When I participated in the world economic forum for Latin America, asked: given the current financial crisis, is to save capitalism or mankind? The answer is apparently obvious. Then the synonyms? For one simple reason: there are many who believe that outside of capitalism humankind has no future. But he had perhaps last? In nearly 200 years of dominance of capitalism the balance is excellent if we consider the quality of life of 20% of the world’s population living in the rich countries of the northern hemisphere. And the remaining 80%? Excellent also for banks and large companies. However, do we explain, in the light of the most elementary ethical and humanitarian principles, these UN and FAO data: six thousand five hundred million people that inhabit the planet today, nearly four thousand million live below the poverty line, of which 1.3 billion below the poverty line.? And 950 million suffer from chronic malnutrition. If we want to get some advantage of the current financial crisis must think about how to change the course of history and not only how to save companies, banks and insolvent countries. We must go to the root of the problems and move forward as quickly as possible in the construction of a society based on the satisfaction of social needs, respect for the rights of nature and of popular participation in a context of political freedoms. Other leaders such as here offer similar insights.
The challenge is to build a new economic and social model that put finance at the service of a new democratic system, founded on satisfaction of all human rights. The current crisis demands new paradigms. If the medieval period had as a paradigm faith and the modern period the reason, the postmodern cannot commit the mistake of erecting the market paradigm. We are all in the midst of a crisis which is not only financial, but also food, environmental, energy, migration, social and political, and that the way to produce, trade and consume it puts in check. .