Globalisation: A Linguistic Approach...

According to many anti-globalists, globalisation, i.e. the breaking down of cultural and national boundaries, has led to 'cultural imperialism' by the West (particularly America) over the rest of the world i.e. dominance of Western culture over other cultures. These anti-globalists make certain valid points and point towards the proliferation of the English language when trying to illustrate the effect that cultural globalisation has had on the different cultures around the world, claiming that the spread of English world wide has undermined the plethora of other dialects that enrich the international tapestry of languages. However, this argument is reductionist in nature and does not entertain the notion that linguistic globalisation may also be a positive phenomenon.

 The nineteenth century was a time of Pax Britannica, with Britain dominating over other European powers and spreading it's culture (language being a part of this) through colonisation. The twentieth century was the age of Pax Americana, with the United States imposing it's military and political hegemony through out the world, spreading it's culture in the process. Thus, English has enjoyed a double tenure, first as the language of the British and then as the central language of American culture and the international proliferation of English has only been a natural consequence of the dominance of these two nations.

However, the spread of English has not led to the elimination of other languages but has rather resulted in rich blends of different languages with English, altering English to local dialects while at the same time making these dialects more easily understandable by the rest of the world. As the English intellectual, Charles Leadbeater says, "Many varieties and combinations of the language (English) have emerged. The pessimists' black and white world rules out the possibility of people reaching these fruitful combinations in language." The works of Salman Rushdie, who sews together English with Bengali slang in his fictional writing, and other Asian writers such as Anita Desai and Arundhati Roy, demonstrate how local languages and English can come together beautifully.

The United States itself is slowly becoming a multi linguistic society; with immigrants hailing from countless cultural and linguistic backgrounds and the American emphasis on equal rights for all this gradual shift to multi lingualism is only natural. Bhagwati, in his book, 'In Defense of Globalisation', points out that cash dispensing machines in American banks now 'talk' in multiple languages such as Spanish, Chinese and Gujrati, which signifies how America is a host to multiple dialects.

The local use of indigenous languages has even revived in spite of, and even in response to the spread of English. Globalisation has made people more acutely aware of this distinct values and norms of different cultures and has pushed people to more actively hold on to and flaunt Thieu distinctive cultural identities. This has lead to a resurgence in the promotion of local customs and languages, instead of undermining these as anti-globalists seem to believe.

Karachi: My City by the Sea...

A year ago, in the May 17^th issue of Time, Howard Chua-Eoan, while analyzing the attempted bombing in Times Square by Faisal Shahzad, called Karachi, “Pakistan’s dangerous port city.” These four words leave a heavy impact on the mind, painting a picture of a decaying city, torn by violence and plagued by crime. But though Karachi is indeed heavily burdened by terrorism and violence we are in no way a decaying city. Though dealing with poverty, over-population and crumbling infrastructure since my memory serves me, Karachi is a thriving city, a resilient city. It is bustling with life and filled to the brim with people who are strong and determined to make the best of their conditions. From the vendors on the streets, to the C.E.Os sitting in air conditioned offices the people in this city are determined to overcome the turbulence and turmoil that is a part of our everyday lives.

I have always loved Karachi, my chaotically beautiful city by the sea, and I would never want to live anywhere in the world but here. This is home. It is the land which has sustained me my whole life and I would never turn my back on it. I scoff at those people who aspire to establish their lives abroad and dream of greener, more peaceful pastures. I feel that they are trying to fool themselves; they don’t understand that no city in the world will accept them as their own… they can go to the other end of the Earth but they will always and forever be Karachites. I feel weary of those who continuously complain about the conditions of this city. There is beauty, I tell them, in this cluster and this pandemonium and it is up to us to dust away the bedlam to reveal this beauty.  

 It’s a lovely city, our Karachi. There’s no place in the world quite like it. No city which, despite the tragedy we face and the uncertainty we live in, manages to wake up every morning and get on with the day with the determination that we do.

South Asian society

South Asia is one of the richest regions of the world on two accounts; it is home to a variety of the world’s richest and most prominent cultures and is also a region abundant in natural resources and human capital. The region includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka amongst other countries, each of whom have very unique and dynamic cultures and histories. However, a key feature in all South Asian cultures is religion; faith is an imperative fabric of the social as well as political fabric of all the countries recognized as belonging to this region. Other aspects of South Asian cultures that make them stand out are the rich plethora of colors that are seen in every aspect such as traditional clothing and festivities; the Hindu festival of Diwali, most commonly practiced in India is, quite literally, a celebration of colors. South Asian food is also very distinguishable and is recognized the world over as being very original and full of flavor; from the delicacy ‘Lamprais’ to the Pakistani nation’s favorite dish of ‘Biryani’.

Over the past few decades South Asia’s economic growth and development have also boomed. The region includes one of the world’s fast growing economies i.e. India which is, along with China, Brazil and Russia, part of the ‘Big Four’ economies recognized as the four countries to have shown the highest rate of economic growth over recent decades. However, while literacy in some countries, such as Sri Lanka (which boasts a literacy rate of higher than 90%), is commendable, in most of the region the quality of education is abysmal with the majority of the population, in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, having no or little access to any education.

Poverty is also a major issue in South Asia which, instead of being successfully eradicated, has grown exponentially: the number of people in South Asia living on less than $1.25 a day increased from 549 million in 1981 to 595 million in 2005 and this number has continued to increase over the past five years. Millions of people are living in squalid living conditions with no access to proper nourishment and health care. I believe that there are two reasons for the poverty epidemic of the region: firstly, the economic growth in most of the region has been spurred greatly by the presence of multi-nationals and firms from developed countries investing in the region. This investment however is in terms of the manufacturing of labour-intensive consumer durables which employs cheap unskilled laborers at the lowest possible wage rates which are not even enough for the earner to gain access to basic necessities. Workers in Nike’s factories in Thailand are paid less than fifty cents per t-shirt… t-shirts which are then sold in Nike’s stores for over $50. Such economic growth, while appearing impressive when presented statistical data, does nothing to elevate poverty on the micro-level. Secondly, the countries of South Asia spend appallingly low portions of their government spending on social welfare; most government spending is squandered in the Defense budgets of these states or is used to sustain the corrupt bureaucratic institutions present in most of these countries and thus little is spent on the education, health and other aspects of the well-being of the masses.

However, South Asia holds the capacity to successful conquer its setbacks; it is a region which has already fought off many impediments from a plethora of natural disasters to numerous autocratic ruling regimes. If the region learns to sustain itself by coming together and taking advantage of the many natural and human resources it holds it could gradually but steadily rise as the world’s most thriving and developed region. 

South Asian society...

The South Asian society is widely known and believed all over the world as a conservative and backward model to the world. The South Asian society majorly consists of nations such as Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. In order to erase their name from the list of conservative societies, these three countries have embarked on a journey to heighten their names in different fields of agricultural and textile exports. Each country has their own strengths. Pakistan is known to have stable nuclear power, whereas India is the home to the second largest navy, falling behind the British, and Bangladesh is ranked the eighth most populous country in the world and benefits from agricultural and textile exports.

In south Asian society, cultural, family and traditional values are most honored and valued. The people in this society are so closely knitted to each other that the pain of one becomes the pain of many. Happiness is spread and sorrows are shared. This society has been a recent target to claims such as terrorism and instability but has survived with great love and care that fills every other heart that beats in these nations.

South Asian society is supplemented with multicultural civilizations and values. The region is traditionally diverse as each region of every country in this block has different communities and religious preference; different communities’ has lived in harmony and peace. This cultural diversity has led to the development of new inclinations even in the fashion outlines. People in this region give great respect for their culture and drifts and have overwhelming admiration for their religion. The large populations of the South Asian block are more hard working and determined. The employments from the Asian block are more favored over any other realm because of this nature of people which is a great boon to employers across the globe

Middle East...

After a raging battle for the achieving the right for democracy and freedom, a judgment was passed upon. At the end of a dramatic day, Egypt’s willful protests finally took a turn as the powerful army promised to give them all they were fighting for. This raised high hopes as the people waited with baited breaths to hear the final verdict, that the president would end his 30 year rule. Instead, what met the ears of the people was not entirely good news. Mr. Mubarak instead said on television again that he would stay on till September.

This betrayal enraged protesters more and brought up protests from foreign powers, with the United States increasing international pressure on Mr. Mubarak to quit.

After the president's speech, Barack Obama released a statement demanding an "unequivocal path toward genuine democracy" in Egypt, which has long been supported by massive US aid.

"The Egyptian people have been told that there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient," he said.

"Too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy, and it is the responsibility of the government to speak clearly to the Egyptian people and the world."

Hidden Face of Globalization...

rel="themeData">

We wake up to the sound of our Nokia phones, we put on our Nikes and Levis and jump into Toyotas while sipping our Nescafe’s. Do our assignments through Google on our Hp computers. Watch our favorite movies on our Sony TV screens with Samsung DVD players, while having McDonald’s with Coca Cola. Globalization- we’re living it. Every day, all the time.

Do we ever stop to think who makes the products we buy? Do we spare a second to imagine the countless human faces behind these brands and labels? All across the developing world the workers who make our products are young people like us. 80 % of them are women 16 to 25 years old who are locked in factories and forced to work under hard, sweatshop conditions. Why? Because people like us need to have the best of everything, in all colors and sizes with all the right labels. They say the cruel and inhuman labor condition of the millions of workers around the globe is something the corporations have hidden from us. But I think we all see it and chose to ignore it.

Think about it: one day you read somewhere or watch a documentary about how children are forced to work in those factories with extreme heat, being paid starvation wages of hardly 17 cents an hour and living in misery, let alone poverty. The next day would you stop drinking Red Bull? Not buy the half priced pair of slippers from Wal-mart that everyone you know owns? Or stop watching television?

Globalization

The world seems to grow smaller and smaller. Here I sit in my room, write down a document and mail it to a friend to lives miles away. All I do is type it on a technological box called computer, upload it to the internet and press a button and my friend receives it. This same mail could be send to my brother who lives in a country thousands of miles away and even to my cousin who lives hundreds of countries away.

This is globalization. It has brought the world so close that the inter connections can never be cut off.

One country produces something on its land and the other day the stuff exported to another country miles away.

This sounds good to hear, but the greatest problem is we tend to ignore how this could be used by other evil forces at work. If a good can be traded so easily, how difficult would it be for a terrorist to smuggle arms and ammunitions, even bombs over boundaries? Are we ignoring the high smuggling to drugs all over the world? Drugs that are produced in African countries and then traded all over the world. How a terrorist leader hides insides the caves of Afghanistan and control a suicide attack in America?

If globalization has opened borders, it has done so for everyone. It is an irreversible process that is being now used by forces that tend to work to bring harm to the world and its inhabitants.

If one nation prospers, are we forgetting that it is doing over the suffering of another nation, simple economics, u take from one and give it to the other, stuff just doesn’t come out of nowhere.

The world has become a GLOBAL VILLAGE but do not butter yourself with the phenomena, it connects not only you but everyone and everyone does not work for the betterment of its inhabitants.