The announcement of the extension of a moratorium on soya expansion provides hope for the Amazon rainforest.

The film looks at the new rulers of the world -- the great multinationals and the governments and institutions that back them -- the IMF and the World Bank. Under IMF rules, millions of people throughout the world lose their jobs and livelihood.

Not for Sale is an engaging documentary that explores some little known aspects of global trade agreements like the WTO. Patents and other intellectual property rights are expanding what corporations can own and control -- from things like machines, to knowledge and even living creatures. What does this mean for the environment, our food supply, and human rights?

"In what some experts are hailing as a first for sustainability movements in the United States, a coalition of policy organizations has unveiled a comprehensive campaign to reduce the Bay Area's reliance on global markets in favor of a more locally based economy..."

"The essays in this volume provide a remarkable portrait of the hothouse brew of corruption, cronyism, unilateralism, neoliberal rhetoric, protectionism, and good old American nationalism that has marked the Bush administration’s approach to post-war and post-disaster reconstruction..."

"In the wake of Argentina's dramatic economic collapse in 2001, Latin America's most prosperous middle class finds itself in a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. The Forja auto plant lies dormant until its former employees take action. They're part of a daring new movement of workers who are occupying bankrupt businesses and creating jobs in the ruins of the failed system..."

"Christian Aid and Friends of the Earth have commissioned this paper to examine the obstacles and options for international approaches to community redress for the harmful effects of multinationals’ activities on people and the environment. Encouraged by the recent adoption by UN experts of human rights norms for business, Christian Aid and Friends of the Earth are also looking beyond the social and environmental obligations that bind business to consider what can be done to guarantee communities redress when harm is done. Compared with small and medium-size enterprises, multinationals have the greatest capacity to cause harm to people and the environment on a global scale and to use political, financial and legal leverage to avoid being brought to account..."

"The world’s largest company by revenues is no longer an oil-company - it is a supermarket. Wal-Mart’s revenues reached $218bn in 2001, overtaking both Exxon Mobil and General Motors, and are expected to continue rising. Much has happened since the early days of the supermarket, when independent local retailers got together under control by its consumer members in the co-operative movement..."

"SEEN’s ongoing study of World Bank Group financing for fossil fuels finds that the big winners of this globalization game are some of the largest transnational corporations in the world. Of the world’s ten largest corporations , five are among the WBG’s top 15 private welfare recipients. Shell, the world’s eighth biggest corporation, benefited from over $1.93 billion in World Bank projects since 1992, and ranks third among all firms. BP-Amoco and Exxon Mobil , the world’s second and fourth largest corporations, benefited from around $900 million in WBG financing a piece..."

"Since 1992, at least 21 agencies, representing the U.S. government, multilateral development banks, and other national governments, helped leverage Enron’s global reach by approving $7.219 billion in public financing toward 38 projects in 29 countries.1 The now-fallen giant, until recently the country’s seventh largest corporation, marched into risky projects abroad, backed by the “deep pockets” of government financing and with the firm and at times forceful assistance of U.S. officials and their counterparts in international organizations. Enron’s overseas operations rewarded shareholders temporarily but often punished the people and governments..."

"Here in the UK we know only too well how the privatisation of essential public services has led to a deterioration of standards and attacks on worker’s pay and conditions of service.UNISON has been at the forefront in campaigning for good quality public services as our Positively Public Services campaign has shown. However it is clear that the battle for public services extends beyond these shores.The pressures to privatise essential services like water and sanitation remain considerable and show no signs of abating..."

"The anti-sweatshop movement burst in the American public's consciousness in the 1990s. By the late 1990s, an eclectic group of 43 American NGOs and a growing number of international organizations were engaged in the movement. But, as yet, there are no rigorous empirical studies of the impact of anti-sweatshop actions on those firms accused of relying on sweated labor. This paper addresses this lacuna by using the event study technique to empirically assess the impact of public disclosure of firms' sweatshop practices on their stock prices. The paper finds that public disclosure does indeed cause firms' stock prices to fall, sometimes substantially. This, no doubt, explains the rush by these firms to voluntary codes of conduct..."