Script - WUPID 2011 GF : THBT unfettered capitalism is the greatest obstacle to world peace PM

WUPID 2011 GF : THBT unfettered capitalism is the greatest obstacle to world peace.

PM: Ben Woolger (Oxford A)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc_WaOonIkY

Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen. In the 19th century, the British Empire used its gunboats to open Africa and Asia, to the forces of British capital. In 2003, the United States Imperial Military did the same thing to open Iraq’s oilfields for the Halliburton Corporation. On this side of the house, we believe that for a hundred and fifty years, global capital has been making people go to war on its name, and we think that’s a disgrace.

Two things at opening Government.

Firstly, why unfettered capitalism creates the motive for  states to go to war with each other.

And secondly, why it creates the ability for them to do so and perpetuate those conflicts.

Before that, what do we stand for. A few things. Firstly, we are not going to attempt OG to give you a complete definition of unfettered capitalism. That would be a Ph. Thesis. I only have seven minutes. Here are few features that we think may be relevant for this debate.

Firstly, unfettered capitalism places great power, in the hands of large corporations.

Secondly, it places a disproportionate amount of wealth in the hands of a very small number of people within society.

Thirdly, it encourages and forces open and completely free trade and completely free flow of capital between nations.

And fourthly, it places the acquisition of material goods as their primary goal within society.

We mean unfettered capitalism both internationally, and nationally.

A few clarifications. Hugh and I are not communists. We conceded that capitalism may have many other benefits. This is the debate specifically about peace. What we contend is that those features of capitalism, specifically as they are not limited in any way, create conflict. There isn’t gonna be any extensive Gov model. Lastly very briefly, what do we mean by the term greatest. Well firstly, we don’t think it’s a reasonable burden to ask OG to stand up here and compare every possible form(sourceの言い間違い) of conflict, to unfettered capitalism. Rather we are going to say two things. Firstly we think unfettered capitalism is a huge source of conflict. Secondly, that it is also the root of other sources of conflict. So for instance as I’m going to show you in my speech, things like ethnicity, things like religious divide, which also cause conflict, we contend having unfettered capitalism and inequality promote at their base.

So firstly, why does global capitalism create a motive for international conflict? 4 reasons.

The first, is the idea of resources wars. What we contend, is that because global capitalism rather than sharing resources out between nations and between peoples create a mismatch, between demand for natural resources in rich nation, like the United States, like China, and there location. That encourages those nations, to either go to war, or prevent intervention in international conflicts in order to acquire those resources. We think that is in fact at the base of many if not most, no thanks sir, of the world’s conflicts, at the moment. Over because China prevents action to topple brutal Burmese regime, or brutal Sudanese regime, because it needs access to their oil and gas, or because the United states fights conflict for instance in Afghanistan over those things. Secondly, ah yeah Richard.

POI: I think you are fine that it’s Mercantilism where holding resources rather than freely trading them, which is what creates the incentive to invade other countries.

No Richard, because it is still the case, that even under global capitalism, people own natural resources and other people would like to own them, because that makes it cheaper for them to exploit them. That’s why it is better for Halliburton to have a stake in Iraq’s oilfield, than to buy them on fair terms from Iraqi people.

Second reason for motive. Global unfettered capitalism creates military industrial complexes. Why do I mean by this? Well arms companies, immensely powerful arms companies, often control the politics of western nations. How do they do that? Firstly because they have immense power in terms of donating money to politicians. Often their former CEOs serve the administrations. Both Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had worked for Halliburton before they were part of the Bush administration. But also because  Dover stock portfolios means the same people that benefit from arms companies doing well also control the media in western nations. That allows for instance the shareholders of Fox to encourage them to promote conflict, because they know that they will ultimately profit from there.

Third reason. Global capitalism, unfettered capitalism specifically, without adequate things like financial regulation leads to continual boom and bust cycles. That means downturns, when nation become significantly poorer, than they were before. In those downturns, we see a rise in  nationalism, because people are scared, because they seek scape goats, because they want somebody to blame they want somebody else to band together with, as an insurance policy to share out their scarce resources. That nationalism entirely encourages conflict, look at the way that Thatcher and Reagan perpetuated conflict across the world in the 1980‘s in the name of nationalism, to distract from their economic failing at homes.

Fourthly we contend that ethnicity specifically, is grounded in inequality, material inequality. Why is that? Because difference between ethnicities is not natural. It’s not something in our blood, or in our biology. Rather it is something that must be constructed, by ethnic demagogues. How do those ethnic demagogues do that? Because they look at existing inequalities between people created by unfettered capitalism that make one group rich and one group poor, and tribute that to ethnicity. No thanks sir.

Secondly, how does capitalism creates the ability to perpetuate conflicts.

Firstly, because it makes a large number of people, particularly in western nations very poor. What does that do. It creates a large army of people, often with very few other  prospects. So it’s very easy to encourage to join your military. That’s important firstly because it gives you a large number of willing recruits into your army in order to fight a large number of conflicts. But also because it means that those people don’t fight back against those conflicts even when they are materially too disadvantaged. That’s vital for fighting foreign wars.  

Secondly, because capitalism and essentially as aim or system, which considers only acquisition, and not ethical decision making when it decides where to buy from, funds rebel groups. It funds foreign armies. That’s why for instances so few western nations have meaningful constraints on the ability to purchase minerals from zones of international conflicts. Those capital flows, for mineral purchases, in turn allow those rebel groups to continue working.

Thirdly and finally, because capitalism has its root innovation. So it rewards companies who are able to create more innovative, and more effective ways of killing people. That means corporations like Lockheed Martin, like Boeing are able to get rich by creating better ways of death. Those are ultimately more lethal, that makes war longer, it makes them more brutal.

Ladies and Gentlemen. What does unfettered capitalism do. It makes the politicians of the world want to go to war. It makes their people, believe in those wars, makes young men poor and desperate enough to fight them and put the newer and better guns in their hands to do it. We are very proud to propose.

(このディベートの結果は、5-4でCOがOGに勝ちました。推測ですが、このスピーチは綺麗にプレゼンされてますがじゃあFettered Capitalismではどうなるの？ってとこが弱いのかなと。コンパリで優位性を証明できなかったってことですかね。どちらかというとGovの話はCapitalism itselfってよりはFetter,つまり規制をかけなかった時に

どうなってしまうのかって方が良いのかと思います。

このスピーチでは大量にexampleなどが出てきますが、ここに書いてあることについての知識は国際政治経済のベースとして絶対しておいた方がいいです。例としてアメリカの会社を含むオイルメジャー、ハリバートンなどの企業がどのような悪行を今まで行ってきたか。FOX NEWSっていうのがどのようなニュース報道を行って、誰が見ていて、誰が株主なのか。中国政府とスーダン政府の関係、およびその他の独裁国家の関係。problemと分析の宝庫です。ここにある知らない単語は、全て調べて絶対損はないです。)