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The author
makes some statements that may be challenged here.
Does “opportunities
for the new generation” necessarily mean free markets? Is the complexity of choosing allies
and enemies in a global war on terrorism highlighting the complexity and
reality of globalization for those who hadn’t made the connection before? If the Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
Bush manifesto is accepted in the US, it stipulates that traditional border
rights do not exist to protect terrorists; therefore, borders in general are vulnerable,
anachronistic and impede free trade completely. So Bush has a NAFTA strategy, n’est pas? – Karen Watters
Cole Globalization, Alive
and Well
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, NYT, September 22,
2002 @ http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/22/opinion/22FRIE.html “If one were having a contest for the most
wrongheaded prediction about the world after 9/11, the winner would be the
declaration by the noted London School of Economics professor John Gray that
9/11 heralded the end of the era of globalization. Not only will Sept. 11 not be remembered for ending the
process of global financial, trade and technological integration, but it may
well be remembered for bringing some sobriety to the antiglobalization
movement. If one thing stands out from 9/11, it's the fact that the
terrorists originated from the least globalized, least open, least integrated
corners of the world: namely, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Afghanistan and northwest
Pakistan. Countries that don't trade in goods and
services also tend not to trade in ideas, pluralism or tolerance. But maybe the most important reason why globalization is
alive and well post-9/11 is that while pampered college students and academics
in the West continue to debate about whether countries should globalize, the
two biggest countries in the world, India and China — who represent one-third
of humanity — have long moved beyond that question. They have decided that opening their economies to trade in
goods and services is the best way to lift their people out of abject poverty
and are now focused simply on how to globalize in the most stable manner. Some prefer to go faster, and some prefer to phase out
currency controls and subsidies gradually, but the debate about the direction
they need to go is over. "Globalization fatigue is still very much in evidence
in Europe and America, while in places like China and India, you find a great
desire for participation in the economic expansion processes," said Jairam
Ramesh, the Indian Congress Party's top economic adviser. " Even those who are suspicious now want
to find a way to participate, but in a way that manages the risks and the
pace. So we're finding ways to `glocalize,' to do it our own way. It may mean a little slower growth to manage the social
stability, but so be it. I just spent a week in Germany and had
to listen to all these people there telling me how globalization is destroying
India and adding to poverty, and I just said to them, `Look, if you want to
argue about ideology, we can do that, but on the level of facts, you're just
wrong.' " That truth is most striking in Bangalore, India's Silicon
Valley, where hundreds of thousands of young Indians, most from
lower-middle-class families, suddenly have social mobility, motor scooters and
apartments after going to technical colleges and joining the Indian software
and engineering firms providing back-room support and research for the world's
biggest firms — thanks to globalization.
Bangalore
officials say each tech job produces 6.5 support jobs, in construction and
services. "Information technology has made millionaires out of ordinary
people [in India] because of their brainpower alone — not caste, not land, not heredity,”
said Sanjay Baru, editor of India's Financial Express. "India is just beginning to
realize that this process of globalization is one where we have an inherent
advantage." Taking advantage of globalization to develop the Indian I.T.
industry has been "a huge win in terms of foreign exchange [and in]
self-confidence," added Nandan Nilekani, chief executive of Infosys, the
Indian software giant. "So
many Indians come and say to me that `when I walk through immigration at J.F.K.
or Heathrow, the immigration guys look at me with respect now.' The image of India changed from a
third-world country of snake charmers and rope tricks to the software brainy
guys." Do a majority of Indians still live in poor villages? Of course. Do we still need to make globalization more fair by
compelling the rich Western countries to open their markets more to those
things that the poor countries are best able to sell: food and textiles? You bet. But
the point is this: The debate about globalization before 9/11 got really
stupid. Two simple truths got
lost: One, globalization has its
upsides and downsides, but countries that come at it with the right
institutions and governance can get the best out of it and cushion the
worst. Two, countries that are
globalizing sensibly but steadily are also the ones that are becoming politically
more open, with more opportunities for their people, and with a young
generation more interested in joining the world system than blowing it up. “ |
