Review: No Global - The People of Ireland Versus the multinationals
ireland / britain |
environment |
review
Wednesday June 08, 2005 18:28 by Kevin Doyle - WSM
No Global appears at a vital time. Anyone who wants to see how the bigger picture has unfolded to date can read in detail about the numerous struggles. But No Global is less clear and less persuasive when it comes to dissecting the political ideas within the environmental movement and the problems these caused.
Book Review
No Global:
The People of Ireland Versus the multinationals
By Robert Allen, Pluto Press 2004, £14.99/Euro21.45
No Global is based on Robert Allen and Tara Jones's Guests Of The
Nation (1990). Essentially it is an account of the various
environmental clashes that have taken place in Ireland since the
mid-70s when the Irish Government's policy of attracting
multinational corporation into Ireland - in particular in the
chemicals and pharmaceuticals sector - moved into full swing.
In terms of being a record of these many struggles, No Global is a
very useful compendium with a lot of first hand information as well
as useful analysis. The author was involved in some of the events he
addresses and this adds a particular validity to the account.
No Global is a departure from Guests Of The Nation in terms of its
scope. It covers new ground and updates the reader on what has
happened since 1990. But Allen also attempts to re-position the
context of the various struggles that have taken place in Ireland in
the past 30 years within the much more recent 'anti-globalisation'
movement. Although this may be useful in seeing the conflict within
the larger picture of modern capitalism it never seriously adds to
the analysis.
Environment versus jobs is a theme running through the book and
anyone who knows anything about recent Irish history will not be
surprised as to why this is so. The Irish State's policy of
attracting foreign multinationals into the country - with lucrative
tax breaks and set-up grants - had much to do with the ongoing crisis
of employment-creation and emigration. Different class interests were
at play. For Irish workers unemployment and emigration had been an
ongoing disaster. For the Irish bourgeoisie there was the simple
economic need to become a player in the developing international
capitalist economy. Also, unemployment and emigration were huge and
probably unsustainable long-term burdens on the State. Attracting
foreign multinational was vital.
The arrival of a series of major multinationals in the 70s (Pfizer
was one of the first) galvanised the newly emerging environmental
movement. No Global documents a series of hard-fought victories at
Raybestos Manhattan, Merck Shape Dohme and Merrell Dow (to name just
a few). Although a lot of detail is given - in some cases too much,
it must said - it nevertheless becomes clear what an important role
the environmental movement has played in forcing the Irish State to
tighten up on environmental licensing and effluent discharge laws -
which were even laxer than they are.
But No Global also indicates, to me at least, that overall the
Irish State was able to outmanoeuvre the environmental movement and
push ahead with its plans. The reasons for this are interesting and
in the long term very useful to look at. Also, they are undoubtedly
the subject for much debate. Clearly, in terms of the overall
confrontation between the State and the environmental movement, the
climate of emigration and unemployment was key. But equally relevant
(and ultimately debilitating) was the class nature of the
environmental movement. Although often composed of people from many
classes it was fundamentally dominated by those with little or no
appreciation for working-class difficulties. Very often the workers
in the noxious industry area were ignored or abandoned to 'the other
side' - to bring them on board the environmental movement was simply
seen as impossible. But this failure seriously weakened a number of
the protest struggles as well as leaving a longer term legacy that
continues to hamper the oppositional movement and its ability to take
on the Irish State.
No Global does well to draw attention to the somewhat spontaneous
and local nature of many of the struggles that it documents. Often
communities had little time and few resources when facing the
combined might of the Irish State, the multinationals and the various
local Chambers of Commerce (who were, needless to say,
pro-multinational). Struggles, moreover, emerged piecemeal and many
vital decisions had to be taken on the move. In many respects it is a
great credit to the participants that what was achieved was done so
at all.
But No Global is less clear and less persuasive when it comes to
dissecting the political ideas within the environmental movement and
the problems these caused. References are made to activists 'living
in green bubbles immune from the harsh social realities of modern
Irish life'. This was partly about class politics but it was also
about what differing sections of the environmental movement wanted.
In this sense the difficult matter of 'the alternative' is often
side-stepped or not addressed at all. At one point reference is made
to alternative State policy that might favour small industry and
craft based employment (rather than multinationals) - but what is one
to really make of this? Resonances of De Valera and dancing at the
crossroads?
Although the overall thrust of No Global seems to underline the
schism between jobs and environment, there are important exceptions
to this that are examined and described. For example at Penn Chemical
plant in Cork (now Smith Kline Beecham) the struggle between the
workers and the management eventually spilled over into a major
struggle within Cork Number 2 Branch of the SIPTU trade union. But
this led on to the embattled Penn workers finally whistle-blowing on
some of the environmental practices within the plant. (Interesting to
note in passing that the workers saw fit to approach the media first
and not the very active environmental movement in Cork harbour.)
A second and more important example of the link between workers'
interests and the environmental struggle was at the Raybestos
Manhatten plant near Ovens outside Cork in the late 70s/ early 80s.
This early (and successful!) struggle saw the workers out on strike
on a number of occasions in pursuit of their 'environmental' health.
Important in this struggle was the activities of the much (at the
time) maligned Noxious Industry Action Group (NIAG) which consciously
sought to link the community's opposition efforts to the interests of
the plant's workforce, particularly around health risk at the plant.
Pilloried by the 'official' trade union movement, NIAG's activities
paid off handsomely in a series of work stoppages that eventually
forced Raybestos Manhatten out of Ireland (although to where, one
wonders). The Raybestos Manhatten dispute is clearly important as an
example of what is possible when an anti-capitalist rather than
anti-industry perspective informs the environmental struggle. On a
minor point I can't agree with the author that NIAG was anarchist in
nature. It had a socialist focus, but the dominant ideas were still
authoritarian Marxist.
As is pointed out in the introduction to No Global, the war over
the environment is far from over. Capitalist production and the
realities of profit making will ensure this. Here in Ireland the next
stage of the struggle will focus on the issue of incinerators. In
this sense No Global appears at a vital time. Anyone who wants to see
how the bigger picture has unfolded to date can read in detail about
the numerous struggles. The author is to be congratulated for such an
achievement. This book is well worth a read.
Reviewed by Kevin Doyle
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