New Poll: Globalization Backlash in Rich Nations
A popular backlash against globalization and the leaders of the world’s largest companies is sweeping all rich countries, an FT/Harris poll shows.
Large majorities of people in the US and in Europe want higher taxation for the rich and even pay caps for corporate executives to counter what they believe are unjustified rewards and the negative effects of globalization.
Viewing globalization as an overwhelmingly negative force, citizens of rich countries are looking to governments to cushion the blows they perceive have come from the liberalization of their economies to trade with emerging countries.
Those polled in Britain, France, the US and Spain were about three times more likely to say globalization was having a negative rather than a positive effect on their countries. The majority was smaller in Germany, with its large export base.
Corporate leaders fared little better, with 5 per cent or fewer of those polled in the US and all large European economies (except Italy) saying they had a great deal of admiration for those who run large companies. In these countries, between a third and a half said they had no admiration at all for corporate bosses.
In response to fears of globalization and rising inequality, the public in all the rich countries surveyed - the US, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain - want their governments to increase taxation on those with the highest incomes. In European countries, a large majority want governments to go further and to impose pay caps on the heads of companies.
Europeans still overwhelmingly support the principle of free competition within the European Union, contrary to Nicolas Sarkozy’s wishes at the recent European summit, but in France, Germany and Spain, the populations want their political leaders to play a larger role in managing their economies.
The depth of anti-globalization feeling in the FT/Harris poll, which surveyed more than 1,000 people online in each of the six countries, will dismay policy-makers and corporate executives. Their view that opening economies to freer trade is beneficial to poor and rich countries alike is not shared by the citizens of rich countries, regardless of how liberal their economic traditions.
The issue of rising inequality is now high on the political agenda of every country and will feature prominently in the 2008 US presidential election.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
However in the USA it is still pretty much 50/50. Until the US public starts fighting back, the “raping and pillaging” of the world by Corporatons will continue. When the majority of Americans hit the debt wall, things may start to change. I don’t think it is going to happen via Congress, some old fashion “drag em out into the streets” mentality is needed. Looking for the FreePress to hound CEOs like the Police hound Murderers. Get those reporters away from Paris Hilton and start chasing after the CEO of Hilton Hotels, who replaces American workers with less than minimum wage illegals and serves customers “anti-freeze laced pancake mix from China” just so it saves the $1 over the Aunt Jemima Mix (or is Aunt Jemima made in China now too?)
There have been huge demonstrations, but with little MSM coverage they were not quite as effective as those against the Vietnam war. Demonstrate and blog, but also stop buying products from corporations that promote fascism. Divest yourself of their stock and buy socially responsible funds such as Working Assets. Walk, bicycle and buy a hybrid. Buy certified organic, locally grown if possible. Buy less stuff. Reduce and re-use. Find out what regressive pols corporations are bribing and refuse to buy from them. Look up politician’s voting records. Publish this information here for others to use. Boycotts are very effective. The Internet was not here during the Vietnam War, but boycotts worked well then. Imagine how well these would work if we used the Internet. Join the Green Party but vote for progressive Democrats and Independents. Do not vote for conservatives. They are ALL authoritarian, reactionary and driven by fear, greed and lust for power.
Economic globalization is not the only form of globalization.
We also have the globalization of information, medicine, pollution, sports, media, etc…
The internet is also a form of globalization that allows us all to meet here and discuss things in a democratic way.
Multi-national corporations in the United States INVENTED “globalization”. As somebody before me said, its only intent was to rape and pillage the world, under the absolutely false guise of “together, as a family (group hug).”
The high-tech industry (Microsoft and Intel are the champions) indoctrinated its employees with this concept: it’s coming; accept it; it’s good for you.
Some of us now know, as we knew years ago, that globalization was pure bullcrap.
If you strip out the nice-nice language and get down to the actual CODE of what GLOBALIZATION means, you have:
1. Export American jobs to cheap-labor countries.
2. Train others in cheap-labor countries to do the high- and low-caliber jobs that Americans do, and then make Americans unemployed.
3. Provide obscene compensation packages to CEOs and VPs by raping the assets of third-world countries and slowly bleeding American workers of benefits, perks, bonuses, and purchasing power.
4. Accuse Americans of insensitivity when we protest the loss of our jobs and income, while third-world countries–for now–enjoy growth and slave wages.
5. Do business with countries that are known to commit gross human-rights violations (India, China, and others), and pretend that “together, we can make a difference”.
It is disgusting this word “globalization”. In my book, it’s every bit as obscene as the “F” word.
And it’s not just the “corporations”; people who work in these places knew damned well what they were doing. I sat through many a meeting where the people who made “globalization” and “outsourcing” realities, sat there waving their fists like cheerleaders: “Globalization!” “Outsource, outsource, outsource!” “Yeah,yeah, YEAH!!”
Most of these cheerleaders were responsible for putting highly qualified Americans out of work (engineers; technical people). The cheerleaders, however, insidious and socially irresponsible as they are, retain their jobs.
All of it stinks to high heaven.
“Divest yourself of their stock and buy socially responsible funds such as…”
It may not do much in the long run, but that’s exactly what I did, and it felt good.
Globalizing unions, human rights etc. has not kept pace and has been stymied by trade agreements that guarantee a submissive workforce and no polution restrictions. I think the fascist corporates have it all too well planned and with technology in their favour as well as MSM I think they are going to be hard to stop.
I don’t ever recall voting in an election to go ahead with globalization.
I think democracy was mortally wounded well before 2000, but GW shot it several more times in the head, just to make sure.
Where is the Trickle Down we were promised by cutting taxes for the Upper crust? There is no Trickle Down, just Fickle Down. If corporations can be identified as individuals, then individuals should be able to be identified as corporations with off-shore accounting. Sort of a more level playing field.
I remember the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, speaking on television before jumping ship and retiring claimed that outsourcing is good because Americans would be doing future high tech jobs that would require more education. That has proven to be a bunch of bull because even high tech jobs have also gone to places like India, which has replaced our Silicon Valley. The net result of globalization has been that Americans have lost and are losing their jobs, especially manufacturing jobs to poor countries’ slave labor who are paid a fraction of what corporate bosses paid to American workers.
About the only jobs available in the U.S. now are low-end service jobs like waiting on tables, bar tending, and the like. As if outsourcing was not enough, the government is now issuing work visas to third country job seekers who would come here and work at a fraction of what their American counterparts would have been paid. Outsourcing jobs has the added advantage for corporations in that they do not face environmental regulations in the host countries and can get away with messing our environment.
Another result of globalization is that the second-class citizens in America are morphing into third class. Also, the corporations are making humongous amount of profit off the shoulder of slave labor, which explains the mind bugling bonuses to CEO’s.
Globalization was designed to make the American public poorer, and the corporations richer. Not a big surprise when corporations are in control of the government. Wake up Americans. Your life style is no longer envied, and you are becoming as much poor as you allow the government to get away with it.
“Divest yourself of their stock and buy socially responsible funds such as…”
Give me a break . . . You can’t even get the American Public to give up Super Size Whoppers, smoking is a growing trend, cheapo products made in China are selling like hot cakes at IHOP. If Americans won’t stop killing and destroying themselves what makes you think that they will give up the chance to make money.
Ideal Pipe Dreams prevail . . . Just look at Poliski and the White House Gang. Money Rules and is the real God that Americans worship. Why do you think Clinton and Obama are taking in so much money? That level of fund raising can only be maintained if corporations are chipping in. War makes the rich richer and the rich buy what they want. In America everything is for sale . . . What’s your price?
A few thousand people quoted in these graphs do not make a revolution . . .
Just last week I was sitting at a sidewalk table enjoying a coffee when a fellow pulled up on a motor scooter called a “stella”. I struck up a conversation with him about the scooter (90 mpg by the way) and with a name like stella I asked if it was Italian. Back in my day of Lambretta’s and the like the best were made in Italy. Nope, he replied it’s made in India and he mentioned the Vespa is made at the same factory. India it seems is now the motor scooter maker to the world. Wonder how the Italians feel about that.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=13975
The above link is to one of Harry Trumans’s speeches where he bemoaned the fact that some people supported the trickle-down theory even after history had discredited it.
Off topic but Italian scooters have been produced in India for ages. I have an old Vespa and a newer model called Bajaj. The Bajaj is nearly identical to my 25 y.o. Vespa. After years of making scooters for the Italians the Indians figured they may as well make one and put their own logo on it. Both are great rides and in the city fantastic for finding parking.
My friend was upset with me for buying an Indian product. I jokingly told him if I did not buy the scooter the factory would close and the Indians would have our tech jobs within a year.
The big carsh is about to happen,you better dump dollars for foreign bucks.$$$$$$
This is old news at this point. Freedom is lost. Soon they will take these sites down. The camps are being built all over the place and drills to fend off a run on the bank.
ron murry July 23rd, 2007 3:13 pm
What you should do is empty out your safety deposit boxes and then take all irreplaceable and package those in shrink wrap and bury them in the woods along with your gold, silver and gems. Once the martial law comes they will quickly go through all of the gun owners houses and then the rest.
Note that there’s a mistake in the 1st chart. They’ve interchanged the Negative and Not Sure categories. Actually, in every country, more people think globalization has a negative effect.
Here is a letter I wrote to the Financial Times, telling them about the mistake:
Dear Editor:
I spotted what I believe is an error in the chart accompanying the article:
Globalisation backlash in rich nations
By Chris Giles in London
Published: July 22 2007 18:11
I checked with the numbers on the Harris interactive website (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/FTHarrisPoll/HI_FinancialTimes_HarrisPoll_July2007.pdf), and it appears mislabeled the 1st graph, interchanging the fractions of “Negative” responses with the “Not sure” responses.
Here are the figures from Table 8 of the poll:
Britain France Italy Spain Germany United
States
Positive effect 15 18 25 17 36 17
Negative effect 53 53 55 54 42 45
Not Sure 32 29 20 30 22 38
Note that the “Negative effect” responses are uniformly larger than the “Not Sure”, and appear to correspond to the pink bars in the graph, not the red.
Sincerely yours,
David Fairley
globalization n. 1. a subtle and largely covert arrangement whereby a small but loosely defined elite, deceptively referred to as “U.S. interests,” quietly assumes and exercises the “right” to dictate the economic policies and practices of every nation on Earth; 2. the covert process carried out by said elite whereby contemporary nations’ physical resources are extorted and their general populations exploited, sometimes to partial extinction; 3. any of a variety of political or corporate policies or procedures designed to facilitate said arrangement and process; alternatively referred to as “free trade.” 4. the phenomenon whereby life-as-you-know-it will kiss your scrawny arse goodbye if you fail to repost this definition.
:-p
The Democrats’ solution–to hand out massive amounts of government to displaced workers to retrain them, is just throwing gasoline on the fire. They’ll do anything EXCEPT put limitations on corporations. So the corporations fire American workers and the government–with our own tax money–pays those fired workers to retrain. It’s the corporations who should be shouldering this burden, not the tax payers! Why are profits so damn sacred???
I find it very instructive that in the United States, where the disparity between manager pay and worker pay is perhaps the worst in the industrialized world, people are the LEAST concerned about instituting pay caps. We are really screwed, aren’t we? Maybe the whole thing will just have to come crashing down around fat, greedy feet before the population wakes up out of the TV-induced slumber.
Had Enough:”Do business with countries that are known to commit gross human-rights violations (India, China, and others), and pretend that “together, we can make a difference”.”
Its so very easy to bracket India along with China in the ‘gross human rights’ violations category.
If this is an American opinion, then it has to be a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black. Look at the number of prisoners (often innocent but with no money for fancy lawyers) on your death rows .Look at the most high profile examples of them all: Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib.
Going further back ,US is squarely responsible for the worst excesses in modern times : Hiroshima , Nagasaki, The Vietnam War (specifically the ghastly horrors of Agent Orange) and both the Gulf Wars.
Yet Americans have the temerity to airily brush these off as ‘fights for freedom and democracy’.And talk of Third World deaths as mere ‘collateral damage’.(As if these Third Worlders are somehow not ‘human’.)
If this represents the average American point of view (narcissistic and self centred in the extreme) , then is it any wonder then that the “Ugly American’ is so loathed by so many in the Third World.
I agree Globalization (embarked upon at the behest of the Western Rich and the Powerful )has ended up (ironically perhaps) impoverishing many in the MNC’s own backyards.
India can hardly be blamed for that.Blame your own fat cats who made it all possible and keep getting ever richer by the second.
“Nathan Andover July 23rd, 2007 12:04 pm
Economic globalization is not the only form of globalization.
We also have the globalization of information, medicine, pollution, sports, media, etc…
The internet is also a form of globalization that allows us all to meet here and discuss things in a democratic way.”
The concepts, ideas, policies, etc. that make up what most around the world are referring to when using the word “globalization” haven’t been well defined inside the US, that’s for sure. But I’ll get back to that.
This has always been an interesting line of thought - that there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ things that come with multinational corporations writing the rules for global trade. Most of the “good” things you see have at least 2 things in common - the thing can’t be controlled or the thing…can’t be controlled.
But I’ll play along for a second, just to add a quick thought: There’s also a global movement forming.
These movements around the world - who, yes, are coming together through the use of the internet, organizing, and an ever increasingly interconnected world - don’t mobilize, organize and create another vision for another world in response to things like the internet, medicine or any other type of “cargo.” (Interestingly, the fights around the internet are about more access and keeping the medium democratic.) Rather, they are organizing, moblizing and working for another world because of the uneven distribution of the world’s wealth. Simply, rich nations get richer, poor nations get poorer - and maybe more importantly, within those rich nations and poor nations, you guessed it, the rich get richer and the poor, well, you know the drill.
This poll is about just that. The vast majority of the world’s population see little to no direct benefit from the mountains of wealth being created by the most powerful entities of the day - the mutlinational corporation. The world is asking who pays and who benefits from corporate globalization. Even in rich countries, according to the poll, more and more of us pay while less and less of us benefit.
Ok, I’m tired. I’ll check back.
Saila July 23rd, 2007 1:30 pm
“I remember the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan, speaking on television before jumping ship and retiring claimed that outsourcing is good because Americans would be doing future high tech jobs that would require more education.”
Saila:
Greenspan was obviously thinking of all the high interest loans the federal reserve banks would be giving to these students to prepare for high tech jobs which are now being outsourced as we speak. And let’s not forget that these student loans are “guaranteed” by the federal government (tax payers) while the lending bankers benefit from the “interest” payments on these loans with NO RISK to themselves.
Pretty good deal, wouldn’t you say?
Read what Representative Ron Paul has to say about “monetary policy”:
http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2007/tst021907.htm
DCNative:”Off topic but Italian scooters have been produced in India for ages. I have an old Vespa and a newer model called Bajaj. The Bajaj is nearly identical to my 25 y.o. Vespa. After years of making scooters for the Italians the Indians figured they may as well make one and put their own logo on it. Both are great rides and in the city fantastic for finding parking.
My friend was upset with me for buying an Indian product. I jokingly told him if I did not buy the scooter the factory would close and the Indians would have our tech jobs within a year.”
Even though it be only something as piffling as this, I as an Indian ,glory in it.( Though I stand to gain next to nothing from this run of prosperity.)
After a lifetime of going around , head appropriately bowed -being referred to ,from time to time, as ‘dirty Indian dog’ ( the epithet of choice among the Westerners ,from a time not so long ago),few pleasures could be sweeter than the victory of vindication .
However ,make no mistake :its just the low end work ( coolie work) that’s been farmed to places like China and India.The cutting edge stuff: the F 35s, the giant submarines , the missiles and the nukes remain the exclusive and zealously guarded preserve of America and its ‘coalition of the killing”.
So for those among you who may have lost out due to the outsourcing mania -there surely ought to be vast pickings to be had in your Military Industrial Complexes. Security considerations make it impossible for most jobs in this sector to be offered to immigrants (however qualified they be) .
And the Western Establishment ,for its part, should continue to strain every nerve to engender and precipitate ever more wars and conflicts , for generations to come.
mikecorbeil & Ron - I think the acronym PICNIC is applicable here. Problem in Chair, not in Computer
Seriously though, I have noticed odd behavior in the underlying software that makes posting and particularly editing sometimes difficult. Think about how many different threads there are going on at once on this site. Do you relay think Common Dreams has the resources to moderate and block your particular post? I can be fairly contrary and even, I think, insightful on occasion. I have never been censored.
As to to the discussion of this article.
“Europeans still overwhelmingly support the principle of free competition within the European Union”
Free competition has nothing what so ever to do with Globalization. Globalization is about pushing the unlimited growth paradigm into the furthest reaches of the globe, exploiting every resource for financial gain of the corporate elite, and biggering and biggering and biggering the consumer market, forever………………………….
Solrak says -
“These movements around the world - who, yes, are coming together through the use of the internet, organizing, and an ever increasingly interconnected world”
Don’t worry the communications corporations are working diligently to put an end to this sort of, oh shall we say, free exchange of ideas. If they have their way it will be to damn expensive to use the internet for anything so anti-corporate as “organizing, and an ever increasingly interconnected world”. Unless of course you are organizing a nifty new internet shopping experience.
I am glad to see this report. It has been said that the global economy is inevitable. That may be, but who ever said that the people that said that knew what they were talking about in the first place.
I believe that you can shape the global economy to suit your needs. NOTHING is inevitable except death and that is negotiable.
RJKT, how dare you lecture me about what a great place India is: spread your propaganda elsewhere.
From National Geographic:
“Branded as impure from the moment of birth, one out of six Indians lives–and suffers–at the bottom of the Hindu caste system. They are UNTOUCHABLE.
Discrimination against India’s lowest Hindu castes is technically illegal. But try telling that to the 160 million Untouchables, who face violent reprisals if they forget their place.”
160 MILLION people in just this category of human rights violations alone. That’s today, not in the distant past.
Not gross enough for you?
Your ignorant stereotyping of the average American point of view as “narcissistic and self centred in the extreme” is what we call “projection.” Get over yourself.
Had Enough . I fling your own words back in your own face.
How dare you lecture me and spread your own Yankee propaganda -quoting of all things , National Geographic , on casteism.
You guys think that just because you are all powerful -muscling into Vietnam , Korea and Iraq , and propagating your own perversions and twisted perspectives , world wide-that gives you the God given right to ride rough shod over us . ‘dirty and benighted ‘folk though we well might be.
RJKT–right on. Progressive outcomes in the US are likely to continue to evade us until we align ourselves with the impoverished countries of the world, rather than treating them as our political or economic enemies. Perhaps Had Enough will stumble on a copy of National Geographic explaining that the US has its racial categories–African American, Native American, Latino… and that while discrimination against (US racial minorities) is technically illegal, try telling that to (the people of color), who face violent reprisals (and prison) if they forget their place.
RJKT - “You guys think that just because you are all powerful”
I must take umbrage to this gross stereotyping of all Americans being equivalent to the actions of our government. Flinging insults back and forth about who’s government is the least abusive is counter productive.
The governments of most nations today are complicit in the destruction of our planet for the financial gain of the few. Puppets to the their corporate masters. The alignment with impoverished countries that threehegemons speaks of will not succeed at the top down national government level, but must happen at the grass roots level to have any chance of long term success. The “progress” and “wealth” associated with technology and industrial growth are the problem, the desire of the governments of impoverished nations to “get in on the global economy” by emulating the disastrous industrial growth patterns of the west is making these problems worse. When all impoverished peoples see the acquisition of Ipod’s and cell phones as essential to freedom and happiness the corporate masters will have succeeded in their goal to turn the world into mindless slaves to overconsumption.
Unfortunately India today is ruled by the west by the whims of the corporate elite, perhaps even more so than during British occupation, since you now think you have defined your own success. All peoples of the world face the same enemy, and are subjugated and enslaved by the same masters.
Note to Thomas Friedman:
The world may indeed be flat, but it sure as hell doesn’t like it that way.
Someone really should fix the problem with he edit feature on this blog.
This has got to be one of the best pieces of news I have read in a long time. Almost too good to be true. Despite the obviousness of globalization’s horrible record, the American MSM has been hugely successful at keeping most people in the dark about, well, everything. Perhaps the vacuum left by the irreversible stampede of American jobs to sunnier, poorer climes has managed, SOMEHOW, to capture the attention of the chronically unemployed despite the understandable distractions presented by Paris and Lindsay. Miracle of miracles!
This clip is a little drawn out but none the less you should decide…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug3sjs6OwgI
C-Span takes call after call and then a question is raised about the Executive Order dashing the 1st Amendment that caller is quickly cut off. This is WILD people you need to watch this (around 2 mins long). I would hope CD would start a thread about this? “C-Span does not allow the EO topic” or something like that!
Then there is this article about the NAU the the 2 “leaders” will be meeting in Canada.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_2225.shtml
So while we are busy looking at charts Shrub has already set up the deal. All of this has to be stopped too. We have to stop this, end the war, abolish the entire government, get rid of the Federal Reserve, get rid of the IRS, take down all of the nukes and restore the Constitution. Short of that and we wind up in a criminal Ménage à Trois with AMERO DOLLARS
threehegemons: thank you very much . There is hope yet that cooler heads (excluding mine ) will eventually prevail.
fatfreddyscat: I would simply request you to look at what both of us have said.Its all here.
Let me however ,as briefly as possible ,summarize the events . That person made a statement about alleged human rights abuses in India -putting India in the same bracket as China.
To a person like me ,who has an intimate knowledge spanning at least 50 and odd years about ‘human rights’ (or the lack thereof ) in India , this was a sweeping statement .I told that person , in effect ,that it was a case of the pot (the US ) calling the kettle (India) black.
The reply i got was arrogant in the extreme ( “How dare you’ etc…)
That person then went onto fling some specious , totally superficial quotation from National Geographic at me on casteism in India. As one in the know , I can tell you ,the reality on casteism in India is far more complex . And what he or she trotted out from Nat Geo, does not even begin to skim the surface.
(Let me tell you I am far from being some slave, cowering in terror, while some white overseer cracks the whip . And in this day and age ,such attitudes -harking back to the days of rampant white supremacy -are what most at the receiving end ,would find gratuitously insulting and totally reprehensible.)
However I have not and will not ‘bend the knee before insolent might’. (A quotation from the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.)
We the “consumers” in order to for a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Everyday you hold the power to change this nation (world) with the money you invest and spend. Fight globalization by supporting small local, ethical, responsible, companies. Invest wisely, your dollars determine their future and our future.
Start here: http://www.socialfunds.com/
Read this archive: http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0812-07.htm
Go here: http://www.econjustice.net/wbbb/
RJKT, your indignation is bullcrap.
“Globalization” is the issue, and corporations are taking advantage of third-world countries, such as India and China, which have clear and well-known track records of human-rights violations.
In your own smug, sneering way, you further cast aspersion about National Geographic reporting. Too bad that the reporting is embarrassing to Indians, who have taken great strides to mask the truth.
You want links to more proof of Indian intolerance and human rights violations in India? Use Google to find them yourself. Hell, cows have more rights in India than hundreds of millions of Indian humans.
Cloud the issue all you want with your rhetoric and ruffled feathers. If I have anything to do with it, people will always be reminded of the “other” India that you don’t want the world to know about.
Had Enough : you’ve conveniently swept under your carpet the US which has an absolutely stellar record of human rights violations -which are plain knowledge the world over.
How about the following :
1. Millions in the US called “white trash’ -and treated as such .
2. The Jim Crow Laws -which remained in full blown existence until not too long ago.
Have you ever set foot in India - or has the material for your rants been derived solely from a few paragraphs in Nat Geo.(And presumably a blind loathing of India ,the origins of which one could ,at best, only speculate about.)
About casteism in India , for what it is worth :
1. Casteism was an Aryan construct - a result of the Aryan Invasion of India , thousands of years ago . (This should strike a chord in many a Caucasian heart.)
2. The British ( during their 200 and odd year rule over India ) carefully skirted the issue and did not lift a finger . (Because it would have sent the entire country up in flames.)
3. It was only towards the sunset years of the British Raj , Gandhi and other Social reformers emerged and began railing against the sheer injustice of it.
4. When India got its independence ,’Affirmative Action’ to uplift these untouchables was actually enshrined in their Constitution.
5. Successive governments have ,since then ,been forced to abide by this. As a result ,millions of ‘untouchables’ have benefited enormously in terms of higher education in India’s elite institutions and jobs in government and in the Public Sector.
6. This has provoked a backlash of sorts-as the higher castes have found the going exceedingly difficult. Many have as a result ,emigrated to ‘greener pastures ‘ in the West.
7. Even in the midst of India’s current economic resurgence - there has been a rising tide of support for extending such “Affirmative Action’ to its burgeoning private sector.
8.And rightly so because the social costs of such exclusion would be too horrific to contemplate.
There certainly have been shocking examples of ‘Human Rights’ violation -in fact some are so bizarre as to send the average American ballistic with outrage.
However ,wherever possible, its vibrant media have gone to town with such violations -and invariably forced the authorities and the courts to intervene and redress matters.
Bear in mind the scale of India’s problems:
-a population roughly 4 times that of the US
-a hand to mouth existence for much of her 60 years of Independence.
What I want is a world where all societies are again able to practice peace and get back to treating each other as fellow humans!
You can’t blame the average person for any of history’s crimes, we can only fix the future.
Globalization makes the rich richer all over the world. Until they share the wealth with the people that create it, there will never be wide spread prosperity. Labor IS the source of wealth and the exploitation and robbery of labor’s rewards that has taken place just makes things worse.