Is globalization helping world's poor?
Feb. 4, 2003
KALAMAZOO -- Is the world market economy exploiting the overseas labor pool or is it creating a drain on domestic labor? A visiting professor will be on the Western Michigan University campus Feb. 14 to argue that regardless of what people think of the global market, it is benefiting the world's poorest people.
Dr. Gavin Kitching, professor and senior lecturer on politics at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, will present, "Achieving Social Justice Through Globalization," at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, in Room 3301 of Friedmann Hall.
"Attempts to roll back globalization, especially in efforts to protect employment in western countries, demonstrate an indifference to the world's poorest peoples," says Kitching. He believes the greatest danger to the progress of a globalized economy comes from both the right and left sides of the political spectrum.
"We're seeing an emergence of an unintended coalition of right-wing nationalists and left-wing anti-globalization activists converging around a kind of nationalistic agenda," he says. "If they recognized this, it might cause them to question what they are supporting."
The lecture is free and open to the public, and is sponsored
by the WMU Institute of Government and Politics and the Department
of Sociology.
Media contact: Matt Gerard, 269 387-8400, matthew.gerard@wmich.edu