Political flaws escalate rising tide of anti-globalization

Economic globalization does encounter some challenges, but it is irresponsible to create conflicts by exaggerating those problems, People’s Daily commented on Wednesday, refuting the malicious voices against the economic globalization by some Western politicians.

The commentary, under the byline of “Zhongsheng”, came after French far-right leader Marine Le Pen attacked globalization in her presidential election manifesto last weekend.

As candidate of the National Front, Le Pen told supporters in Lyon, the third largest city of France, that globalization was slowly choking communities to death. Globalization, she said, meant "manufacturing by slaves for selling to the unemployed".

She is the latest European politician to preach anti-globalization in mainstream politics of the Western world by making use of public's dissatisfaction with the current situation, the article said.

Such examples over the past year also included the Brexit, 2016 US election, and the presidential campaigns of France and Germany, the paper added.

Sluggish economy, which has resulted in aggravated contradictions between growth and distribution, capital and labor, as well as efficiency and equity, is the root cause of the rising trend of anti-globalization in the Western world, the commentary noted, but it pointed out at the same time that politics is also a reason that cannot be ignored.

Most of the countries in favor of anti-globalization are first of all hindered by economic development and wealth distribution. Thereafter, these economic issues are politicized, ultimately leading to severe social disruption.

Populists are at their weakest in the tedious matter of sound government, said Financial Times column writer Janan Ganesh in his recent article. Such point of view is indeed a timely reminder for the European countries which have lost their direction.

Rome mayor Virginia Raggi is a better example to interpret the difference between catharsis and governance, the paper said, explaining that the performance of the far-right mayor was far worse than her commitments during the election campaign in 2016. Even the waste disposal of the city was in a mess under her governance.

National elections of France, Germany, the Netherlands and many other European countries will fall in the year of 2017, meaning that they will stand at a new crossroad for their countries’ development.

The paper believed that reform will still be the theme of the campaigns given that development fatigue is still prevalent in the continent. However, these countries should think twice before they make a decision.

Anti-globalization, favored by extreme right-wing politicians, will only cause more problems, as economic globalization is a natural outcome of productivity and technological progress rather than a creation of any individual or country, it pointed out,stressingthat economic globalization’s contributions to human progress could not be denied by complaints of some politicians.

The paper suggested that facing with the irresistible trend of economic globalization, the wise choice would be to start from national conditions and follow the tide.

Each party should make efforts to bring benefits of economic globalization to countries and people around the world by integrating itself into the globe and pursuing efficiency and equity, the article concluded.