Ethics and globalisation

Now that we are all in this together – the world crisis I mean, isn’t it time that we recognized the close interrelationship of all peoples? Rather glibly we speak of the ‘global village’ and of the benefits of ‘globalisation’ but do we really know what we are talking about? As an example of what I mean let me relate the following:

Some years ago now I listened to a radio programme (ABC National) about the changes that had taken place on a Pacific island (I cannot now remember which one). The speaker, an Islander, told of how, until only a few years previously there had been no unemployment, no starvation and no crime (except the occasional ‘crime of passion’ and some ‘domestics’) and that there had been a general sense of well being and of belonging to a community and of a long continuum in that community – going back generations. Each knew their place. Everyone was educated in the traditions of the community, their complex (and very accurate) system of navigation and the various skills of canoe building, weaving and such like. Everyone did what they could – they planted their taro, they fished, collected coconuts or whatever and they continued a simple barter trade with neighbouring islands – sometimes many days away in their out-rigger canoes. While they had never known any other way of living they were content.

Then all of a sudden some developer thought it would be a good idea to open a supermarket and associated infrastructure on the island. This brought about an abrupt change in their way of living. Now all of a sudden they had to have money to purchase the many desirable items in the shop and they quickly acquired a taste for the different foods on offer.

This brought massive disruption to their previously ordered society. Families were split up when some members had to travel to either Australia or New Zealand to find work to send back money to their families ‘back home’ so they could purchase ‘stuff’ from the supermarket. Previously unknown health issues arose (from the changes in diet and alcohol intake), previously unknown types of crime occurred – theft and violence. There was now greed, unemployment, poverty, exploitation and the occasional case of starvation.

The Islander asked the plaintive question, “Are we better off entering the Global Economy?”

I know things never stay the same and that longing for the past is a fruitless exercise, but I again ask the question do we really know what we are doing?
I have often wondered about the ethics of globalisation and whether it really has brought the benefits to ALL that its promoters trumpeted that it would.

What do you think?