In 1999, the U.S.A, as well as the rest if the world was left in shock. Thousands upon thousands of protestors had filled the streets of Seattle, Washington. The question on everyone's mind (at least in America) was generally, "Why?" It was utterly mind numbing to comprehend what cause could unite steel workers, bikers (yes, bikers), unionizers, anarchists, environmentalists and the like. Luckily, the media was to inform us that this event was occurring in order to protest the "WTO meeting" that was taking place there. The next few days in Seattle would be entirely chaotic. The police would erect giant steel barriers in order to prevent the horde of protestors from storming the building in which the meeting was taking place. Reports of the police charging on to random buses and pepper spraying everyone on board, photos of masked people destroying a Nike Town and Starbucks, far left organizations draping banners down corporation buildings and the haze of tear gas throughout Seattle began to flood even mainstream news sources such as CNN and MSNBC. These protests lasted three days and there aftermath involved thousands of dollars in damaged property and the majority of us confused. What was the "WTO", why were people so violently against it? The media was more then happy to only focus on violent events that occurred during the protests but were not willing to offer the reasons for why this event had even occurred.

The World Trade Organization, or "WTO" for short, is a collection of countries throughout the world that basically try to eliminate trade barriers between countries. Globalization is simply the opening of international trade, hence why organizations such as the WTO are tagged as supporters of globalization. After that statement most respond, "Now what is so bad about that?"

This is a fair question and certainly needs to be answered, however, the correct response to this question requires a rather in depth analysis of the various economic situations in countries throughout the world and how this in turn could effect us negatively as well. Also, there are pros and cons to almost any cause, organization and event, the same holds true for globalization. So what are the pros to globalization? The opening of international trade itself has benefited many countries. International trade helps reduce the feeling of isolation by allowing people to have access to almost anything they need (Ex: Prior to globalization country A had several tariffs on items imported from country B, this made it virtually impossible for consumers in country A to import items from country B, now due to trade barriers such as tariffs being removed consumers from country A can now import items from country B freely at a reasonable rate). The con here happens to be tremendous. Trade barriers require a country to be at least somewhat dependant upon themselves. They have to make their own products via their own factories. Now since trade barriers have been eliminated consumers will often buy the cheaper items that are being made in foreign countries while in the past they had to buy these items from companies based within their country. Instead of money going back into their country it now is going into foreign companies causing major damage to the economy.

The best example of this can be viewed by what happened in Russia when they were told by various Western based democracies a market based system would give them prosperity far greater then what they had seen through Communism. The exact opposite occurred. "Russia's transition, as engineered by the international economic institutions, and that of China, designed by itself, could not be greater: While in 1990 China's gross domestic product (GDP) was 60 percent that of Russia, by the end of the decade the numbers had been reversed. While Russia saw an unprecedented increase in poverty, China saw an unprecedented decrease" (pp. 10, Globalization and Its Discontents). Russia depended on itself mostly and imported few items prior to their economic change over mostly due to trade barriers, globalization allotted Russian citizens to now import items from anywhere throughout the world and combine this with the fact that Russia was starting a entirely new economy off of an already weakened one, economic disaster is bound to occur and it did. Russia is still feeling the effects till this day and the odds of poverty declining in the near future seem dim.

The effects of globalization are not only felt in foreign countries, but here at home as well. Many are aware of the companies that have either closed down or re-located in our area alone (Ex: Gruman, Tredgar). Even standard business magazines based in the U.S. such as Business Week Online have released articles expressing concern over globalization stating that "Millions of Americans have lost jobs due to imports or production shifts abroad. Most find new jobs…that pay less."

Sadly, what I have just mentioned is really all the pros to globalization and that is if you can truly consider them pros since there negative effects clearly outweigh the positive. More cons continue to build and eat away at the foundation of this ideal. The countries that tend to preach globalization don't even follow by it. The U.S.A. along with other countries decided to leave Cuba out of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Finally, if you believe globalization is only destroying the economic situation throughout the world, it is also harming the environment greatly. Restaraunts such as McDonald's just recently decided to stop importing beef from South American farmers who use to destroy rainforest areas to make more room for cattle so they could keep up with the demand. Granted this practice has come to an end by environmentalists lobbying against fast food chains who committed this act, but the damage has already been done. Whether or not the rainforest will be able to recover from various corporations mowing it down remains to be seen.

So if globalization is widening the gap between the rich and the poor, making countries more economically unstable, causing environmental destruction and allowing corporations to use third world countries as "playgrounds" is there anything we can do? Clearly re-establishing trade barriers and increasing taxes on imported goods are not possible since it would create havoc on economies throughout the world. However, there are some alternatives that we can choose. Since the first area in which economic globalization tends to occur is the de-localization of local economies, people need to simply reverse the direction. When major corporations such as Nike or Wal-Mart decide to move in, people need to unite and strongly voice their opinion against them. If these corporations still manage to get enough support to start building a factory the government must enforce them to obey environmental standards. This especially holds true for third world countries. Buying products made in your own country is also another easy way to halt the spread of globalization. This does not mean buying products from your local Wal-Mart, however, despite how the company may have American flags throughout their stores, few of their items are even made here, "85 percent of the stores' items are made overseas, often in Third World sweatshops. In fact, only after Wal-Mart's "Buy American" ad campaign was in full swing did the company become the country's largest importer of Chinese goods in any industry." If possible, buying products from local stores owned by people who live in the same area would be your best option.

In closing I would like to say that globalization needs to be stopped quickly. The statement "The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" may sound redundant but it still holds true and organizations such as the WTO, IMF (International Monetary Fund) and agreements such as NAFTA are making this gap wider. The anti-globalization movement has continued to grow. The protests have been increasing in size and rather then politicians listening to people's concerns on this issue, they instead try telling us, "Oh, you've got it wrong, this can only help our economy and help you in the process". Let's see the politicians try telling that to a single mother with two kids who just lost a decent paying job at a local factory because it relocated to Mexico (this has already happened in Flint, Michigan, when GM decided to close down all 11 of their plants located there turning the city into a run down slum). Lets see them try to preach the benefits of globalization to the Russians, some only live off a loaf of bread every week. It would be different if there were no alternatives, however, there are and to not pursue these alternatives, which would benefit us all, seems tragic not to mention inappropriate. - MY

Sources:
Store Wars
Pros and Cons of Globalization
Stiglitz, Joseph E. (2002). Globalization and Its Discontents (pp. 10). W.W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (June 2002)