Globalisation – an analysis

In the light of the Word of God:-

In the Holy Bible, at the tower of Babel, when God found all inhabitants speaking    the same language HE did not like it; he confused them by giving different languages to each and made them not to understand each other’s version; the human inhabitants on earth became multilingual (Genesis 11.1-9); etymologically the word ‘babbling’ derived from the word ‘Babel’ which means confusion and chaotic verbal communication (Ref. The Penguin English Dictionary). Hypothesis of one world and one community got nullified by God Himself Biblically. Now the earth is a veritable pot of different culture, custom, language and faith.

God created a kaleidoscopic world   with a plethora of topographies, myriad of geographical variations and climatic conditions;   various flora and fauna,   in accordance with varied geographical and climatic    backdrops, came into existence. All won’t thrive and prosper in all locations and under all conditions.  God placed the earth intact having His own plan for locations and races of human inhabitants and for different species of animal kingdom, avian groups,    etc. and also different types of hydro bios for fresh and marine water bodies     – and also the countries with different natural resources like oil and agriculture crops in accordance with their different climate, soil and water conditions.

Meanwhile God does not want to compartmentalize the countries watertight ; Bible encourages  trading across the globe; it gives the cues about trading  of goods across countries and the movement of human resource from one country to another; during the time of King David and King Solomon,  in spite of primitive and time  consuming transportation;  logs were transported across nations through rivers which flowed through their counties; the logs were tied together and allowed to float along the flow of the river  and also  through sea trading went on in some mode or the other with in nations and between nations as on when the  need warranted; barter system was in vogue between countries. Like wise skilled human resource went across countries. It was, is and will be vital for human race to depend on one another and one nation on another nation.  In reality no nation can exist as an island including the geographically isolated and located islands. 

Each country compliments to each other as it is designed by God Himself accordingly; all   countries trade between each other for reciprocal benefits; an implicit barter system has to go on; it is imperative for the world to move on. But when certain countries try to out smart the others ‘beggar – thy – neighbour’ attitude is bred among the countries; calamity follows in global ecological system and environment and in global economy and society; ulterior motives and greed alter the set up of   His creation. Greater is the intrusion of man in His system, greater is the destruction.   It is the law of nature that applies to any field of action by man. 

Globalisation is trying to emphasise ‘one world and one country and one economy. This   strikes a wrong note; it is not   in tune with symphony of nature; somewhere, it pitches high in a wrong notation   and creaks and breaks down the symphony; the listeners plug their ears.    God abhorred the intention of the inhabitants at the tower of Babel who tried   to reach the heaven through the tower; not their action as such, He bothered of; God was not worried that those inhabitants would climb up to heaven through the tower, but   God did not like that very thought and undue ambition/greed of man and also his stupidity of an idea of reaching heaven through the man-made tower. Such might be the thought about globalization. The pity is that IMF has to bend as per the magic wand of America which has the veto power in IMF. America and other countries in G8 would certainly bailout themselves before they show their altruism towards the developing countries. In today’s context it is proved – the mighty America, one of the G8s and the leader of the G8s which led the world to globalisation through its favourite international apex machineries called International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organisation (WTO) is in a chaotic financial condition.    The countries which depend   on America or other super powers for their profits are also in trouble. Honorable Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is suggesting that IMF could be generous in bailing out the countries in financial turbulence.  

Is Globalisation a tentative solace to the suffering in a developing country? 

Globalisation is characterised by the removal of all barriers for a free trade across the globe;   there,  not only   trading of  goods , but also the movement of human resource, flow of  investment   on business,   transfer of technology and  migration of culture  across the globe without any impediment  would be possible. 

It is true that the opening up to international trade has helped the developing countries to grow faster than they would otherwise have done. International trade   helps economic development; ‘more exports and less import’ is the formula for a successful economy of any country; more exports lead a country to a better economic condition. Export led growth is the linchpin in generating employment in the developing countries besides increasing the GDP;   many of the developing countries after globalisation breathed a sigh of relief; millions, even unskilled, got employed; a job, at least, enough to meet their  both ends is better than starving to malnutrition and death. Look at china: China’s economic growth was driven almost by American demand. Goods from China flooded the US market – every where Chinese made goods. The prudent China built up their infrastructure in such a manner that she can survive even in a global recession.  In 2007, China contributed more to Global growth than the United States. Today, as US is in financial fiasco Chinese goods may not find such a great market in the US, still they can survive by their low cost of  production and the whole world would be their market during the years to come. This became possible as China built their infrastructure and trained their human resource to be cooperative for nation building; the result is they could manufacture goods for a pretty competitive price for the world market.  Non corrupt government and also the responsible citizens contributed to their success. The irony is that the capitalist America who advocates democracy across the world and an enemy to communism contributed to the growth of a country under a totalitarian regime. 

Another is the export – garment factories in India and Bangladesh and also call centres in India; this might be a temporary remedy to the poverty stricken.   Thousands of unemployed and unskilled youth in these countries got their employments to sustain themselves – thanks to globalisation which created the demand for the clothes from India and for the English accent of our youth; but it was timely; but today the call centres are retrenching the staff and the garment factories are pulling their shutters down as the business in US and other countries   is dwindling due to recession. Under globalisation, depending on other countries for long without protecting and building up our own infrastructure   won’t lead us to a   sustainable development.  One should emulate china in its efforts and enthusiasm in building up for a sustainable growth and development. Also training its citizens to be responsible and to have a vision for their own country is indispensable.  The lessons should begin from the childhood itself; schools should play a vital part in making the nation a successful one. 

One more example is the IT industry in India. U.S. business with the Indian software industry provided an unprecedented   high salary to the youth with a degree in computer science; every college increased the number of outgoing computer graduates year by year.  Please note that 60% of the business from the US to Indian IT came from the US financial sector; as the mega US finance companies like Lehman brothers, Merrill Lynch and Citi group got drained of its own business, the IT industries in India started shrinking. A great lesson one can learn from these unfortunate, but anticipated miss happenings under globalisation is that depending on any nation beyond a particular point is suicidal.    IT   related jobs always depend upon the success of other industries. The growth of IT is directly   proportionate to the growth of other major industries. Blindly creeping around   globalisation and sacrificing the growth of one’s own resources and belittling one’s own innate natural abilities would be the tragic flaw for a major economical and social tragedy. We have forgotten, long back, that India is basically an agrarian country.  

Suicide of 150000 farmers between 1997 and 2005 in India pops up a signal to stop and stare where we have missed the sign board and selected a wrong road; these suicides occurred during the hectic process of globalisation and free trade.  These symptomatic suicides (disease to be diagnosed) are not just tragedies in   respective 150000 Indian families; and also it should not be considered as just another statistic; it is 150000 death knells for an agrarian era in India.  Remember, India is an agrarian country by its natural resources and in its geographical and climatic conditions and in topography. We ruined our cultivable land and over drained off the soil of its minerals and energy by inorganic chemicals and polluted the environment by the chemical pesticides; this process of destruction was accelerated due to globalisation. Where shall our future generation go for their uncontaminated and healthy food?    

Critics of Globalisation:-

Critics of globalisation often criticise the west for establishing their ancillary units in developing countries for the sake of low cost labour. It can be considered as a win – win situation for both the developed and developing countries for the time being at least. Now this sort of employment seems to be dwindling due to the global financial crunch; greenery emaciated.  It is not a sustainable one. In the developing countries like America too the American employees loose their jobs to their Indian counter parts for the salary Indian demands is half of what the American expects. The employer is happy to have an Indian instead of an American as the cost to the company is many times lesser when an Indian is appointed. There are incidents that an American shot himself in the working place due to the agony in loosing his job to an Indian.

Even French former President Jacques Chirac, one of the G8 leaders explicitly told that ‘Globalisation is not making life better for those most in need of it’s promised benefits’ (from J. Chirac’s address at the International Labour conference, June1996).

Prof. Paul Robin Krugman, the 2008 Nobel Laureate researched on trade theory; his theory shows that globalisation tends to increase pressure on urban living because specialisation sucks people in to centres of concentration in which ‘regions become divided on to a high- technology urbanised core and a less developed periphery ’.

Today the growth in per capita income in many of the developing countries is fairly good due to globalisation; but globalisation has created rich countries with majority of poor. Along with the growing cosmopolitanism of the wealthy and the professionals of the new economy, globalisation has led to xenophobia.  

Critics who vilify Globalisation, define it as a nomenclature constituted by armchair economists, shrewd politicians, myopic leaders of the developed countries in connivance with the parochial ministers, ambitious global -amalgamate – industrialists and IT tycoons of the developing countries for their reciprocal benefits; it is more   political rather than strategically designed pattern for economic and social liberation of the majority poor in the developing countries. The imperialistic countries  tailor and veer the global economic and social infrastructure to suit their own benefits tossing the caret to the majority middle and poor society of developing countries; victims in the whole process of globalisation is the poor in the developing countries. The victims in the developing countries   envisage gold as it glitters; by the time they realise the reality,  they  are already  trapped in a psychological, economical and social mayhem; they cannot  wriggle out of its suffocation and at the end succumb  to irreparable  damage and loss; it is too late for them to come of out of this magic castle. 

It is true that Globalisation   has reduced the sense of isolation felt in much of the developing countries; the youth in the developing countries can access to knowledge and technology easily; this could not have been possible in a world without the concept of globalisation. Is it all good enough for the development of a nation? The knowledge and technology have brought in  to India the wanted and  much unwanted stuff too in every field; an example is the  sub cultured pops, rocks and heavy metal numbers; they are freely prevalent here in India  after  globalisation; the youth go berserk;  a drain of serenity and a dearth of sanity is the result. Man cannot live by bread alone, but also he needs the other aspects of spiritual realm. They don’t find time to socialise with their own family members – also no date   in their calendars to attend anything pertaining to their spiritual life .The outcome is the increased number in suicides and separation in families; in the IT capital of India, Bangalore, 600 employees from the IT sector committed suicides during the first 7 months of 2008. (Deccan Chronicle Dated 22^nd October)

The global Apex bodies like World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and  World Trade Organisation(WTO),  plan to help the  World’s poor as their motto  is ‘World  Without Poverty’; though these bodies are headed and directed by award – winning economists and great thinkers in the field of poverty reduction,  their empathetic concern towards the poor dying in   starvation and the children loosing childhood due to malnutrition in the African continent and   the suicide of farmers in India, is unquestionably  genuine. Meantime, their agendum to create a ‘world without poverty’ gets pushed to oblivion by the ulterior agenda of   the decision makers with the power of veto. The developed countries with   unbridled and absolute power corrupt these apex bodies. 

Rich countries with poor people:-

India defines its poverty line at roughly, Rs.15/- a day. The government says this is enough to maintain a 2,200- calorie diet required to prevent death. The new World Bank poverty line is $ 1.25/ or Rs.53/- per day. This nearly doubles the number of poor in India from the government’s official figure of 280 million to 450 million. A higher poverty bar will make India look bad, but the truth is most Indians do live in appalling conditions – (22^nd September 2008 Business World); this condition existed during the process of hectic globalisation. The incredible number of suicides among farmers, (one lakh and fifty thousand farmers killed themselves between 1997 and 2005) on one hand and the hike of prices in every quarter of life on the other hand create a furore among the common man in India. This is the outcome of indiscriminate globalisation. What is the meaning of getting richer by globalisation? It is true that globalisation has made the countries richer with a higher per capita income, but the poor and the people below the poverty line increased in the countries where globalisation has been allowed without tailoring in accordance with their needs; often it is not possible to do the right things in the right time for the welfare of the developing countries due to the pressure from the decision makers of these apex bodies as they take care of their own need and do what is good for them rather than for the developing countries. The agriculture in India has gone to dogs due to the subsidy US and the other superpowers gave to their farmers who in turn produced more and exported more to suppress the agriculture production and exports from the developing countries.  The WTO fixes the price for our products and it tells us whether we could give a subsidy to our farmers.  

Cup of woe in finance:-

Also the share market slumps; every day and the middle class investors lose their savings.  The financial institutions are holding their cup of woe – once adorned are now thronged by the depositors to salvage their deposits before they  sink. Even in European countries and in the US the banks are in doldrums and the governments try to bail out them; for example mega financial institutions like Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Citibank etc. are holding the money of the people from developing countries,   under their global leaking umbrella.  The global financial down turn of 2008 has affected the middle class in the developing countries as these victims believed too much of the fruits of globalisation; sad, now they understand that the fruit is bitter. 

Loosing the farm lands:-

In 1991 India opened up its economy to free trade and foreign investments. Export of sugar and cotton, paper industries, hydroelectric dams and mining industries – they all put increasing pressure on farming land, fresh water sources, fishing grounds and forests. It is these resources, in which most Indians depend for their subsistence. Indian government assists large corporations in view of globalization. Foreign investors expropriate community resources, such as land, water and forest for commercial purpose. The poor’s access to land in rural India has worsened further due to various land acquisition drives of the state in the name of industrialisation and development; initiative of land acquisition for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) has made things from bad to worse; India has experienced most severe conflicts in the rural belts regarding access to land. 

Crushing the local products and the local business class and industries:-

The foreign companies enter in to the developing market and squelch the local companies; when the foreign products are introduced in to the developing countries they reach the customers at a competitive price and in attractive formats; the local products loose their market share well below the point of redemption and they get collapsed once for all after a period of great struggle with the foreign giants. Now the foreign investor is the monopolist and keeps up his price and if the market has a couple of foreign players they form a cartel.  In the absence of strong consumer and price control   law the consumers of the developing   countries would suffer in the longer run and the local business class will once for all get eliminated from the scene.  

Anti Swadeshi:

Desire for anything ‘made abroad’ and rejecting our indigenous production lead to the dearth of wealth in the country. One has to remember that once when he/she   buys a product from a multinational company, the major portion of the money he/she pays against that product goes out of his/her own country and the rest is being used to expand their business; if one is conscious of the economy of his/her own country he/she has to think twice before buying a product from a foreign company. The same with the foreign banks.  It is a loss to   our nation and infinite trouble to us if we trust the foreign banks. 

Patent right:

A common man does not know what is in store for him when the patent right of an emergency drug is with a developed country; he does not know what would happen to his native tree or a plant when they are patented in a foreign country. Only when he pays through his nose for the drug which is a panacea for his/her illness realises the truth that the drug company charges for an herb from his backyard. Now, a common man in the developing country realises that he has been robbed off already- but it is too late.

It is sad indeed; many of the third world leaders are inadvertently or with an ulterior motive accept globalisation as the developed countries offer pack. Pierre Bourdieu an author from France talks about the need of the politicians to know better of the matters pertaining to the global Economy and all that affects their countries.

Devouring the small:-

Dutch development economist Jan Pronk believes that in the move to a liberalised economy loss was widely spread while the initial benefits were enjoyed by only a few. The business tycoons in India becoming the monopoly or duopoly players   in their respective fields devouring the small players are threatening the very economic ligaments which unite various segments together in harmony in society. Fear is there that there would be a disharmonious economy which would produce more anti nationals and antisocial beings due to the struggles in their   identity and survival. Indian multinational companies would like to do retailing of vegetables in nook and corner of India; if this continues, poor women, widows   and the economically marginalised   from the city peripherals who carry a basket of vegetables from door to door for their daily sustenance would not be seen anymore; where shall they go? Suicides! What is this paranoia about in doing everything by themselves (multinationals)  from generating power for mega cities in India and satellite communications to vegetable retailing and shaving and haircutting(Reliance is planning a chain of beauty  saloons); an idea of one airlines who flies the rich taking over the smaller ones who are flying with out frills for a commoner and taking everything to the arena of handful rich denying a commoner of his  facility which helps him in emergency at least; monopolistic mindset is flourishing under globalisation. Mightiest would go on a buying spree. The lesser will vanish in thin air. A typical capitalist characteristic is set on. This happens in every field of transaction under globalisation. Internationally the same thing happens; the multinationals coming in to the third world and buying the companies under the pretext of joint ventures; day is not far off, only the foreign  investors will reign over us in every field. We might wonder whether we are back to the time before 1947.  Sense of Freedom is setoff   under globalisation. The concept of independence to be redefined in the developing countries which have accepted Globalisation with out tailoring to its own condition. 

Prevention failed, now cure is a task:-

The woes of Globalisation and the protests against Globalisation are as old as the inception of globalisation itself. Protests at the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organisation in 1999 and later the death of a protester in Genoa in 2001 cautioned about   Globalisation. 

Curing a disease is more complicated than preventing; we have failed to prevent indiscriminate – globalisation.  Now we have gone far away; it is difficult to come back to the point where we started the journey of Globalisation. It is better to stop before we get in to the most dangerous zone. The damage should be mitigated in every area namely, Social, Spiritual, Psychological, Economical, Environmental etc. Further damage can be annulled if we imbibe in the minds of our present generation and the generations to come the noble values of patriotism, worth of being spiritual, contentment, and concern for the poor and needy, responsibility towards environmental protection. 

A word to the parents and teachers:- 

This has to start from home and school; the responsibility of parents and teachers play a vital role in the formation of future minds. The children don’t hear what we say, but they see what we do. Let us do things what is ideal and valuable before we preach to them. Let them see and learn.  

`The children of today, the promise of tomorrow’. Let the parents teach the children what could soup up their souls rather than their ego, pride and selfishness in the disguise of giving them a competitive spirit; let the children know their responsibility to contribute in order to create a just society; let them learn how to love their neighbour and how to maintain a harmony within himself, with the family members and friends, with nature and with their creator. Let them be honest in everything they do, not fearing man, but fearing God. 

We hear from parents that their children are exposed to much more than they were exposed during their own childhood due to globalisation; no doubt they are right. The children of today are grown beyond their age due to rapid globalisation. The growth in what? They loose their childhood, they loose passion for relationship and family bondage; they are not thrilled to find a bee hive hanging from a tree top since they don’t have the time and mind to imagine the marvelous creation of the creator. They think of becoming popular, settling in a city abroad when they become graduates and getting materially rich; they plan, now itself, where can they lodge their parents when they become old; certainly not along with them in their houses as globalisation has taught them of the old age homes; they are being taught that it is not a sin to allow the parents to languish alone in the old age homes. What is this growth all about under globalization?                                                                     –  Solomon Vincent

Post script:- . This article was prepared much before the fiasco in  Satyam . Hence, did not got mentioned here.

Solomon Vincent is a Social Researcher and working with the `The Leprosy Mission’ as the Regional Support Manager. 

Formerly served as a lecturer of English in Loyola College and also worked as the senior manager with World Vision. During his student days he was an active member of SCM.

It was published in the Christian Manager – April issue