Democratic Palestine : 35 (ص 26)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 35 (ص 26)
- المحتوى
-
Saudi Arabia’s $3.5 billion airport
consumer goods, particularly food, increased. Prosperity in-
creased the demand for consumer goods, and local production
was incapable of satisfying this demand. Therefore, rather
than becoming productive, the Arab societies became con-
sumptive societies largely dependent on the outside world for
providing even their daily food requirements. Moreover, the
population became geared towards wanting imported luxury
items to an exaggerated degree.
The early eighties marked the post-oil boom stage. With the
fall in oil prices, the GNP of the oil-producing countries
diminshed and the surplus of the boom became a deficit. Dur-
ing this stage, 50% of Saudi Arabia’s surplus and 15% of
Libya’s surplus were depleted. All of Iraq’s surplus was ex-
hausted due to the decrease of oil revenues and the Gulf War.
This also affected the other Arab countries, since their
economies were linked to the oil.
DISTORTED CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT
There is no doubt that economic and social growth did take
place in the oil boom stage. There were attempts to develop the
countryside, expand industry and raise the standard of living
of the population - of course to different degrees in the rich
and poor countries. However, all this occurred in conjunction
with capitalism, by attracting international companies to
«help develop the Arab world.» The industrial development
that has occurred was mainly for export to the western in-
dustrial centers (as with the petro-chemicals industry). The
whole production sector was geared towards the interests of the
world capitalist market.
The distorted capitalism in the Arab world increased foreign
penetration, in addition to hastening the decline of the Arab
national upsurge, and increasing repression. Instead of
achieving development and prosperity, the Arab ruling class
reproduced backwardness and poverty in a new manner. The
Arab society became parasitic, living off of profits achieved
without exerting any effort. The value of work is not
26
recognized as much as is the value of ownership and property.
The attitude towards work serves to constantly reinforce the
parasitic nature of the society. The process of development
requires a work force. Yet the level of productivity in the Arab
world is very low, because people are not socially or
economically rewarded for production. Rather, social position
accrues from possession or family status. Moreover, class dif-
ferences have widened. Today, 10% of the Arab population
owns 50% of the national income. Annual per capita income in
Somalia is $250, but $22,000 in the UAE. Instead of achieving
independence, the ruling class cultivated subordination; in-
stead of achieving unity, the Arab world has become
disintegrated in an unprecedented way.
Since the early eighties, most Arab countries have taken an
interest in implementing new economic austerity policies. In
many cases, these policies were derived from world
capitalism’s strategy for overcoming its own economic crisis,
by restructuring various countries’ economies to ensure
capitalist exploitation in a new way. This strategy also aims at
remedying the foreign debts problem in order to protect the
international monetary order from falling apart. Today the
IMF is one of the most important centers for pursuing this
strategy. The strategy doesn’t only focus on the financial
aspect, but includes a variety of economic and social aspects. It
is concerned with economic growth, forms of capital owner-
ship, income distribution and the channels through which it is
spent. This strategy is implemented through emphasizing «free
economy,» giving the private sector the main role in the
economy, while diminshing the role of the public sector,
limiting the influence of the state in the economy, freezing
wages, and floating the currency, etc. The economic measures
in Jordan are the most recent example of how this strategy is
being applied in the Arab area. Moreover, this strategy seeks
«cooperation for common interests» through joint ownership
of capital and removal of barriers between the local and inter-
national markets. The Arab states were geared towards this in-
ternational strategy through new economic directives aimed at
rationalizing expenditures and limiting extravagance in con-
sumption. The heavily indebted Arab states (such as Jordan
and Egypt) hastened to adopt this strategy and to submit to the
IMF conditions.
Since the Gulf states have better economic conditions and
higher living standards, the austerity measures were limited to
trying to redress the deficit in the trade balance due to the fall
of the oil prices. This strategy did not, however, have positive
effects on the Arab economies. In most Arab countries,
economic growth came to a halt; per capita productivity
decreased; and the 1987 GNP was down by 14%, as compared
to 1980. Total Arab debts (non-military) increased to $102
billion in 1987, as compared to $65.5 billion in 1985, and $49.5
billion in 1980, in addition to the continuous deficit in the trade
balance. It is apparent that this strategy has failed, due to the
Arab economies’ subordination to the capitalist market. The
distorted nature of the capitalist development in the Arab
economies deprives them of boom periods experienced by the
developed capitalist countries.
Democratic Palestine, October 1989 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 35
- تاريخ
- أكتوبر ١٩٨٩
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed