70, 76, 77, Long Journey

The chapter reading seems to follow a theme of explaining how other movements and world events can play a role in attitudes and actions toward globalization. Chapter 70 discusses the concept of counterhegemonic globalization, or globalization that works backwards against the dominant powers of the world. Social movements can disrupt the dominant flows of globalization by presenting alternatives or by denouncing the so-called solutions proposed by those dominant powers. The point that stood out to me was when the author explains why the environmental social movements typically gain more success than the labor and feminist movements. Since the other two are so politically interwoven with the goals of globalization, environmental activism gets a clearer lane because they focus more heavily on combating externalities. I think this can be seen in the Greenpeace case we discussed earlier this semester.

Chapter 76 discusses the differences between the nationalist and globalist perspectives on immigration. Globalists support the movement of different people and cultures into an area because it creates a more diverse and strong world. Nationalists strongly oppose immigration because of a racist sense of protecting their culture and way of life. They see the flow of people into their country as a threat. I think the part about this chapter that was most striking to me was the way that immigrants were described almost like a commodity to the larger powers like Europe and the United States. I undertsand that the flow of people into a country ultimately determines said country's globalist/nationalist views, but at the end of the day they are all still people, not just resources. Chapter 77 expands on a lot of the ideas in chapter 76, discussing how globalization and economic policy are directed by anger towards other nations or groups of people. This is extremely apparent in the world around us today, especially since 2001. The actions of few people could influence a nation to take action againts a larger set of people. We saw it with the controversial invasion of Iraq and we will continue to see it in the future. Anger and fear are a resource to powerful nations because they are a way to mobilize or weaponize their populations. 

The Long Journey article discusses the effects of neoliberalism and globalization within Mexico. The author describes the economic classes as if they were levels of a building, with the wealthy members in the penthouse, middle and lower class people below, and then the indigenous populations in the basement. This reflects how the effects of the globalized world only benefitted those who were at the top and could profit from them, while everyone else struggles even more as social classes pull apart from each other. The author discusses true change for Mexico coming from the bottom up, starting with the Zapatistas at the basement level resisting the elites and trying to rebalance the power dynamic in the country. I like the section at the end that discusses the role of women in the movement. It discusses that women are even more marginalized at each "building level," however those in the basement have twice as much motivation to fight back as the men do, making them a powerful force.