Four Stories and Globalization
06 May, 2002 · 745
Lt Cdr Atul Bhardawaj argues that globalization, which determines our life in more ways than one, is the flavour of our times
The front page of The Sunday Times, (The Times of India, February 3, 2002 ) carried four main stories. The lead story was a ‘Sunday Special’- “Will DU give lessons in Karvachauth”. The other stories were – “WSJ reporter is alive, claims new e-mail”; “IIM grads shun dollar dreams for desi jobs” and the main story – “come, join the millionaire club”. It is hard to discern any connection between these four stories. However, a closer scrutiny reveals their common theme, speaking volumes about the dialectics of globalization, which generates expectations and aspirations but also instills fear and paranoia. Incidentally, all these four stories represent a local backlash against globalization-induced inequality, insensitivity, insecurity, and infidelity (GI4).
India
. It is a typical story, which creates illusions, but remains silent about globalization-related poverty problems. The very fact that there are only 300,000 crorepatis, concentrated in two large metropolitan centers in a vast country with a population of 100 crores (1 billion), substantiates the argument that inequality is inherent in the globalization process. This big and ugly patch of inequality gives the gold threaded globalization jacket a tattered look.
India
is the growing recession in the global market. Moreover, the young professionals are aware that, when the going gets tough, the first people to be retrenched in foreign markets are Asians.
Pakistan
was an act of revenge by the marginalized against the growing power of Global Financial Corporations (GFC). The standard operating procedures of global capital dictates that it leaves the land of dwindling profits as fast as possible without bothering about the people it pauperizes in the process. It is the infidelity ingrained in the character of the TNCs, which lies at the root of these conflicts and the growth of terrorism.
The bottom spread relates to the increasing number of crorepatis (millionaires) in
The story about the fresh Indian Institute of Management (IIM) graduates’ preference for Indian companies reflects the changing patterns of the division of labour in the globalization era. This has changed the pattern of geographical specialization among countries. The classical ‘core-periphery’ relationship is undergoing a metamorphosis. Newly industrializing countries (NIC) are catching up with their developed counterparts in terms of industrialization. However, the shifting of the production base from the developed to the developing world is adversely affecting the unskilled labour in these countries, and increasing unemployment rates in the developed economies. The direct consequences of job insecurities in the developed economies has been a growth of racism and xenophobia, which has influenced the IIM graduates’ decision to avoid going abroad. Another reason prompting them to seek fulfillment of their professional goals in
The second lead story brings out the worst kind of backlash against globalization – terrorism. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is the mouthpiece of transnational corporations (TNCs) and generally speaks the language of the governing elites of globalization. The abduction of Daniel Pearl, a WSJ correspondent, by a religious fundamentalist organization based in
The ‘Sunday Special’ lead story about the saffronization of educational institutions, emphasizes the reaction of the far right against the insensitivity of globalization regarding local cultures. It is largely believed that money, McDonald and MTV challenge the core values of religious beliefs. Almost all religions advise their followers against the evils of gambling, money lending and borrowing, which directly confronts the philosophy of TNCs. While AirTel and Pepsi urge people to ‘talk more’ and ‘have more’, religion teaches them the virtues of mauna (silence), and mukti (emancipation from desire).
The religious revivalism, which has occurred over the past two decades, is a direct result of the clash between markets and religious piety rather than a “clash of civilization” or Marxophobia. This growing religiosity is a direct response against the growing menace of markets, which is fast replacing religion as the ‘opium of the masses’. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, both religion and Fordism have become redundant for global capitalism, which works under the direct guidance of TNCs. They view religion as inimical to their interests. However, it is too early to predict a divorce between capitalism and religion despite the increasing leftist backlash against globalization.
The four stories filed by different correspondents covering various facets of human activity converged on the common issue of globalization. Whether this happened by design or default, is besides the point. What does emerge from these stories, is that globalization, which determines our lives in more ways than one, is the flavour of our times.
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