I hugely enjoy the arguments both for and against the proposed Ajax mine and consider all of The Daily News’s forums, and letters to be the essence of democracy. Rallies, marches, meetings and such are usually captured mostly by the “nos.”

In all the debating, not once has there been an expression of the immorality, even selfishness, of withholding our resources from the developing world. China, for example, in spite of great advances, has 600 million living as they have for 3,500 years — rudimentary housing, scant or no electricity, few appliances, etc. — little of what we take for granted. The UN figures that worldwide, 300 million people have, in the last decade, reached the bottom tier of the middle class, which is only $1,000 per year.

This group will probably step up again in the next decade while another 300 to 400 million take their place. So the world demand for resources, already immense, is going to multiply. Resources we can deliver are the tools developing nations need to achieve a better living and become stronger trading partners. This is what globalization is about.

BRYAN ELLIOTT

Westwold