The current international contractual framework of globalization is not conducive to a fair economic and social growth, and especially in the poorest countries we have found that economic growth cannot be sustained without the accommodation of their cultural heritage and without a development path which emphasizes the establishment of democratic institutions and freedom for the people(2).

Our present capitalism and globalization policies are advertised by our corporate and governmental agencies as free trade to break down protective tariffs and enhance the standard of living of people in any country, but in fact, today's capitalism and globalization policies are forms of protectionism on behalf of the multinational corporations(3).

While communism recognized the unfair division of classes among people and therefore supported the revolutionary taking of governmental power by the proletariat, capitalism has preached individual freedom only to have the governmental powers weakened and replaced by the power of the multinational corporations(4). And the sad story is that with capitalism the gap between the rich and poor has widened(5).

Education is the fundamental opportunity to provide an element of social equality among people, yet we have children around the world working for multinational corporations, being abused, being paid few dollars per day of work while their daily meals are twice as expensive, and I ask myself where these children could possibly find the time and resources to get an education. And as Canada is concerned, I realize how privileged and elitist education has become as Statistics Canada reports that "The vast majority of Canadian parents hope their children will get some form of college or university education, according to a new survey. However, in the case of more than half of these children, their parents have not set aside educational savings for their post-secondary schooling(6)."

Communism has gone for ever, therefore we don't have to play with the dichotomy of communism and capitalism anymore. Let us just use whatever political system we have and have the will to implement policies to fight poverty at home and around the world; and let us give everybody the potential to get an education. And we can do it, as we have effective technologies to reach everybody around the world, as MIT is the first university to have the will to put all of its courses material on the Internet free of charge(7), and as we could have the collective choice to make these changes happen, and have therefore democracy in action.

References/endnotes

Relevant political and economics articles http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign

1. The Emperor Has No Growth: Declining Economic Growth Rates in the Era of Globalization, by Mark Weisbrot, Robert Naiman, and Joyce Kim http://www.cepr.net/IMF/The_Emperor_Has_No_Growth.htm

2. An interview with Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist and author of Development as Freedom, by Akash Kapur http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/ba991215.htm

3. Present Economic Globalization: It is not about free trade, it is protection of patents and copyrights, by Mario deSantis, April 1, 2001 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2001_300/desantis351/globalization.html

4. Corporate predators: the hunt for mega-profits and the attack on democracy, by Mokhiber & Weissman. Introduction by Ralph Nader http://www.corporatepredators.org/nader.html

5. The Undeclared War: Class Conflict in the Age of Cyber Capitalism, by James Laxer, Chapter One: FIELDS OF COMBAT http://www.jameslaxer.com/chapter1.htm In Search of a New Left, by James Laxer, Chapter One: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times http://www.jameslaxer.com/chapterleft.htm

6. Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning, 1999, Statistics Canada, The Daily for: 2001-04-10 http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/010410/d010410.pdf

7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: the Economics of Ideas and the Public Domain Economics, by Mario deSantis, April 9, 2001 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2001_300/desantis354/mit.html