Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Tania Bruguera:

by Tania Bruguera

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Tavis Smiley: Is corporate social responsibility possible? It’s possible. It’s possible but not always probable. That said, there are any number of corporations that are in fact acting more and more responsibly on the corporate front. A number come to mind. But those companies that are responsible are responsible because they have a CEO, someone at the top, who infuses the organization with that kind of energy, with that kind of focus, with that kind of commitment. So it is possible that corporations can be responsible. Possible, not usually very probable. But it begins with individuals of conscience, individuals of conscience who infuse that kind of belief system into their various corporations. And when, like anything else, the person at the top, the individual takes responsibility for sharing that kind of expression, making that the goal, then it can in fact take root.

by Tavis Smiley

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Tegla Loroupe: Answertext will be available soon.

by Tegla Loroupe

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Thenmozhi Soundararajan: Corporations aren’t individuals. I think that regardless of how ethical and how socially responsible a corporation may say that it is, it’s still a privately-owned institution that’s accountable to virtually no one. And to say that corporations are responsible for their own accountability is a little bit like having the fox guarding the hen house. I think what we need to have is to return to many of the antitrust regulations that we had in place under the Roosevelt era where we really looked at curbing corporate control and corporate power, as opposed to giving corporations sovereignty more so than over the nation-state. Some of the things that I think we would want to look at with corporate accountability is transparency about the money that they make, transparency about worker relations and transparency about the conditions in their labor environments. And we actually have none of that. Any laws that we do have more and more we see nation-states, like in court cases they try and challenge and keep corporations accountable, airing on the side of the corporation. So, I’m very cynical about corporations being able to socially regulate themselves. I am, however, very much in favor for us taking back our power from corporations and really moving towards a model for corporate accountability that’s not about one individual taking on a corporation. But a collective and within governed laws having our states hold corporations accountable as opposed to taking their side over our rights as citizens and as consumers and people who make the money that help make the corporations make them rich, but we get very little of the benefits.

by Thenmozhi Soundararajan

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Tu Weiming: Actually, the business school at Harvard used to train people to become competent in the maximization of profit of corporations. So in a way, the enhancement of profit making has become the unshakable ideology of business of corporations. Of course, a greater wealth has been generated and there’s the belief that a market economy is salvific is able to enhance wealth eventually for humanity as a whole and the world economic forum which has been criticized as an arena in which market fundamentalism is practiced or is at least advocated. Now it becomes seriously concerning for corporate responsibility. So-called corporate responsibility is predicated on the belief there is a fundamental reorientation of those people who are trained as the leaders of economic development. A leader as different from an expert or professional, who is able to enhance the profitability of a company, has to understand the role of economy especially, multinational corporation in the broader context of the society. Since multinational corporations are so powerful in shaping the society as a whole, it is absolutely serious for the corporations to develop a sense of responsibility, a sense of participation in the well being of the society as a whole. And this process is also an educational process for all business schools that train the new generation of corporate leaders. Now the assumption is an organization that is more powerful, more influential, has more access to information and ideas or to a feel more obligated for the well being of the society as a whole. And this connection, major corporations must assume social responsibility and it is ridiculous to believe that they can not do [audio ends]

by Tu Weiming

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Udi Aloni: Maybe we should call it solidarity; those very simple words, solidarity. You know when this war in Israel happened against Lebanon and Israel it got crazy and too over patriotic and fight against everyone that took to them Arab. It was really terrible. Suddenly those old Marxists came in the middle of Tel Aviv, some kids, and there was shouting, [more in another language]. And there was something so beautiful about suddenly for a whole small community calling for solidarity. It means an Arab-Jew solidarity. And I think this is the responsibility. Once we have solidarity, you have responsibility. So when all those proto-fascist energy came out and this nationalism. And for us, you have to understand the communist party, these words are something ridiculous and anachronistic about it. But those young Arab and Jewish kids in the middle of the war calling for solidarity, this is responsibility, once you have solidarity. So there are some good old terms that we should bring back to the front. So I think we all can sing, [more in another language]. Solidarity between Arab and Jews. [more in another language] I just said, "Solidarity between Arabs and Jews." It's part of responsibility. I just told him there is this experience of Berlin Alexanderplatz here, of the book. It's all those noises come around and I'm in the middle of Berlin there is a description of how the train going and see the ads and hear the people around. So I feel part of this book now. It's pretty cool, thanks.

by Udi Aloni

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Valentina Melnikova: In my opinion the definition „collective responsibility“ evokes negative associations, because it gets us to the time of Stalin’s terror; to the time fascistic concentration camps. Certainly corporate social responsibility appears now in many countries. Unfortunately could happen in Russia only in the future and corporate social responsibility is only possible if there would be really autonomic independent social organizations and solidly united civil society as well as contacts between people from different countries. And then these civil societies that are responsible of their members can take the responsibility for what happens in other countries and in their own country. The collective responsibility can only exist if the civil community has a possibility to change something with their own power, to improve the situation of many people or to protect them. My present example of such social responsibility is my organization the Committee of Soldier’s Mothers that for seventeen years has been taken responsibility for saving Russian youth that came to the cruel system of the Army. Our Committee takes responsibility for supporting soldiers' families. During the Chechenyan war our organization took responsibility to free and protect soldiers from Russian state as well as to free and protect those who were in the captivity in Chechenyan brigades.

by Valentina Melnikova

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Vesna Pesic: Answertext will be available soon.

by Vesna Pesic

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Viviana Figueroa: Of course it is possible to achieve a social resposibility of the corporations or of the companies, by making sure that the products they produce are not bought in a way that they do not accomplish with their social responsibility, but rather that they avoid polluting the environment, comply with the job norm, respect the cultural diversity, do not acquire knowledge from indigenous peoples, like e.g. designs or other specific features belonging to those peoples, do not impropriate their identities for commercial exploitation without the due authorization. I think that if each person is responsible in the way he or she consumes or buys a certain product, this can be possible. Because, if all humans or most of them agree on not buying certain products, because they violate industrial law, many companies would think twice before violating those rights, or before acquiring certain knowledge. If all of us would agree on not buying certain products for only one day, this could evoke an econimic catastrophe in this company. Therefore I believe that each one´s responsibility is to make sure that this social responsibility is being realized by the corporations, and it is possible that, if we really bear this in mind and then really do it, we can achieve that the companies, under the given pressure, act respectful towards the rights, the cultures, the cultural diversity and the specific rights of each one of the peoples and so achieve that there is no misappropriation of their knowledge, their songs, etc. And if all these aspects are given, I think we can have corporations which are socially responsible and not irresponsible by causing environmental damage or by harming the people.

by Viviana Figueroa

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Wim Wenders: I saw the documentary “Corporation” recently and it quite shocked me. It drew a portrait of corporations as entities that were indeed totally unable to act with social or environmental responsibility. Of course, I know of companies that have instituted exemplary social responsibility, but they seem to be the exception of the group. If you look at the enormous profits some big companies make these days, billions of dollars in the course of just one quarterly account, and if you see the corporate decisions at the same time of being forced to lay down or dismiss huge work forces, then it makes you realize how irresponsible they are often to social issues and how much their allegiance and their commitment is strictly to their financiers, to profit and not to social issues. And nobody is responsible. Corporations are legal entities; they act like a person. Only very often they act like a person with all – without any moral consciousness. That film shows that some corporations actually act like mass murderers or that corporations act like lunatics. Only that a mass murderer you can put into prison or you can treat a schizophrenic. A corporation that acts in a schizophrenic way, how do you treat it?

by Wim Wenders

Sep 9, 2006 11:15:00 AM cite

Yungchen Lhamo: We think in certain ways it is possible and I think -- we have, you know, human has a responsibility and we are living in this world and so we have a [inaudible].

by Yungchen Lhamo