Toward A Globalization of Solidarity
A Pax Christi USA Interim Position Paper On Globalization
To Promote Dialogue
Approved by the PCUSA National Council on November 10, 2001.
(1) As we enter into this new century and millennium, it is becoming increasingly apparent that a new world order is taking place. What is replacing the Cold War world order is still emerging, but a major element of that order is what is now being called globalization. What is globalization?
(2) Globalization, in its most positive sense, is an aspiration for global harmony and unity. It holds up the promise of a truly united global family and creation, bound together in a web of life and relationships on many levels.
(3) What is globalization? Put most simply it is about a simultaneous expansion and compression of time and space. On the one hand, globalization has expanded connections between people and places around the world in ways not earlier known to humanity. At the same time the speed of these interactions has been dramatically compressed. We can e-mail someone on the other side of the planet in less than a minute, and we can transfer money across the world in seconds. A deadly virus from a remote area of the world can trigger a worldwide epidemic in a few days.
(4) What makes globalization possible are the rapid advances in communications technology. In addition, advances in long-distance transportation have led to both the migration of peoples to improve their political and economic lot and the rapid movement of capital and consumer goods. However, while capital is allowed to freely flow around the world, labor (in the form of economic refugees) is restricted by national immigration laws. None of this is new, but the scale is much larger.
(5) While Pax Christi USA recognizes the promise of globalization, it is becoming clear to us that the current direction and forms of globalization are at odds with the vision of global harmony and peace articulated by Jesus and embodied in Catholic Social Teaching. At the heart of any critique of the current direction of globalization must be a concern for the dignity of the human person and the well being of all creation. In order to properly evaluate the process of globalization we believe that four questions need to be raised. What does globalization do for people? What does globalization do to people, especially to people made poor and marginalized? How do people participate in the development and direction of globalization? What does globalization do to Earth's many ecosystems and how does it reverence creation as God's primary revelation?
What is the driving force of current forms of globalization?
(6) As Pax Christi USA examines the current forms and direction of globalization we note that the values which often guide the process of globalization are the search for economic profit as the highest human goal and the primary definition of humans as consumers and producers. While profit is a proper goal of economic activity, Catholic Social Teaching makes it clear that it cannot be the highest goal. We believe that to value human beings primarily in the light of how much they consume or produce represents an unacceptable diminishment of the human person. In their economic pastoral, the U.S. Catholic bishops state clearly, "Decisions must be judged in light of what they do for the poor, what they do to the poor, and what they enable the poor to do for themselves. The fundamental moral criterion for all economic decisions, policies, and institutions is this: They must be at the service of all people, especially the poor."
(7) In addition to valuing people according to their economic status, we recognize the part that racism and the legacy of colonialism have played in the development of the current forms of globalization. While it is true that these negative phenomena are not tied uniquely to globalization, their scope makes them more powerful now.
What are the economic dimensions of globalization?
(8) One of the most important dimensions of globalization is the economic dimension. The rapid transference of information and capital allows for business transactions at a greater pace and with greater intensity. This has resulted in the development of a form of capitalism under very few cultural or governmental controls or regulations. The homogenizing powers of the economic forms of globalization give the impression that there is no alternative to neo-liberal capitalism. These types of economic forces risk intensifying forms of idolatry already in existence within business and financial institutions. Expanding short-term profit margins at all costs has become the mantra and creed of too many businesses.
(9) It also represents one of the profound paradoxes of globalization. Despite its potential to improve life for all, it has, at least to this point, widened the gap between a few immeasurably wealthy groups and individuals and the ever-greater number of people imprisoned in economic hardship or even misery. The gap between the rich and the poor, both economically and technologically, is growing wider rather than narrowing. This movement is in stark contrast to the teachings of Jesus and the Catholic Church's stated preferential option for the poor. One of the results has been the dramatic increase in the migration of peoples (forced and voluntary) in order to survive. Another result has been the plundering of the earth's resources and the destruction of the environment to increase profits, especially for transnational corporations, and to provide more and more for the rich.
(10) This global market economy limits government control, reducing the importance and power of citizen participation through their governments. Additionally, economic agreements between nations have created blocs that undercut national sovereignty. The diverse participants at protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle and against the IMF and World Bank in Washington, DC and around the world hold one thing in common. They believe they have no meaningful way to participate in the important decisions being made that affect their lives and their environment. Because powerful corporate interests control the national political process, our U.S. representatives in these global institutions are more accountable to big business interests than to the people.
What are the cultural dimensions of globalization?
(11) In addition, a global culture has emerged and spread to almost every corner of the planet. Embedded in this global culture is the assumption of the superiority of Western culture, a culture forged and carried forth by the power of whiteness, patriarchy and colonialism. It is a culture marked especially by signs of consumption. Many of these signs of consumption emerged, at least initially, from the United States. They provide worldwide cultural aspirations, especially among the young. But because of the growing gap between rich and poor, these often-unattainable aspirations result in frustration and social disintegration in poor communities.
(12) The cultural hegemony of the West (and the U.S. in particular) seems to also break down forms of art, music, and even language in local cultures. For example, U.S. Pop Culture is marketed to the world and attempts to replace indigenous traditions in places like the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru. Western culture's primary emphasis on individualism and immediate gratification threatens the commitment to community and emphasis on family in cultures worldwide. Global satellite broadcasts of Western culture and worldview on networks such as CNN and MTV invade all corners of the world. This cultural hegemony stands as a challenge to every aspect of cultural life on the planet.
(13) We believe that the fracturing of cultures and ways of life, which the homogenizing forces of globalization bring it their wake, also represents an attack on human dignity. Part of human dignity is the right to one's own culture, an authentic but distinctive way of being human. Again, we believe that racism also plays an important part in the way we devalue the cultures of other people. (14) One of the most common responses to the globalization of culture is resistance by communities seeking to reassert their cultural identity. The combined experience of powerlessness in the face of globalization, resistance to its encroachments, and the fear of fragmentation of basic cultural values, have led groups around the world to respond with what is sometimes called fundamentalism. Too often our government's reaction to this phenomena in the Middle East and elsewhere fails to take in consideration the threat these people feel from western cultural, political and economic hegemony.
What are the spiritual dimensions of globalization?
(15) It is important to consider the spiritual consequences of globalization as well - both positive and negative. This is a moment ripe with possibilities of either embracing a fuller, deeper vision of the God of Life, or succumbing to the idols of Death. Economics and ecology in this age are confirming a basic theological insight asserted throughout the ages: we are all one family, for better and worse, sharing in the same joy and hope, suffering and pain. But alongside the discernment of new ways to understand how we are made in the image and likeness of God - the One - there is a danger of making God in the image and likeness of our human institutions.
(16) The advent of Industrialization, that last great wave of economic transformation, accelerated the privatization of much of the "commons" into personal property. This presaged a heightened re-definition of the spiritual as individualistic and autonomous. The dominant forms of globalization bring a new historical epoch of privatization and commodification, removing whole new areas from the "global commons:" the heavens, the seas; our biodiversity; cultural and agricultural traditions, even our very genes. An accompanying version of faith is emerging with this world-view that intensifies assumptions of fear and scarcity, monocultures and monopolies, appropriation and dispossession, hording and individualism. This contrasts with the world view embedded in biblical faith and Catholic Social Teaching, which assures abundance and equity, diversity and decentralization, self-restraint and sustainability, equitable community and mutual solidarity, and respect and dignity for all creatures and creation.
(17) Both biblical and Catholic social traditions uphold the insight that the commitment to the common good is measured by how we honor the entire web of life including the rights of the most vulnerable among us. Yet, the fabric of societies and the global common good are frayed when workers and communities around the globe are pitted against each other to see who will accept the lowest wages and worst working conditions, the least taxes and social services, as well as diminished environmental and consumer protections in a "race to the bottom."
(18) Under current forms of globalization, time itself is increasingly treated as a commodity that cannot be wasted in "nonproductive" pursuits. This colonization of time itself contradicts the biblical view of Sabbath rhythms as the summit of creation. These rhythms make room for the healing and enchanting pleasures of learning, leisure and celebrating one's place in the Cosmos, of reconnecting with one's community, of seeking the wisdom that only comes with having time to lie fallow. Some forms of globalization can enhance these rhythms. Yet, these too are being crowded out in the "race to the bottom" as more hours in each day are spent in "producing" and "consuming" in obedience to the dictates of the market.
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