Is globalisation a covert re-colonisation process? Cromwell Smith questions
The host of the Umoja Show expressed this view last evening, October 4, 2012 on his programme, which was aired on a local radio station.
Smith felt that while global markets were open and persons can cross borders to trade and make purchases, countries that were more advanced have greater access to these markets.
A virtual monopoly on technology is a key factor that facilitates this access to the markets.
The’re advancement, he expressed, especially in the instances of Europe and America, was largely as a result of the empires that were built on the backs of Africa during the plantation years and the whole colonization process that took place there as well.
The host related that there was an abundance of evidence that showed how these empires were built at the expense of people in developing countries like Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and South America; as a result, he said, “we have to be mindful and we got to pay attention that this ‘globalisation’ is not a covert re-colonisation process.”
Co-host of the programme, Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru agreed with this view and added that what concerned him especially was that there were members of the VI community; leaders, intellectuals, business people, who buy into the globalization philosophy wholesale and without realising that this philosophy was primarily in the interest of the persons that dominated the world economy at the moment.
“They have constructed an ideology that benefits them and are telling us that it will benefit us as well, but this ideology had been going on for a long time,” he believed.
Wheatley added that any objective observer could not say that populations of developing countries around the world have benefitted much at all.
A reference was made to banana production in Latin America, wherein he related that because of globalisation, American companies are in Latin America paying persons a small amount of money to produce bananas for countries around the world. Additiionally he indicated that places such as Latin America lost preferential markets because Europe and America wanted these for themselves.
Wheatley further stated that, because of globalization, a lot of people end up being unemployed around the world because a lot of labour is being outsourced to cheaper jurisdictions.
There were many advocates for globalization, he noted, who were justifying outsourcing certain things from the VI because they felt as though it could be produced cheaper elsewhere.
This led to the question of what would happen to the Territory when people are unemployed. Wheatley also highlighted the fact that there were numerous social problems in existence and money needs to be spent to create solutions for these problems.
In the long run therefore, he suggested that it might be better to pay a bit more for labour to prevent money from being spent on prisons and social services.
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27 Responses to “Is globalisation a covert re-colonisation process? Cromwell Smith questions”
What Cromwell need to understand is despite Black folks getting a handicapped start and even today not being considered 'equal' in certain respects, how can we be any better off when we spend the little we have on bull$h1t, thereby enriching the very ones we claim to despise? Big rides, big rims, big bling, diamonds, branded items, bags, clothing etc. Do you see the whites, especially around here putting as much emphasis in that stuff as us? We even expose the kids to it from babies. You see babies with gucci and coach carry bags, coogi clothing etc. but then when things hit rock bottom they jump up with buzzwords like slavery, colonialism and takeover. What are we doing with the little we have? What should we be doing with it?
Instead of Cromwell and Sowande going off tangent with their tinfoil hat crazed antics, they need to find solutions. This victim $h1t is just sickening now. We have opportunities that we didn't have before. Of course, we are still at a disadvantage when it comes to wealth and power, but it doesn't have to remain taht way. Squandering the little we have like land/property, values, valuables and cash/security will not make us better off, so why do we continue those bad habbits and still blaming others? We act big bad and bold like we're the best so let's prove it. IT is very ridiculous to come here in 2012 talking bull$h1t about this foolishness. Our heads are in the wrong place and until that changes, we will continue to complain and complain. There's a difference between acknowledging our history, embracing it and learning from it, as opposed to using it as a crutch all the time.
Is Cromwell an a...$$ I think we know the answer to that..moving right along! (SHAMEFUL!)
Globalization is a NATURAL and direct result of emerging technological advancements. It's really as simple as that. It is not some PLANNED conspiracy. It is simply a bi-product of technology!
Perhaps we should blame Steve jobs and and Steve Wozniak for plotting an evil scheme to take over the world when they invented the first home computer! Or perhaps the conspiracy was hatched by those demonic schemers, Orville and Wilbur Wright when they invented the first flying machine? Then again, it might have been Thomas Edison when he invented the light bulb or Alexander Graham Bell when he invented the telephone! Oh wait, maybe it was dastardly Henry Ford when he invented his evil automobile!
My point is that nobody and no country PURPOSELY developed globalization as a concept. It just happened! Technology has advanced the world population and has made pretty much everything under the sun more accessible to a large percentage of the global population.
Bananas and many other crops grow better in certain parts of the world than others. Any rational person would think it might be a good idea to do business with those countries that offer the best crop possibilities! Companies who purchased the products from growers paid the going rate to farmers. What's wrong with that?
Likewise, outsourcing is a byproduct of the global market. EVERYBODY everywhere wants what they want for the least expensive price they can get. Nowhere is that truer than right here at home! You only have to go stand at the West End ferry dock at about 4:00 p.m. on any Saturday afternoon to see for yourself.
Unless and until so called "globalization" spreads throughout every corner of the world, there will always be discrepancies in wages. If somebody in India is happy to produce a website for 1/4 of the price it would cost in the U.S., then people will outsource the work. Who wouldn't?
I don't know who the mysterious "THEY" might be who have constructed an ideology that benefits "THEM" ~ but I do know that Mr. Smith and his pals would be hard pressed to name any specific culprit. The reason being that the culprit is TECHNOLOGY and nothing more. This sort of nonsensical conspiracy theory being spouted while pointing fingers at they mysterious "THEM" is absurd!
Any OBJECTIVE observer could easily say that populations of some developing countries around the world have not made much of an effort to keep up with the technologies available to them! We are a nation of buyers. We are not producers. WHAT exactly have WE contributed to the world?
I could point out the fact that we here in the BVI are in the ideal location to take advantage of what God has provided us for free. We COULD spearhead a major solar and wind energy development project and perhaps throw our hats into the ring of global providers of solar and wind energy technologies.
Instead, we prefer to keep burning fossil fuels, not permitting our own population to use available technologies and imagining ridiculous conspiracy theories invented by unknown slave owner types to keep us all down.
If our people are unemployed it is of our own doing! Nobody DID this to us! What utter rubbish! There are so many opportunities out there that all any of us has to do is stop whining, get off our collective behinds and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
The world is our oyster!
"There's a difference between acknowledging our history, embracing it and learning from it, as opposed to using it as a crutch all the time."
Never a truer word was spoken my friend!
The reason the Cruise Ship Pier project had to be tendered is because your NDP gods signed a Protocol with the UK Government that required just that. And the sad thing about it is that they didn't even know that PPP were in fact to be treated the same as Public Borrowing. This was not the case wham the Biwater Agreement was signed.
People like you are so hypprocrytical that you will never talk that.
Knowing your history and hiding behind it, using it as an excuse for not doing what you're supposed to do are two completely different things. Every Black person should know from whence they came as this should give them the drive to achieve what was once impossible for their forefathers. Instead many of us waste these opportunities and when the s$h1t hit the fan it's not our fault, it's the salve masters. Nobody is forcing us to buy bull$h1t with our money instead of investing in our Territory and resources. Nobody is forcing us to sell our land that was handed down by those very forefathers, all in the name of a cruise, vehicle, clothing, liming, all of which ironically, empowers the great enslavers who you claim to be responsible anyway. Does that make sense? Cut the crap! Life is what you make it, do something with yourself and you won't have time for senseless ramblings. I'm all for African teachings and black history, I think it's a must for us. But we must be also for upliftment and common sense. By learning about what our forefathers went through we should be doing things differently now not making excuses. Right now we call eachother nigga and dawg and it's cool. really? I'm not naive, I know how the 'system' is set up etc., But in the BVI, we shouldn't be here balling after most of us forfeited our wealth and all else, all by ourselves. A white man coming from overseas and taking advantage of your wilful ignorance and greed has nothing to do with slavery. It has to do with being wilful and ignorant.
The sentence above can refer to globalization AND colonialism.
The naivete of some commenters is stunning. Resource rich nations are constantly being exploited by europe and north america.
More assumptions! How the heck you know any of them were wealthy BEFORE they did what they did to become wealthy? Sometimes, a vision is the most important part of business. The difference between "them" and "some" of us is that they took the chances, made the investments and actually DID something rather than sit around whining about not getting their fair share.
Also, "cheap labour" as you call it may not be considered "cheap" in that country. Everything is relative!
I am tired of people calling capitalists exploiters, users & colonists, etc.! It's as though being a capitalist is a dirty thing!
Yes, we need to learn from history but the most important thing we need to do is stop whining and DO something for ourselves. The time some of us spend whining could be put to much more productive use. I built my company on a total investment of $500.00 and a LOT of sweat, time, energy and nail biting. ANYONE can do the same if they have a dream and the determination to get out there and do it for themselves instead of hoping someone else will hand it to them!
This is the same crab in the barrel thinking that has landed us where we are. We can't see past our noses sometimes! There is a very big world out there and there is absolutely nothing stopping us from grabbing OUR piece of the pie. If you want it ~ GO GET IT!
My issue is not with capitalism. My issue is with Union Carbide and Bhopal. My issue is with Apple and suicides in their factories in China. Rawlings in Haiti. Dole in Guatemala and Honduras. British Petroleum in Iran.
Thats my issue and i dont have the time to list the INUMERABLE instances of EXPLOITATION (past & present) of brown peoples by the usual suspects.
Its easy to see,harder to believe,when you lose your land you lose your people.The land was a given but you,you,before you came it was driven by those that drove it from afar,Igineri, 3000 BC,before Christ,,,Taino,Carib Arawak.And now we, lovely beautiful kind people,who were given a gift, that we have given away mostly,Hang in people,we are lucky people, it still ours,don't spoil it for bling and all that kind of thing.Stop giving it away.I am old I losing the thread,I cannot see the eye of the needle but one thing I know people, is losing sight of the cradle, from where they come from,hold tight cuz cos you are right,stand firm,do not give it-the islands- away to big ships and big planes that do not belong here,keep the islands small for all otherwise the bling will destroy u all,big cars big houses, big ships big airport, destroy all us little pricks,one pin in a baloon,boom, bye bye BVI,HELP US LORD
Sadly, it is the victims of this process who are the last to know the plan before it happens.
You cannot blame the First World population for their ways. They're only trying to survive genetically as a group and will use all areas of people activity-economics, education, entertainment,labour, law, politics, religion, sex and war-to achieve this goal.
(By the way, Globalization falls under the area of economics.)
Because we as the third world occupants are truly unware of this, we get mad and emotional when all of these terminologies are thrown around without realizing that without these mechanisms in place, first world occupants as a group would have been extinct eeons ago!!
SO I commend you Edju En Ka for apprising us of these issues. They are very important issues and it should be of utmost importance to us here how globalization is beginning to affect life here in these beautiful Virgin Islands(British)!
But there the similarities end. Colonisation was about one-nation powers. Globalisation involves companies which are usually multi-nationals in terms of both ownership and operation. And whereas colonisation was usually pretty bad for the colonised country, globalisation brings benefits to less developed countries by making goods and services available which they could not otherwise buy.
So when a U.S. cell phone company opens up a cell phone network in Africa, that may be bad for local telecoms companies in Africa (who find it hard to compete) it is usually good news for African consumers, who have more choice and lower prices than would otherwise be the case. Globalisation represents a range of opportunities as well as threats to less developed nations.
I appreciate the words of encouragement of those commenters who find value in my views and I respect and in many cases agree with much of the views of others that appear to be in disagreement with mine. Sometimes it is just a matter of misunderstanding and need for clarification, and in a lot of instances we believe in, and are saying some of the same things, just a little differently.
I couldn’t agree with you more that we as a people globally and in the BVI can do more for ourselves, especially here in the BVI regarding self-sustainability in energy production and I am happy to see that we have started. As Commenter OK pointed out, the issue here is not Capitalism, or conspiracy theories, although some issues can be found with capitalism and arguments made for conspiracy. OK has pointed out a few of the instances of harmful practices of the “developed countries” that hurt the developing countries. I am not talking about any global conspiracy nor hatred of anything or anyone; I am talking about unfairness, unequal access, unlevel playing field and harmful practices that the developing countries like the BVI should pay attention to for the protection of its people before buying in hook line and sinker to globalization. Much of what you have said is practical but I am hoping that you would admit that when the leaders of the developing countries have tried to do more for their people they have been met with, in some instances violent resistance from the developed countries.
Declassified CIA and FBI documents have shown that America and other developed countries were directly involved or at least complicit in the overthrow of democratically elected governments and the discrediting and assassination of many leaders in developing countries who did not share their values and simple wanted a little more for the natural resources of their people. Currently we see the Practice of Nationalism while the talk of Globalization by the developed countries. We see the use of weapons of mass destruction by the developed countries to destroy the communities and disrupt the lives of, and murder innocent men women and children so that they can install puppet governments that will give them free access to the peoples’ natural resources. Do you remember a few months ago when the United States Congress took back the multi-billion dollar Airplane contract from the European Company Airbus that is subsidized by the French government and gave it to the American company Boeing? That’s nationalism on both sides my brother, that’s protection of your peoples’ and country’s interest. That is not Globalization, That’s no conspiracy theory. As the old people say, actions speak louder than words. As I have said, I understand and respect your views, I appreciate all points of view in the spirit of love, as I truly believe we all want what is best for our country because we are all part of Team BVI. Peace and blessings.
BiWater is a British company that was given a multimillion-dollar contract over 16 years. Despite the many proven concerns made to the governor and the foreign and commonwealth office regarding BiWater’s challenges, (it will be 3 years February 18, 2013 since the contract was signed and still no water) as well as the fact that there was a local-foreign partnership that could do the project for 50 million dollars cheaper over the 16 year period, neither the governor nor the FCO saw it necessary to do anything about it. I am submitting that this inaction was due to the fact that BiWater is a British Company and was/is protected by the UK government, this is nationalism. The cruise pier development project was given to an American company and of course the protocols are just in time.
My examples were used to help to substantiate my view that the developed countries are practicing nationalism while forcing us to practice globalization. I don’t believe that you think that is fair.
My dear Facts and Fiction, my hope is that in our disagreements we can still maintain love for each other and agree that whether we are VIP or NDP we are all working for what is best for Team BVI.
One thing I would say is that as a white man living here a long time, I detect a lot more fear and discomfort among white people in the BVI now than ever before. Many people talk of leaving, some have left already because of the sense that they are unwelcome here. These are decent people don't want to live in and raise kids etc in a racist scenario. A lot of this can't be helped because some people are just uneducated and don't know any better, but I would say a lot of it comes from, for example, the constant inference on this site and others that people with white skin are somehow all working together, all racist and greedy, all colonialists and wish they could own black slaves, are all here in the BVI as some plan to take it over, that all UK govt activities have a colonial/slave agenda behind them etc etc etc In other words a LOT of horse Sh*t that - in 99% of cases – anyone can see doesn't stand up. But with the kind of stories some of these websites are running, even if they don't mean to sound overly racial, they add to the general sense that white=evil.
Now, I understand that a lot of people want to punish 'white people' - any white people they can - for stuff that happened 300 years ago, or for the activities of governments of predominantly white countries. It's kind of a sport here to mess with them because doing so is seen as a small revolutionary act or something. But it needs to be remembered these people come from diverse countries, where they all have diverse views (you think all white English people agree with each other? Or with all Russians, Germans, Americans etc, who also have white skin? That's where the logic of this racialism takes you). To ignore that is often just inhumane (in most cases I'm not talking about business leaders who may have undue power, freemasons etc. I'm talking about the people struggling to make ends meet, make small businesses work, the wives, children etc)
Anyway, I'm not calling you out you for the excessive racial talk, and only mention it because of the good sense of your explanations above. But when you get a chance, please, tell some of us confused white skin people: is this an issue? Are 'we' making it up? Being paranoid? Do 'we' deserve to be treated as homogenous group of bad people? Should all people with white skin just get out of the BVI?
This topic needs a cool, wise head which is why I am asking you.
It is sad to hear that so much fear and discomfort is developing among white people living in the BVI, so much so that some have left and many are talking about leaving. I truly believe that there are few places on earth where white people are more welcomed than in the BVI. After reading your comment I have been trying to recall one incident of a racial attack on a white person in the 17 years I have been here. Of course I may be wrong I just don’t recall.
I think that many of the comments that you may hear and interpret as racist against white people are for the most part a reaction to injustices that black people see perpetrated against them at the hands of white individuals or governments around the world. Yes you are correct in stating that the transatlantic slave trade and plantation era may have happened more than 300 years ago, however, you have to bear in mind that slavery was only abolished approximately 180 years ago, the civil rights act was only passed approximately 45 years ago and many black people had to have dogs set on them, beaten and died in order for that to happen, apartheid in south Africa ended only 18 years ago, then there is the ghetorization of black people, the periodic lynchings and racial murders and of course now the recently acquired knowledge by Black people about the falsification of world history by whites that rendered black people as making no contribution to civilization. The list goes on.
So you see my dear brother we can’t seem to shake this racism, it’s ever present up in our face, it just won’t go away, and there are not enough whites speaking out against it and trying to correct it, trying to put themselves in our place and understand how we feel. Not enough trying to see how they would feel if these things had happened and continued to happen to them. Instead they get angry when we talk about it and say we are racist in reverse or we are fanning the flames of racial hatred and it happened 300 years ago and so we must forget it. In the mean time no other group who have suffered far less than us (and I really don’t mean to compare or measure suffering here, this is just for illustration purposes) are being asked to forget their suffering, and in fact are building monuments to their suffering so that they will never forget.
We have gotten an apology from the Catholic Church; we have gotten an apology from our African brothers and sisters for their complicity in the slave trade, that’s it. We can’t forgive you if you don’t think you have sinned, continue to sin and don’t ask for forgiveness nor make atonement. So whites remain suspect my brother and you have to remember that the broad brush that whites are being painted with now is the same brush that they have painted us with for centuries.
I have just given you a little sketch of the situation; I have just scratched the surface. The few people in the BVI if any that want whites to leave can be counted on one hand. I think the well-meaning whites understand history, have been able to put themselves in the shoes of the oppressed, have no fear and are making meaningful contribution to human development for the cause of global peace and harmony. I consider the whites who attempt to make blacks feel that they are racist because they observe and speak the truth about the injustices that have been done to their ancestors and continue to be done to them, are not well meaning.
So you see my brother Coloration, there is a lot of work to be done. A frank, civil and honest discussion need to take place in order that injustice may be acknowledged, forgiveness sought and given, atonement and restitution made and restoration accomplished.
I hope I have been able to give you a little insight into the minds of some black people so that you may understand that black people don’t hate white people, black people are not racist. Black people just can’t take the injustice anymore.
Peace and blessings my brother.