How to counter the bad effects of globalization :

Hi everyone! im new here, and came here mainly to share this very idea with some people who might be intrested. I hope i've come to the right place..?

Lets first define the main problem ; large and mean Trans-National Corporations are becomming larger and meaner at the expense of the poorest in the world, whereever they find them... and we in "west" who arn't quite as poor are LETTING THEM! because we are the ones who pay the big bucks for what the big bad TNC's are producing, without asking questions or making demands... thats the problem right there, and im guessing most of you agree with that, more or less..

so what i have come to realize is this; the TNC's arnt mean because they are the tool of the devil :X or anything, but simply because its economically rationall , as long as the consumers practically dont care how a product was made or what life is like for the people that actually produced it, but only how shiny the surface is and how cheap it is.

So.. what needs to happen is for us the people in "west" to unite and join consument organizations.. with enought members the TNC's has to start listening.. and make the changes...! making them, the TNC's , most powerfull institutions in the world ever, to actively work for the better of man kind because THAT is what is economically rationall.

ofocurse, this is far less brilliant than i first thought .. A big part of the problem is still to make people start actually caring... how do we do that?

I must admit that i know nothing about the state of consument organiation today.. does anyone of you know? Either way it seems very clear to me that consument organization is the one effective way to make global capitalism more humain... i guess there are things to do on the national scale aswell, like
allowing poor countries to trade fairly & probably to write off some debts, but i beleve making the engines of the global economy; the TNC's act more humain is essential, to make things start moving in the right direction. (for the enviroment too!)

Peace, out.

 

Yeah, I'm disheartened by the indifference most consumers show...

Free trade definately makes sense, but it doesn't seem like there's enough man power to throttle these new ideas...

Multinational corporations are indirectly (or directly, either way you care to look at it) responsible for the lack of growth in poor countries...and yet most people don't give a fuck.

 

Mind share.

Show people that buying ONE shirt from a local source who makes a good product properly makes more sense and saves more cash in the long run than buying disposable junk from elsewhere.

 

It's hard to buy much of anything without supporting that sort of thing. It's not good, but there's little we can really do.

 

I see your point cooloner. perhaps my topic was a bit off; Globalization in itself is pretty much unstopable and has alot of good effects aswell.. ofcourse, capitalism is the problem here. lets look at history for a moment;

Capitalism first grew truely strong in the times of industrialization. exploiting the hell out of poor un-organized people in europe etc... things got less unfair in these industrialize countries when workers got organized and starte demaning more resonable terms

with globalization around its far from enought (and very hard) for the workers to get organized because it has made the TNC:s so strong; its so easy to invest elsewhere. even nations has little control since even the wealthier ones are dependant on capital investment for growth... this is why im convinced that some serious customer awareness & organization is required to make the world start looking better, fast enought.


Am i a nationalist? its not a major part of my ideology but im sure not an anti nationalist (what IS that? simply removing all borders seems unrealistic..?) and i'll admit i voted against European Union membership aswell as the currency change(iv changed my mind 'bout both), but that wasnt much about wanting sweden to remain swedish... The way i see it these ideas has very little to do with how much of a nationalist i am... ? (again i'll admit topic was off though i dont know what 'd be better)

peace.

 

still, you can't generalize like that....

 

Globalisation is here to stay in the industrialised world.

 

actually globalization is a lot wider then just economics, economics are just a factor of it. Anti-globalization movements are not always against all globalization- just certain areas, usually economics or environmental. for instance the anti-corp movement (adbusters) are against the current economic system. some aspects of glabalization are good and a blessing, but some cause huge problems.

so therefore counter-globalization movements are not nationalist movements as many of these groups work across different nations.

also, if you have a 'beef' with capitalism, then try and change things, if you cannot see a better system at present on offer from ideology then improve capitalism, i think this is the option we must follow, we need to improve liberal democracies- economically and environementally
peacex

 

What kind of anarchist are you exactly?

 

i care far less about what i grow than what we grow and honestly, i cant really live by my moral standards yet when it commes to consuming, besides i dont even know where i can find reliable info..

the whole point of this "vision" (not vision) of mine that i wanted to make this thread about is that if we can come together it would be far easier to become "good consumers" and that i beleve if such consument organizations grew popular enought that would actually be enought to start chainging things for the better.

 

Globalization as a whole isn't such a big problem. The main problem is TNC's taking advantage of foreign labour simply for profit. There's also the aspect of losing our small wage craftsmen and farmers.
It's easier to buy a 10 dollar vase that's been made in a factory that is the same as a million others then a buying a 100 dollar handmade one that is completely unique and like no other on earth.
Or in the case of the farmer, people prefer buying cheap beef from a company that owns 10, 000 cows than buying more expensive stuff from someone who only owns 10. But 3/4 times you can guarantee that the guy who only has 10 cows is raising much healthier cattle (and better tasting) than the corporation farmer who has 10000.
So ask yourself, do you want higher quality and healthier local products that cost higher than the standard factory produced ones, or the other way around?

 

I'm just confused. Are you saying that you should support globalisation because it destroys borders and creates one big nation? That basically means people living in one giant country under the same laws, which doesn't sound very akin to anarchism, sounds too authoritarian.

 

Thats what I thought the direction you might be heading in