Globalization's cardinal sins

Social justice news
November 2003

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Globalization's cardinal sins
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez from Honduras delivered a strong critique of free market globalization at the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development's (CAFOD) Pope Paul VI Memorial Lecture on October 31 in London. The Archbishop of Tegucigalpa called for a "globalization of solidarity" to counter the excesses of a "savage" market liberalisation that has benefited the rich over the poor.

The Cardinal argued that the historical achievements of the welfare state have been dismantled, and replaced by an "absolutism of capitalism" that is wrecking havoc, injustice and inequality. "We continue to live in a world full of flagrant inequalities with the wealth increasingly concentrated in fewer hands," he said. "The world is becoming globalized to the rhythm of the major economic powers. It is a world where there is a desire to open up all frontiers to goods, while a host of obstacles hinders the free movement of people from the South to the North."

Rodriguez has witnessed first hand the uneven effects of globalization. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, with 72 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The Central American nation owes $5.4 billion dollars in external debt. Rodriguez describes the debt as a "tombstone," explaining that the money Honduras pays in servicing its debt obligations means that there is much less the government can spend on health care and education.

Rodriguez has been a passionate campaigner on debt. He was the Vatican's spokesperson with the World Bank and IMF on the issue. While the debt of Honduras has mushroomed, the country has also faced economic collapse in some of its leading export industries, especially bananas, coffee, and shrimp.

The Cardinal wants a global campaign of solidarity to radically reform globalization so that it works for the poor as well as the wealthy. He said, "We cannot continue to be blind. We are not just heading towards the globalization of markets, but also towards the globalization of poverty, which means accepting that for the poor, hope has been put to death."

Rodriguez explained solidarity as a concrete expression of the fundamental good of society. He said, "It comes from the discovery of interdependencies with our fellow men whom we feel inclined to help with their needs because they are persons. Solidarity is achieved by seeing to it that all human beings share in the available goods as a whole.

"Economic globalization without the globalization of solidarity is suicide for the poor and thus for the majority of humanity."

Rodriguez was ordained in 1970 into the Salesian teaching order, was made a bishop in 1978, and became the first cardinal in the history of Honduras in 2001.

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