Braving The New World Essay, Research Paper
Moving towards a
global society with a local focus. ??????????? With the growing trends towards the global community it is becoming
more and more necessary for us to find the balance between the global and the
local. They say that all you need to look at to see what the current trends and
drives are in a society all you need to do is take a look at their advertising.
Catch slogans like, ?Help your small business take its place in the global
economy, use brand X?, are all indicators that we are headed towards the
globalisation of well, the globe. ??????????? Until recent years even though we
were all part of the collective of the planet earth, we were essentially locally
driven. Things that happened on the other side of the planet really didn?t make
all that much of a difference in our own part of the country. Now however with
the advent of the ?international? news networks, and the ever more
interconnectedness of our societies, if the Tokyo stock exchange has a bad day,
you can expect that there will be trouble in the business sectors of
metropolitan Vancouver. In the age of corporate downsizing, companies are doing
anything but. The proposed merger of the Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank, is
evidence enough of this. Staff and branches are cu under the guise of
?streamlining? and ?downsizing?. Companies are leaner, meaner, and bigger. The
Chairman of the Bank of Montreal, Matthew W. Barrett stated that ?The merger of
Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Canada will create a financial institution
that will serve Canadians better at home as well as abroad.?? Governments are also moving toward the land
of mergers and upsizing. The proposed creation of the European union is evidence
of that. The question one almost needs to ask though is ?why?? Is this trend
towards globalisation bringing us closer and closer to the ?McWorld?? (ch 2) where corporations reign supreme and
you can have your materials quick and ?to go? but you had better get out of the
way when you have your order, since the business isn?t about people, it?s about
products, and the power of your market share. In the age of the multinational
you can do whatever you want if your big enough. The environmental laws in one
country don?t let you produce something cheaply enough? That?s ok, just find
another country that has more relaxed laws, or is willing to look the other way
for the right price, and open a branch office there. The commercialisation of
the planet seems as inevitable as the march of time. ?What is the power of the Pentagon
compared with Disneyland?s? Can the sixth Fleet keep up with CNN? McDonalds in
Moscow and Coke in China will do more to create a global culture more than
military colonisation ever could. It is less the goods than the brand names
that do the work,? (Ch 2, Jihad Vs. McWorld) ??????????? The results of this globalisation
have for the most part been rather grim. However one of the main reasons for
this is the spirit in which this globalisation has taken place. The act of the
globalisation of our countries and our economies have been made in the interest
of entities other then the common man and woman. For the most part the drive
towards globalisation has been driven?
by economics. One prime example of this drive for global economics has
been the Free Trade Agreement, or FTA for short. The FTA was an agreement that
was take the economies of Canada, and America, and tie them together in an
economic union that would be beneficial to both countries. Promises of the new
age of economics abounded and the agreement was passed. The results of the FTA
have not lived up to those promises though. When Canadians were told to ?stand
up like real men in a tough world, and make more concessions to American
capital.? We did it, but the outcome was not where new what we were promised.
Canada ended up with the progression towards becoming a ?warehouse economy?. In the first three years of the FTA
(1989-1992), Canada lost about 600,000 jobs and 1000 factories, its merchandise
trade surplus with the US declined by over $6 billion, and its global balance
of trade in goods and services went form a surplus of about $13 billion to a
deficit of about $10 billion. Most of the lost jobs have been prime
manufacturing jobs. Since 1990 Canada has lost jobs at triple the US rate, and
the unemployment insurance bill has risen by $7 billion???.. Mulroney became
the most unpopular leader in modern Canadian history? (Ch 14 Quebeckers, Mohawks and Zulus:?) For what benefits
did we adopted this? What economic benefits has the average Canadian seen?
Inflation still goes up. Merchandise still costs more, and nothing really ?new?
and ?exciting? has happened to our economy. You would think that if it cheaper
to make shoes in Mexico then shoes would cost less. Why don?t they? Answer that
question and you will find the answer to we have trade agreements that are this
devastating in the first place. ??????????? On of the other results of this
movement towards the goals of the corporate and away from the individual is the
reason for the growing unrest amongst the underclass?s of Canada and the
US.? With this movement the mobility of
the underclass has been limited. There is no longer the hope of a bright future
for their children. Parents who were part of this underclass had the bright
hope and future of allowing their children and families to move out of the
lower class and on upward into the middle class of society. The normal upward movement that was for a long the solvent for
discontent has been arrested. The underclass has become a semi-permanent rather
tha
has been surprisingly little comment as to why minority communities in New
York, Chicago and Los Angeles and elsewhere (Toronto), once poor but benign and
culturally engaging, are now centres of terror and despair. The reason is that
what a favouring upward step in economic life has now become a hopeless
enthralment. (Ch 13, The Culture of Contentment) ??????????? What we are seeing now is the
discontentment of the population with the current forms of government and the commercialisation
of our politics. Politics is no longer driven by a concern for the people, it
is driven by economics. From the start of the first election fund raiser to the
passing of various laws in order to appease your campaign supporters, people
now perceive government as a unfortunately necessary evil. Something to be put
up with, because someone has to run the country. It is in a sense a moral crisis
of the government. ?Citizens feel let
down by their governments and are disgusted with what they see within them. Moral crisis?s reveal as their second dimension, a distrust of
political representatives regardless of ideology. The moment of opportunity for
the non political politician arises. In this respect the moral crisis might
seem to constitute a reaction by civil society against it?s political class. (Ch 3, Democracy and Its Discontents) ??????????? A nice thing about moral crisis?s
though is that they often come right before a significant change in ?the structure and make up of a society. When
people begin to tire of the political class revolution often comes into being.
While I think that it is safe to assume that we will not be marching our
political leaders off to the guillotine in a revolutionary French change of
power any time soon, it is fairly safe to assume that large changes are on the
way for government and society, if not due to this discontent, then out of necessity
for us to come to a new political state that will work in the global order. ??????????? One of the other current trends that
we are facing in this ?McWorld? as it is progressing right now is the dawning
age of ?Rights Talk.? The focus of the people of our country has moved from, ?what
we owe to our society?? ?to what does society owe me?? Perhaps in a reaction to
the advent of ?McWorld? people are focusing on self more then anything else.
The reason can be many things, from the influence of American culture to the
possible belief that the only way to maintain ones individuality in the dawning
of the new corporate age is to constantly be on the look out for ?your rights?
and to make sure that you do something about it anytime you feel that ?your
rights? are being violated. ?I am not
trying to say that human rights are not a very important and a positive concern
for society, however we have moved past the realm of human rights and into the realm
of MY RIGHTS. People have forgotten that the rights of a Canadian come after
the fulfilment of ones responsibilities in the Canadian constitution, and the
courts for the most part have allowed that to happen. Whether out of a belief
that rights are paramount over all, or a fear that they will also come under
fire for violating someone?s rights. The problem with the current view point on rights is that it is one
that has no room for compromise, there is a winner and a loser, and the winner
has no room for the loser in their society. Society needs to come back around
to the reality of human rights. Jane Jacobs, delights in telling how, when she became a citizen of
Canada, she was instructed by the judge that the most important thing about
being Canadian is learning that the most important thing about being a Canadian
is learning to get along with ones neighbours. ???.. The universal Declaration of Human
rights, ?Everyone has duties to the community,? and that everyone?s rights and
freedoms are subject to limitations ?for the purposes of securing due
recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and meeting the
just requirements of morality, public order and the general
welfare in a democratic society.? (Ch
12 Rights Talk) ??????????? So where do we go
from here if we are to move into a productive and fair society for the future
and bring Canada into the next millennia? The dawning of the network world may
be part of that solution, a continuation of global politics and power that maintains
a concern for the local. A movement for the metropolitan society towards a more
cosmopolitan. ?The phrase ?think
globally, act locally? holds new meaning for the future of our country. The successful
government of the future will be one that is able to make itself an aggressive and
progressive force in the global society. ?It makes sense to protect the neighbourhood.
It is not misguided to think that local and national governments are still good
tools for that.? (Ch
14 Quebeckers, Mohawks and Zulus) The incorporation of human rights into this ?Brave New World? is
only just and fair. Yet it will be only just and fair if we can find the
balance between the rights of the individual and the responsibilities of the
individual in this new world. No longer can we put our selves before our neighbours
and everything else and hope to have a society that has concern for it?s
citizens, one that is not a faceless McWorld. What we need to realise is that
we are the people who steer that McWorld. If we continue to place our
individual rights before the rest of society than a society that is concerned
for its citizens will never materialise. Bibliography:Bateman, Mertin, Thomas, Braving the New
World. Toronto, International Thomson ?Printing. 1995.