Thanks to globalization, our world has become smaller and smaller. Feats of technological genius now allow corporations to conduct their business around the world with rapid speed and relative ease. Internet service providers’ employment of call centers on the other side of the world no longer provokes astonished muttering. We now expect to find a “Made in China” sticker on the bottom of a toy. And the fact that the latest iSomething contains chips and parts from a dozen different countries doesn’t even earn a raised eyebrow.
Certainly, globalization brings prosperity and higher standards of living. One study shows that open-trade economies enjoy a 4.5 per cent growth rate, while their closed-trade counterparts experience a measly 0.7 per cent growth rate.
Globalization also creates new jobs and supports small businesses. Ninety-four per cent of California’s exports are from small- and medium-sized businesses. Eighty per cent of Mexico’s jobs are supported by small businesses that rely on the global world economy. In fact, nine out of 10 exporters in the world are small businesses that, thanks to globalization, are able to create new market niches.
Unfortunately, globalization also has negative repercussions.
As Os Guinness said in a recent Missions Fest seminar, “Every order creates disorder.” Guinness said that thanks to globalization, we have created a culture of “human waste.” The problem isn’t just capitalism, but capitalism without democracy and equal justice. There are many stories of multinational corporations bullying small farmers into unfair trade agreements or forcing competitors out of business. In the startling case of one beverage company, Guatemalan and Colombian trade union officers were allegedly assassinated with the company’s knowledge and implied approval.
However, when Guinness speaks of “human waste,” he means something more than just corporate business maneuvers. He literally means the waste of human beings. According to statistics cited by Guinness, it took 400 years to transport 12 million African slaves to Europe and the Americas. But in the past decade, 30 million women were the victims of human trafficking, while an additional 200 million people have been chained in bonded slavery. Guinness attributes all of this to the spread of secular globalization, in which profit and consumerism are unguided by morals and ethics.
As Christians, we can’t expect God to hear our pleas when we ignore those in circumstances less fortunate than ours. As Italian prince and artist Pierre Troubetzkoy asked many years ago, “Why should man expect his prayer for mercy to be heard by what is above him when he shows no mercy to what is below him?”
A few generations ago, news of a human rights crisis in a far-off country took weeks to get to us. Now, we can watch and read about it as it unfolds. In the same way, in the past it would have been desperately difficult to be of any help to someone in Darfur, for example. But now, even if we can’t personally be there, globalization makes assistance possible.
Though globalization creates problems, it can also help solve these problems. The Internet allows individuals to donate financial assistance easily, or to organize letter-writing drives to government officials. Blogs offer a forum to discuss a problem and educate others. As well, there are many opportunities to join clubs and organizations who work to build awareness of human rights issues around the world.
Guinness finished his speech by offering a solution: go back to where we went wrong in the globalization process, fix it, and trust God. We can’t head for the hills, he said; the problems of globalization are ours. We need to take responsibility for the situation and start creating order in the disorder.
