1.3 The emmigration of foreign workers to spain: a new and relevant  (Page 3/8)

Knowing how to harmonize the open universalistic dimension and the convenient ethnic loyalty and patriotism presents challenges for the future. Loyalty conflicts, competition of resources, ethnic-national particularism, and rejection of the other have increased, reintroducing the old prejudices and the search for scapegoats. In the midst of these social crises, the people must maintain clear heads and open hearts.

         Globalization receives criticism for being an inexorable phenomenon which (a) rejects market dictatorship, (b) culturally homogenizes, and (c) promotes cultural biodiversity and humanizing thought. Susan George, Director of the Transnational Institute de Amsterdam, noted:

Only now, and perhaps during the industrial revolution in Great Britain, have we legitimized the market to decide over our lives. And if we leave them alone, they will not only destroy Earth, but their systems will only allow that richest 5% of the world to subsist. As they say, take the best and throw away the rest (Country, 27-I-2000).

        The economic trash of the world today, comparing northern and southern Spain, is constituted by millions of human beings, who in the midst of the 21 ^st century, experience hunger and suffering for not being able to satisfy their minimum necessities. The UN has the responsibility of telling the world the current situation of the inhabitants of this planet every year. The UN’s extensive 1998 extensive report confirms the process of the concentration of wealth. The 225 richest people accumulate a wealth equivalent to what the 2.5 billion poorest inhabitants (47% of the population) own. The inequalities reach frightening levels: the three richest people of the world, Bill Gates, the Sultan of Brunei, and Warren E. Buffett, have assets that surpass the GIP (Gross Interior Product) of the 48 least advanced countries (600 million inhabitants) combined. Viewing things in another light, 20% of the population control 86% of the world-wide wealth, and 1.3 billion poor people live on an income of less than a dollar daily. Goods owned by the 358 richest people are more valuable that the annual rent of 2.6 billion inhabitants. With so much wealth in some countries and increasing amount of poverty in others, how can one be surprised of migrations and the pilgrimage to the promised land of the North that is so fantastically portrayed in the Third World by modern televisions, which are the bread and opium of the town for so many million poor men in the world. A structural reason that must be considered when analyzing international migration is the great imbalance of increases in population between the developed countries and those of the Third World.

After the factors of the accelerated and successful European industrial development of the 20 ^th century, and with the fatalities of the two World Wars, Europe has a population of few children and many elders. Meanwhile, the Third World has experienced a vertiginous increase in population. Though the economically poor countries are very rich in demographic resources, young populations with abundant capacity to work, there is no type of employment. This fact grants a structural cause for international migrations. The demographic forecasts for the future, although it is necessary to take the data with certain reservations, are as follows.