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Wal-Mart slowly taking over in the UK

Jon | 29.08.2004 12:02 | Analysis | Globalisation

Wal-mart, the US retailing mega-corp, is about to buy Matalan.

Wal-mart is about to announce a 1 billion pound takeover of the Matalan chain, according to reports in the corporate financial press:
 http://news.google.com/news?q=wal-mart+matalan

This week it was announced that their existing UK operation, still selling under the name "Asda", is now the largest clothing retailer in the UK. Stop in an Asda sometime, and have a look at the signage and the carrier bags: it now reads "Asda: Part of the Wal-Mart family." Aww. Pass the bucket.

Now Wal-Mart are performing yet more takeovers in Europe, since there's no room in the market here for them to actually open stores of their own.

Why should anti-capitalists care about this? Because since they're now the world's biggest corporation, Wal-Mart is even worse than smaller capitalist chains. They make 220 billion dollars a year, more than the total annual revenues of some developed countries. They dominate their markets completely, making it impossible for smaller shops to compete. They aggressively bust unions with the crudest tactics imaginable, and keep their staff wages and conditions at rock bottom. They've been prosecuted several times for illegal working practices even in the USA, which is hardly known for its commitment to labour rights. They use their huge size and logistical power to source from the cheapest sweatshops around the world, and muscle their suppliers into submission.

Of the ten richest people in the world, five are Waltons--the ruling family of the Wal-Mart empire. S. Robson Walton is ranked by London's "Rich List 2001" as the wealthiest human on the planet, having sacked up more than 65 billion dollars in personal wealth, even more than Bill Gates of Microsoft.

What can be done about this? Boycotts? Or something a bit more direct?

 http://www.andyrowell.com/articles/suckers_walmart.html
 http://www.1worldcommunication.org/Walmart.htm
 http://www.sprawl-busters.com/
 http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2002-05-08/news.html

International Boycott Walmart Meetup, Sept 13:
 http://boycottwalmart.meetup.com/

Jon

Comments

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nothing! - face the inevitable

29.08.2004 18:28

It is sadly an inevitable consequence of coroporate capitalism that big firms get bigger and swallow the smaller firms. There was perhaps a time when legislation acted as a barrier that slowed down the process with anti trust laws and monopolies commisions etc, however that day has passed. Picking on the most sucessful will not change the inevitable. Even if it were possible to dent Wal-Marts position in the market, some other corporation would simply replace them. The problem must be addressed at the source - some people say the root of the problem is capitalism itself, other say it is corporatations, or governments that care more about representing their rich business friends than their 'ordinary' citizens. Others might have concluded that the problem lies nearer to home, in the very heart of human nature, greed! For it is not simply Wal-Marts ruthless business practices that placed the company at the top rung of the financial ladder - we help them up. 'We', the consumers who decide what to buy based on it's low price, 'we' who have bought into the whole consumerist/'fashion' lifestyle. Picking on one or a dozen dirty companies, or even bringing capitalism to it's knees, nothing can change if we don't change ourselves.

n

nothing?

30.08.2004 11:31

'face the inevitable'...but what is the ultimate conclusion of 'the inevitable'? The destruction of our communities, our environment, our planet? Saying that's inevitable means that it isn't worth resisting.

Other societies are (or rather were, as there's very few of them left) able to live in a co-operative way without destroying the planet and each other. Many existed like this for thousands of years without committing routine atrocities or consuming the ecosystems they depended on. It's not human nature that's the problem - it's the currently dominant culture, the way our civilisation rewards destructive behaviour that leads inevitably to institutions such as Wal-Mart, Rio Tinto, mass-extinction and genocide.

I agree with n's analysis that the root of the problem is beyond mere corporations, or even capitalism, and that change must come from within ourselves. The question is...how?

Crash