MINUTES: Globalization Study Group
Meeting of September 6, 2005

Present PH, BD, GD , BN & AY
 
The general discussion was divided into four parts: Clarifications, Planning for the coming year, A discussion of the second agenda topic: "How Globalization Affects Us - Positives and Negatives," and a glance ahead to the next meeting to be held on 20 September ' 05.

Clarification:
GD asked if the participants were prepared to discuss the two Le Monde articles on Bangladesh and China .  Due to various computer difficulties, not everyone could open the links.  We all agreed to note our problems to GD and if necessary he would copy and distribute the articles in advance of the next meeting.
 
Planning for the Coming Year:
Perhaps it will be more efficient and clearer  if I simply present a summary of our Plan.  In the event that some members may wish to have their specific suggestions noted, I will retain my hand written notes until the next meeting so that I may amend this report.  If my report is accurate we may be able to use it as the basis for our future refinements.
 
Points of Agreement:
 
1. OUR LONG TERM GOAL is to present a "product" in the form of a major program to the Community.  The most likely form or forms of the "product" will be a proposal to benefit the total community.  The first public presentation of such a product to the community takes the form of a public presentation of our planned work over the coming year.  A report is to be made at the 2005/06 "Snowbird Conference Series" via a panel presentation on our work with a major focus on "migration," may be the first manifestation of our product.
 
2.  We agreed to preparing  three types of Announcements for print in the Atención.  First will be an announcement of our meetings with a  purpose statement to be flowed by notices of our meetings which will be regularly posted in the Special Events section of the Atención called "Que Pasa" and a full printed report of our planned panel discussion at the "Snowbird conference."
 
3.  Implicitly, I think (AY) that we agreed to plan the content of our readings and hence our future discussions in order to achieve the goals in No's 1& 2 above.  My interpretation may require further discussion.
 
4.  We agreed to EXPAND the number of full-time and part-time group participants.  When we agreed that we should build a solid core working group we also agreed to accept occasional participations.  Toward that end we discussed various personal and public approaches with an emphasis on publicity in the Atención and recruitment at public activities.
 
FUNDRAISING is vitally necessary and urgent.  Our brief general discussion resulted in a highly tentative but valuable series of ideas including: an information/solicitation point (table) in the Jardin perhaps presented once a month,  fundraising dinners or buffets, cocktail parties, promotional dance WITHOUT hiring a band and to be held at clubs that would perhaps enjoy the extra publicity and the increased gate, and a film series.  GD noted that he accepted responsibility (Please correct me if I am wrong) for fundraising and would soon be planning a meeting.  He requested that we all get serious on this issue.
 
Following the planning discussion we shifted our attention to a long postponed topic which may be recorded under the titles: "What is or is not Globalization,"  "How Globalization Affects Us,"  "The Positives and Negatives of Globalization," and to borrow from Daniel Singer, "Whose Globalization?
 
BD motivated the discussion with the suggestion of a few popularized claims:  Spread of education and technology, improved working conditions, improved or improving infrastructure.
 
GD emphasized that perhaps the most important effect of  "Globalization" is the unification of the rising opposition as expressed in the increasing consciousness and solidarity  among those mounting the world-wide critique and the search for alternatives.
 
BN's  question "What is Neoliberalisim?" expanded the general discussion into an outline review of the history of Liberalism which referenced basic principles enunciated by Adam Smith in 1776 and came forward to a review of the contradictions of current practices.
 
PH introduced Joseph Stiglet's book "Globalization and its Discontents" as a recommended reading for the Group.
 
GD then began his response to BD (while I was trying to keep pace with this lively exchange to capture it all as accurately as possible).  GD noted that we are witnessing the deskilling of labor in the programmed, color-coded, robotized productions systems, which reduce the need for well-educated skilled labor.  Opening a discussion on the necessary balances of fixed and variable capital needed to maximize profits at the lowest cost of production, he stressed the consequences of the capitalist striving to maximize output with the smallest combination of inputs of variable and fixed capital. This unremitting imperative of the Capitalist mode of production can be briefly reviewed in most modern economics textbooks which attempt to explain micro and macro economics. CD pointed out that at an optimum scale of production, inputs must be in proportion so as to maximize potential profits at the point of sale.  The long-term consequences of such maximizing decisions may be seen in outsourcing, deskilling, offshore production and the reduced need for an educated work force.

BD- introduced the import discussion of rising consumer awareness and the potential political impact of consumer demand for better products and improved working conditions.  He sited his knowledge of Adidas but unfortunately our time ran out.

We all hurriedly agreed to the next meeting in the TV room at the Hotel Quinta Loreto at 15:00 on 20 September.  We will discuss the Le Monde articles.
 
Respectfully submitted for review.
AY