The Myth of Globalization: The New Zealand Experience

Asian Students Association
presents

The Myth of Globalization: The New Zealand Experience
An Evening with an NZ Scholar, Activist and WTO Critic

Special Guest
Jane Kelsey
Professor of Law in University of Auckland, media commentator,
public speaker and activist

Room C120 Shaw Amenities Building
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Thursday, 7 July 2005, 6.30pm to 8.30pm
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Have you ever wondered where those sprawling greens, forests and meadows in “The Lord of the Rings” are? Yes, they are all in New Zealand. Add to it, many in Hong Kong think that this country, also known as Aotearoa, is greener pastures for economic opportunities, jobs and the good life. Or is it?

We will bring you to explore another perspective of New Zealand that we may not get it through the mass media. As we here in Hong Kong and the rest of the world prepare for the upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference in December, it will be great for us to know about the situation and experience of the Kiwis (New Zealanders) in their “developed” country.

Jane Kelsey will let us in to the current economic, political and social situation of her country as it is obsessed with endless negotiation, implementation and imposition of WTO, regional and bilateral agreements, a crisis in health, social welfare and education and the wrath of economic liberalization.

She goes beyond this as she explains as well how the people of Aotearoa, the Maori and the Pakeha, the workers, women, youth, among others face the challenge of resisting these assaults from globalization and free trade.

JANE KELSEY, a professor of Law in the University of Auckland, is New Zealand’s most persistent and vocal watchdog of the doctrine appealingly known as "free trade". Working with fellow activsts under the banner of ARENA – the Action, Research and Education Network of Aotearoa – Kelsey is tireless in her deconstruction of the free-trade rhetoric that, she argues, advantages the rich nations while purporting to help the poor ones.

She has written several critical and provocative books such as Reclaiming the Future: New Zealand and the Global Economy; At the Crossroads: Three Essays, which addresses the controversy surrounding free trade and possible alternatives to it based on social justice and democracy; Rolling Back the State: Privatization of Power in Aotearoa/New Zealand and The New Zealand Experiment. A World Model for Structural Adjustment?

Language: English

ALL ARE WELCOME!

FOR ENQUIRIES: Please contact the ASA Regional Secretariat Office (23880515) or its secretariat members Khai Loon (92783650), Madhav (97104610) and Rey (95889491) or email to asasec@netvigator.com.