PROLOGUE

Carnegie Corporation of New York

The Ruben and Elisabeth Rausing Trust

The Roddick Foundation

John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting

and Paul Newman-, Newman’s Own

New York's Times Square, "the Crossroads of the World," transformed into a glistening, globalized Mecca for many of the world’s largest corporations... Disney on 42nd Street...just around the corner Viacom, whose MTV is now the world's most widely distributed television network…up the block Germany’s giant Bertelsmann conglomerate... France's Hachette Publishing... And signs of Asia everywhere...

But trumping them all is this giant, flashing, electronic billboard-- an instantaneous, real-time scorecard of the world's winners and losers. Like the city it serves, its ticker never sleeps, as it tracks globalization's inexorable sweep, from Beijing to Bombay, Moscow to Montreal, Manhattan to Tokyo to London and back again, 24 hours a day, seven days a week - a market-driven global casino of commodities, currencies, indices and exchanges. It's the sign of the times, as a new phenomenon called globalization conquers the crossroads of a new world. Behind the apparent progress looms a force that is as threatening in its power as it is promising in its potential.

Globalization--it's a big new word, and few agree on any one definition, but it describes a world where market forces are the driving forces. Today, trade and investment are expanding corporate power from above. But these trends are provoking resistance from below, most notably from within the international human rights community. Still, there are those who say globalization presents a positive challenge.

But as this global economy takes shape, what are its values? Do they include human rights and democracy? And how do those values relate to free trade and economic growth?

In this report, we will explore an urgent debate-- how can economic forces--companies, markets and institutions like the International Monetary Fund best promote human rights? Or should economics and human rights be linked at all?

United States Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, was once a partner at the Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs. He opposes linking economic policy to human rights.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

As western economies flourish, many benefits of globalization are obvious–but what will this new world order mean for human rights in social and economic terms-- in Asia’s sweatshops--among the growing ranks of child laborers--for protecting the environment--or dealing with Africa’s tyrannical regimes? What can be done? What should be done?

In the coming hour, we'll track the impacts of globalization. We’ll visit a posh corporate 'summit' high in the Swiss Alps, where the world’s most powerful businessmen exchange ideas. To assess the role of markets, we’ll descend into the depths of South Africa’s gold mines now threatened by massive unemployment. We’ll take you to the factories of Indonesia and the oil fields of Nigeria to look at two societies wrestling with the effects of transnational corporations and global banks. And finally, we’ll join a global march against child labor in Thailand's countryside. Throughout this program we’ll chronicle a major power shift in world affairs, from the public to the private, and from national governments to transnational corporations and international financial agencies.