AK Mia, "Globalisation: who benefits?" (Letter), Pretoria News, August 17, 2006.

Punting economic equalisation between the developed and developing worlds, Western nations have latched onto grand-sounding terms like "globalisation", "the global village", "free trade zones", and "global agreement of tariffs and trade".

The publicly-announced aim of these grand strategies is to level the economic playing fields to remove the advantages enjoyed by the developed nations over their developing counterparts.

No reference is made to the primary motivation, namely to secure markets for developed countries' products and to secure access to raw materials and resources.

But why the daily stories of desperate economic refugees from the developing world being turned away and even detained until deportation to their home countries?

Why are demographic integration and demographic globalisation in the form of removal of barriers (visas, work permits and so on) also not pursued with the same fanfare as economic integration and globalisation?


If globalisation is calculated to benefit the citizens of the developing world, why are more stringent conditions and restrictions strictly enforced in European countries and North America to keep out the impecunious dark-skinned hordes whose only desire is to try for a better life?

There is duplicity and deception in the developed world punting globalisation and free trade to make the world a better place for all, while the same developed world closes ranks and closes doors when it comes to integrating its poorer cousins from the former colonial dominions into their societies.

Is the situation not simply as the lyrics of that old song go "ha ha ha, you love my money but you don't love me"?

The beneficiaries of globalisation are ultimately from the north.

AK Mia, JohannesburgRecommend this Post

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