Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Abbas Beydoun: .. first of all by a regular and gainful economy which is not embarrassed by any political or economical issue. If there were some obstacles like worker rights or general rights, economic globalization will remove these obstacles. I do not believe that economic globalization really cares generally for democracy, but it rather cares for getting a free space to play its rule freely. I also think economic globalization does not care for putting an end to dictatorships or helping weak people in the world. We can not connect the economic globalization with just a specific goal, because economic globalization is cleverer than being connected with just one aim.

by Abbas Beydoun

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Alvaro Restrepo: First of all, we have to define what -- or redefine what globalization really is. I think the world is more than becoming a globe, it's becoming more and more flat. You could speak more of the flatenization or something like that, [applanamiento] del planeta, because we are not really perceiving our planet as a whole, as a body, as an interdependent body that needs all its different organs, nations or regions to survive. I think that economic globalization is promoting the dictatorship of the centers of economic power. The centers -- the different centers of economic power are the ones that are really dictating the way or shaping our world. So, I think that this economic non-humanistic or non-humanitarian economy vision of the world is promoting a very flat un-human world.

by Alvaro Restrepo

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Ana Lucy Bengochea:

by Ana Lucy Bengochea

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Andries Botha: Economic globalization does not promote democracy. It sets up in my opinion very limited references of power, doesn't share that power, it affirms the few. Yet, I am not exactly sure whether a critique of that would be sufficient without offering some sort of observation about that we as a civic society cannot really resist the inevitable march of economy and its unequal distribution. Economic globalization in its very essence is about setting up markets, finding people -- cheap labor to supply the profit for those markets. And, there is very seldom a trickle down effect as most government policy makers would purport that there is or assume will happen.

by Andries Botha

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Angaangaq Lyberth: It is really fascinating to talk about democracy. As you know we have very little democracy anywhere on Earth. What democracy is supposed to be- free choice for being able to be governed by free choice. Meaning that I cannot promote myself to be better trustworthy than my next one. That’s what we do right now. For every election we do we push someone down. How can democracy be based on putting someone down? And then we talk about the economy. Economy is not really what it should be because right now the economy is based on who has more and competition, not a division of wealth. When you look at the world today you see the extremities of wealth to the extreme powerful. So the economic globalization has not lifted up the spirit of the people. We have never seen so many poor people today than we have had before. At the same time there has never been so much money available to the world. So things are not right. And when we don’t have the democracy and we’re trying to get rid of the dictatorship but we’re just replacing everything with the old stuff. Nothing new has come to the world or us. The economic globalization means very little to the citizens of the globe. And yes, of course, a country like Africa, continents like Africa who is the wealthiest continent has the poorest people on Earth. When you look at the kind of resources being extracted from this land and how little comes to the people you get astounded. So what did we do with the globalization? Nothing for the people.

by Angaangaq Lyberth

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Anthony Arnove: I think by economic globalization we need to be more precise and say capitalist globalization as that's the form of globalization that we've encountered and that we confront today is capitalist globalization. And the reality of capitalist globalization today is that actually is leading to concentration of power, concentration of state power, concentration of economic power in fewer and fewer hands. And rather than promoting democracy as its defenders claim, as its apologies claim, as its propagandists claim, the economic globalization of reform that we see today is actually consolidating power in a way that encourages dictatorship. Not just the dictatorship that we tend to think of, the dictatorship of individuals that overstates the dictatorships of leaders such as Saddam Hussein or the Saudi royal family with which the United States in particular has often had political, military and economic relationships. But also the kinds of dictatorship of capital; the kinds of dictatorship of economic interests over our lives, which are removing more and more decisions from democratic control; from participation of citizenry; from participation of people. And in particular we see this in the work place where more and more decisions are being removed from the involvement and the participation of working people, who are the people making the goods, providing the services that allow globalization to proceed. So we see increasingly a gap growing globally, not only an economic gap but a political gap, participatory gap between those overwhelming majority of people who work, who provide the labor that makes globalization succeed and the people who are reaping the benefits from it. Also, I think the question of dictatorship comes back just also to the question of military dictatorship, which is still a problem that we confront today.

by Anthony Arnove

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Anuradha Koirala: Economic globalization promotes democracy because it has not [inaudible].

by Anuradha Koirala

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Anuradha Mittal: Economic globalization or global corporatization has nothing to do with democracy; it is really about replacing governments which need to be of the people, by the people, for the people. But corporate governance, where again aspirations of people come second or actually don’t figure anywhere, when you look at the corporate interest, that the baseline. So, in terms of economic globalization that we hear is a solution towards poverty to bring democracy is nothing but a myth because we have yet to see that happen anywhere. If we look at the evidence that’s in, we do see increasing inequities. We do see corporations getting more and more power and taking over the power of the people. They have today more human rights compared to human beings themselves. If you think of Coca-Cola in India, where people right to water has been taken away, thanks to our corporation. So, when you look at this corporations, it becomes very very obvious that we live in a world where economic globalization is not the solution in terms of ending dictatorships, but it is actually about replacing and bringing in a new kind of dictatorship, which is corporate governance.

by Anuradha Mittal

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Ashok Gangadean: Ashok Gangadean: For me economic globalization reflects the consciousness from which it comes, from one of the great issues and dynamics on the planet, especially in terms of global wisdom and the wisdom of all of our great traditions that have taught us that if we’re in the egocentric way of being a human being our realities are shaped by those egocentric forces that our great traditions have taught us that when we mature as human beings out of that more limited fragmenting objectifying technology of consciousness of egocentric, egomental minding and enter into more integral and holistic and dialogic ways of using our consciousness in which we discover compassion and care and connectivity with others, with ourselves, and with our environment. We get two very different realities. So economic globalization from the egocentric consciousness will be one kind of phenomenon on the planet and that’s where really we see mostly, because our cultures continue to be dominated by egocentric, egomental patterns of thinking. And so capitalization and the spread of economic globalization from that point of view does promote and enhance this continuing of egocentric patterns and dynamics, and that form of consciousness in a way undermines true democracy. If democracy is power to the people wher the dignity of each individual’s paramount and the collective welfare of people are also equally important with individual welfare. That kind of democracy comes from deep dialogue from a pattern of connectivity in which human beings live together in equality and mutual care which is what ethics is about so that economic globalization understood from that integral, holistic, dialogic model, I call that logonomics rather than egonomics. Lognomics is a globalization that will take care of people and promote true democracy and overcome the dictatorship and other forms of tyranny and monocentric thinking that come with egocentric global economic forms. So, I think it really turns upon what is the consciousness.

by Ashok Gangadean

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Audrey Kitagawa: Economic globalization as it has unfolded in recent history is really addressing the aspect of market fundamentalism as we have witnessed the increasing deregulation of global markets. The effect has been not the consolidation necessarily of dictatorships but rather the consolidation of wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer people while the majority of the people are not beneficiaries of this market fundamentalism. So I would say what we are witnessing is not so much the consolidation of dictatorships as a consolidation of wealth into few powerful hands, and we have not yet described these few powerful people who are very, extremely wealthy as dictators yet. So in any event, within our common understanding of what dictatorship is, I would say that we need to really understand market fundamentalism as promoting a disparity in the economic and wealth balance in the world.

by Audrey Kitagawa

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Benjamin Fahrer: If we define dictatorship as a commodification or a privatization, then yes. Economic globalization does not have to look the way that it does today. To merge economics with democracy as a very dangerous and sensitive thing, what does ecological impacts of this globalization have? And what does the economic globalization really promote? It’s a very sensitive thing because of what has been invested, rather than democracy being the goal as a control of capital; A consolidation of the wealth from the many to the few. We say that we are in Iraq to promote democracy. We have ousted the rule of a dictatorship. The country is an occupation. It could be seen as an occupied territory of the US, where the invested interest of the US corporations that will profit from the war. The country has no means to rebuild itself. A loan from the World Bank from the US will have to be spent and all its moneys, in a loan will result in more of their commons being controlled. We are talking about the oil, water, the roads, the power, the education privatized, they rebuild the new world order laws. And today’s democracy promotes economical globalization that is controlling and privatizing that which is, should be common to all.

by Benjamin Fahrer

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Benson Venegas: The answer to this question is neither nor. Economic globalization can create opportunities that can really help in some countries to consolidate democratic values. But it also can create situation where we’re not prepared and it brings dictatorship as a way to force business powers to take over societies. So to promote democracy in a area of economic globalization, we need to reduce social tensions over the use and access of natural resources. Business leaders can be corrupt, and promote dictatorship to insure their profit. So, when people - need to watch and really have a more active role in - given responsibilities to these forces that are acting in their society.

by Benson Venegas

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Beverly Schwartz: Economic globalization in itself can promote anything and it does not depend on what we create, it depends on how we use it, so that economic globalization can be very positive for many people who are marginalized. It can also be used to strengthen governments, both for positive and negative ways. So in the end, it is not economic globalization that promotes or destroys. It is how it is used and by whom and in what value system it is placed. That is what's important.

by Beverly Schwartz

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Bianca Jagger: Answertext will be available soon.

by Bianca Jagger

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Bill Joy: I think in the short term globalization tends to enhance and concentrate power so that companies which can thereby operate in more areas of the world get access to the cheapest labor, the cheapest resources at scale can consolidate their economic power and the governments which then interacting with those companies using those economic forces can concentrate their political power. So in the short term globalization works I think as a strong force enhancing existing power structures. In the long run globalization though makes information available, makes people more aware, creates trade so that people meeting more people, becoming more aware of the rest of the world can desire the kind of openness and democratic values that are transmitted by the global cultures. So in the long run that kind of freedom of information and freedom of ideas moving through the globalized channels should serve to promote the interests of democracy and universal human values.

by Bill Joy

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Bora Cosic: Just like every dictatorship uses democracy for its own interests, as constitution of it's govern, similarly dictators (rulers) can make use of globalization to maintain there lordship. Maybe sometime globalization will serve democratic forces, sense it is about: unifying many fragmented constituents, better organization of the live, etc.

by Bora Cosic

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Brian J. Weller: So, this is a mind map of the first theme, reinventing economics, and let’s look at globalization, democracy or dictatorship. In a way what we’ve done, we’ve globalized knowledge. We’ve globalized human values. We’ve also globalized the real aspirations for democracy. In a way, you could say that corporations have in a sense taken the idea of globalization and produced an homogenization, almost a sameness throughout the world. This is a real challenge because it can lead to almost like an economic dictatorship. So in some respects globalization is a trend. I believe that the world needs to reverse. Stateless corporations have given rise in a sense to corporate states where unfettered trade and investment rather than promoting prosperity and democracy lead to resource depletion, over-consumption and the loss of local and accountable democracy. You can see the effects of this in the global big box corporations. So globalization certainly, I believe, is challenging democracy and in my view we need to return to the local. We need to return to economic localization; return to our sense of place. So, I think there’s a real challenge for us today and it’s a story that we need to tell. This idea that globalization is the saving of mankind I believe is a very erroneous idea. It’s something that we need to challenge.

by Brian J. Weller

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

Catherine David: Both. (This is true. Some questions are so simple that… Globalization is not essential. For this reason, we should probably start and develop because it is extremely naive. Globalisation is not essential; it is not a divine intervention. So, forcefully it is associated to the current phenomenons. I started to look but I have become so furious and worried that I said to myself, I should not look to much because it will hinder me to sleep. It is very naive but I think that one should hold on to other questions that are close to your heart and for which you have a minimum of …)

by Catherine David

Sep 9, 2006 10:05:00 AM cite

China Keitetsi: I think it promotes democracy in a way because the more people have something to eat, the more people don't go hungry to bed. Then they have time to learn other knowledge and challenge their leaders, but without this opportunity that means that people will not send their children to school, only the people will concentrate more on finding everyday food, destroy the forest, because they use them to cook, for example. And the homes will be destroyed. People will be prevented from thinking. People will be prevented from being advanced if there is no globalization in countries like Africa, Asia, where they're still poor. You find that it's very difficult because every family, every woman and every man have to find ways of helping their children and then you find that even diseases which could be cured are killing people. I think with globalization it's important for everybody, but also we shouldn't misused globalization. I think everything shouldn't be misused.

by China Keitetsi