When we hear of globalization, the image that comes to our mind is often the global village where the equal distribution of ideas, culture and wealth is guaranteed. Two thousand years ago, the biblical verse, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," was a call for globalization. Even before that, when Emperor Ashoka sent Buddhist monks to propagate Buddhism all over the world, and when Alexander the Great conquered his way to India, and when Arabian merchants traded our spices and groceries around the world, a sort of globalization and global trading took place.
Such trades and traders faced many difficulties due to the existing tax system and inadequacies in the exchange rate with the currency in each country. Later, in the nineteenth century, trade between the colonies and the New Worlds (the United States and Australia) reached its peak, but World War I and World War II dragged the world backwards. The GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) came into being with the aim of completely removing the tax system and other barriers that would later hinder free trade and industry in the post-war world, and devised strategies to keep the disobedient nations of the world in check. GATT has been known as the World Trade Organization since 1995.
According to the Enlightenment Theory of the famous German thinker Emmanuel Kant, all human beings live in innate stupidity. He says so, and asserts further: “not a single child is born a fool. Foolishness is coming down from society, into the society and finally to the individual. It is only when the essence of the individual (soul, mind) breaks through this barrier of foolishness and enters the radiance of truth and light, that the person attains his identity and becomes enlightened, and the truth is revealed before him. It is impossible for the truth-seeker who has discovered the truth to communicate it to others, unless the spoken language, which has been cultivated by the social man to communicate with each other, acquires the ability to fully communicate the essence of the TRUTH disclosed before him”.
In today's globalized world, it is difficult to find out the truth. This is because the monopoly capitalist companies, which are the proponents, operators, and consumers of globalization, restrain the zeal and ambition of the individual through their style of operation.
Although companies engaged in international trade have operated throughout the history of mankind, some of the most revolutionary changes and inventions since the 1950s have fuelled the globalization that we see today.
First, the post-war world saw unprecedented advances in international trade, the exchange of goods and services, the intercontinental migration of people, and the exchange of money. This was made possible by the huge leaps in information technology and transportation.
Second: The GATT agreement and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO), have been in the process of liberalizing the member states since 1946, gradually transforming all the developing countries of the world into trading centres for the products of the developed world. Resistance was impossible for developing countries. As the World Bank (International Monetary Fund) applied pressure and threatened with expulsion from the world trade market, Asian countries like India had no other choice but to give in. It is only part of history that India had to mortgage its reserves of gold in London some decades ago, thus paying off the World Bank's interest.
Third: The change in the appearance of international companies is significant. The boom in the field of communication has enabled many companies to expand their operations internationally and to set up branches or sister concerns in each country and strategically manage them. Many international companies or their organizations have become more powerful than national governments and have even gained the power to control the policy making of governments. The importance of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the UN, UNIDO and UNESCO is also noteworthy.
Fourth: Ideological understanding of wealth and trade among the nations of the world. As George Orwell puts it in his Animal Farm, in 1978, as the first candidate from the Chinese Socialist Communist world, "Some Animals Are Equal Than Others," he took the first step towards capitalism, thanks to the counter-revolution. What followed was the downfall of all the forces in the communist world and the rise of modern capitalism. China, which started all this, is an example of how capitalism can thrive under the iron fist of communist rule.
After the collapse of communism, the proponents of globalization set three goals. (1) stabilizing the global economy, (2) liberalization of prices and markets, and (3) privatization of nationalized institutions. We need to understand from this that the pioneers of globalization have completely forgotten about the primary responsibilities of democratic governments in this modern age. We see day after day the privatisation of the so-called essential services and the privatization of many areas that are essential for national security and the livelihood of the people. Transport, post, banking, and healthcare are all being privatized. Why not, think of the situation when even the law enforcement agency, the police force, become a profit oriented private company.
Fifth: The dominance of English in the field of art and culture and in the field of global communication.There are allegations that USA through the global language is growing into an imperialist power and that other countries are being reduced to mere colonial status. Globalization has been widely criticized by sociologists and thinkers, who claim that it is the most innovative and effective way to economize. Importantly, globalization has widened the gap between rich and poor. Global environmental pollution, climate change, global warming, and the decline of world culture are just some of them.
Exploit the poverty of poor countries?
Multinationals seeking to expand their trade in developed and developing countries are moving to poorer third world countries with another goal. They are trying to exploit the poverty of the people in the poorer countries by using the existing low wage labour available there. Workers in such factories, called sweatshops, work as slaves. You may have read the news about a sports shoe manufacturing company and a computer manufacturing company that are at the forefront of such exploitation. Although efforts are being made by many NGOs to create awareness against such exploitation, none of these efforts are effective due to consumerism and companies' profit motive.
Adverse effects of economic liberalization.
The world economic system today is highly interdependent. That is why the downturn in the American real estate market shook the world. If someone sneezes at the Wall Street, the whole world economy will be shaken in the next second.
While the rest of the world, international monopolies and economists blame banks, including UBS, for the current unpredictable financial crisis of 2008 , they remain silent about the impact of globalization and liberalization on the American economy. The so-called Asian Tigers are economies that have sprung up as a result of globalization. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 1/6 of the total number of jobs in the USA disappeared between 2001 and 2008 due to the outsourcing of consumer goods and jobs accumulated in the European market from China. It is safe to say that the loss of income by individuals caused by unemployment was the beginning of the current economic crisis.
Globalization, Global Warming, Gadgil Report
Changes in the lifestyle of mankind as a result of globalization have led to a sharp rise in environmental pollution. Excessive migration from poor countries in the tropics to rich countries in the temperate and cold regions has increased the per capita energy consumption of human beings and hence carbon emissions. The transition from vegetarianism to non-vegetarianism paved the way for deforestation. Crude oil consumption in developing countries like India and China is increasing by 8% every year. There are fears that the carbon dioxide emitted will cause global warming. The World Bank and NGOs have come up with eye-popping recommendations to overcome this situation. Consumers in developed countries are taxed on the carbon footprint they produce and spend on forest land conservation equivalent to this carbon footprint anywhere in the world.
Read this in conjunction with the Gadgil Commission's overwhelming interest in declaring the Western Ghats as "environmentally sensitive" ecological zones.
Food chain and food availability.
World food production increased by 250% between 1950 and 1980 as a result of the Green Revolution. In the 1960s and '70s, if CARE's wheat and milk powder were not available, students in our Indian schools would go without lunch. Often we read in those days with wonder that food grains were being stockpiled and destroyed under the leadership of the federal government to get a fair price for the American farmer.
Today, 850 million people in the world are starving because globalization is the work of profit seeking international companies. When we look at where the food grains that were produced the Green
Revolution have gone, we can see how much globalization has changed our diet. The middle class '' new rich '', who have found employment and high incomes through globalization, have revised their diet. Meat began to be included in their daily diet and meat production became seven times more expensive than vegetables. As a result, fields that traditionally grew rice and wheat now produce food for cattle and pigs. Studies show that as the world's population continues to grow and their lifestyles continue to rise, people will still be starving by 2050, even if they have 70% more food production than they do today.
Infectious diseases and diseases.
There are many examples in history of germs wreaking havoc across geographical boundaries. The Black Death, which came from Asia in the 14th century, killed more than half of Europe's population. Small pox imported into the United States by European immigrants killed more than 90% of the Inca - Maya community in the United States. Dengue, which was confined to the African jungles, is now wreaking havoc on other continents. Bird flu, swine flu and anthrax have been frightening us lately. AIDS, which was confined to Africa, has spread around the world along with global tourism. Not to mention Kovid.
When multinational companies control the world economy and their headquarters and ownership are held by developed countries, such companies seek to favour their operations in the developed world. Example: - European airways and airports are closed after 10pm due to noise pollution. The planes of the same European companies operate without any restrictions in the densely populated cities of the developing countries, regardless of time.
Developing countries are being transformed into landfills for waste disposal. Old electronic devices known as electroschrot containing highly toxic toxins and radiation are being recycled in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. It is in India that old and abandoned ships are dismantled and nobody knows how much atomic radiation and other toxins the workers are exposed to, and this is an example of how the developed countries are disposing of their waste and liabilities at the cost of developed countries.
The land of a landlord in Nigeria has been leased by an international company for a long term. They stored nuclear waste from Italy without the knowledge of the Nigerian government or landlord.
When it comes to food availability, we see that globalization is deceiving us. Resources from all over the world are now available in our supermarkets and dining tables. How they are produced and how reliable they are. Few exceptions in the food sector are known to the outside world. Some of them are: - A good percentage of the beef distributed throughout Europe was horse. Mushrooms imported from China are sold under the label made in India as the consumer is not interested in Chinese products. A good percentage of the vegetables and leafy vegetables that we buy from the shops are produced without any contact with the soil and is produced with a technology called hydroponics. The effect of such vegetables, which use only water, light and stimulants for plant growth, is negligible. Many people who have seen the features of meat production on TV and elsewhere have now switched to vegetarianism and veganism. But with monopolies tightening their grip on agriculture, health care does not seem to be safe.
For me, the biggest detrimental effect of globalization is the loss of human-soil contact. Man who is by default lazy and comfort loving. Modernization and globalization is moving man away from his natural environment and increasing his needs. Man, a social being, is unknowingly excluded from society. With each migration up to the 19th century, whether it was to the United States or to Malabar, there were new social creations. But the modern-day immigration is personal. The
immigrant is prevented from being rooted to the soil of the migrating land and is being isolated in the four walls of the flats he enters. Television and social media complete his isolation.
He is deprived of even the necessities of life, such as clean air and clean water, which he thinks are plentiful in nature. Man becomes ill with modern lifestyle and chemical wastes. International monopolies are on guard with drugs and equipments to prolong his life despite of his illness or his advancement in age. Our energy needs are increasing day by day. Thus, we pollute our environment. Energy is needed even for pollution-free water and air. We have lost the two innate capabilities of man - the ability to hunt and to cultivate. Without energy and international companies, there would be no humanity tomorrow.
Revolutions and Evolutions brought mankind to its present state. Even today we do not fully understand the evils of globalization. And the media is misleading us. Even if we all want a return, it is not possible. We have lost our self-sufficiency and efficiency to survive without the help of globalization and modernity. Globalization is the truth of the day, accept it and enjoy its positive effects to the fullest.
