[Nettime-nl] Merkenstabiliteit

Dan nu een introductie in het heden en over de merken die verder zullen doordringen in het publieke domein als eigenaar van de sociale dienst of als organisatie voor rioolheffing, kunstsubsidies en denk bijvoorbeeld ook eens aan de marktwerking in de gezondheidssector. In de media wordt het toch altijd meer voorgesteld als een politieke keuze door PvdA of D66 maar het zijn wel degelijk thema's die een internationale oorsprong hebben.

volgt een korte tekst van een engelse collega over de mondialisering van het merk>

   The year 2000 is to be brought to a close by the opening round of the
   auctioning of selected public services to the world's most predatory -
   mainly US - corporations. This process is sanctioned by GATS (the
   General Agreement on Trade in Services), and items that could be on
   offer range from Mexico's telecommunications to Britain's schools. The
   deadline being offered to governments by the World Trade Organisation
   is this month.

   GATS is a set of international regulations which will require national
   governments to open up public services to the market. Its aim is to
   remove all internal government controls over service delivery that are
   barriers to trade. In effect, it is the framework for a global
   programme of privatisation. GATS identifies 160 sectors to be subject
   to its rules. They range from hi-tech telecommunications to emptying
   the dustbins. They would make government actions to keep local control
   over these services illegal.

   This new machinery of liberalisation comes at a time when profits in
   manufacturing are falling and corporations are hungry for new markets.
   AT&T, Arthur Anderson, the Chase Manhattan bank, IBM, the energy
   company ENRON, accountants Price Waterhouse Cooper and Ernst and Young
   and many others, as democratic as a band of feudal lords, are
   salivating in anticipation.

   What power has voting had over this international regime which will,
   in the long run, transform the quality of our lives? None. On the
   other hand, people did originally vote for the services now being
   sold. They still do. David Hartridge, director of the WTO Services
   Division, indicates where power lies: "Without the enormous pressure
   generated by the American financial services sector, particularly
   companies like American Express and Citicorp, there would have been no
   GATS."