Pros and cons of globalization in a post-pandemic world
In the middle of the 20th century, at the heart of Western civilization, a process that had been slowly building up for several centuries since the years of the Silk Road was formalized. In the contemporary era it was given the name of globalizationand consists of the integration of local economies in a single and great world market, in which capital circulates more freely even than people, and the consumer society reaches its greatest and deepest dimensions.
Many have criticized and praised this trend throughout almost a century of existence. Some see in it a consolidation of liberal economic projects, which give large transnational business consortiums a leading role in the world; while others highlight its democratizing tendency by allowing the free flow of information and downplaying borders and national political projects. In any case, the idea of ​​inhabiting a “global village” was never so close to coming to fruition as in the times when, without anyone expecting it, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.
The (darker) side of the global pandemic
The pandemic, as is known, is also an element of the new global dynamics: the rapid movements of tourists and travelers from one side of the world to the other allow germs to also find favorable niches for their arrival. And yet, the world’s vast socioeconomic inequalities make it difficult to pursue a unified strategy.
Industrialized and high-income countries, thus, not only have the technology and resources to find a solution to the health problem, but they can also face restrictions, quarantines, and interruptions in the supply chain in a better way, being able to assist their populations. workers and better resist the blow. This is not the case with its third world partners, where the hardships of the epidemic must be added to those of productive and socioeconomic collapse.
While one segment of the world recovers on a better footing, the other remains sunk longer. And while the industrialized world debates the psychological effects of lockdown, Third Worlders yearn for greater margins of protection that allow them to avoid imminent contagion, or to protect them in case of falling ill. While the first world debates whether to get vaccinated or not, and launches campaigns to counter the infodemic produced on social networks, the third world cries out for greater access to the vaccine.
In addition, while the first world slows down its sales machinery to wait for the wave of contagion to pass, in the third world unemployment is skyrocketing and the fight against poverty shows a scandalous setback. Apparently, the interconnection and interdependence produced by globalization, considered in ordinary times as a win-win mechanism, did not bring with it any possibility that, in exceptional times, this interdependence implies greater amounts of support for the less favored.
The consequences of this global functioning, on the other hand, transcend the national borders. It is enough to observe the shortage of microchips that afflicts the thriving European industries, the result of the health collapse in India, to realize that global problems require, as obvious as it may seem, global solutions.
However, what has happened has been exactly the opposite: the strongest nations have taken refuge in the hardening of their borders and have ignored the cheap labor of their trading partners. For example, the industrialized nations have proceeded to monopolize most of the available vaccines, to the point that in the developed world a significant percentage (close to 50%) of the population has already received the full schedule of some vaccine, while in other nations that figure does not even reach 10% of the total population.
Many, faced with this scenario, predict the death of globalization, that is, the return to nationalist schemes of industrial development, hand in hand with state financial aid, that is, procedures that are very different from those that various international organizations recommend to nations. developing countries: the liberalization of their markets. And meanwhile, in the face of the first attempts at disaster, powerful countries jump ship and leave millions unemployed.
a golden opportunity
The worst thing is that, given the circumstances, the crisis unleashed by the pandemic and the respective quarantines entails an unprecedented global opportunity to establish a more equitable productive dynamic, which helps to solve the brutal inequalities that afflict the planet, and not only that. : a solidary dynamic that serves as a precedent for necessary future cooperation, in the face of even greater challenges, such as climate change.
A more supportive globalization could pave the way for a more integrated humanity and truly universal fundamental values. If with the same eagerness with which the supposed virtues of the free market are promoted, socioeconomic and financial responsibility were stimulated, or the necessary ethical debates regarding the distribution of medicines in the world were given, many of the evils of the time could begin to overcome
What is the use of vaccinating the population of industrialized nations even with booster doses, while the population of disadvantaged countries incubates in their own bodies, or in those of their deceased relatives, a new variant of the virus that can end protection? of the vaccine? What moral character do Western companies have today that abandon thousands of workers to their fate whose cheap labor previously allowed them to maximize their yields and consolidate their markets?
The pandemic, in any case, will end sooner rather than later and globalization will continue to exist, willing in one way or another to resume its dynamics and learn from the experiences lived. It will depend on us to lead it towards a promising future, to make it a process that multiplies well-being and does not widen the gap between the poor and the rich.
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