Comments on: Obama on Globalization http://globalizati.wordpress.com/2007/01/07/obama-on-globalization/ Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:11:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: Patrick Gathara http://globalizati.wordpress.com/2007/01/07/obama-on-globalization/#comment-379 Patrick Gathara Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:41:43 +0000 http://globalizati.wordpress.com/2007/01/07/obama-on-globalization/#comment-379 I think Kenya and other African countries could do with a Chinese-style "pillage and rape of our culture and economic systems". Obama's rendition of the "plight" of the Indonesian workers fails to acknowledge an important fact. These peoples traditional, cultural and economic systems have proven unable to deliver a modern lifestyle for them. Is it his understanding that only Americans and Europeans desire to travel, to be entertained and to enjoy a privileged lifestyle? Idealizing the lifestyles of the poor (i.e. they are better off staying on their farms, whiling away the hours carving their own furniture and growing their own food) is a pretext employed by those who have the most to fear from globalisation. And that's not the poor, who are suffering anyway, but those who have benefited from the skewed nature of global trade, America and Western Europe. I am yet to hear Obama urging the residents of Manhattan to settle the prairies, weave baskets and grow their own food. I think Kenya and other African countries could do with a Chinese-style “pillage and rape of our culture and economic systems”. Obama’s rendition of the “plight” of the Indonesian workers fails to acknowledge an important fact. These peoples traditional, cultural and economic systems have proven unable to deliver a modern lifestyle for them. Is it his understanding that only Americans and Europeans desire to travel, to be entertained and to enjoy a privileged lifestyle?

Idealizing the lifestyles of the poor (i.e. they are better off staying on their farms, whiling away the hours carving their own furniture and growing their own food) is a pretext employed by those who have the most to fear from globalisation. And that’s not the poor, who are suffering anyway, but those who have benefited from the skewed nature of global trade, America and Western Europe. I am yet to hear Obama urging the residents of Manhattan to settle the prairies, weave baskets and grow their own food.

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