Entries
Saturday, 14 April 2007
ECONOMIC POST 1.(In this post, I refer to the article entitled “
Global Free Trade Could Lift 500 Million People Out of Poverty”.)
All the countries sprawled on the map are interdependent. No country is self sufficient. Even China, the country with the world’s largest population can no longer close their doors to the rest of the world. Today, trade and global relations have become a necessity for progress economically. A country which is on good terms with another often has more “discounts” when trade is involved and discussions are made easier by leaps and bounds. “Discounts” as mentioned earlier can come in the form of the reduction of tariffs and transport fees. If the imported goods are well-received by the locals, the foreign suppliers might attach more conditions to the agreement of supplying goods. As such, the host country, being subjected to the whims and fancies of the supplier of the goods, will not be sovereign any longer.
It is globalization which allows the import of products from all over the world but it also causes state sovereignty to go to naught.
In fact, the noble ideal of globalization is a phenomenon that can bring about pros and cons. It only depends on what perspective you perceive it from. Yes, it is true that globalization brings about the “shrinking world syndrome”, but it is an undeniable fact that globalization has brought to us all much more convenience. I am sure nobody would want to be trapped in their little kampongs and be unable to venture out to the wide world beyond.
The article talks about global free trade which helped improve the lives of many in developing countries. Global Free Trade is a result of globalization. It came about because of the need for countries to trade as mentioned above. The added incentives entice foreign investors and companies to pump dollars into the economy.
This is especially important to developing countries as they need these incentives so that they can get whatever they need at a cheaper rate. This will not cause too much burden on their financial economy. Also, obtaining goods at a cheaper rate will mean a lower selling price which is more affordable for the people in developing countries. In this way, the astronomical instances of malnutrition will be greatly reduced. Globalization would mean more profits for everybody.
In a way, third world countries “beg” for globalization, as reflected in the political cartoon above. It is rather interesting that developed countries are often the ones exposed to the influences of globalization. This is perhaps why third world countries also want to be part of the globalization trend. The influences from globalization can be said to be a fad which all countries want to be involved in. Why? Maybe because everyone likes the “jumping on the bandwagon” game. Well, that may be a possibility also, judging from the rate so many countries are trying to “outbuild” each other with the tallest building in the world.
In agrarian countries, having free trade laws with other countries would mean that more goods can be exported at lower prices. Most of these countries are developing countries. If more crops can be exported, this will mean that the farmers will earn more profit. This might also increase the chances of them breaking out of the poverty cycle. In addition, with everything going mechanized nowadays, I will not be surprised at all if farming becomes an obsolete technique. Globalization would mean more advanced technology to reduce the labour needed to grow crops.
Let us all let the millennium goals be fulfilled. Eradicating or reducing the number of people worldwide in poverty is possible. So allow globalization to do the job because it is not all bad after all.
DEBORAH SIM signing off
- because there's really no need to, anymore...
5:39:00 pm
CULTURAL POST ONE:
Cultural globalisation refers to the growth in the exchange of cultural practices between nations and peoples. The spread of globalisation will undoubtedly bring changes to the countries it reaches, but change is an essential part of life. It does not mean the abolition of traditional values. Many analysts point to the way new technologies and their exploitation such as commercial air travel, satellite television, mass telecommunications and the internet have created a world where billions now consume identical cultural products - such as pop music, soap opera and sporting events - and employ cultural practices they would never otherwise have encountered - such as foreign food preparations and foreign words and phrases. At the heart of much of the rise of cultural globalisation has been the massive expansion of the entertainment and communications industry fuelled, in particular, by the spread of television. One survey found that while there were only 39 television sets for every 1,000 people on the planet in 1959, this had risen to 160 per 1,000 by 1992. Television has become the key to the development of pop music, news services, advertising, sport and light entertainment with an appeal – and enormous money-making potential – across the whole world.
In current cultural globalization, television constitutes one of the most important phenomenons. Today, globally watched TV channels are regulated/owned by a few countries and a few people. In other words, the very product of cultural globalization itself constitutes an important part of economic globalization. In today's world, an important part of social life is determined by global processes and media. Television plays an especially dominant role as a determining factor.
As a result of the empowering dominance of international market, mass media capital, including television, has lost its national character in most of the countries. National capitals are incorporated in international capital not only in terms of ownership structure, but also in terms of production and distribution processes. In most regions of the world, including the European countries, capital-ownership compositions of the TV channels are not local or national anymore. They are becoming predominantly global.
Current developments seem likely only to accelerate this process further. Entertainment, telecommunications and IT sectors have been building ever closer ties, partly through acquisitions and mergers, since the 1990s. This coupled with the widespread liberalisation of the telecommunications industry - once dominated by public monopolies - is already ensuring that speedier, cheaper and more efficient means of delivering entertainment and information throughout the world are spreading rapidly.
Well I believe what constitutes to today, is brought about mainly by globalisation. As stated above, television plays an especially dominant role in the process of globalisation. For example, Hollywood movies (White Chicks, Coach Carter, etc.), television series (CSI, OC, etc.) and other movies like by DISNEY or Warner Bros., can be watched globally. Also, various countries get influenced by stories and movies of other cultures, for example, the all-time favourite novel, Pride and Prejudice was made into a movie ‘Bollywood style’ called ‘Bride and Prejudice’. This depicts the Indian community being influence by the western cultures. All these movies from all over the world can be viewed locally in Singapore, more over there are various film festivals like Asian and German film festivals, of which international shows from those countries are screened in the Singapore cinemas.
In my opinion, such actions taken does not only constitute to globalisation but also to help people from various countries to learn about other cultures, to be more exposed to the outside world. Globalisation, in particular, cultural globalisation have its good and bad points, there might be discrimination of other races taking place, through movies and shows, causing unrest among the people, however, we learn more about other cultures, learn new things and what is happening in other parts of the world. Not only does movies and shows constitute to cultural globalisation, but most importantly, the news, news of the happenings around the world are aired through television channels like CNN and BBC. People can watch these channels to be aware of global news, however, local news are now reporting world news too, so they need not be viewed through such international channels as mentioned above.
In conclusion, cultural globalisation is not a bad thing, the spread of globalisation will undoubtedly bring changes to the countries it reaches, but change is an essential part of life. Wonder what the world would be like when we are stranded in our own country, not knowing what is happening in other parts of the world? What would happen when globalisation does not take place? If that's the case, wouldn't we be living in isolation? Locked up in a cage, not exposed to the outside world.
RIMIKO signing off
- because there's really no need to, anymore...
12:20:00 am
Friday, 13 April 2007
Health Post: Tuberculosis (TB)
Globalization refers to the increasing global connectivity, integration and interdependence in the economics, social, technological, cultural, political and ecological spheres, as quoted from Wikipedia. Hence, globalization can also be defined as the internationalization and standardization of everything related to different countries, which result in the world becoming more like a country as time changes.
However, there is always be pros and cons towards different issues, and this applies on globalization too. In terms of health, globalization has both helped to spread some of the deadliest infectious diseases known to humans, yet also reshaped the social geography within which humanity strives to create health or prevent disease, from Wikipedia. Some of the most common international diseases are: plague, measles, small pox, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and the transmission of these diseases has increased as time pass, as the speed of modern transportation systems increases, which means that infections can potentially move around the world at a faster speed.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a common and deadly contagious disease caused by mycobacterium. TB most commonly affects the lungs (as pulmonary TB), but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system and genitourinary system, bones, joints and even the skin. Like the common cold, it spreads through air, and only people who are sick with TB in their lungs are infectious. When infectious people cough, sneeze, talk or spit, they propel TB germs, known as bacilli, into the air. A person needs only to inhale a small number of these to be infected.
TB is a disease of poverty; affecting mostly young adults in their most productive years; the vast majority of TB deaths are in the developing world, with more than half of all deaths occurring in Asia. It has been one of history’s greatest killers and is also known to be among the world’s biggest health threats. In 2005, 8.8 million people contracted and 1.6 million died due to TB, as according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Currently, Two billion people, one-third of the world’s population, are infected with the TB bacteria, and TB is also a leading cause of the death in HIV patients (200,000 people with HIV die from TB every year, mostly in Africa), as stated in the article, Super-deadly TB, by The Straits Times, Science, Saturday, March 31 2007.
It was also mentioned in the website of WHO, that each person with active TB disease will infect an average of 10 to 15 people each year if they are left untreated. Consequently, the number of new cases arising each year is still increasing globally and in the WHO regions of Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia. Hence, it was predicted that someone in the world is newly infected with TB bacilli every second.
However, just as I have mentioned beforehand, globalization has its pros and cons. Despite increasing the rate of which diseases have been spread due to the increase in global connectivity, globalization has also helped to prevent diseases and created health in the world population. Many different organizations in the world such as WHO, United States’ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) in Singapore have been working on different resolution to combat TB before it is too late.
Drugs and strategies have been invented, planned and then spread to the whole world to encounter the increasing trend of TB. Currently, the TB’s annual incidence rates are now stable or falling in all six WHO regions and have peaked globally, although the total number of cases is still rising in certain regions such as the African, Eastern Mediterranean and South East-Asian regions. It was stated in the Straits Times article that new TB cases have dropped from 97 to 83 in every 100,000 people from 2000 to 2005 in Russia. This is also a fall in TB rates in Singapore, from 300 to 54.9 to 34.8 in every 100,000 people from 1960s to 1997 to 2006.
It is certainly a good thing that globalization has allowed illnesses and diseases to be maintained or decreased. However, globalization could also be blamed for the existence of the illnesses and diseases. In my opinion, globalization has its own advantages and disadvantages to the world. It allows conveniences in mankind through transportation and communication yet it makes the world become a smaller place where everything is similar and standardized. It helps to bring both health and diseases to the world population, and allows advancement and industrialization, yet destroys our Mother Nature. Nothing is perfect, and this implies on human beings too. Everything has its own flaws, such as the unavoidable mistakes that we make in our life. Hence, I feel that it is important for us to accept the paradox of globalization.
