Assignment 1, Text-Based

Walk in to any retailer and purchase a product. Doesn’t matter what it is, not find the tag or imprint that explains where the product was made. Much more than likely it wasn’t made in the United States. More likely it was made in Southeastern Asia, China, or Mexico. That, is globalization. Through that global consumer attitude goods are able to be made more cheaply and people are able to buy them in greater quantities. However in purchasing these products the consumer is voting with her dollar against industries that are exclusively American. People in recent decades have begun to take notice of this new global economy and the real power of the consumer dollar.

It is largely after World War II that globalization as we study it in a contemporary context began to emerge. Foreign investment began to take shape beginning with the reconstruction of Europe under the Marshall Plan. This was the idea that gave birth to The World Bank and subsequently the International Monetary Fund. This was the international organization that was charged with dispensing money to nations in need of reconstruction. Where did that money come from? Largely from the governments of the rich western super-powers of the time, the chief lending being the United States. This gave the capitalist West a very large stick to wield on the global stage and opened the door for what was to come.

After Europe was back on its feet per se the WTO was a loose dog carrying that rather large stick and didn’t know where to swing it next. Enter, Robert McNamara, who as described by William Finnegan in his essay “Affinity Groups and the Movement Against Corporate Globalization” shifted the WTO’s focus and resources to Southeast Asia. The intentions seemed pure enough, pull these struggling nations to their feet with the help of foreign money to build infrastructure and develop better agriculture prospects. However, with this foreign aid (which were essentially loans) came mountains of national debt on the part of the poor countries. So the WTO began privatizing its operations and allowing foreign business investors to get their foot in the door.

The WTO and the IMF have had a snowball effect as far as foreign investment goes; they started these projects and then helped them evolve and carry over to other markets and nations with the help of an overarching international board which dictates policy and doesn’t really have a direct reporting agency.

Organizations have keep watch on the WTO and the IMF for several years. Chiefly the AFL-CIO who is concerned with workers rights here in the United States. On a Fall morning, November 30, 1990 to be precise the AFL-CIO as well as hundreds of other international, national and local organizations took to the streets of downtown Seattle in what came to be known as the “N30” protests against the WTO summit held there. Over the course of several hours nearly 50,000 people crammed into the streets in a blockade of the convention center. Many considered this a success in generating general public knowledge of the WTO and its practices.

The WTO being the big international bulldog it is makes it quite difficult for social organizations to fight it as a whole. Therefore a greater emphasis is currently placed on dealing with individual international corporations and individual company dealings. Contemporary watch groups such as CorpWatch and the consumer education organization Ad Busters are attempting to reach the general public with sustained information feeds and publications on how to fight globalization and what the new global economy means on a human rights playing field and how other countries who are not on the consuming end of the cycle are affected.

The neo-Marxist mass society theory states is inclined to the fact that these protest organizations form out of lack of a middle-man type agency between the people and the larger organization. As stated previously there is not agency that the WTO is directly responsible to and really no middle ground on which the organization and the people can meet face-to-face, especially since the WTO meetings (like the 1999 event in Seattle) are held behind closed doors. Out of necessity more than anything these organizations form and conduct these protests so someone will listen to them and take notice.

As far as rational approaches to the political process anti-globalization activists are floundering, again with not overarching political organization to keep the WTO IMF in check it falls the international community of governments to take notice and regulate at the national level. This is quite difficult since, as many people, see it globalization brings jobs where they are needed (developing countries) and goods were they are demanded (developed countries). Therefore, many governments see it as a win-win situation. Also, perhaps more powerful than the international community of governments is where the buck stops, literally. No, it’s not President Truman’s desk. It is the individual consumer with the power of her almighty dollar. It is she and she alone who decides where and on what to spend it on. Therefore by campaigns like Ad Busters which focus on consumer education she can become more informed and fight the bulldog or globalization from its core.

As far as cultural and emotional approaches to the subject. The social protest organizations in questions focus, as stated previously, on the human/workers rights issues. For example a recent shoe sale campaign in Ad Busters sold shoes made by Portuguese workers in a sustainable factory where they were paid a living wage (meaning the minimum above the poverty line.) These shoes to the general public would likely be considered expensive but it goes to indicate that these cheap products from developing countries must be produced by workers in extremely low paying jobs and terrible working conditions. Also the government system of these developing countries can be in constant turmoil which is also cause for concern on the human rights front.
Of all of these explanations the most effective for the anti-globalization campaign would be adopting rational political and educational approaches to works against the global machine. These practices are largely sustained efforts and create constant and perpetuating awareness of the situation at hand and help the smart consumer guide where her next dollar may go.