Globalisation and Capitalism

More and more frequently we are being faced with images of people demonstrating their growing frustration with the world at large.  Not so much with the world, as with the way Mankind is reshaping it in some ghastly parody of the original.

The demonstrators don't appear to have much in common.  What brings them together is their rejection of the status quo.  In particular, they object to capitalism and globalisation.  That in itself is understandable ~ let's face it, they really don't work, do they?  Look at the USA and the UK - role models for would-be capitalist nations everywhere - and what do you see?  Crime, poverty, unemployment, and an ever-increasing number of 'no-go' areas for 'ordinary' citizens.  And when did we last solve a problem with a global solution?  The rich get richer whilst the rest of the world is reduced to the lowest common denominator.

Easy to say, and easy to demonstrate, but what is the alternative?  Empires and isolationists, communism and dictatorships, religious and social power-blocs, they have all been tried but none of them have a good track record.  Unless the demonstrators have thought of something completely different (which they are keeping pretty quiet about) there is no viable alternative.

Through the centuries the world has moved forward (sometimes backward) by evolution and revolution.  The countries which took the fast-track of revolution are not noticeably ahead of the game.  In fact, if you explained the pain and trauma of revolutions, together with the years spent undoing the excesses, you would have a difficult task selling the concept to most sane adults.  Which leaves us with dull and boring evolution, moving slowly from here and now with what we have.  The important thing is to move in the right direction.

For better or worse we have engineered problems that have global consequences.  As informed individuals we can try to reduce the number of new problems we create, but existing problems need concerted action on a global basis.  Globalisation is not wrong in itself.  Ironically, the protesters make full use of that global institution The World Wide Web to orchestrate their movements.  Close your eyes and you can almost hear John Cleese in a Monty Python sketch:  "What did globalisation ever do for us?  Well, apart from the Internet . . . "

And inefficient as they may be, it is the much despised global organisations like U.N., I.M.F., W.H.O. which go some way towards providing the solutions to national catastrophes.  Even the respected organisations like Save the Children, Oxfam, the Red Cross, work across national frontiers.  And it shouldn't be overlooked that the finance comes from the wicked old capitalists.  No point looking to the third world countries, or the old bankrupt communist states.

Meanwhile the demonstrators will go on with their protesting, a healthy sign of a dynamic democratic society.  And even though they might not be very coherent about the new world order they seek, they are highlighting problems that need to be addressed.  But if capitalism is the goose that lays the golden eggs it would take a foolish man to wring its neck.  Until we have something better to offer, it would be far better to clip its wings and tax it.

ã Harvey Tordoff
5^th May 2000