“And I alone, what can I be?” (St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spiritual Exercises 58)
The current crisis and state of global confusion is nothing more than the exhaustion of the globalism of selfishness, discarding and exclusion. Inequality is widening, posing major ethical, economic and political challenges to which both policy makers and civil society must react
The Pope, like many other leaders, has stressed that this situation demands a new beginning of solidarity and fraternity in the global economic and political configuration from the perspective of human development. A combination of forces since the 1980s (globalization, revolution of digital technologies, institutional changes) have generated strong centrifugal effects in advanced economies, deepening existing divisions.
Such have been the focus of discussions at recent meetings of the G7, the G20, the IMF and the United Nations, as well as those of the Ibero-American Summit and most recently the Earth Summit hosted by President Biden on April 22-23rd. Deep changes in international policy, financial architecture address inequality, and comprehensive plans to combat climate change.
The time has come to strongly denounce the false belief, conveyed by certain neoliberal thought, that there is nothing to do to correct the distortions of financial globalization. It should be stressed that is technically possible to intervene to ensure that the gains resulting from the free movement of capital and labour are distributed fairly among the various countries and social groups. But one must want it.