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It seems that for a rare and fleeting moment, globalization has produced a more equal world. Poverty is no longer a Third World spectacle. The once affluent societies of the United States and Europe are now grappling with Third World problems: high unemployment rates, rising homelessness, worsening inflation, poverty suicides, environmental degradation and escalating social unrest.
The mighty United States was humbled by the Wall Street crash. Many of its citizens are now without work, health insurance and a roof above their heads. Many Americans are already experiencing what Third World residents are enduring every day.
Early this month, an unemployed financial manager in Los Angeles killed five family members and himself because of money woes. This kind of suicide is usually reported in Third World societies, not in the United States. Will there be more poverty suicides in the United States?
Poverty is not a new phenomenon in the United States. Pockets of poverty have existed before. But there is a huge wave of numbing poverty which is now spreading across the country. Middle-class Americans are losing their wealth, pension money and residential homes overnight. These were last seen and felt during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
Because of technological advances in communications and transportation, the big world is now called a global village. In the past, the poor in the global village could not see beyond the high fences of the rich. But things have somewhat changed.
In today’s flatter world, the Third World poor are now exchanging survival tips with their First World poor neighbors who have just lost their homes. Or to borrow a phrase from U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the Third World poor can now see the First World from their houses.
Globalization promised to level the playing field in the world so that small nations could compete with bigger economies. But this was never fulfilled. Despite the claims of pro-globalization ideologues that the world has become a better place to live, it cannot be denied that the income gap between the rich and the poor has widened. Globalization has furthered the interests of rich nations at the expense of the poor.
But today the big economies that worshipped the free market are down on their knees. Instead of the poor getting rich, the reverse is happening. Rich nations and their citizens are getting poor. Meanwhile the poor are getting poorer and more hopeless. The future is bleak. Is this the true legacy of globalization? Will globalization always work against the interests of the poor?
Despite the shocking U.S. economic downturn, the Third World poor are not rejoicing. They are not amused that the global economy is slowing down. Maybe some of them feel justified in highlighting the hypocrisy of U.S. trade policies. Or maybe some are quietly asserting the superiority of their nonconformist economic doctrines. But most of them are genuinely afraid over the uncertain future of the global economy.
The U.S. economy will continue to decline. The negative impact will be felt by more people in the next few weeks and months. U.S. imports will decrease due to less domestic consumer spending. U.S. investments in poor countries will be affected as well.
It is only now that Third World banks and social security agencies are determining the extent of their losses due to the U.S. financial meltdown. In short, the Third World poor will suffer more. Not all countries will be able to raise a financial bailout program to rescue their struggling economies.
The First World poor are still faring better than their Third World counterparts. They can at least rely on social welfare funds and other government programs. They can tap the emergency reserves of their wealthy economies.
Meanwhile the Third World poor do not have these options. They can cling to few or no support systems. It is unfortunate that most media attention is focused on the homeless and jobless American poor. The Third World poor are in worse condition, yet their voices are not adequately heard.
Even in a poorer globalized world, there is still wide inequality and discrimination. The suffering of the First World is privileged over that of the Third World. The world may be flat sometimes, but it is still not that flat. Perhaps a new kind of world is needed.
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(Mong Palatino is an activist and regional editor for Southeast Asia of Global Voices Online. He can be reached at mongpalatino@gmail.com and his Web site is www.mongpalatino.motime.com. ©Copyright Mong Palatino.)
