by Vince Caruana
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Whatever one's view of whether globalization is an overall good thing or an overall bad thing, almost everyone admits that there have been both winners and losers.
According to Carol Wills of the International Federation of Alternative Trade, among the losers are the "millions of traditional artisans, small farmers, and fisherfolk that have lost their livelihoods as a result of their markets being flooded with cheap factory made substitutes for what has traditionally been made by hand in the villages, or because they cannot afford the fertilisers required by the new high-yield strains of rice or because the price of coffee on the world market has sunk to a thirty year low which does not meet the cost of production, or because the fishing fleets of rich countries are going further and further from home and closer and closer to the shore in their pursuit of a catch".
What happens to these millions? Most head for the cities where they believe, perhaps through impressions obtained from the media, that there are new opportunities. Most in turn find out that life is just as tough - with meagre wages - and this if they are lucky enough to find a job. Where does the solution lie?
According to Peggy Antrobus of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, we need to recognise the link between trade and development. She calls for a model of fair trade that includes:
Provision for indexation of the prices of raw materials and manufactured products so that the prices of the former can be related to the latter;
Provision for effective and meaningful special and differential treatment for countries whose economies are especially disadvantaged by globalization - e.g. small island developing states and the poorest countries; and
Provision for the protection of the rights of governments to act in the interests of their own populations, especially when their human rights are jeopardized by trade liberalization.
Probably policymakers need to listen more and put people at the centre of all development. According to Nelcia Marshall-Robinson of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action, policymakers need "to take another look at the policies they have drawn up, to review what has taken place and to listen to the advice of civil society, because everyday we are experiencing the negative impacts.
Her plea is echoed by Mariama Williams of the International Gender and Trade network: "There needs to be a refocusing of policies and policy objectives to put people at the centre - a refocusing that gives priority to the basic things that are at critical to human life, that are enabling and supportive of democracy".
Perhaps what everyone is trying to say is that to diminish and eventually put an end to the losers we need development from the bottom up and not from the top down.