I believe that, taken all in all, over the long term, globalization will be positive. It draws peoples closer together and offers many of us choices that our grandparents could not even dream of. It enables us to produce more efficiently and allows some of us, at least, to improve our quality of life. But, alas, these benefits are far from being felt equally by all. The long-term positive change is, for millions of our fellow human beings, simply too far off to be meaningful.
Millions still live on the margins of the world economy.
Millions more are experiencing globalization not as an opportunity, but as a force of disruption or destruction, as an assault on their material standards of living or on their traditional way of life. And those who feel marginalized in this way are growing more and more numerous. The Asian downturn has triggered a worldwide economic crisis, with devastating social consequences. Some of the most successful economies have been plunged into recession at a speed which has taken the whole international community by surprise. As usual, it is the most vulnerable groups which are hardest hit.