Globaleyes

Introduction

By Esther Epp-Tiessen

This is the first in a series of articles on economic globalization sponsored by the Peace Ministries Program of MCC Canada.

 

In the spring of 2003 my family and I made a trip to the Philippines. It was our first visit since my husband and I had served there with MCC in the mid-1980s. We were amazed at the changes in the town of Malaybalay where we had lived. Instead of muddy and rutted roads, there were now paved streets. Instead of daily "brown-outs," there was now steady electricity all day long. Instead of a telegraph office, there was now an internet cafe. It was evident that integration into the global economy had brought significant gains to the Philippines.

Then we visited Charing, a friend who had lived with us in Malaybalay. Charing, her husband Nario, and six children now lived in a remote hilly region far from paved roads, electricity, and internet cafes. Here they tried to eek out a living on the steep hills by growing corn and bananas. They had a small one-room wooden shack which housed their few possessions: sleeping mats and pillows, some cooking pots and utensils, a few school supplies, and one or two changes of clothing for each family member. A horse and water buffalo were their prized possessions, enabling them to work their small bit of land and get their produce to market.

As we visited with Charing and Nario, we learned that small farmers like them were missing out on the benefits of the global economy. The value of their produce was less than what it had been two decades earlier. Like other poor countries joining the World Trade Organization, the Philippines was required to lower its tariffs against foreign agricultural imports. The result was that cheap corn imports flooded the market, lowering the price for locally grown corn. Not only did Nario and Charing receive less for their produce but, because of the Philippines' devalued currency, they had to spend more for imported inputs like fertilizer. Their income was dwindling, and a sudden medical emergency could mean disaster for their family. It was clear that the global economy was leaving Charing and Nario far behind.

Economic globalization - a reality or an ideology?

When we think of globalization we often think of a world more inter-connected due to advances in communication and transportation. Distinguishing economic globalization is more complicated because what is usually equated with globalization is actually an economic ideology called neo-liberalism. This ideology espouses small government, market-driven growth, and the removal of barriers to trade and investment. Everyone benefits from this kind of globalization, so the argument goes. But in truth it is primarily the corporations and capital investors who call the shots and make the gains. Some people therefore use the terms "corporate globalization" or "unregulated globalization" to indicate that other models of globalization are possible.

Most of us are beneficiaries of neo-liberal economic globalization. We can eat mangoes and strawberries in the middle of winter, we can buy T-shirts from Burma for a few dollars, we can replace last year's laptop with a better and cheaper model this year, and we can invest in mutual funds that will ensure us a cozy retirement. Life looks pretty rosy from our perspective.

 

Who gains? Who loses?

But the benefits of economic globalization are uneven. According to the United Nations Development Program, the disparity between the rich and poor is widening both within countries and between them. While the number of people living on less than $1 per day has fallen in the last decade, almost all of this improvement has happened in one country - China. Elsewhere, the number of people living in abject poverty has risen sharply. Globally, the richest 10 percent of the population accounts for 59 percent of the world's wealth, whereas the poorest 40 percent, those who live on less than $2 a day, account for only 5 percent of global income.

Disparity in income is only one aspect of the shadow side of the global economy. Despite the benefits it provides, globalization contributes to the homogenization of culture, as Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Britney Spears replace the foods, music and traditions of local cultures. Globalization means increased harm for the natural environment as natural resources are plundered and increasing amounts of fuel are used to transport goods around the world. Globalization undermines democracy as economic power is concentrated in the hands of corporations that are accountable only to their shareholders.

Another way

An old proverb says that if you give a person a fish you feed him for a day; whereas if you teach someone to fish you feed her for a lifetime. For many decades MCC, a Christian organization engaged in meeting human need, has sought to teach people to fish, among other things. But the realities of economic globalization demonstrate forcefully that the real problem is lack of access to the sea. The global poor know how to fish - but they need to be able to sell their fish and make a decent living. How can global and national economies be re-structured in ways that the benefits are truly shared and that "least of these" - as Jesus identified the poor in Matthew 25 - are served?

Over a two-year period, MCC held a series of consultations with global partners on economic globalization. A key learning was that a major force driving the globalization system is the greed and unsustainable consumption patterns of those who already have too much. Our lifestyles support the systems which impoverish other members of our human community and desecrate God's good creation.

Christians are called to practice justice and to live in ways that make God's abundance available to everyone. In the coming weeks MCC will offer a series of articles that asks how globalization can be shaped to lessen inequality, benefit the poor, and offer alternatives to the dominant economic ideology. It is MCC's hope that these articles may stir Canadian Christians to pray, live, act and advocate for economic systems that build dignity, sufficiency and justice - for Charing and Nario and for all God's children.

 

Esther Epp-Tiessen is peace ministries coordinator for MCC Canada.

 

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