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