Globalisation
Will it work for the poor?
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Edition Summary:
In the same boat
Television was going to make radio obsolete. Electricity was going to put candle makers out of business. But radio found new life - in cars, mostly. And, as WTO Director-General Mike Moore alludes in our opening article, the candle industry is as strong as ever. An electric bulb still is no match for a candle when illuminating an altar or setting the mood for a romantic dinner.
Change and adaptation are part of life. Globalisation is here to stay; as UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero writes, it has been around for centuries. The difference today is the rate at which it is occurring. Yet to rush blindly into a future that dazzles us with technological wonders and fuels our appetites for more, without considering the disenfranchised, would be to ignore basic moral and ethical imperatives, points out Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane.
Civil society's challenge is to ensure that our fast-forward rush into a globalised future does not further disenfranchise them, but rather includes them. We hope that the articles in this edition of Global Future will help foster discussion and keen awareness that ultimately, we are all in this global boat together.
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