The Gobal 500
76‘, 1999
by Oliver Ressler, Vienna
“These companies are organizing themselves politically. They are grouping together in corporate-lobby-groups with the clear aim to get political influence in countries and in international organizations.” Olivier Hoedeman (Corporate Europe Observatory, Amsterdam)
“Capital cannot stand still. When it stands still it is losing money. Capital has to keep moving, it has to keep in motion. The folklore, the ideology of change is nearly in service of the continuous motion of capital.” Charles R. Acland (Cultural and Media Theorist, University of Calgary)
from the video: „The global 500“
The 500 largest companies, which are annually published in a ranking by the economic magazine Fortune, as transnational “global players” can be seen as the main protagonists of economic globalization.
Starting point of the video “The global 500” is a research done on the websites and in the annual reports of the 500 largest transnational companies. The video is based on a selection of these corporate statements representing different strategies and discourses of economic globalization. These hegemonic globalization theses are discussed, analyzed and criticized by representatives of unions and NGO's, theorists and an economist:
Charles R. Acland (Cultural and Media Theorist, University of Calgary) Arjun Appadurai (Director of Globalization Project, University of Chicago) Andy Banks (Campaign Manager, US Teamster Union, Washington) Olivier Hoedeman (Corporate Europe Observatory, Amsterdam) Aquiles Magana (head of the Mexican union FALD) Birgit Mahnkopf (Professor for European Politics, Berlin School of Economics)
