Chapter 22-23

Chapters 22-23

I am full of questions at the end of chapter 22. What would these countries have turned out to be if Europeans had not colonized them? Would they be better off, or worse off today? The legacy colonialism has left behind has affected the entire world. It has left a power vacuum that have been filled with corruption, communism, confusion, and mostly failed experiments of modernization. It seems that colonialism was telling the rest of the world (in particular countries with skin colors different than their own) that the ideas of the enlightenment of democracy, equality, humanism were only good enough for Europeans and they did not qualify. The gap between values and practices discredited the Europeans in the eyes of those countries that were occupied. Self determination is something that is so cherished in our own country, and in any society, of course these countries wanted that and strike when the iron was hot. We should all determine our own paths. So many tried to fill those leadership roles as nonviolent protestors to colonial rule: Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Abdul, Ghaffar Khan. So many others who were as violent and oppressive as the colonizers: Inkatha Freedom party, dictatorships of Pinochet, Castro, Allende. And how best to proceed with this new found independence? How to modernize and improve the economic circumstances of the people in these countries? India it turns out was the most successful in this transition. The rest it seems are still in the experimentation phase. What a legacy colonialism has left upon the world.

Chapter 23

I was shocked at how much global trade had increased: since 1947 has increased from $57 billion to $16 trillion in 2009. Thinking back to the small time traders of the silk, sand and sea roads, and wondering if they could have even imagined this in their wildest dreams! It makes me so angry that we put other countries and environments at risk and take advantage of their looser environmental regulations so we can produce what we think we need, and use the people as cheap labor. It reminds me of the rubber plants in Africa and how we abused the people there for our tires. As long as we don’t see it and it doesn’t affect our backyard. The globalization of money through credit cards was eye opening. I never really thought of credit cards this way. There was an NPR segment on about t-shirts. They followed the production from the field of cotton to the processor, to the fabric producer, then the t shirt factory, and then the distributor to the destination in a journey around the globe. Makes you really think about how many people and how many miles are on the products we buy by the time it reaches us.

                Is the U.S. an economic empire? An Informal empire? I think we are a corporate empire. Only we’re a sneaky corporate empire as we sneak behind the scenes and arm those we want to win. What strange bedfellows we have had all for the sake of money and oil. We began by conquering villages, to conquering empires, to conquering nations, now we’ve conquered the world, what’s next???

                The section on international feminism surprised me that in 2006 the US did not ratify a UN Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women. I wondered why? Do we think we are so progressive that we didn’t need to? Or was there some other reason? I was extremely interested in learning more about fundamental Christianity. My mother in law and my husband’s siblings are born again Christians. It helps me to understand them better. I try not to get into religious discussions with them.

                The section on the global environment makes me worry about my kids. What have we left for them and their children? I hope it is not too late.