Walden
Bello is a Philippine author, sociology professor, political analyst, social activist
and one of the leading critics of the current economic model of corporate-driven
globalization. Walden Bello became socially and politically involved while a student
at Princeton University, after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos declared
martial law in 1972 . Bello became a major figure in the struggle to restore democracy
to the Philippines over the next decade, lobbying in Washington, DC. In the 1980s
he turned his focus to exposing how corporate globalization, working hand-in-hand
with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, were contributing to
the human rights abuses and environmental degradation that were taking place in
Asia and around the world. In addition to teaching and writing more than a dozen
books about globalization and social issues in Asia, Walden Bello is Director
of Focus on the Global South in Bangkok, which works to build grassroots alternative
ways to tackle problems of development and cash flow in Asia. He is also chairman
of the board of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, and serves on the boards of Transnational
Institute, a think tank for progressive politics, and Food First, The Institute
for Food and Development Policy. In 2003 Walden Bello received the Right Livelihood
Award (widely known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) "for outstanding efforts in
educating civil society about the effects of corporate globalization, and how
alternatives to it can be implemented."
