could someone please explain to me why this isn't genocide?

[welshTerrier2]

and before you answer, could you please also let me know which, if any, of our candidates has spoken out against this insanity? Did Hillary? Where are all those Clinton people I keep seeing on DU telling us how well Hillary is doing in the polls? Does she have a position on this? Do you agree it's genocide? How about the other candidates? Edwards? Obama? Richardson? Dodd? Biden? Kucinich?

Frankly, what the hell good are any of them if they don't start addressing the abuses of globalization? When are Americans going to be able to support candidates who put the people first? This is clearly "legalized, corporate, capitalist GENOCIDE". What does your candidate have to say about it?

Maybe instead of all the silly campaigning we can start fighting the real battles.

source: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3121833

Corporate Globalization Kills
by Amitabh Pal

Globalization is a battering ram for Western corporations. And even when the consequences are literally life or death, companies are eager to utilize the World Trade Organization for their limitless hunger for profits. Greed knows no limit for some corporations. Even when it involves the lives of millions. Take a pending court case in India. It has the potential to adversely affect the health of not only the more than 1 billion Indian citizens but of patients throughout the developing world. <skip>

“These generic drugs are not only consumed in India,” Leena Menghaney of the Nobel-winning Doctors Without Borders told The New York Times <3>. “People in Africa and the Caribbean are relying on India to produce these drugs. . . . The quality matches that of U.S.- manufactured drugs, but the prices are affordable.”

To give an example of the burden that will be imposed on poor patients in the developing world if the strategy of Western pharmaceutical firms succeeds, Gilead’s Viread costs nearly $6,000 per patient per year in the West. A generic version of the drug made by an Indian pharmaceutical, Cipla, costs $700, with the chair of the company, Yusuf Hamied, promising that it would be made available in Africa for half that cost. But all this could be imperiled if companies like Gilead have their way in Indian courts <4>. Realizing the potentially life-threatening consequences of this issue, AIDS activists in India are waging a number of campaigns involving such drugs, including against Gilead and the British giant GlaxoSmithKline.

A bit of background: In 1970, India under the Indira Gandhi government amended its patent law to have patents awarded only for processes to make medicines, not for the final products. This enabled Indian pharmaceutical firms to alter the processes slightly and make cheaper versions of essentially the same products sold by Western firms in India for astronomical prices. The result?

“India became the ‘pharmacy of the world's poor’ in 1970 when it stopped issuing patents for medicines,” the BBC states. “This allowed its many drug producers to create generic copies of medicines still patent-protected in other countries —at a fraction of the price charged by Western drug firms.” <skip>

Now all of this is being jeopardized, with grave health consequences. The BBC quotes Doctors Without Borders as saying that a number of Indian firms have already stopped producing some generic AIDS drugs because of the possible legal ramifications.

Greed knows no limit for some corporations. Even when it involves the lives of millions.

[waiting for hope]

1. Edwards is on the right track:

Nov 16, 2005
Senator John Edwards
Hindustan Times Conference, New Delhi

~Snip~

There are four pillars we must build if we want to create this just new world.

First, we must do more to prepare for both the benefits and challenges of globalization.

India is a country that knows both the positive and negative aspects of our globalized world. It has achieved remarkable economic growth, benefiting from the access of technology and information. Yet it also grapples with the threats that don't stop at borders — such as diseases like HIV/AIDS, extreme poverty, and terrorists, like those who struck here in New Delhi only weeks ago.

To meet these challenges we need bold and visionary leadership. We need to develop new national and international tools.

It also means that our existing international institutions like the United Nations must adapt to remain relevant. They cannot remain cemented in the past. We must all work together to reform the United Nations, and that includes finding a place for India on the Security Council.

The economic and social transformation happening here is not just changing India — it is changing my country. America must act to ensure that it stays strong and adapts. With a trade deficit of nearly $10 billion, and outsourcing an economic reality, we have a lot to do to ensure that the American people are better prepared to meet the challenges of the new world.

~Snip~

http://johnedwards.com/news/speeches/20051116/

[welshTerrier2]

2. not bad at all

it would be nice to see him put some details on the theme but he's definitely on the right track here ...

i hope he makes globalization one of the cornerstones of his campaign.