However as indeed the book points out the right to

however, as indeed the book points out, the right to cultural self-identity
has been compromised by accepting the development world-view. Despite
decolonization in the political sense – which has led to independent states
– and despite decolonization in the economic sense – which has made some
countries into economic powers – a decolonization of the imagination has not
occurred. Quite the reverse: across the world hopes for the future are fixed
on the rich man’s patterns of production and consumption. The longing for
greater justice on the part of the South is one reason for the persistence of
the development creed – even if, in this century, neither the planet nor the
people of the world can any longer afford its predominance.
However, it is crucial to distinguish two levels of equity. The first is the
idea of relative justice, which looks at the distribution of various assets – such
as income, school years or Internet connections – across groups of people
or nations. It is comparative in nature, focuses on the relative positions of
asset-holders among each other, and points towards some form of equality.
The second is the idea of absolute justice, which looks at the availability of
fundamental capabilities and freedoms without which an unblemished life
would be impossible. It is non-comparative in nature, focuses on basic living
conditions, and points to the norm of human dignity. Generally speaking,
conflicts about inequality are animated by the first idea, while conflicts
about human rights are animated by the second.
As it turns out, the demand for relative justice may easily collide with
the right to absolute justice. To put it in political terms: the competitive
struggle of the global middle classes for a greater share of income and power
is often carried out at the expense of the fundamental rights of the poor
and powerless. As governments and businesses, urban citizens and rural
elites mobilize to forge ahead with development, more often than not the
land, the living spaces and the cultural traditions of indigenous peoples,
small farmers or the urban poor are put under pressure. Freeways cut
through neighbourhoods, high-rise buildings displace traditional housing,
dams drive tribal groups from their homelands, trawlers marginalize local
fisherfolk, supermarkets undercut small shopkeepers. Economic growth is of
a cannibalistic nature; it feeds on both nature and communities, and shifts

xi
PREFACE
unpaid costs back onto them as well. The shiny side of development is often
accompanied by a dark side of displacement and dispossession; this is the
reason why economic growth has time and again produced impoverishment
next to enrichment. The globally oriented middle classes, although they
push for development in the name of greater equality, largely disregard the
plight of the poor. No wonder that, in just about all newly industrializing
countries, social polarization has been on the rise along with growth rates
over the past thirty years.