globalization & Pynchon?

[Mike Weaver]

There was one country in the Americas not invited to Quebec, ostensibly 
because it isn't democratic (according to U.S. definitions.). Might be more 
to do with it having a system which favours attacking poverty over 
generating profits.
Here is a bit of Fidel's speech to the Conference of the 
Inter-Parliamentary Union a couple of weeks ago.  Perhaps those on the list 
attempting to defend capitalism would like to explain its failure to 
diminish the horrific contrasts referred to.

  Distinguished Parliamentarians:
When I spoke at the 68th Inter-Parliamentary Conference in 1981, after
mentioning a number of figures and statistics that illustrated the growing
gap separating the developed, wealthy world from the countries that were
formerly its colonies and domains, victims of relentless plunder for
centuries, I made a statement that might have seemed excessive: "If the
present is tragic, the future looks dismal."
Let nobody try to fool or confuse us with the new terminology spawned by
the hypocritical propaganda of specialists in deception and lies, working
in the service of those who have subjected humanity to an increasingly
unequal and unfair economic and political order, one that is completely
devoid of solidarity or democracy or even an iota of respect for the
minimum rights owed to human beings.
I was not exaggerating when I made that statement. The Third World's
foreign debt, which totaled some 500 billion dollars in 1981, had reached
2.1 trillion dollars in the year 2000. The share corresponding to Latin
America was 255.188 billion dollars in 1981; by 2000, it was 750.855 billion.
The servicing of the Third World debt, which amounted to 44.2 billion USD
in 1981, had reached 347.4 billion USD in 2000.
The per capita gross national product (GDP) in the developed countries was
8,070 USD in 1978. Twenty years later, in 1998, per capita GDP in those
countries had grown to 25,870 USD.
In the meantime, the per capita GDP in the countries with the lowest
incomes, which was 200 USD in 1978, had risen to only 530 USD by the year
1998. The abysmal gap had grown even wider.
The number of undernourished people, almost all of whom live in Third World
countries, rose from 570 million in 1981 to 800 million in 2000.
The number of unemployed grew from 1.103 billion in 1981 to 1.6 billion in
2000.
Today, the wealthiest 20% of the world's population accounts for 86% of all
spending on private consumption, while the poorest 20% accounts for only 1.3%.
In the wealthy countries, per capita electricity consumption is 10 times
higher than in all the poor countries combined.
According to United Nations figures, in 1960 the income of 20% of the world
population living in the wealthiest nations was 30 times that of the
poorest nations; by 1997 it was 74 times greater.
Studies carried out by the FAO between 1987 and 1998 reveal that two out of
every five children in the underdeveloped world suffer from growth
retardation, while one out of every three is underweight for his or her age.
There are 1.3 billion poor people in the Third World, that is, one out of
every three lives in poverty. The World Bank, in its latest report on
poverty, predicts that the number of people living in absolute poverty
could reach 1.5 billion as the new millennium begins.
The wealthiest 25% of the world's population consumes 45% of all meat and
fish; the poorest 25% consumes only 5%.
In sub-Saharan Africa, infant mortality rate is 107 per 1000 live births
during the first year of life, and 173 per thousand live births before the
age of five. In South Asia, the rates are 76 and 114, respectively. In the
case of Latin America, according to UNICEF, infant mortality before the age
of five is 39 per 1000 live births.
More than 800 million adults remain illiterate.
More than 130 million school-age children are growing up without access to
basic education.
The truth, which cannot be hidden, is that there are currently over 800
million people suffering chronic hunger while lacking access to health care
services, which is why it is estimated that 507 million people living in
the Third World today will not live past 40 years of age. South of the
Sahara, almost 30% of the population will die before they are 40.
In 1981, climate change was seldom mentioned, and very few people had ever
even heard the word AIDS. Today these are two harrowing threats that have
been added to the calamities already mentioned.
In 1981, the world population had surpassed four billion; 75% of them
living in Third World countries. Today, in 2001, there are already more
than 6.1 billion of us on the planet. In just 20 years, the world
population grew by 1.7 billion, more than it had grown since the emergence
of the human species until the beginning of the 20th century.
In short, the world income share of the countries that now constitute the
Third World has shrunk so much that a century and a half ago it was 56%,
while today it is only 15%. This is truly a peculiar way of expressing the
real meaning for the Third World and the immense majority of humanity of
capitalism and imperialism, with their crises, chaos, economic anarchy and
selfish and inhuman value system.

For more see  http://www.granma.cu/ingles/