This exchange came yesterday via NPR’s Morning Edition, as Renພ Montagne interviewed Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop of Los Angeles…

RENಞ MONTAGNE: Interesting, because of course, the notion of the vibrancy of the Church in the Southern Hemisphere. Just as an example, you were in Africa, what did you hear that mattered to them that might even surprise Americans?

CARDINAL MAHONY: Well, that their concerns are the impact of globalization, for example. International corporations headquartered in the United States purchase enormous billions of dollars worth of goods from basically slave markets. Their concern is how are we ever going to improve the standard of living if these multinational corporations are able to pay people a dollar a day or a dollar a week in order to produce goods that sell for huge amounts in the United States and other places. So they see the whole development of their countries based on a greater equality among nations.

No doubt Cardinal Mahony speaks for some Africans. But there’s also no doubt that there are many others who see increased global trade and economic liberalization as critical to the continent’s development.

See what some Africans have to say for themselves:

James Shikwati – “The WTO and the Voice of the Poor”