Anti-Globalisation As Xenophobia
Recently, the Czech Republic has been witness to several demonstrations
of young people protesting against "globalisation." One often thinks of
young people being more tolerant toward other cultures and generally
more open to foreign ideas, but there is a disturbing element of
narrow-minded nationalism in these protests.
Telling people about rain forest destruction and the huge amounts of
waste generated by fast-food chains is all quite fair (though it would
seem better to talk about the values of the consumer culture in
general), and if you don't like McDonald's, you don't have to eat there.
Recent protests, however, go beyond these arguments.
What the protesters seem to be saying is that they are against "one
world" trends of globalisation altogether. Foreign companies are seen
only as destroyers: multinational firms should be resisted. The
protesters not only rebel against these firms for their apparent
domination of the local market, but also because the multinationals are
allegedly standardising the look of every part of the world. The world
all looks the same, the protesters say, and they don't like it.
They
don't want to see the same restaurants and shops in every town and city.
They don't want Prague to look like New York and Tokyo (as if it could).
Their fight against multinational companies seems to be a fight against
anything international, and therein lies the nationalist element.
Sure a bit of local color is nice to have, and the traveler is comforted
to know that Prague will never look much like New York. But strict
dedication to preserving "local color" is simply nationalism cloaked in
romantic dreams of an imagined, bygone era. It is an attitude that
denies change and rejects modernisation: it is a neophobic and insular
view of the world.
The ironic thing is that many of the people who publicly protest
globalisation and are influenced by this narrow nationalism are the same
people who publicly protest against racism. They do not seem to notice
the inherent contradiction. Xenophobia -- the fear of things foreign --
is a driving force behind one of their causes and yet is something to be
fought against in another.
The xenophobia of the protesters of globalisation is simply
backward-looking. The world is one market and has been for years.
Communication from one corner of the world to any other has never been
easier or more commonplace. Freedom of movement of goods, capital and
people has never been freer. These are trends which unite all people
around the world and should be welcome.
Besides, what is the protesters' alternative? Limit the Czech market
only to Czechs? Ban foreign firms from doing business here? Cut Czech
society off from the rest of the world again?
