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

than a generational? phenomenon. There

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.