Globalization: A View from Below
Reading – PDF. By Jean-Bertrand Aristide. 5 pages.
An essay on the impact of globalization, with the story of Haiti as an example.
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Our planet is entering the new century with fully 1.3 billion people living on less than one dollar a day. Three billion people, or half the population of the world, live on less than two dollars a day. Yet this same planet is experiencing unprecedented economic growth. The statistics that describe the accumulation of wealth in the world are mind-boggling. From where we sit, the most staggering statistics of all are those that reflect the polarization of this wealth. In 1960 the richest 20% of the world’s population had 70% of the world’s wealth, today they have 86% of the wealth. In 1960 the poorest 20% of the world’s population had just 2.3% of the wealth of the world. Today this has shrunk to just barely1%.
Imagine that the five fingers of your hand represent the world’s population. The hand has $100 to share.