The Dangers of Economic Globalization By Alexandra Lopoukine
Christ called all humans to be reconciled to Him and to each other through love, patience and trust, while abstaining from judgment, lust of power and despair. Our faith calls us to submit our will and our minds, with all its reasoning and justifications, unto God. It is through the abandoning of the self that a real Christian, in fact, each human being can live to our full potential. With that said, how should Christians approach the phenomena of economic globalization? Economic globalization is created through intertwined markets, with trade relations spanning the globe: we can get our t-shirts from Malaysia, our spices from Zanzibar and our auto parts from the United States or a European country. The exchange of foreign currency through stock market transactions and the continual emphasis on free trade between countries have also caused the interconnection and interdependence of the world’s countries. As we are all being connected to each other through our material lusts and needs, certain trade rules have been emphasized and followed. Presently, the western governments and institutions (IMF and the World Bank) are strongly advocating for the southern governments to become more democratic. This can be argued as something to be praised; however, on a deeper level, we should ask why are the northerners pushing certain agendas? What are the motivations that are masking the pursuit of free trade and global democracy? Do lending institutions have an agenda of alleviating world poverty, which they most certainly could do if money was the answer to all problems, or are they only interested in assuring that money flows are continual and unhindered? Once we recognize the truth of the motivations of the northern institutions and their foreign policy, we can begin to understand why global relations are unfair and unjust. How is it that no Third World country has ever joined the ranks of the First World, while no First World country has ever joined the ranks of the Third World? What protects these global positions? I believe it is the trade rules that ensure the north get the resources cheaply from the south, while the south is forced to stand by and submit to the trade rules in return for desperately needed money. There are groups that are trying to address some of these injustices. For example, Oxfam is currently running a campaign on Fair Trade; their Web site offers ways that Canadians can get involved. As Christians we believe in the final judgment, when there will be a day of reckoning and a time of explanation about the life we lived on this earth: what will we say? Will we stand before God and explain that while living in Canada we spent our hard-earned dollars on Nike shoes and never paid attention to the labels inside our t-shirts to notice where and who made them? That we spent our time drinking coffee that came from large southern plantations, where people work all day for almost no money and then watch as their families’ waste away from malnutrition? Will we be justified in saying, “Well, I was born into privilege by being raised in Canada (or other western countries). It wasn’t my choice that my parents are here, so therefore I have no earthly responsibility.” Or will we stand before God and be honoured before Him, as true stewards of His divine will? He asks us to treat each other with love. With love comes respect, and with
respect can we truly see each other as we really are: princes and princesses of God’s Kingdom, we are all children to Him, and therefore we are all equal before Him. So, how do we justify the great inequalities of life on earth? Why should I spend my days with access to all the food I need and more, while others are praising God for the one meal a day they receive? How are our governments and institutions affecting the poverty and lack of proper respect around the world? Are we contributing to certain injustices by being passive actors in countries that allow free speech? The Orthodox Church begins the holy Lenten fast to prepare for the great Easter feast with a service rightfully called “Forgiveness Sunday.” It is at this service that members of the parish stand before each other and ask forgiveness for any wrong doings that might have passed between them during the course of the year. It is with fresh hearts that we then begin the Lenten fast, no longer slaves to past evils and possibilities of further sins: the slate is clean, thus forcing our minds towards God. My priest stood this year in front of all of us who were present at this very powerful service, and as he spoke words of repentance and of guidance, he said a most enlightened phrase: “Without forgiveness, there is Hell.” Hell is what we have on this earth: the accumulation of foreign debt by most of the Third World, debt that mostly went to furnish the garages and homes of the corrupt politicians rather than to improve the lives of the people. And now, without the forgiveness of the total debt, there is only hell: the poverty, the sickness, the hunger, the lives cut short, potentials lost, wasted efforts. It is only until we forgive the debt that local governments will begin to spend their money on building health-care infrastructure and education facilities. The link between debt and lack of infrastructure is that the southern governments are busy putting any extra money they might have towards paying the billions of dollars that have been loaned to them, all the while ignoring health care and the educational needs of their people. We have opportunities in Canada to effectively change the global system we live within. I was once told that as Christians, our Kingdom is not of this world, but we are in the world; we are pilgrims in search of truth and champions of the Truth. Therefore, I believe we are responsible for our actions, those of our neighbours and our governments. As we move along in our daily lives, choices are made. What do we spend our money on? What do we put first in our decision-making? I live on a street where there is a national-chain coffee house and right next to it is a Bridgehead coffee house, which sells only “Fair Traded” coffee, a scheme that ensures the coffee workers are receiving fair wages for their efforts to supply the world’s market for coffee. It amazes me, on a daily basis, that people are still buying coffee from the national chain, whose coffee comes from a huge roaster and does not promote fairly-traded coffee. Here we have a choice, and some chose to ignore their responsibility to purchase the least socially detrimental coffee. If we educate ourselves around the current global issues that promote poverty and injustices, and recognise that each of us has a responsibility in our daily actions, changes can be made. If our civil society works towards effecting positive changes in our government’s foreign policies, all the while supporting groups that rouse southern civil society groups to change their governments, then global relationships can be based on fair, Christian principles.
Alexandra Lopoukhine is a member of the Orthodox Church in America. Her parish is the Annunciation/ St. Nicholas Cathedral is in Ottawa, Ontario. She completed her undergraduate degree in anthropology and history and is currently a student at Carleton University under the political science department. She recently returned from a yearlong internship in Malawi (Southern Africa) where she worked with the NGO World Vision.
Web sites: Google.ca key word search: Orthodox Church Orthodox Church in America www.oca.org Jubilee U.S.A. www.jubileeusa.org Drop the Debt www.web.net/~halifax/Dropdebt/dropindx.htm Jubilee Canada www.ceji-iocj.org Oxfam Canada www.oxfam.ca Make Trade Fair Campaign, Oxfam Site www.maketradefair.com Bridgehead www.bridgehead.ca