Globalization as a disguised form of U.S. imperialism

¶ … globalization and imperialism and argues that globalization is actually nothing more than imperialism under a new guise. The writer uses several sources to illustrate the definition of imperialism and then holds it against globalization to prove they are one and the same under different names. There were nine sources used to complete this paper.

Globalization = U.S. Imperialism

As mankind continues with the process of globalization, many world leaders point to it as an indication of peace on earth. Proudly discussing the coming together of nations, cultures, ideas and technology, the leaders of the world relay to their constituents that globalization is a positive step toward worldwide cohesiveness. Those who live in the nations, taking part in the process, look at technological advances, the ability to widen their market bases and other things and wholeheartedly agree with what they are being told. While there are many aspects of globalization that appear to be positive and enlightening upon first glance, a second look at the deeper layers of the process will show that it is not all that it appears to be. Much like the wizard in the Wizard of Oz, when one pulls back the curtain, it is revealed it is only a man, pulling back the curtain of globalization uncovers something that is carefully hidden beneath the drape of new success. When one looks at the underpinnings of globalization and removes all the glitter and hype one will see that it is actually a cleverly disguised form of imperialism. The most telling element that this is occurring is the fact that the world is becoming a capitalist venture.

SOME HISTORY

In The New Imperialism, Crisis and Contradiction in North/South Relations, by Robert Biel the reader is taken on an educational journey through many important aspects of history.

The history of capitalism has always depended on non-paid work of women as well as the work of slaves. This is a world wide situation and has always served to support the expansion of capitalism according to Biel (Biel, 2000). In addition the world has taken unlimited license with the destruction of non-replenish able sources for the immediate need and gain with little thought to how the world will survive without them in the future (Biel, 2000).

Biel outlines how the tools of Marxism are being used to disguise imperialism under the name of globalization (Biel, 2000).

The globalization of capitalism has exacerbated the continuing reduction of education to a subsector of the economy (McLaren, 2001). In the process, it has brought untold misery to the lives of millions of people throughout the world. Maintaining that critical pedagogy largely remains in the thrall of postmodern theory and politics (McLaren, 2001). The aim of such a pedagogy is to encourage the development of critical consciousness among students and teachers in the interests of building working-class solidarity and opposition to global capitalism (McLaren, 2001)."

There are signs around the world that globalization is actually a form of imperialism. One of the areas that this is being promoted in is the area of education. Throughout America and much of the industrialized world teachers are forbidden to teach the positive aspects of any political system other than Democracy. In addition they are forbidden to teach advocating of any system such as communism.

No teacher giving instruction in any school, or on any property belonging to any agencies included in the public school system, shall advocate or teach communism with the intent to indoctrinate or to inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism (McLaren, 2001). In prohibiting the advocacy or teaching of communism with the intent of indoctrinating or inculcating a preference in the mind of any pupil for such doctrine (McLaren, 2001), the Legislature does not intend to prevent the teaching of the facts about communism (McLaren, 2001). Rather, the Legislature intends to prevent the advocacy of, or inculcation and indoctrination into, communism as is hereinafter defined, for the purpose of undermining patriotism for, and the belief in, the government of the United States and of this state (McLaren, 2001). "

The above is evidence of the strength that the worldwide globalization effort has behind it. The globalization is growing with each nation it includes and it is based in the idea that capitalism is the only true method of success and happiness, from both an economic standpoint and a political standpoint.

THE EDUCATIONAL PROPOGANDA OF GLOBALIZATION

With an eye to the future many experts have concerns about what will happen as the globalization effort, which is really nothing more than an imperialism wolf in sheep's clothing, will do the overall workings of mankind. A new pedagogy will be in order if the progression of imperialist globalization is to stop. Imperialism is the act of obtaining power by taking over other areas. This may mean a true take over such as was seen recently in Iraq, or it can be more subtle by way of an economic takeover. An economic takeover is what the process of globalization is advocating with its spread of capitalism, led by technological wonder and awe. In the end however it is nothing more than a new way for some nations, primarily America, to gain control over other nations through the use of business clout and dependence. Globalization is going to make nations so dependent on the capitalist way of life that there will be no room for discussion or change. The only way to stop it from occurring is to fight against its insidious nature.

A revolutionary working-class pedagogy seeks to transgress the boundaries that set high culture apart from popular culture and that privilege the former over the latter. Empowering the working-class and marginalized social groups in society means giving them an opportunity to interrogate theoretically (in the sense articulated by both Marx and Lenin) forms of both high culture and popular culture so that they can analyze, articulate, express, and construct meaning from multiple positionalities located in their lived experiences dealing with racism, sexism, and class exploitation. In addition, disenfranchised groups need to control the means of production of their symbolic economies, not to mention their material existence. Because a revolutionary working-class pedagogy also recognizes that the language and the discourses practiced within the classroom setting as well as in the workplace are ideologically tainted with the values, beliefs, and interests of the privileged social classes so as to conceal asymmetrical relations of power, an important step involves the encouragement of critical dialogues among teachers, students, and workers. The central purpose of such dialogues would be to raise class consciousness and help students and workers recognize how their subjectivities and social identities are configured in ways that are structurally advantageous to the status quo."

THE HISTORY OF IT ALL (Amin, 2001) While globalization is a relatively new process from a technological point-of-view it is something that has been repeated throughout history.

Imperialism is not a stage, not even the highest stage, of capitalism: from the beginning, it is inherent in capitalism's expansion. The imperialist conquest of the planet by the Europeans and their North American children was carried out in two phases and is perhaps entering a third.The first phase of this devastating enterprise was organized around the conquest of the Americas, in the framework of the mercantilist system of Atlantic Europe at the time. The second phase of imperialist devastation was based on the industrial revolution and manifested itself in the colonial subjection of Asia and Africa. This second phase of imperialism is at the origin of the greatest problem with which mankind has ever been confronted: the over-whelming polarization that has increased the inequality between peoples from a maximum ratio of two to one around 1800, to sixty to one today, with only 20% of the earth's population being included in the centers that benefit from the system."

This is not unlike what the current state of affairs is when it comes to globalization and the benefits that some will reap.

Today we see the beginnings of a third wave of devastation of the world by imperialist expansion, encouraged by the collapse of the Soviet system and of the regimes of populist nationalism in the Third World. The objectives of dominant capital are still the same -- the control of the expansion of markets, the looting of the earth's natural resources, the superexploitation of the labor reserves in the periphery -- although they are being pursued in conditions that are new and in some respects very different from those that characterized the preceding phase of imperialism. The ideological discourse designed to secure the assent of the peoples of the central Triad (the United States, Western Europe, and Japan) has been refurbished and is now founded on a "duty to intervene" that is supposedly justified by the defense of "democracy," the "rights of peoples," and "humanitarianism." The examples of the double standard are so flagrant that it seems obvious to the Asians and Africans how cynically this language is used. Western opinion, however, has responded to it with as much enthusiasm as it did to the justifications of earlier phases of imperialism."

CONCLUSION

The spread of globalization appears on the forefront to be a positive step for mankind and the betterment of world peace. Once one takes a second look however, one can see that it is really only a new form of imperialism. The globalization process is nothing more than the spread of capitalism which in turn is the taking over of economic methods and replacing them with capitalist beliefs. Globalization needs to be evaluated and the new pedagogy needs to address the changing of attitudes regarding the blending of world wide cultures. Teaching that differences are a positive thing and that cultures can be blended without having to be alike is a positive step toward the future, can lead the world to a truly blended and globalized existence.