Resisting Globalization

When people think about globalization, resistance is not the first thing that come to mind. In fact, many people would say globalization is a good thing, at first glance. Globalization allows for global communication, global knowledge sharing, global trade, etc..., things that we common think of as positive aspects of globalization. However, if your were to talk about globalization to citizens of a developing or impoverished country, they may view things differently.

In the US, we think of globalization as a good thing for the aforementioned reasons. Why? Because these things benefit us as a country. Because of globalization, we are able to export and import goods for gigantic profit (exploit other countries and people) among other things. In developing countries however, the ones doing the labor and work for "cheap," they only benefit from globalization when the more powerful countries like the US choose to trade with them.

In Bangladesh globalization emerged a few decades ago. Initially, business was booming and apparel manufacturing became the dominant source of income in the country. That all changed when the global markets took a downward turn. In doing so, Bangladesh realized it was in a very bad position. It was not economically self-sustaining, the cultural and gender roles had changed drastically, and the government officials became increasingly corrupt with the additional income. This caused the citizens of Bangladesh to push for resistance. They attempted to boycott working in apparel manufacturing industries and go back to their traditional agricultural lifestyles. However, this proved to be widely unsuccessful, as the citizens of Bangladesh realized there are no way to support themselves or their families in agriculture work. Their lives depended on the work that larger companies off-shored to their country; their lives depended on globalization.

Another form of globalization that emerged in Bangladesh was the push towards sanitary water. This push was discussed in an earlier blog, so I won't repeat all of the details. The important thing to keep in mind is that other countries brought new technology for obtaining "safe" drinking water into Bangladesh. This new technology brought through globalization had a major impact on Bangladesh. In fact, it resulted in the worlds largest human poisoning (arsenic poisoning). Now, as other countries from around the globe try to help Bangladesh by proposing alternative means of obtaining sanitary drinking water, Bangladesh tries to resist. These citizens, have seen what global technology has brought upon them and are afraid of the new alternatives offered, such as putting chemicals in their water. Yet they can not obtain sanitary drinking water on their own, so again, Bangladesh is dependent on globalization.

There are many additional ways in which Bangladesh is dependent on globalization. Resistance in this case does not seem like a feasible option for this country. Keep this in mind when you think about all of the commodities brought to your for cheap prices as a result of globalization. Note that globalization is not always a positive thing and that it is viewed differently by different cultures. Then ask yourself is globalization is really as great as you may have initially thought it was.

Click HERE to open the feedback tool.