The Spirit of Capitalist Globalisation and People's Spirituality in the Light of Faith

The Spirit of Capitalist Globalisation and People's Spirituality in the Light of Faith
Ulrich Duchrow

It may seem that globalisation has only to do with material things and that the task would be to add spirituality to a material phenomenon. However, globalisation is not neutral to be used in one way or another. It has in itself a very distinct spirituality. This spirituality is not only inherent in the structures and mechanisms of the system but it is being actively and powerfully promoted by the globalised media and by the global economic institutions. Mr. Camdessus, the former general director of the IMF, spoke about the global market as an instrument of the kingdom of God. And the World Bank has started a campaign with faith communities, called the World Faiths Development Dialogue, to win them over to the spirituality of the system. The World Council of Churches (WCC) is presently preparing guidelines to deal with this initiative.

What does the spirit of capitalist globalisation look like?

I. The Spirit of the capitalist globalisation

1. The spirit of the empire
Historically, the forces of globalisation started with the ancient empires, especially the Hellenistic-Roman empires that are the cradle of European culture. It is the spirit of violent conquering, oppressing, enslaving, indebting, exploiting weaker peoples, in short, the spirit of hegemony and domination.

It is in the same spirit that characterises modern European globalisation. Precluded by the crusades and designed to conquer and control the trade routes to India, the breakthrough happened with the ruthless conquering (conquista) of the Americas after 1492, fuelled by the enslaving of African people. The full-fledged colonialism of the 19th and the neo-colonialism of the 20th century were further steps on this road.

What are the specific characteristics of this spirituality of imperialism alias globalisation?

2. The absoluteness of property, money, and market guaranteed by absolute law, private property is the basis of the Roman economy. It is defined as absolute "dominium". You may use it or abuse it - things and slaves. Money is the means of accumulating property limitlessly. Credit on interest is indebting the debtor and, in case of insolvency, enslaving him and his family as well as robbing his land that served as pawn for the credit. All this is facilitated by market mechanisms and legalised and enforced by merciless law.

In the modern capitalist globalised economy, this leads to the more and more sophisticated total market impoverishing not only more and more people but also whole nations. The other side of the totalitarian character of the market is the fatalism of the people who do not see a way out. But it is not only by force but also by seduction that people adjust to this idolatry. Consumerism and addiction are other features of the total market.

3. The economistic spirit
The spirituality of globalisation leads to the reduction of reality. The only thing that counts is economic growth measured in monetary terms (cf. GNP). Success means wealth accumulation. The market is the messiah projected as the one helper to solve all problems - although in concrete reality it creates social degradation and ecological destruction.

4. The spirit of objectivisation and sacrifice
As every idol the market is asking for sacrifices. People, instead of being actors caring for their lives with their own hands, are being made objects, and even sacrifices, for the sake of wealth accumulation.

5. The spirit of competition
In order to follow the spirit of capitalist globalisation people and peoples are pushed into competition. People are to be seen as individuals - everyone striving against everyone for the survival and the pleasure of the fittest. Particularly, the losers are being played one against the other: workers against workers, unemployed against migrants etc. The weakest in each group are the children, the handicapped and the women. Also, transnational capital giants are playing nations against nations.

Are there alternatives?

II. People's alternative spirituality in the light of faith

Around 1997, more than 200 grassroots groups and organisations developed the European Kairos Document ("For a socially just, life-sustaining and democratic Europe") and called upon faith communities, trade unions people's movements, and individuals to turn around and build alliances against neo-liberal global capitalism (published by Sarum College in association with the "Churches Commission on Mission" and Kairos UK; see also the home page www. kairoseuropa.org). In this document, we tried to develop alternatives to the five spiritual characteristics of capitalist globalisation (pp. 25ff.).

1. Spirituality from below

Against the imperial spirit of the winners, we see the crucial starting point for alternatives in joining the victims of the system and listening to their cries in terms of the past, present and future but also to their aspirations, visions, and proposals. This does not mean that the victims are or have the alternative. But it means that from their place, their locality conversion, and alternatives might emerge. The biblical gospel according to Matthews (chapter 25, verses 31ff.) says that the messiah hides and reveals himself in those who are hungry, thirsty, and whose other basic needs are not satisfied.

2. The spirituality of resistance

The key objective of marketing in the global capitalist system is to make people unlearn their capacity to say "No". Their greed is being titillated in order to desire the commodities advertised. The ideal participant in the total market is the drug addict. He or she cannot say "No" anymore. So breaking the absoluteness of the global market mechanisms is to re-learn saying "No" - to consumerism, money fetishism, fatalism, militarism (as the peak of global violence), and ecological neglect. This is possible for faith because faith knows that neither earth nor people may be absolutely owned by human beings (cf. Leviticus 25 in the Bible).

3. Spirituality of wholeness

Against economic reductionism, we hold the spirituality of wholeness. We have to overcome in our minds the one-sided measurement of success. The alternative vision is that no economy is successful which is not at the same time socially and ecologically successful. Human beings can only be happy with personal wholeness, with mutual social relationships, and in harmony with nature.

In order to implement the alternative spirituality from below, in resistance, and with a new vision Kairos Europa is proposing a double strategy: small scale alternatives in community and alliance building for cooperative political intervention.

4.The spirituality of community

In order to overcome the spirit of making people the objects and sacrificial instruments of wealth creation for the few, the spirituality of community empowers people to take their economic lives into their own hands. People can do a lot in community particularly at local and regional levels - even before the system as a whole has been changed or tamed.

There are four fields that we have identified where people can implement alternatives in order to satisfy their basic needs (cf. Richard Douthwaite, Short Circuit: Strengthening Local Economics for Security in an Unstable World, Liliput Press, Dublin, 1996):

• People can create their own money and exchange by "Local Exchange and Trading Systems" (LETs) etc.
• People can organise their own saving power for their own productive economy by alternative banking (cooperative banks, credit unions etc.)
• People can produce their own decentralised energy (sun, water, wind, bio-mass
• People can organise their own local food production and marketing (producer-consumer-cooperatives etc.)

5. Small-scale alternatives are the basis of self-reliance for the satisfaction of basic needs. But the macro-system can destroy the local efforts time and again. So the national, regional, and global economic and political institutions have to be influenced to serve people and not the other way around.

In Kairos Europa we concentrate particularly on the financial system because today financial capital dictates the rest of economy and politics. Together with the French organisation ATTAC, Pax Christi and others, we mobilise for pressure on the governments to fight tax flight and to tax speculative capital transactions (Tobin tax) etc. Similar coalitions deal with the WTO (cf. Seattle 1999) and the IMF/World Bank (Washington and Prague 2000). The ASEM People's Forum itself is another example.

This shows that the spirituality of alliance building and cooperation for solidarity can overcome the spirituality of competition promoted by the system.

Summarising the spirit of capitalist globalisation says: "There is no alternative". The people's spirituality empowered by faith says: " There are hundreds and even thousands of alternatives" - for life.