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The Walls Have to Come Down - Globalization - Global Policy Forum The Walls Have to Come Down
by Kofi Annan*
International Herald Tribune
October 4, 2002
Globalization is commonly understood to describe the increasing flow of goods, services, capital, technology, information, ideas and labor at the global level, driven by liberalization policies and technological change. For a time, its logic was borne out by reality.
Indeed, it worked so well that in many cases underlying schisms were ignored in the belief that the rising tide of material growth would ease political differences and social grievances. But in the past few years others and I have urged greater consideration of the potential political backlash if the social consequences of globalization are left unattended.
There is another, equally important aspect of globalization: its potential to be a truly integrating and inclusive force. There are also very real dangers if it fails to live up to that potential.
Just as we worry about the gap between haves and have-nots, we need to be concerned about the gulf between insiders and outsiders in a globalized world where no border is impermeable and where the privileges of the few are painfully apparent to those multitudes who still yearn for liberty and opportunity.
We need to direct our energies toward realizing the aspiration inherent in the revealing Arabic translation of the word "globalization" as meaning literally "world inclusivity." Of course, globalization is not wholly new. As far back as we can trace human history people have traded, been on the move, colonized and migrated. In the process they have transformed both the places they came from and the places to which they journeyed. What makes our era different is the degree of interpenetration, the speed with which change is taking place and the dramatic and ever growing gaps that this process is creating between insiders and outsiders. One way to address the division between those who benefit from globalization and those who see it as one more manifestation of the inequity of the world is to pursue an inclusive globalization whose purpose lies not only in opening markets but in expanding opportunity and promoting cooperation.
We should ensure that the globalization of economies and societies is supported and sustained by a "globalization of community" to create a wider, more expansive definition of our duties to our fellow men and women in the global village, and to ensure that globalization benefits them all.
The question is not whether globalization is good or bad, but rather how we adapt our policies, priorities and personal choices to account for the realities of a new era. In a world without walls, we can no longer think and act as if only the local matters, as if we owe solidarity and allegiance only to those within our own city or state.
Such a world demands that we tear down the walls in our own minds - those separating us from them, rich from poor, white from black, Christian from Muslim from Jew - so that we are able to recognize the untold ways in which we can all benefit from cooperation and solidarity across lines of nationality, race or economic development.
Whether it is the area of crime, health, the environment or the fight against terrorism, interdependence has ceased to be an abstract concept and become a reality in our own lives. This poses a real challenge not only to political leaders but also to civil society, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, labor unions, thinkers and citizens of every nation. We need to rethink what belonging means, and what community means, so that we can embrace the fate of distant peoples and realize that globalization's glass house must be open to all if it is to remain secure.
Leaders need to make the difficult but necessary case to the public that we cannot continue to exclude the poor, the disenfranchised or those who are denied basic rights to liberty and self-determination. Or that if we do, we cannot at the same time hope to secure lasting peace and prosperity.
Of course, including all those people in our circle of concern will not be easy. We all feel a deeply rooted sense of loyalty to those closest to us: families, friends, fellow citizens of city and country. To say that we - and here I think in particular of those of us privileged to live in the developed world - should include citizens of poor and distant countries in our circle of concern and have an obligation to help them achieve their rights and opportunities in a spirit of tolerance and diversity is to ask a lot.
And yet, does globalization leave us with any choice? Either we help the outsiders in a globalized world out of a sense of moral obligation and enlightened self-interest, or we will find ourselves compelled to do so tomorrow, when their problems become our problems in a world without walls.
There are many ways in which nations can act on this imperative. They can open markets for the products of developing countries, increase development assistance, promote good and transparent governance, and address diseases and environmental problems that have not yet reached their shores.
Nations can also recognize their obligations to provide asylum, foster a more orderly process of integrating migrants and value pluralism as an overarching priority for every state.
People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are without hating what we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings. If today, after the horror of Sept. 11, 2001, we see better and further, we will realize that humanity is indivisible. New threats make no distinction between races, nations or regions. A new insecurity has entered every mind, regardless of wealth or status. A deeper awareness of the bonds that bind us all, in pain as in prosperity, has gripped young and old alike.
The process of globalization cannot remain unchanged in the face of this recognition. It must be made to benefit those at the margins as well as those at the center, the poor as well as the privileged, the shackled as well as the free.
The victims of the attacks on Sept. 11 were, first and foremost, the innocent civilians who lost their lives, and the families who now grieve for them. But peace, tolerance, mutual respect, human rights, the rule of law and the global economy are all among the casualties of the terrorists' acts.
Repairing the damage done to the fabric of the international community and restoring trust among peoples and cultures will not be easy. But just as a concerted international response can make the work of terrorists much harder to accomplish, so should the unity born of this tragedy bring all nations together in defense of the most basic right - the right of all peoples to live in peace and security.
An inclusive globalization will be central to achieving this fundamental goal.
*The writer is secretary-general of the United Nations. This comment was adapted from an address at Yale University on Wednesday, October 2, delivered at the invitation of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.
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