Chowk-e-Bay Roz GaraN and Globalization

To be governed means that at every move, operation or transaction an individual is noted, registered, entered in a census, taxed, stamped, priced, assessed, patented, licensed, authorized, recommended, admonished, reformed, exploited, monopolized, extorted, pressured, mystified, and robbed; all in

the name of public utility and general good- Proudhon 1851. The question is, if it is applicable to nations, societies, and cultures in the context of Globalization?

WILL WORK FOR FOOD - You must have seen them gather, everyday, early in the morning, at this particular street of your city; sitting on the sidewalk, waiting for someone who would pick them up, they are the semi-skilled and non-skilled workers in every city and town of the subcontinent. Their livelihood depends on the will of an employer who would hire them for the day. Those having some skills among others, carry their trowels, chisels, hammers, paint brushes and lunch boxes while unskilled ones just carry their lunches wrapped in shopping bags, containing just an onion and a loaf of bread wrapped. They stand up with a ray of hope in their eyes when they see a pick up truck approaching. The prospective employers shout from their vehicles, "You! You! and You!"; pick some of them up and drive away; rest of them sit down in a mixed feeling of desperation and hope, wondering if they would be able to buy food for the family, today, or they will have to borrow again from “soodkhor” or “biajia” (lender). Among them are "thaikaydars" (contractors) who supply manpower to employers whenever they need them in a greater number. The Contractors monopolize over this labor pool and only those workers would get hired who go through them. They also keep peace and discipline among the workers because most often when frustrations run high their desperation turn into scuffles. Some of them get hired by 9 am and rest of them would sit there till noon, willing to take any kind of work. In my city people call this street, "Chowk-e-Bay Roz GarraN" (Chowk of the un-employed); the original name "Siddiqui Chowk " has long been forgotten and it can only be found in municipality files. Have you ever wondered what is the name of such place in your city?
THE PAST AND THE NEAR FUTURE - When WWII started, most of the present day third world countries (TWCs) were colonies of the West. By the time the war ended, it became economically unfeasible for war weary colonial powers to keep their occupation over the colonies. The anticipated but underestimated emergence of the Soviet Empire left no alternative but the evacuation. The TWCs associate this evacuation with the successful conclusion of their wars for independence. The conflicts between Capitalism and Communism triggered the formation of a bipolar world, which in turn, resulted in the Cold War that lasted for the next 40 years. During that time each faction tried its best to drag the newly freed colonies and other independent TWCs under their umbrella. Years of colonial experience had influenced the development and metamorphosis of the Western Capitalist economy in a particular way. The new realities posed new challenges to Capitalism that required new methods to maintain their monopoly on the world markets. While capitalists used capital to win this (cold) war, the communist group used a number of tactics i.e. transfer of technology, weapons, and a dose of their ideology.
After the collapse of Soviet Empire, world was baptized with a new religion called Capitalism. Since the word Capitalism had a notoriety attached to it, since colonial times, and was incapable of conveying full strength and meaning of the new system, it was given the name "the New World Order". As opposed to the theoretical doctrines, the Capitalist ideology that developed in the West and evolved under the influence of colonial occupation dictates a complete domination of world markets. So Capitalism and Colonialism go hand in hand. While Soviet Union proved to be a deterrent to further colonial aspirations of the West during its reign of 50 years, Capitalism spent time redefining itself and organizing to dominate the world markets again. After centuries of fighting with each other Europeans finally let the economics rule and formed an economic entity called "European Union". The similar changes took place in North America where NAFTA agreement gave a whole new meaning to the regional economy.
No ideology can flourish unless there is a strong military force behind it for its protection. The cold war military alliance, NATO, became a true marriage of minds. Therefore, right after its resurrection “The New World Order”, flexed its muscles, evaluated its strength, and manifested its might through the Operation Desert Storm. That was done in a pretty old fashioned way when the new alliance of colonial powers attacked and captured Iraq. While UN was used to legitimize the shameless act of occupation of Iraq and holding the whole population of middle-east hostage, it was sanitized with the help of an incredible tool, i.e. the media. The results of this adventure were spectacular; a whole civilization can now be destroyed without a loss of a single life from your forces. The global domination was complete in just a month of "warfare". The New World Order reaffirmed its supremacy again in the Balkans.
After asserting its military might, it was necessary to politicize the domination and to give it a humane face. This is the next step in the evolution of the neo-colonialism and the doctrine is popularly known as "Globalization". The concept of Globalization has helped form an alliance between three economic monopolies i.e. NAFTA (excluding Mexico), EU, and Japan. These three monopolies are united under the flagship of G-8. They are the new colonial masters of the globe.
THE CONCEPT - Unlike old days when armies were sent to capture the lands and subjugate the people, Globalization is a multifaceted and sophisticated approach to keep the world markets under the thumb. It is quite difficult to explain the concept of Globalization in this short article; however, it is easier to understand it if it is divided into disciplines, also termed as 'dimensions'. Since these dimensions are overlapping in nature, each dimension constructs a concept of Globalization that reflects its own particular point of view. Some of the dimensions of the globalization are: Economic Globalization, Political-G, Sociological-G, Psychological-G, Anthropological-G, Communications-G, Geographical-G and Ecological-G. Due to the compulsion of brevity only those dimensions are being elaborated that effect the Third World (TW) the most.
ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION - by textbook definition, it encompasses the increasing convergence and interdependence of national economies and of the international scope and availability of markets, distribution systems, capital, labor, technology, corporations and banking.
The uncontested economic domination of West over the TW, came as a reward of wining the Cold War. During Cold War the capitalist countries lent huge amount of capital to the developing and underdeveloped countries through World Bank, IMF, and various subdivisions of UN, as aid. The hidden agenda, however, was to bribe the regimes to culminate any communist influence in their countries. This capital was well spent by despots to buy loyalties, to suppress any opposition and dissent, and to corrupt the power circles. Various religious, ethnic, and ultra-nationalist groups were created and generously funded to counter any communist insurgency. The TW governments did spend a small part on some superficial programs to show their people that the money was being spent well. The financial aid that should have been invested in the projects that would raise the standard of living never reached the common people. As a result, people in almost all TWCs developed their own parallel economies. Those licit or illicit, economies were let flourish without any control from government, due to the obvious reasons. The bottom line, now, is that these parallel economies are able to generate revenue and can sustain under severe conditions.
At present, most of the TWCs are under so much debt that they can hardly pay the interest on the loans. The neo-colonialists use their demand for repayment of debt as a bargaining tool to get into local markets and to tap indigenous resources. They also use threats of declaring a country an International Defaulter, a Terrorism-sponsoring-state, and a Rogue Nation, as leverage. They also influence the political establishment of the country if they anticipate any hurdle in the flow of "revenue". The interest that is paid by debtors, in this case, is actually a form of revenue for the lenders. The recent military coup in Pakistan and this regime's "tax reforms" and the acts of ending or reducing government subsidies, should be looked at with this perspective. Similar situations exist in various other TWCs.
As discussed earlier, now there is no need to send armies to capture new lands to generate revenue. The fate of a TWC is now decided in the international stock exchanges by international financial institutes and in corporate boardrooms. As a matter of fact global economy is now in the hands of global investors and not the governments any more. The sudden collapse of once vibrant Far Eastern and Russian economies, three years ago, and the “miraculous” recovery of the same economies in a very short period of time with the “help” of IMF indicate the ruthlessness and efficacy of their modus operandi. Simply put, the net result of the whole episode was that those countries are now under severe debt, all owed to IMF or West.
Another method to enforce the economic domination is through the “(production) quota” imposed by World Trade Organization (or late GATT). The enforcement of quota system between EU and NAFTA may mean equal opportunity and level playing field but to a TWC, having export based economy, it means that the GDP can never grow beyond a certain production/export "quota" forced upon it by WTO. It also means that a country will never be able to pay its debts. The interest payments made by that country, however, is a never-ending source of revenue for IMF/West.
It is easier to understand the quota system if you closely study the rise and decline of apparel and leather industry in the subcontinent. In mid '80s to early ‘90s, Western markets were brimming with Pakistani apparel and leather products, thanks to the Afghan war. During that time every farmer in Pakistan wanted to be a cotton farmer and every industrialist a tanner. By mid-nineties the production and export quota was doled out to India, creating massive joblessness and closing down of apparel industry in Pakistan. The Indian dominance of leather and apparel market was also short lived and the quota was allocated to Bangladesh and now it is being reciprocated between South America and Africa.
POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION - facilitates the Economic-G. This discipline deals in war and peace, governance, IGOs, NGOs, and regimes. The concept is so obvious that any reader, who has a little bit of interest in international relations and politics, understands it. Therefore only those aspects are being elaborated that are less known.
It is important to understand the role being played by NGOs and IGOs in the enforcement of Globalization. They are like eyes and ears to the neo-colonialists. Unlike, intelligence, they are conspicuous and they maintain their influence inside the power circles candidly. The function of Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) is to keep an eye on the conflicts that may arise between two countries. In such case they influence governments towards a solution that is best for Globalization. There are a number of IGOs that are very active in Pakistan and India to pressurize both governments, on various issues, towards a solution that is favorable to the Globalization (unfortunately Kashmir is not on priority).
The NGOs are usually paid for by the UN, indirectly through the local government, and also by multinational corporations, to look after their interests. The main role of these organizations is twofold. On one side they work as a watch dog on regimes and the people and keep an eye on any conflict that may arise between source of revenue i.e. people and revenue collectors i.e. regimes. NGOs make sure that regimes deliver their end of the social bargain to the people in return for their production efforts. The second role is that these NGOs keep an eye on indigenous ideologies that might be in conflict with Capitalism or Globalization. They influence local educational curriculum and media, and promote secularism without any ideology, as a better social system.
PSYCOLOGICAL-G, ANTHROPOLGICAL-G, CULTURAL-G, and SOCIOLOGICAL-G:
The TWCs are under heavy cultural attack from the West. This attack is being carried out through media, literature, curriculum, NGOs, and even UN. The goal is to establish a uniform global culture. Its implementation now is necessary to avoid any cultural conflicts that may arise in future and may cause uprisings as that happened in the past. It is worth noting what happened at the UN's international conference, "Women 2000, Peace and Development", (June 5 to 10, 2000). Contrary to the published agenda (which was to review the progress on the decisions and actions that were planned in the 1995 conference in Beijing) the Western lobby tried to get a resolution passed that might put items like sexual freedom for women, freedom for homosexuality, freedom of abortion, and freedom and rights for prostitution on the UN charter.
The role played by Western media for the cause of Globalization is crucial. The communication through satellites has enabled West to reach directly to a household in a TWC. Although, Western media preaches the equality of all races but the hidden message is, usually, that "although the indigenous cultures are exotic and erotic but there is a superior culture i.e. western culture". Take an example of the western mouthpiece i.e. CNN's multipart series "The Millennium: A CNN Perspective". The first episode started with the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest and then it was related to the rise and fall of the nations and how stronger races overpowered weaker ones in the last couple of centuries.
ECOLOGICAL GLOBALIZATION - Neo-colonialism is equipped with a new and extremely dangerous weapon that mankind has never seen before. The effectiveness of this weapon is unparalleled. On one hand it is capable of wiping off an entire civilization off the face of earth, literally, and on the other hand it can be used to keep the people alive but killing all ideologies, creeds, thoughts, or opinions or any opposition of that sort. This weapon is called "Food". Perplexed? Allow me to elaborate.
Over 95% of food that comes from agriculture and agriculture based products in North America and Europe is Genetically Modified Food (GMF). Most of the fodder for farm animals is also GMF; so it can be argued that all food is actually GMF. The GMFs are a result of magnificent research in the field of Agriculture and Genetic Engineering. It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss why there were violent protests in Europe against GMFs and how GMF producers' lobby is so successful in North America to prevent labeling foods at retail level. We are not going to discuss, either, why media in North America is suspiciously silent about GMFs and why Food and Drug Administration never conducted a study to evaluate the potential hazards that may result from the consumption of these foods. It is the same FDA that won't even allow Tiger Balm to be imported from China since it is not clinically evaluated. The only studies available, about the effects of these foods, are from the genetic research laboratories/ corporations that produce the genetically modified seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. It is a common consensus among all independent scientists who evaluated those studies that they are scientifically inconclusive. We are also not discussing, in this article, how grafting genes that are obtained from one species to another produce these seeds. For example, a particular gene obtained from scorpions is grafted into potato chromosomes and the resultant potatoes become so resistant to a certain potato-eating bug that a bite proves fatal to the bug. However, allegedly, it does not harm humans. Similarly, a gene obtained from an arctic fish grafted into tomatoes improves the size, temperature tolerance, and shelf life.
All this sounds wonderful but let me get to the ugly part. The crops generated by the genetically modified seeds cannot reproduce i.e. the seeds are sterile and can be used only once; for the next crop new seeds are required. So the corporations usually have a contract with farmers that they will buy seeds only from them for a particular period of time. In North America these corporations enforce these contracts so rigoursly that they hire private detectives who poke around farmhouses to see if farmers are deviating from their contractual obligations. There is another catch in this kind of deal. The GMF seed producers also design custom made herbicides and pesticides that are very effective if used with the crops grown from the seeds provided by same company. For all other seeds they are ineffective. These herbicides and pesticides do not eradicate herbs and pests for good; instead, the next generation of crops comes with super bugs and super herbs that can only be killed by the newer versions of the herbicides (from the same company). Here starts a vicious circle; once you grow a genetically modified crop you can not grow a conventional crop because any other chemical can not kill the pests and herbs that will grow with it. But if you use the chemical supplied by GMF research corporation you will kill your conventional crops because it can not withstand the toxicity of the chemicals.
Imagine two TWCs that are adjacent-country A decides to go the GMF way; what assurances, country B would have that superbugs and super herbs will not cross its borders. Imagine a world ten to twenty years in future when explosive population growth has already limited the food resources and TWCs have already polluted their lands then who will come to the rescue?
THE PRESENT - The implementation of Globalization has reduced the TWCs, that were once proud of their struggles to fight the colonial powers, to mere labor pools. They are just like skilled and unskilled laborers sitting at this International Chowk-e-Bay-Roz-GaraaN, waiting for a prospective employer to give them a "job". Among them, Pakistanis are sitting there hoping to get an order to work as police constables at UN "peace-keeping" missions; Bangladeshis are sitting there anticipating to get an order to sew joggers for their masters; Indians are sitting there hoping to get an order to key-in video games for their masters' children. The "jobs" first go to the Most Favored Nations (i.e. Thaikaydars) and if they cannot meet the capacity the rest goes to Most Favored of the Thaikaydars; rest of the nations just sit there wondering if they will have to borrow money to feed their hungry.
Globalization is an inevitable future. We the people of the Third World are being beguiled into a global society without a Social Contract. The doctrines of former GATT and current WTO are not a social contract. We have been losers all along in 20th century and if we do not struggle to get a better deal now we will be losers for the centuries to come