Corporations are destroying democracy

In the present world, multi-national companies are dominating the decisions of the state. Due to globalization, third world countries are bound to surrender to these multi-national companies. On the other hand, capitalism, which is a means of exploitation, is interlinked with democracy. Capital is confined to a small number of people, and so only those people are ruling the majority. The true spirit of democracy as a political system of common people is absent everywhere, and thus democracy has been a mockery to many people since it does not uphold their voices and words.

Multi-national companies are spreading their branches in different countries by different shades. Sometimes, we welcome it in the name of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in third world countries. It is also true that we cannot deny the necessity of the FDI completely, as this an essential of the global economy and a central component of economic development. But questions may rise about how much freedom they will have for their investment. Many scholars argue that economic benefits of multinational corporations have some tremendous political costs. Another thing is that corporations always force government to reduce tax rates, and very often ordinary people lose in this game between government and corporations. Corporations are busy with earning profit where they are not concerned about carbon emissions or the health safety of employees. They are using dangerous chemicals by which are causing degradation of environment.

Anyway, we often like to feel self-satisfied remembering that we are living in a democratic society where we have strong control on the state system. But if see the opposite side of the coin, we can see that we are living in a corrupted society where state policies are controlled by financial backers and corporate lobbyists. This trend obviously represents the bankruptcy of our politicians and system.  The rise of multinational corporations is emerging as a threat to democratic practice in the era of globalization. Even our existing legislature is insufficient to control their activities and sometimes has been changed by the prescription of these corporations. Most importantly, renowned organizations like the UN, the EU, G77, and commonwealth are often incompetent, dysfunctional, corrupt, undemocratic and biased. They have failed to regain the confidence among common people to ensure democracy. Very recently, the COP-21 conference was held in Paris, France for reducing carbon emission and taking negotiations. Unfortunately, no major negotiation were held. From this event we can see the limitations of international organizations.

Despite this, there are some organizations which are working for climate change. Very recently Breakfree2016 campaign has created waves all across the globe. This campaign is aiming to free the world from fossil fuels and keeps coal, gas and oil on the ground. Break free campaign has drawn our attention for several reasons. Germany is the first country in the world which has taken a plan to transit its energy to 100% renewable energy. As most corporations in the world are very powerful, campaigners are raising their voices against them.  This ever-growing movement has been a matter of courage for climate action activists and environmentalists all around the world. The world is becoming vulnerable to climate change, which will lead to dangerous ends. Break free campaign is trying to protest against all the powerful actors through peaceful action. The main motto of this campaign is to resist fossil fuel industry and encourage renewable energy.

NGOs and youth should come forward to raise their voice to protect democracy of the people. Bangladesh is the direct victim of climate change though it has the least carbon emission compared to many developed countries. Bangladesh is blessed with a huge number of potential youth. Now it's their turn to act for the betterment of the country. We should join in campaign against fossil fuels and look forward to increasing the use of renewable energy.

Civil society should play their roles to reduce fossil fuels and ensure an environment friendly energy sector. Press and electronic media can be another strong actor to stop the use of fossil fuels. But here again comes the power of corporation. Aren't our media and civil society bound to corporations?  How independently they can act is a matter of doubt.

It is high time to address this issue properly to ensure an environment friendly world. We want to make a better world for our next generation where everyone will get their proper rights. True democracy represents the voices of the common people. Democracy is matter of practice where everyone is counted irrespective of race, religion and region. We have to give up the greed for power and money and only then people will get true service from politicians. We do not want to be bound to multinational corporations, rather democracy should be vibrant everywhere.