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In the early 1970’s, a Base Christian Community in Cuernavaca, known as "Maria, Liberator of the People," studied the scriptures weekly and prayed to Our Lady of Guadeloupe for a better life for all. On February 29, 1976, with the agrarian tradition in mind, members of the base community non-violently occupied a barren area just outside the city. With cooperation and hard work from the entire community--women and children included--they built their houses and planted the fields. Today the neighborhood of Lagunilla boasts its own water supply, electricity, school, and community center.

With globalization times have changed. Because foreign capital demands stability, Mexico altered the agrarian tradition and now allows outside investors to own large tracts of land. A small farm on which peasants could preserve their culture and grow a few acres of corn have become the target of multinational agricultural businesses that purchase land for mechanized production and export crops. The price of this corn, genetically modified from corporate farms in North America, underbids the small-plot production of most peasant farmers forcing, them off the land and into the cities.

When the light turns red at intersections in Mexico City, peddlers approach the stopped cars, selling flowers, snacks and trinkets. At the busiest intersections small children 5 or 6 years old jump on the shoulders of an older brother to perform an acrobatic trick, then hop down and canvass for loose coins before the light changes and the cars speed away.

While the global economy promises increased employment eventually for all countries, the people currently left behind must find ways to survive on a daily basis. This informal economy, characterized by small-scale labor-intensive work, tightens the slack of unemployment, but offers little promise for a dignified life. The Third World’s poor ultimately sacrifice their bodies with strenuous manual work, dangerous conditions, and inadequate diet so that we in the First World countries can live the good life.

Arturo (not his real name) transports visitors from the airport to a conference center in Mexico City. When he lost his job with Citicorp through a merger, he saw his local opportunities diminish. Now he wants his customers to pay him in U.S. dollars. Next year he plans to immigrate to the United States looking for a brighter future.

Yet, the global economy allows only goods, information, and capital to cross national borders. It stops people. Referred to as "illegal aliens," these undocumented immigrants are merely trying to share in the global economy that takes so much from them.

These three examples from Mexico highlight some of the neglected realities of the global economy: access to resources for the poor, meaningful and dignified work, and immigration. The discipline of economics measures direct foreign investment, import-export data, labor statistics and the like. The overall global data look good. Yet, who is questioning the deeper qualitative realities underlying the numbers of the global economy?

The American bishops in their 1986 statement on the economy, Economic Justice For All, write: "Every perspective on economic life that is human, moral, and Christian must be shaped by three questions: What does the economy do for people? What does it do to people? And how do people participate in it?"

The underlying question remains how to make the global economy more inclusive and culturally respectful, instead of simply enriching the already global elite.

Read other articles of senlightenmentpiritual  in the December 1999 edition of The San Francisco Charismatics or return to the Main Menu by clicking on the blue. Fr. John Rausch, a Glenmary priest, teaches at the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Center, Berea, Ky. His column appears monthly in many Catholic journals and in ours beginning this month, courtesy of the Friends of the Good News. When you purchase books, videos, etc. from Amazon.com this site, we receive a referral fee from them that support the work of the Friends of the Good News.