Globalisation - to be, or not to be?

I was at a rooftop bar last night, with aerial views above the city and the gentle sound of water from the rim flow pool. It was another Meet-up event. There were people from all corners of the world and a variety of languages were represented. Admittedly, I stood out as my Spanish is not up to scratch. There was a  Japanese girl there who could speak better Spanish than English. Puts me to shame...

So back to the globalisation issue. I had just had a conversation about Globalisation yesterday morning with my aunt and we had spoken about many of the problems the world is facing now. Economic crises, unemployment, falling rates of literacy, increased sickness, mass migration, social unrest and others. Many of the problems of the world are due to the inter-connectivity of countries and the merging of people/cultures. So my opinion is that it is not necessarily a good thing.

I think the world was a different place when societies and countries had their own identities. There was little political unrest and more social coherence. People are less divided when they are the same. Globalisation has resulted in the loss of identities and caused people to think they are the same but fundamentally there are still small but significant differences in culture, values, norms between people.

I personally feel that globalisation is a type of economic and cultural colonisation. The rich and powerful countries and societies set the trends and all the other countries follow... People of the world are now exposed to the same things so they want to own what everyone else owns and to do as everyone else does. Got to keep up with the Jones'  and to do as the Romans do! That is what I feel Globalisation is doing to the world. There is a loss of individuality and identity as cultures, traditions and norms become a global blend.

Many people see globalisation as a good thing because they see access to foreign culture (food,movies, music, clothing etc) as exciting. The ability to meet people from other places and more freedom of movement may be appealing too. But that is not all globalisation is about. Those are just the most visible effects of globalisation.

A burger and a coke - in the remotest of places!

Whatever it may be, globalisation is upon us and is moving forward faster than we think. There has emerged a new power to colonise the world, Globalisation.