哲 【思】詩 \ 怡 【移】情

Seminar: Globalization and Poverty

CORE QUESTION

Has globalization increased inequality? 

    In our common sense, globalization is used to suggest a coming-together of all races and of all countries, relieving poverty and distributing wealth. "However, what we are actually seeing is precisely the opposite," intoned George Monbiot, an environmentalist in Indonesia, "the poor are becoming markedly poor, while the wealth are becoming staggeringly wealth." This applies to not only the inequality within countries, but also inequality between countries. In the process to achieve globalization, The World Bank has played a major role in debt repayment and economic structuring in developing countries that have an increasing inequality and dependency on the richer nations.

  

KNOWLEDGE:

State some facts that you know about economic inequality in today's world.

1. The gap between the richest 20% of the world's population and the poorest 20% has doubled in the past 40 years.

2. The assets of the world's three richest billionaires exceed the gross national product of all 48 least developed countries and their 600 million people.

3.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, the number of poor people increased by almost 90 million in little more than a decade (from 1990 to 2001)

4. The top fifth of the world’s people in the richest countries enjoy 82% of the expanding export trade and 68% of foreign direct investment — the bottom fifth, barely more than 1%

 

COMPREHENSION:

How does globalization widen the rich-poor gap?

    The global development system has created a system that is capitalist for the poor and socialist for the rich in the Third World. The rich get richer on running out debt, cheap labor, and paying as little tax as possible, while the poor get poorer as their jobs and public services are cut back in order to pay just the interests on debt owned by the government to The World Bank. The beneficiaries are largely the transnational corporations instead of the majority of people. Tiger Woods, the golfer, is paid more money to promote Nike than most of the entire workforce actually making Nike products in Indonesia.

 

APPLICATION

Use one example that exemplifies the negative impact of globalization.

    The World Bank. Initially, it was set up in the end of WWII to rebuild the economy of Europe. Later they began offering loans to poor countries, but only if they privatized the economy and gave western corporations free access to their raw materials and markets. In the famous documentary “The New Ruler of the World”, Pramoedaya Anata Toer, an author and former political prisoner says, “For hundreds of years Indonesia was sucked dry by the rich countries of the West... Now we are dictated to by the IMF and The World Bank.” The latter has often been criticized for its numerous dam projects in which millions have been displaced while people have not seen the benefits promised. At the same time, the environment has degraded and arable land has been flooded.

 

ANALYSIS

What are the problems with the current form of globalization? 

The problems are the lack of democracy and global justice. The World Bank, for example, is directed by the government of the world's richest countries, including the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. Thus, they are basically promoting an economic agenda in developing countries that sought to preserve Western dominance in the global economy, which is to ensure accesses to raw materials and infrastructure by the cheapest means. The current form of globalization is often unaccountable, corporate-led, and non-democratic.

 

SYNTHESIS

If you were the head of The World Bank, what would you do to alieviate the situation?

I would try to promote projects that were more individuals-focused. Rather than giving large loans of which the benefit fell under the rich and the corrupted governments, I would provide small loans that were less than $100 to the poor. By using this, they could buy farming tools or receive technical education so that it is easier for them to pay back. Poverty relief projects should include the active participation of the poor; they should not simply be implemented by government. The poor need to have a stake in the land, the environment, and any project that are launched in their name.

 

EVALUATION

After all, why does inequality even matter? Even though inequality has increased, the wealth is also increasing; isn't our standard of living today, generally, is far better than the old days?

Confucius had once said, "Unfair distribution of wealth is more fearful than poverty itself". Indeed, poverty is rooted in social and economic inequality. Above subsistence levels, what undermine our sense of well-being most is not our absolute income levels, but how big the gaps are between us and others. Indeed, some describe poverty as a set of social relations; if the person or the community is unable to cope with and benefit from the set of relations - the ones between them and the material resources, information resources, interpersonal resources, etc - to satisfy their basic needs, then they are in poverty. In this definition, the poverty today is no better or even worse than in the old days.

 

 

Sources:

1. Article Now for a Maximum Wage by Andrew Simms.

2. TV Documentary “The New Ruler of the World” by John Pilger

3. Article Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty by Anup Shah

4. Article The World Bank and Poverty by Anup Shah

这两天在整理msn的朋友名单，把一些该删的，该加的，都revise了一下。

在看已加自己为朋友的名单时，发现了一些人的名字。

不知道他們何故要来我的世界，既然已经消失，或者决定忘记，为什么还要提起过往？

过去的都已经过去了，还留恋什么呢？

一切都往前看吧，和我一样，勇敢一点，开心一点，人生苦短，何必要为难自己？

女人应该善待自己的，你说对吗？希望你在那里一切都好。

有谁的心灵永远会一尘不染..
以后这个SPACES不光是我一个人写.还有另外一个人.
本来想是要换个新地址,可是想想,没有什么必要.
我还是我 换到哪er都还是一样
其实这个地址挺好的 .. .
好吧 我很幸福 ...

 

我有MSN英文在线24小时翻译员   方便 快捷 而且免费 服务态度 优+ 性别男 所在地 非中国

课余时间还可以帮助解决家庭纠纷 等等等 

 

近来的事实在太多。。。

 

今晚更加搞到我头都大。

是不是每个朋友都是这样的。。。憎恨你？

 

究竟人可以有几虚假？

 

我还记得前几日的晚脩，

壳爷警告过我：你小心D啊，好似你甘样傻下傻下既人，比人老点都唔知啊！

我仲好理直气壮：绝对无可能，我D朋友绝对不会对我做这样的事！！

壳爷：话你天真就天真呢！话唔定你隔离个小黄炜就系会系你背后点你！

我费时同距争：你放心，就算个个都点我。有排都未轮到小黄炜，距落课去厕所都要同我一齐！

 

不过E+,我承认壳爷真系讲得无错，我傻我天真，就连落课去厕所都要一齐的好朋友都会点我！

我做人真系好失败。。。

以为18岁之前最痛的事已经过去

谁知道，hurt我最深的，竟然是我的好朋友。

究竟世界上还有什么可以值得去相信？？

 

睇来墙头草同原则，永远不能共存

If  the  sky  opened  for  me , and  the  mountains  disappeared . If  the  seas  ran  dry , turned  to  dust  and  the  sun  refused  to  rise . I  would  still  find  my  way , by  the  light  I  see  in  your  eyes  . The  world  I  know  fades  away , but  you  stay .
纵然天空为我张开，
山无棱，
海枯成土，
曰不升，
我也不弃不舍，
你眼中的光辉照耀着我，
世界也为之暗淡，
而你依然，
ok,ok，
结束