The city was cleaned. Street children were gone and hidden from the gaze of the thousands of dignitaries that were arriving. It was almost as though poverty was being cast aside so that it would be discussed. Billboards and bridges were festooned with balloons and welcome banners, and every household; from working class, Chatsworth, to upper class, Camps Bay, was discussing the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

Many have argued that the Summit would help ease suffering and reverse some of the damage humanity has inflicted on the planet, while others dismissed it as a massive talk shop that would expel enough hot air to disrupt the climate. (I heard some people refer to it as the World Summit on Sickness and Death).

Since the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, we have seen the accelerated impoverishment of the majority of the people around the world and the devastation of the environment. Brutal capitalism in the era of globalization has served to facilitate the failure of the Rio promises. We are left with the question of whether sustainable development is possible within the context of free market expansion.

At the WSSD, world leaders and representatives of many multinational corporations have committed themselves to the intensification of neo-liberal globalization, which, in many ways, is a declaration of war on the truly indigent people of the world. The commitment in Johannesburg is a thinly veiled cover to further impose the harsh dictates of the market on the earth and its people.

For far too long environmental concerns have been seen in isolation from the developmental needs of the world’s poorest. Such a paradigm seems to negate the notion that for poor people the challenge is not the quality of life but life itself. The outcomes reflected an increased understanding among politicians of the links between environmental protection and poverty alleviation.

The WSSD has therefore begun to reverse the trend set in Rio to pursue separate environmental and developmental agendas. This was reflected, among other things, in the equity focus of the globalization chapter as well as the political declaration, which refers to “the deep fault lines that divide human society between the rich and the poor and the ever increasing gap between the developed and developing worlds.”

From an environmental perspective the biggest disappointment was the absence of sufficient benchmark targets and timelines. Unfortunately, the climate change outcome consisted of a simple encouragement for those nations (including the US and Australia) who have not signed the Kyoto Protocol to do so in timely manner. While an agreement was reached to halve the number of people with inadequate sanitation by the year 2015, a series of more comprehensive goals concerning human suffering had already been sent through the United Nations Millennium Development Process… targets that the industrialized world has backed up with few resources.

As expected, the Summit attempted to further legitimize the role of free trade in meeting the developmental needs of the people. By not calling into question the whole paradigm of corporate-led globalization and growth based economies, the WSSD will do nothing to arrest the processes that are destroying peoples’ livelihoods and the natural environment on which we all depend.

The Summit has, in many respects, given in to the demands of the United States government, and this has seen the reversal of many of the meager gains that have been made in Rio - another milestone in confirming the dominant and destructive role of the US government.

While privatization continues to hurt the working class, the WSSD committed itself to it, thus facilitating the weakening of public services. Clearly, the world’s rich and powerful have consolidated their stranglehold over the world’s energy resources. They have affirmed a model of “profits first” in the provision of energy, and have laid the basis of more electricity cut-offs. Incidentally, 10 million people in South Africa have had their electricity cut off between 1995 and now.

The world waits patiently for the unconditional cancellation of all Third World debt, but the odious policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been reaffirmed in Johannesburg. They have set the stage for the further indebtedness and impoverishment of the Third World.

Over the years, the capitalist market has failed to provide food security for billions of people all over the world. The WSSD has entrenched market oriented agriculture and paved the way for more hunger and food insecurity in the developing world. The Summit also failed to reverse the increased use of genetically modified foods - sliding to unsustainable livelihoods, environmental destruction and loss of biodiversity.

Voices calling for the freedom of Palestine and an end to Israeli genocide and occupation were silenced when demonstrators clashed with the police outside Wits University, where Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, Shimon Peres was about to make a speech. Arrests and brutal police actions were stark reminders of South Africa’s dark past.

Thousands of people marching from the impoverished Alexandria Township to plush First World, Sandton (where the Summit was taking place), epitomized people’s lack of confidence in the Summit. The march was joined by hundreds of overseas activists with banners expressing disgust at corporate-led globalization and Washington’s arrogance. Cries of “Amandhla” (power) filled the air. Fortunately the government reversed its decision to refuse permission for the march, under pressure that such refusal would resemble the apartheid era crackdowns on any signs of dissent.

The world’s poor and marginalized have benefited nothing from the Summit. Instead of a life out of poverty and a healthier environment, the world can look forward to a deepening of poverty on a global scale, and to a further deterioration of the environment. There is a growing need to co-create the conditions for people to feed their families, so that they may never again have to watch one of their children die. Another world is possible!

Imraan Buccas is specialized in globalization issues and post-Apartheid South African politics. He currently teaches at the University of Durban-Westville in South Africa. He has been active in student politics in the Apartheid era and has served the Muslim Students Association. He also contributes to many Muslim community media projects and assists with educational empowerment programs for community-based organizations within South Africa. You can reach him at ibuccas@pixie.udw.ac.za

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