High inflation rates, food shortages, and low wages are all attributed to globalisation.
Also, to put it crudely, we Filipinos always blame it to globalisation. Many say that globalisation is not compatible with social justice. However if we agree that a minimum precondition for any social justice is the extension of people's democratic ability to shape their lives, that too, might reinforce skepticism about globalisation's compatibility with social justice. I might sound like I'm advocating globalisation, but the answer is yes and no.
In what follows I want to suggest that we have to reject our preconceived notion that "globalisation" is only between states/governments. In this issue, "More than the Usual" I would like to share some of my thoughts about globalisation and how we can possibly "resist" globalisation in the individual level.
There are two words there: "resist" and "individual" level. Let us re-think first, what these terms mean. In the Philippines, we usually leave the bulk of the work to anti-globalisation movements. Sometimes we even think that the deviance they show impedes on the daily processes of our society. That is the main point. These movements try to show us that we have to grasp globalisation in the local and individual level for us to be able to understand globalisation in the global level and vice versa. It should be simultaneous and not hierarchical. To be able to do this, we have to analyse and think beyond traditional territorial boundaries of the sovereign state and understand that sovereignty's mutually constitutive element is responsibility.
These movements take part in resisting globalisation. We Filipinos fear the word "resistance." In Tagalog, it is literally translated to "pag-aaklas." However, through time, I believe the notion of "resistance" has changed. Today "resistance" means contesting dominating powers. Domination or hegemony means not just the power to dictate but also the power to shape and control the actions of others. This is what anti-globalisation movements do. They resist the hegemonic powers of globalisation. However, we cannot solely depend to the workings of anti-globalisation movements to counter the ill-effects of globalisation. Change cannot happen overnight, in the same way that change cannot happen in only one level. It has to be co-ordinated in at least different levels of governance, if not all.
What I am suggesting is that we have to re-think differently about social processes, globalisation in this case. Globalisation is not just about the high levels of interconnectivity we experience today. We have to re-consider the notion that globalisation is also about our everyday lives - how processes of globalisation particularly impacts our everyday lives.
For instance, when you go to the next convenience store (not a sari-sari store) what do you get? Would you rather buy locally manufactured or branded/imported chocolate? It is a matter of individual choice, one would argue; so one buys the imported chocolate. Fair enough, if one has the capacity to do so then why not. Maybe your action would be otherwise if you knew that the company which manufactures the imported chocolate uses child labour in the other side of the world. And let me note that I am not making the assumption that only multinationals abroad use child labour. That would be too erroneous, if not too dangerous of an assumption, I believe. So by buying that imported chocolate one is indirectly advocating child labour. Ok we are being sceptical again. Who cares? Africa or wherever that chocolate is manufactured is far enough for us not to feel its effects. I beg to disagree. Our actions locally have implication also on the other side of the world. When we buy those imported ones, we advocate in one way or another processes and ways which these companies practice. It gets more complicated than that, when we patronise imported goods we risk the future of local producers. Are you saying now that I am but too nationalistic?
Again what I am suggesting is everyday lives is a site where politics in global politics takes place. That is, globalisation in globally, is globalisation locally. Also, resistance does not just take the form of anti-globalisation movements. Everyday resistance is important as well, like going to the next convenience store and deciding what to buy is a form of resistance. Points of resistance are everywhere.
There is danger in just accepting, without asking and being critical. We have to re-think our pre-conceived notions of social processes to better grasp how it affects everyday lives, globalisation is just one.
