Globalization

Globalization is a confusing concept. For some it conjures up images of electronic communications: an email, global media, and popularization of mobile phones. For others it is about trade: the ability to buy coca-cola in rural villages in Africa. For yet others it is about misappropriation and greed: the suicide of Indian peasant farmers ruined by agri-business and genetically modified seeds. From now on, I will present the negative effects of globalization.

ЃgGlobalizationЃh is a very uneven process, with unequal distribution of benefits and losses. The problem is that of who gains and loses from the potential benefits. This imbalance leads to polarization or separation between the few rich countries or individuals that gain benefits, and the many other countries that lose out or are marginalized. Globalization, polarization, wealth concentration and marginalization are therefore linked through the same process. In this process, investment resources, growth and modern technology are focused on a few countries (mainly in North America, Europe, Japan and East Asian NICs). The basic facts are known: 20% of the worldЃfs population live in absolute poverty, with an income of less than $1 per day. Surviving on less than $2 a day is a reality for almost half the people on the planet.

ЃiA majority of developing countries are excluded from the process, or are participating in it in marginal ways that are often detrimental to their interests; for example, import liberalization may harm their domestic producers and financial liberalization may cause instability.Ѓj

Ѓ@ЃiThe uneven and unequal nature of the present globalization is manifested in the fast growing gap between the worldЃfs rich and poor people and between developed and developing countries; and by the large differences among nations in the distribution of gains and losses.Ѓj

As a result, the number of hungry people around theЃ@world keeps rising every year and poverty is becoming increasinglyЃ@feminized (70% of all the poor are women).Ѓ@'Free trade has been free for business and industry, but notЃ@for women and the poor'.

Ѓ@The Human Development Report, 1996 showed that over the past three decades, only 15 countries have enjoyed high growth, while 89 countries were worse off economically than they were ten or more years earlier. In 70 developing countries, the present income levels were less than in the 1960s and 1970s. ЃgEconomic gains have benefited greatly a few countries, at the expense of manyЃh, said the report.

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Ѓ@The resulting inequalities in health outcomes are stark. Those living in absolute poverty