15 Comments

• 

  some14some at 05:29 PM JST - 5th July

  The rally, attended by an estimated 5,000 people, was held in Sapporo’s Odori Park in Hokkaido

  Good weather condition in Sapporo may have invited large gathering for Happy Weekend. The real NGO speakers are either detained or deported so i do not think world is prepared for creating a new world yet.

• 

  nandakandamanda at 10:34 PM JST - 5th July

  It must be really cold in Sapporo. Some of the demonstrators are wearing hoodies and ski masks, nice and warm and very fashionable in Japan.

• 

  timeon at 11:17 PM JST - 5th July

  >

  stop global warming, combat world poverty

  great, any ideas? go home and do something that matters, hippies

• 

  Mark_McCracken at 11:33 PM JST - 5th July

  5000 people? Other reports are 1000 to 2000. How can there be such differences in the numbers?

• 

  roomtemperature at 12:48 AM JST - 6th July

  "The real NGO speakers are either detained or deported....."

  The summit is in Japan, some14some. Not in China!

• 

  medievaltimes at 12:57 AM JST - 6th July

  I guess I would rather have the United States, Japan, Russia, France, Britain, Canada, Italy and Germany decide the fate of the world rather than Brazil, Finland, Mexico, Iceland, Mongolia, Egypt, Turkey and Denmark.

• 

  medievaltimes at 01:01 AM JST - 6th July

  Critics assert that the empirical evidence does not support the views of the anti-globalization movement. These critics point to statistical trends which are interpreted to be results of globalization, capitalism, and the economic growth they are purported to encourage. Specifically, the following are common claims made by critics:

  --The decrease in the percentage of people in developing countries living below $1 per day (adjusted for inflation and purchasing power), which has halved in only twenty years.

  --The world income per head has increased by more over period 2002-2007 than during any other period on the record.

  --The doubling of life expectancy in the developing world since WWII.

  --The increase in universal suffrage, from no nations in 1900 to 62.5% of all nations in 2000.

  --There are similar trends for electric power, cars, radios, and telephones per capita as well as the percentage of the population with access to clean water.

• 

  haytkayokomiya at 08:33 AM JST - 6th July

  Are they stupid? Due to the fact that there were 7 people killed in a crowd, I don't think this is the time to be messing with the NSP.

• 

  warispeace at 10:31 AM JST - 6th July

  To assess the impact of the latest phase of globalization, consider the employment and income conditions in Japan: a growing percentage of non-regular workers and a growing income gap. Luckily we can always get a free smile at the golden arches.

• 

  timekiller at 11:12 AM JST - 6th July

  "After the police unsuccessfully asked the driver to get out,..."

  -"Please are you be out?" -"It is removing one's, OK?" -"Does it not come off seating?"

• 

  blvtzpk at 11:20 AM JST - 6th July

  and shouted, ‘‘Get rid of the driver.’’

  Was this a Japanese police officer, or Tony Soprano?

• 

  feffrey at 11:42 AM JST - 6th July

  Now if only they would provide the same kind of vigilance to the uyoku protests that take place on a daily basis in the neighborhood of the Diet with soundtrucks at four times the volume they should be. "Get rid of the driver" never sounded so compelling.

• 

  sk4ek at 01:18 PM JST - 6th July

  None of the statistics quoted by 'medieval times' does anything to prove a connection between the globalization of economic and labor markets and 'improving' world conditions.

  • The number of people living on less than $1 may have dropped, but that does not mean their lives are any better if they have only gone to living on $1.01.

  • World income per head is also a meaningless average when most of the real income growth is in developing or developed nations, and restricted to the top 1~5% of income earners at that.

  • The doubling of life expectancy (where???) since World War II can hardly be attributed to the globalization trend of the last 30 years, when hundreds of millions still have no access to clean water or adequate health care.

  • I don't see how globalization has helped to promote universal sufferage, except perhaps to the extent it forces more countries to modernize their political structures in order to take part in the new economic order. Again, the move to universal sufferage has been going on for long before globalization was ever an issue.

  • Worldwide, 20% of the population has no access to clean water. In China alone, more than 325 million people have no reliable, safe water source. Access to technology may be improving in some parts of the world, but thus far it has shown little potential for closing the gap between the desperately poor and the rest of the population.

  Apologists for the actions of developed nations enjoy pulling figures out of the air (and sometimes out of real reports and studies, but only selectively), expecting people to take them at face value. I think real life evidence--and numbers--often show that globalization shifts more resources out of developing nations and into the hands of the G8 and other developed countries, than it leaves behind in benefits.

• 

  Mark_McCracken at 02:26 PM JST - 6th July

  "The doubling of life expectancy (where???) since World War II"

  Japan's life expectancy has done pretty well. 45 in 1935. Over 80 today.

• 

  wilbur at 06:35 PM JST - 6th July

  it has never been proven that giving poor people money makes them less poor, in the long run

Register or login to add a comment!