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| The Next social revolution: The information age is the final process of globalization. The revolution has arrived just that is an economic elite centered movement. Can we cope with it. At the moment I am working on a paper that attempts to hypothesize what the modalities of what the next social revolution could be like in the face of globalization and a declining middleclass. Since the current theory holds that every social revolution in America has been spear headed and or legitimized by the middle class a declining middleclass could render the prospects of a unifyed social revolution null. For example the boom in the post WWII manufacturing economy helped create the middleclass intellectual leadership for the civil rights movement. It was possible to be a factory production worker and still own a home. Whereas now we have a widening gap between the technocrats of the information age and those rendered obsolete by the deskilling of the labor force through automation. summarize: ŒGlobalization, Technopolitics and Revolution¹ http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/GlobTPRev-Foran.htm Automation replacing human labor--the decrease in US labor manufacturing jobs. Robots and capitalism http://sankalpa.tripod.com/future/s3itrev.html#contribution001 http://www.cia.gov/nic/pubs/research_supported_by_nic/cf/cf154/cf154.chap6.html globalization from a corporate perspective: According to the speaker, one outgrowth of the information revolution is globalization. He identifies the core elements of globalization as: more information flowing with less obstruction information flowing independent of distance increasing opportunities for economic cooperation across borders greater opportunities to profit globally. An additional element of the global information revolution is increased social stratification in which those most likely to participate most actively tend to have fluency in English, foreign ties, and high degrees of education. Thus, the speaker asserted that the information revolution is a phenomenon that is largely restricted to the political elite. He further asserted that only a limited group can afford to acquire high-tech devices, and that a relatively small group profits economically from the information revolution. Indeed, in some place the market for these tools is already saturated. The result of this skewed global information revolution is further societal divisions, with a technologically savvy, highly educated, and IT conversant elite juxtaposed with a technologically unsophisticated, undereducated group of people which has been passed over by the information revolution. The consequences of this within societies are: greater awareness of prosperity elsewhere and poverty at home desires among some for greater "cultural authenticity" a growing gap between rich and poor empowerment of individuals vis-à-vis their governments gradual adaptation to a surplus of information. http://www.cia.gov/nic/pubs/research_supported_by_nic/cf/cf154/cf154.chap4.html "The Role of Nationalism in the Information Revolution According to the second speaker, a current widely held view is that nationalism -- which he defines as a shared identity and feelings of attachment among the citizens of a nation -- should decline in importance because of globalization. He does not agree with this view. Rather, he believes that nationalism is on the rise in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia. He acknowledges that nationalism may be a somewhat declining force in North America and Western Europe, but believes it to be a rising force in many Asian nations (e.g., India, China, etc.)" Well we North Americans have Cable TV. "The decline of democratizing institutions led to the question: whither trade unions? Even though unions are fading in importance, the inequality that unions were established to mitigate is increasing: does this suggest a role for some substitute institution? And if so, what kind? No one in the group could come up with any substitutes that were credible." http://www.cia.gov/nic/pubs/research_supported_by_nic/cf/cf154/cf154.chap9.html Europe has far less confidence than the US in the ability of "free" markets to lead to productive and healthy information societies. There are doubts about whether the same style of capitalism that promoted a competitive industrial economy will work equally well in the post-industrial age; and there is skepticism about whether the information revolution in the US is really being driven by a free market in the first place (versus, for example, Microsoft and the Federal Reserve). http://www.ifg.org/alt_eng.pdf The International Forum on Globalization The Thoreau Center for Sustainability 1009 General Kennedy Avenue #2 San Francisco, CA 94129 "Corporate globalists inhabit a world of power and privilege. They see progress everywhere because from their vantage point the drive to privatize public assets and free the market from governmental interference appears to be spreading freedom and prosperity throughout the world, improving the lives of people everywhere, and creating the financial and material wealth necessary to end poverty and protect the environment. They see themselves as champions of an inexorable and benefcial historical process toward erasing the economic and political borders that hinder corporate expansion, eliminating the tyranny of inefecient and meddlesome public bureaucracies, and unleashing the enormous innovation and wealth-creating power of competition and private enterprise." "Citizen movements see a starkly different reality. Focused on people and the environment, they see a world in deepening crisis of such magnitude as to threaten the fabric of civilization and the survival of the species-- a world of rapidly growing inequality, erosion of relationships of trust, and failing planetary life support systems. Where corporate globalists see the spread of democracy and vibrant market economies, citizen movements see the power to govern shifting away from people and communities to financial speculators and global corporations dedicated to the pursuit of short-term pro.t. They see corporations replacing democracies of people with democracies of money, self-organizing markets with centrally planned corporate economies, and diverse ethical cultures with cultures of greed and materialism." "Humanity has reached the limits of an era of centralized institutional power and control. The global corporation, the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank are structured to concentrate power in the hands of ruling elites shielded from public accountability. They represent an outmoded, undemocratic, ineffecient and ultimately destructive way of organizing human affairs that is as out of step with the needs and values of healthy, sustainable and democratic societies as the institution of monarchy. The current and future well being of humanity depends on transforming the relationships of power within and between human societies toward more democratic and mutually accountable modes of managing human affairs that are self-organizing, power-sharing, and minimize the need for coercive central authority." Effects of Globalization Corporate deregulation and the unrestricted movement of capital; Privatization and commodification of public services, and remaining aspects of the global and community commons, such as bulk water and genetic resources; Integration and conversion of national economies (including some that were largely self-reliant) to environmentally and socially harmful export-oriented production; Promotion of hyper-growth and unrestricted exploitation of the planet’s resources to fuel the growth; Dramatically increased corporate concentration; Undermining of national social, health and environmental programs; Erosion of traditional powers and policies of democratic nation-states and local communities by global corporate bureaucracies; Global cultural homogenization, and the intensive promotion of unbridledconsumerism. The Institute for Policy Studies reports that American CEOs are now paid, on average, 517 times more than production workers, with that rate increasing yearly. The Economic Policy Institute’s 1999 report says that median hourly wages are actually down by 10 percent in real wages over the last 25 years. As for lifting the global poor, the U.N. Development Program’s 1999 Human Development Report indicated that the gap between the wealthy and the poor within and among countries of the world is getting steadily larger, and it named inequities in the global trade system as being one of the key factors. _______________________________________________________ The Golden Straightjacket idea http://www.glreach.com/eng/ed/art/rep-eur22.php3 According to Friedman, no one has more of a choice about the primal rule of the Herd than over death or taxes, as the joke goes -- the Herd determines the success or failure of a country or company... and it works already on a global level, online. A world where we will all be able to be online all the time is shaping up, and this networked world has become the trunk of the tree for a new online world order. Ignore it at your peril. Swim or sink. "...with the invention of the steamship, telegraph, railroad and eventually telephone, it is safe to say that this first era of globalization before World War I shrank the world from a size 'large' to a size 'medium'. Now, we have the next round of globalization, thanks to the Internet, starting in the early '90s. The big difference being the intensity of our current globalization, because vast numbers of people have access to the information and technology to become a player (unlike Globalization I)." (p. 388) The basic point of Friedman's book is that, since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the world's modus vivendi is no longer shaped by the tension between East and West, but rather by what he calls the "Electronic Herd". "The Electronic Herd is made up of all the faceless stock, bond and currency trades sitting behind computer screens all over the globe, moving their money around from mutual funds to pension funds to emerging market funds, or trading on the Internet from their basements. And it also consists of the big multinational corporations who now spread their factories around the world, constantly shifting them to the most efficient, low-cost producers. This herd has grown exponentially thanks to the democratizations of finance, technology and information -- so much so that today it is beginning to replace governments as the primary source of capital for both companies and countries to grow. Indeed, as countries increasingly have to run balanced budgets to fit into the Golden Straitjacket, their economies become ever more dependent on the Electronic Herd for growth capital. So to thrive in today's globalization system a country not only has to put on the Golden Straightjacket, it has to join this Electronic Herd. The Electronic Herd loves the Golden Straitjacket, because it embodies all the liberal, free-market rules the herd wants to see in a country. Those countries that put on the Golden Straitjacket and keep it on are rewarded by the herd with investment capital. Those that don't put it on are disciplined by the herd -- either by the herd avoiding or withdrawing its money from their country... This interaction among the Electronic Herd, nation-states and the Golden Straightjacket is at the center of today's globalization system." (p. 109-110) Countries of every shape and color are changing fast. Even third-world countries are gradually upgrading their infrastructure and even harnessing the Internet. For example, many Muslims are using the Net today to state their case. The Internet allows many budding entrepreneurs in poorer countries the opportunity to develop economically in ways that would have never been available to them if they were not wired. The Internet simply puts them in touch with opportunities and resources that they have never had before. Conclusion http://www.unrisd.org/engindex/publ/list/op/op2/op02-08.htm Fight for Jobs and a Living Wage Prospects for an environmentally sustainable future "None of these technologies are difficult or esoteric; in fact all are already in use in many places. For example, Denmark already gets 15 percent of its total electricity from wind turbines. In Germany, BMW is already operating and selling hydrogen-power cars with conventional engines that are more efficient than gasoline-powered cars. In Japan, Mazda is converting its rotary engine to hydrogen; it will be ready in 2002. Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Toyota and GM are also developing hydrogen fuel cell cars. And the Rocky Mountain Institute — a major technology think tank and research institute directed by Amory Lovins has already completed design and construction of a prototype hydrogen fuel cell hyper car that will be inexpensive, has most of the safety and performance features of standard cars, and is claimed to achieve the equivalent of 99 MPG using hydrogen."
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