GLOBAL APARTHEID

EX: ACCORDING TO UN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT:

•ABOUT 1/4 OF THE WORLDS POPULATION (APPROX. 1.5 BILLION PEOPLE LIVE ON LESS THAN ON AMERICAN DOLLAR A DAY

•NEARLY A BILLION ARE ILLITERATE, AND ANOTHER BILLION GO HUNGRY

•ABOUT 1/3 OF THE POPULATION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WILL NOT SURVIVE TO 40 (HALF THE AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCE IN CANADA)

THIS GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR IS DRIFTING TOWARD A KIND OF “GLOBAL APARTHEID” — EXTREMES OF POWER AND WEALTH ARE COMPRESSED INTO GEOGRAPHICALLY SEGREGATED ZONES TO CREATE AN “APARTNESS” EVERY BIT AS PUNITIVE AND PERVASIVE AS APARTHEID WAS IN SOUTH AFRICA (FLERAS, 359)

DEVELOPING COUNTRIES APPEAR TO CONSTANTLY FIND THEMSELVES IN AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF CRISIS, CONFLICT CORRUPTION, AND CATASTROPHE, WITH NO RESOLUTION IN SIGHT

CENTURIES OF EXPLOITATION UNDER COLONIALISM HAVE PROVEN PIVOTAL IN SHAPING NEGATIVE OUTCOMES.

PATTERNS OF DEPENDANCY AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT ARE NO LESS DEVASTATING — DIRECT COLONIAL RULE IS NO LONGER THE CASE, HAVING TRANSFORMED TO INDIRECT RULE (NEOCOLONIALISM) WITH ITS MINIMAL POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE BUT CONTINUED ECONOMIC CONTROL AND DEPENDENCY

CONCLUSION: CORPORATE GLOBAL MARKET MODEL — KNOWN AS GLOBALIZATION — MAY WELL REPRESENT THE LATEST FORM OF COLONIALISM BY ANOTHER NAME.

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GLOBALIZATION (NEO-COLONIALISM) WORKS ON THREE LEVELS THAT PUT A LARGE PORTION OF HUMANITY AT RISK — (1) DEVELOPMENT GAP; (2) A CULTURE GAP; AND (3) CLASS DISPARITY

****CONTRADICTIONS ABOUND AND PREVAIL, AND ARE CAPTURED IN THIS SCATHING INDICTMENT OF A THREE-TIERED WORLD =======> (1) THOSE THAT SPEND MONEY TO KEEP THEIR WEIGHT DOWN, (2) THOSE WHO EAT TO LIVE, AND (3) THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW WHERE THEIR NEXT MEAL WILL COME FROM [(KAWACHI AND KENNEDY, 2002) – FOUND IN FLERAS PP.360].

[[INCREASING DISAFFECTION WITH THE PROMISES OF GLOBALIZATION — FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE SOUTH, OR THE NON-WESTERN, OR THE MASSES, GLOBALIZATION IS NOT VIEWED WITH ENTHUSIASM, AND CONSEQUENTLY, ACTIVE OPPOSITION TO IT COULD RESULT. THESE CONSTITUTE THE “COUNTERFORCES” TO GLOBALIZATION — THE GLOBAL TECHNOLOGICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED PRIMARILY BY CORPORATIONS, GOVERNMENTS, AND INDIVIDUALS IN RICH DEVELOPED COUNTRIES FOR THEIR OWN BENEFIT {THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION HAS YET TO BE CONNECTED TO THIS INFRASTRUCTURE}.

TO DATE, GLOBALIZATION IS AN EXCLUSIONARY FORCE, DENYING ACTIVE PARTICIPATION TO PARTICULAR RACIALIZED REGIONS, CULTURES, AND CLASSES. IN TURN, THIS IS CAUSING BACKLASH. FOR MANY NATIONS, CULTURES, INSTITUTIONS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS IN THE WORLD, MODERN GLOBALISM CONSTITUTES AN ELITEST, NORTHERN-BASED, WESTERN-FOCUSED, TECHNOLOGICALLY SUPPORTED FORM OF ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL IMPERIALISM.

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SOME RESEARCHERS EQUATE “GLOBALIZATION” TO AN EXERCISE IN “SOFT HEGEMONY,” THAT IS A TOOL BY RICH SOCIETIES TO GAIN DISPORPORTIONATE ADVANTAGE (CHAN AND SCARRITT, 2002).

OTHERS ARE LESS SANGUINE: IN A STRONGLY WORDED CRITQUE, WILLIAM ROBINSON (1996) COUCHES GLOBALIZATION IN APOCALYPTIC TERMS AS A PLANETARY STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE COSMOPOLITAN RICH AND THE PAROCHIAL POOR FROM WHICH THERE IS NO ESCAPE. THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL WORLDS IS COMPARABLE TO PREDATORY SCALE TO THE RAVAGES OF 19TH CENTURY COLONIALISM. IN THAT CORPORATE GLOBALIZATION IS SIMPLY AN EXTENSION OF A COLONIALISM AND CAPITALISM WITH ITS COMMITMENT TO EXPLOIT CHEAP LABOUR UNDER INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES AND TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS ... (FLERAS, 2005: 366)

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THE CHALLENGE OF INCLUSION:

IN ORDER TO TURN THIS VICIOUS CIRCLE INTO A VIRTUOUS CIRCLE, THE PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD BANK (WOLFENSON, 997:6) HAS ISSUED A CHALLENGE OF INCLUSION “TO REDUCE ... DISPARITIES ACROSS AND WITHIN COUNTRIES, TO BRING MORE PEOPLE INTO THE ECONOMIC MAINSTREAM, [AND] TO PROMOTE EQUITABLE ACCESS TO BENEFITS OF DEVELOPMENT REGARDLESS OF NATIONALITY, RACE, OR GENDER”

IN SOME SENSE, THE CHALLENGE OF INCLUSION IS TO CHANGE THE INERTIA OF GLOBALIZATION FROM AN IMPOSITION “FROM ABOVE” BY GREEDY CORPORATE INTERESTS TO A “BOTTOMS-UP” FOCUSED GLOBALIZATION THAT PUTS PEOPLE AHEAD OF PROFITS (STAR AND ADAMS, 2003)

[AS R. ALAN HEDLEY PUT IT IN — “UNDERSTANDING GLOBALIZATION”] WHETHER THIS CHALLENGE BECOMES REALITY REMAINS TO BE SEEN; HOWEVER, UNTIL IT DOES, THE WORLD AS A WHOLE CANNOT TRULY BE CHARACTERIZED AS GLOBALIZED.

SOLUTION: HUMANISTIC GLOBALIZATION: PRIORITIZES HUMAN NEEDS AND CONCERNS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF GLOBALIZATION THAT SPREADS THE WEALTH AND BENEFITS MORE EQUITABLY --- IT IS ABOUT CONSERVING COMMUNITY AND PROVIDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE, PUTTING PEOPLE'S NEEDS ABOVE PROFIT, USING LOCAL RESOURCES, ENCOURAGING DIVERSITY (FLERAS 372)

IT IS CHARACTERIZED BY A “BOTTOMS-UP” NEO-GLOBALIZATION THAT ENSURES BENEFITS ARE EQUITABLY DISTRIBUTED, RATHER THAN A “TOP-DOWN” GLOBALIZATION THAT IS DRIVEN BY TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS PRIMARILY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CORPORATE ELITE

TOA ACHIEVE HUMANISTIC GLOBALIZATION WE NEED TO:

· SHIFT ECONOMIES FROM PRODUCTION FOR EXPORT TO PRODUCTION FOR LOCAL MARKETS

· BECOME LESS DEPENDENT ON FOREIGN INVESTMENT AND MARKETS

· DISTRIBUTE INCOME TO CREATE A MORE THRIVING INTERNAL MARKET

· DE-EMPHASIZE GROWTH TO ENURE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

· SUBJECT THE PRIVATE SECTOR TO MONITORING BY PUBICLY SOCIETY

· ENCOURAGE PRODUCTION AT ALL LEVELS TO PRESERVE THE INTEGITY OF SOCIETY