Your Money or Your Life!

THE TRANSFER OF WEALTH FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH/101

between OECD countries since 19 9 7 - aims to remove definitively all
obstacles to profit repatriation.

Patents, Royalties, Intellectual Property Rights

Another net transfer of resources from the South to the North stems
from the payments the South must make to acquire or use technolo­
gies from the North. This is part of what Ernest Mandel refers to as
'technological rent' in Late Capitalism (Mandel, 1978). MNCs are the
ones that benefit from this rent, thanks to the technological
advantage they have acquired. This advantage is not guaranteed
once and for all. MNCs are often engaged in intense research and
development and product development battles with one another (in
the computer industry, for example). While there are both winners
and losers in the North, the countries of the South are almost always
the losers. They cannot hold their own against the research and
development muscle of the MNCs and governments of the North (95
per cent of research and development is carried out in OECD
countries). The latest set of GATT agreements (laying the basis for the
World Trade Organisation) have further worsened the situation - on
the question of intellectual property rights, for example.

Intellectual Property Rights: The View from the South

Most Third World countries see genetic resources as part of their
collective heritage. For millennia, small farmers have selected seeds
to work the land in perfect harmony with their needs while respecting
nature. They have never claimed these seeds and the resulting
produce as their intellectual property.

Intellectual Property Rights: The View from the North

Biochemical and agrobusiness MNCs like Ciba-Geigy, Sandoz, Shell,
ICI, Cargill, Grace, to name the biggest ones, beg to differ. They scour
the planet to 'discover' seed varieties and claim all patent rights. In
this way, they stake their control over the patiently developed genetic
heritage of humankind.
The US and other developed capitalist countries have harnessed
the Third World's biological diversity to make millions of dollars in
profits, without returning a single dollar to the original 'owners' of