The Corporation: Parts 2 & 3

Wow it takes me a long time to finish things. Anyway, finally finished watching the third part of The Corporation tonight while waiting for a circuit to synthesize. (one little design now takes over an hour to go from about 1000 lines of code to about a 200k bit file. That's a lot of work. I digress.) The most compelling parts of this section were those dealing with the privatization of water in Bolivia. As part of the conditions for an IMF / World Bank loan, Bolivia had to privatize its water utilities, which were then taken over by BechTel Corporation. They made it illegal for any private citizen to get water except through them. It was illegal to dig your own well, or even to collect rainwater. Prices became so high that families had to forego schooling, food and medical care just to be able to afford the minimum amount of water to survive. It's still a condition of IMF acceptance that a country privatize their utilities, despite the demonstrated idiocy of such schemes. But in Bolivia the people rose up and it eventually led to the overthrow of the government. BechTel sought compensation for the lost business, but not considering the 6 lives that were lost as a direct consequence of their attempt to put down the popular revolt. Go figure.

But the striking part about this portion of the documentary was that despite the colossal lengths corporations went to grab power and ensure profits (there was even an attempted coup against the US government in the 30s by major corporations, to overthrow Roosevelt and install a fascist, corporate-friendly government.) that there are still means by which people can exert their power, and working within the law, can hold corporations to some standard of behavior.

But the conclusion remains that the system as it exists today, with corporations enjoying all the rights of a human being, but one which acts not like a person but like a psychopathic parasite, is fundamentally broken. The film concludes that corporations should have more of a responsibility to the people in a democratic society, and reminds the viewer that it is up to them to hold corporations responsible for their actions.

For my part I've grown quite disillusioned with the standard corporate model, and while I fully intend to start my own business sooner or later (hopefully sooner, and I'm exploring that option at the moment..) that I will make every effort not to allow the barrier between people and profits allow me to take some action that is ultimately harmful to the earth. Being in the software business makes this easier than most, but it's still something to be mindful of.

Like with Fahrenheit 9/11 I had read about much of the material that was covered in this film, but also like F9/11 to see everything, and to have it all thrown at you it once makes it much more compelling.