Deep History

Globalization

Since the end of the second world war a new global order has been emerging. Organizations like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and World Trade organization have increasingly put major economic decisions into the hands of the directorates of transnational corporations which owe allegiance to no nation and no people. These organizations have gained the power to overrule the laws of nations which protect their local economies, their worker's rights, and their environmental concerns. Key figures in these organizations like David Rockefeller have openly stated that democracy is obsolete, and that important economic and political decisions should be made by a technocratic elite who can be trusted to know what is best for the planet and its inhabitants.


1940 - Germany, Italy, and Japan join forces to form the core of the Axis Powers.


1941 - President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act which authorizes billions of dollars of supplies being sent to allied countries.


1944 - The World Bank is created at the Bretton Woods Conference. Plans are also laid for the International Monetary Fund.


1945 - The United Nations is formed.


1945 - The International Monetary Fund is created as a sister organization to the World Bank, created the year prior. Together they facilitary international trade and monetary policy.


1947 - The General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs (GATT) is signed to clear the way for a globalized economy.

1948 - The World Health Organization is founded.

1948- The United State implements the Marshall Plan to provide assistance to allied Western European countries and to prevent the spread of Communism.


1949 - Israel joins the United Nations.

1949 - In response to the Marshall Plan, Russia and several other communist states for an economic alliance known as the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

1951 - The European Coal and Steel Community is formed to neutralize competition among European nations. It is the first supranational organization and paves the way for the European Economic Community and the European Union.

1955 - Russia and seven communist European nations sign a mutual defense treaty known as the Warsaw Pact.

1960 - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is established.

1973 - Construction of the World Trade Center is completed.

1978 - The controversial Camp David Accords are signed, reshaping relationships between Egypt, Israel, and other Middle Eastern countries.

1989 - A radical liberalization of East Germany politics leads to opened relations with West Germany and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

1991 - The Soviet Union collapses, leaving the United States as the world's sole military and economic superpower.

1994 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a treaty between Candada, the U.S., and Mexico, comes into effect.  Corporations are given the power to ignore labor and environmental laws, and the Mexican constitution is changed to take communal land rights away from poor farmers. Substantial monetary gains are made by the wealthiest members of all three countries while the number of people living in severe poverty in Mexico doubles.

1995 - The World Trade Organization replaces the General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs to continue paving the way for corporate globalization.

1995 - The UN begins the Oil-for-Food Programme in Iraq at the behest of Bill Clinton. Although it it supposed to ease the burden on Iraqi civilians from sanctions, half a million Iraqis, mostly children, will die from easily preventable causes while Clinton is in office. In addition to being largely ineffective at its stated goals, the program is plagued by corruption.

1999 - A major round of World Trade Organization trade talks is shut down in Seattle, Washington by the largest anti-corporate-globalization demonstration to date. 157 protesters are arrested without probably cause or hard evidence for which they are eventually awarded $250,000 in compensation.