There has been a rising swell of voices to denounce the forces of capitalism and globalization. It has gone beyond the normal complaints of professors, journalists and politicians who criticize capitalism and markets and, if not the wealth they create, the way it is distributed. Demonstrations at the WTO meetings in Seattle in Nov. 1999 were followed by similar outbursts during the World Bank and IMF meetings in Washington last year. Most recently, anticapitalist anarchists rampaged through London and students joined with workers to express their outrage during the Asian Development Bank meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
When times are good, such outbursts may seem harmless even though they may lead to increased inefficiencies arising out of new regulations or enforced redistribution. However, when times are bad these complaints may help legitimate attacks on certain groups that tend to be identified as being part of the problem. Hitler used the Jews as scapegoats for all that was going wrong in Germany. Similarly, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia tried to pin the blame for turmoil in East Asia on Jewish bankers. A resurgent anti-Semitism is now being observed in Russia due to the concentration of wealth among entrepreneurs belonging to that group.
More ominous rumblings are heard in Indonesia, where ethnic Chinese had been the target of looting attacks and rapes. This was a repeat of pogroms that took place during the 1965 coup d'etat that toppled President Sukarno. Neighboring Malaysia also experienced race riots against the Chinese minority in the 1960s. In fact, perhaps the greatest sin of these groups is that they are more productive than most of the population.