of cheap labour, accessible natural resources and higher profits. And that any division of the world would be disrupted by changes in the relative strength of different imperialist powers.