Is globalization good or bad?

Bad

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by Fred Ebonyi

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No to globalization, make history: shut down the G8. In Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005 they were more than 10,000, while in Heiligendamm, Germany in 2007 it was a record 50,000 or more protester all resolve in there call to save humanity. Despite the massive police presence Germans, Serbs, Croats, Nigerians, Ghanaians, Americans etc all stand side by side forming a bulwark, a human wall with there hands linked together in spite of being tear gas, pepper spray and douse with water cannon, chanting anti-globalization songs, most of them were even arrested. Symbolically also, similar protest were also taking place all over the world.

Why, is the world united in its resolve to halt a process that has advance the course of humanity in its entire ramification? The process of Globalization has its root from the 19th and 20th century when nation states have started crystallizing and competing for sphere of influence around the world, long before it was "discovered" by Raymond Vernon in the 1980's. Globalization is a cloned but advance form of capitalism and imperialism.

Globaliz ation in its current variant started manifesting immediately after the second world war, a period that also witness the ascendancy of the United States in global politic. The death of colonial rule, due most to the decolonization struggles of third world society and emerging states actors and the collapse of Soviet Union due to its policies of Glasnost and Perestroika which signal the end of the cold war and also accelerate this process. From the late 1980's the advancement in the use of computers, satellite technologies and fibre optics among other scientific and technological wonders made it possible for information and communication to be process in seconds and in massive amounts to any part of the world.

Globalization is a fluid and emotive concept, whose various interface can best be apprehended through an in depth study of the concept of capitalism. Globalization have impacted positive, just like capitalism on economic growth, technological development and cultural advancement, so also, like capitalism it has brought untold miseries, pains and abysmal poverty to an overwhelming majority of humanity.

Most of the protesters in Gleneagles in 2005 and Heiligendamm in 2007 are protesting in other to pressure the G-8 developed countries and their policy makers to adopt the best rule for governance as it relate to the global economy so as to mitigate or eradicate the deleterious effects of globalization.
Global ization has its root from the 19th and 20th century when nation states have started crystallizing and competing for sphere of influence around the world, long before it was "discovered" by Raymond Vernon in the 1980's. Globalization is a cloned but advance form of capitalism and imperialism.

Globaliz ation in its current variant started manifesting immediately after the second world war, a period that also witness the ascendancy of the United States in global politic. The death of colonial rule, due most to the decolonization struggles of third world society and emerging states actors and the collapse of Soviet Union due to its policies of Glasnost and Perestroika which signal the end of the cold war and also accelerate this process. From the late 1980's the advancement in the use of computers, satellite technologies and fibre optics among other scientific and technological wonders made it possible for information and communication to be process in seconds and in massive amounts to any part of the world.

Globalization is a fluid and emotive concept, whose various interface can best be apprehended through an in depth study of the concept of capitalism. Globalization have impacted positive, just like capitalism on economic growth, technological development and cultural advancement, so also, like capitalism it has brought untold miseries, pains and abysmal poverty to an overwhelming majority of humanity.
Globalizati on to the underdeveloped countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania etc and the issue in the context of this debate has far reaching implications. To them the discontents of globalization far outweigh its benefits. To these countries globalization is a process of consolidation of a relationship of dependency and domination.

Most of these discontents with the process of globalization are mirrored in cultural hegemony, the globalization process have led to the dominance and suppression of the cultures of most of these underdeveloped countries in a globalize world according to Samuel Huntington "the most important distinction among people is not ideological, economical or political. They are cultural". . International Finance Corporations have also created a form of global culture based on worldwide economics and commercial markets. Indigenous culture and the social structure and roles are now shaped by large and powerful commercial interests in ways that earlier anthropologist could not have imagined in fashion, the latest fad from Europe and American fashion houses like Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce and Cabana etc are dominating the markets. In sports, especially football, AC Milan, Manchester United, Real Madrid and other sports like base ball, golf, basket ball etc are dominated by the developed countries. Monies are generated from TV rights, endorsements and sponsorship and sales of souvenirs and club merchandise etc.
The manifestations of these ill are reflected in high level of terrorism by these actors to correct these crises of identity as a result of unequal access to global resources. An excerpt of a speech delivered during the X111 summit in Kuala Lumpur (24/-25 February 2003) by Mahathir Bin Mohammad that "the world now lives in fear. We are afraid of everything. We are afraid of flying, afraid of certain countries, afraid of bearded Asian men, afraid of shoes airline passengers wear, of letters and parcels, of white powder. The countries allegedly harboring terrorists, their people. Innocent or otherwise are afraid too. They are afraid of war, of being killed and maimed by bombs being dropped on them, by missile from hundreds of miles away by unseen forces. They are afraid because they would become collaterals to be killed because they get in the way of the destruction of their countries".
Another manifest drawback of globalization is the HIV/AIDS pandemics inhuman history no disease has the potential of wiping off the human race from the face of the earth like this pandemic, even the plagues that ravage Europe during the 17th century is not as devastating.
The greatest drawback of globalization, in spite of the phenomenal advancement in all spheres of human endeavor is that it has the capacity of bringing down the human race. The world is now living in mortal fear especially the develop world. The dangers are quite obvious, the sarin gas terrorist act in Japan, the September 11, 2001 horror show, the US embassy bombing in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the Oklahoma bombing in 1995, the sub way station terrorist bombing in central London in 2005, the list is endless and nobody is immune from this terrorist. Globalization based on injustice, a globalization, which benefits the few, a globalization that makes people to live in fear, a globalization that makes people to harbors morbid hatred for their fellow human beings, is not good.

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