The north and

south divide
LECTURE BY:
DR. ROWEL ROXAS
background
 The first use of Global South in a contemporary political
sense came about in 1969. Carl Oblesby writing the liberal
Catholic journal Commonweal in a special issue on the
Vietnam War, argued that centuries of US “dominance over
the global south…

 The North-South Divide is a socio-economic and political

categorization of countries.

 NORTH - United States, Canada, Western Europe, outermost

regions of the European Union , developed parts of Asia (the
Four Asian Tigers , Japan, Macau, Brunei and Israel) as well
as Australia, New Zealand and South Korea

 SOUTH - Africa, Latin America, and developing Asia

including the Middle East
 The north
 MEMBERS OF THE G8 DEVELOPED ECONOMIES
Canada 90% OF MANUFACTURES

CONTROL OF 80% TOTAL

France INCOME IN THE WORLD

ENOUGH BASIC NEEDS
Germany ACCESS TO EDUCATION

ONE QUARTER OF TOTAL

Italy GLOBAL POPULATION

Japan

Russia

United Kingdom

United States
THE
SOUTH
 lacks appropriate technology, it has no political stability,
the economies are disarticulated, and their foreign
exchange earnings depend on primary product exports.
 three quarters of the world populations
 access to one-fifth of the world income
 Third World countries during the Cold War
 relatively low GDP and the high population
 lack of basic amenities
 rely on imports from the North and have low
technological penetration
 5% of the population is able to access basic needs such as
food and shelter
 Africa, South America, and Asia with all African and
South American countries being from the South
THE PARADOX OF GLOBAL VILLAGE IN A DIVIDED
WORLD
OBIJIOFOR AGINAM
Global Health Leadership Officer, World Health
Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

Our global village has been

truncated and polarized by the
underdevelopment and poverty
afflicting more than eighty percent of
the world's population in the global
South-mainly in Africa, Asia, Latin
America, and the Caribbean. Thus,
global health policies must, by
necessity, focus on health disparities
between poor and rich countries.
On wealth and poverty
globalizes poverty systematically as
opposed to globalizing wealth
globalization of wealth, via the right
to health and development assistance
from international financial
institutions, must respond to the
socioeconomic and political
conditions of recipient States in the
developing world.
 economic reconstruction from the bottom-up
Poverty as a frame of mind

Poverty is not an only an

economic problem.
Being poor is a condition
not an option

Einstein – you cannot

solved the problem with
the same frame of mind
that created it.
 ON HEALTH ISSUES

 ANTI-BIOTICS VS. PRO-

BIOTICS

 SYNTHETIC MEDICINES
VS. HERBAL MEDICINES

 WESTERN MEDICINE VS.

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

 HEALTH VS. WORK

 MIND SET
 PREJUDICE

 DISCRIMINATION

 TRUTH VS.
PERSPECTIVE

 POINT OF VIEW
 HOLON MIND
 GESTALT

 COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS

 ARGUMENT VS. DISCUSSION

 REASON FOR
ENLIGHTENMENT AND NOT TO
INSULT
 QUOTES
“IN THE LIGHT OF FAITH,
YOU SEE THINGS QUITE
DIFFERENTLY” (letter 118 of La
Salle to laywoman, date unknown)

“Have great respect for each

person you are with.” (Part 1,
Chapter 2 in The Rules of Christian
Decorum and Civility)
 QUOTES
“DO NOT ALLOW HARSH
REALITIES BECOME THE
MIRROR OF YOUR INNER
SELF AND A REFLECTION
OF YOUR HEART. “

FROM
DR. ROWEL ROXAS