Introduction
The anti-globalization movement refers to a social movement to protect the rights of developing nations, and it developed in the late twentieth century. The movement against the corporate economic activity that comes through globalization to stop the exploitation of developing nations. This movement claims that globalization undermines local economic activities and decision-making regarding trade affairs. The other perception, which is also the aim of this movement, is to gain social awareness by protecting the rights of humans, providing advocacy in favor of social alternatives to capitalism, and seeking solutions for the ecosystem of the country, which is the result of globalization damages through its effects through industries. Furthermore, the discussion will consist of the history of globalization, its effects on developing nations, and alternative ways forward.
Discussion
The anti-globalization stance emphasizes how globalization has negative effects, and this movement opposes the damages resulting from those effects. This movement hasn’t gained much attention globally, but few of the intellects speak in favor of this movement. The general perception regarding this movement is only focused on the fact that the followers are only against the liberation of global economies through globalization. The anti-globalization movement consists of many social movements and opposes the bad impacts on developing nations by implementing the strategies and vision used in globalization. The followers of this movement refer to the efforts that are emerging through this movement to promote fair trade, justice, and solidarity. The protests undertaken by this movement have diverse slogans; some of them promote fair trade and equal participation by making the economies inclusive. The other slogans are more on the social level, which promotes the protection awareness of the ecosystem and the impacts of climate change because industries are using those methods in developing nations where lack of awareness is destroying the world.
The participants of this movement include the activists promoting human rights and environmental protection. Other social activists who are against the capitalist politics by promoting communism and socialism. The activist opposes the wrong perception affiliated with them because they are not opposing the emergence of international markets but rather the injustice and bad impacts it leaves, which can be tackled through different solutions. The non-transparent mechanisms that are being used by capitalists are undemocratic and violate the basic rights of humans. Globalization is being misused by capitalists and abusing the benefits of globalization. There are international institutes that are not being fair when it comes to the rights of small traders in developing countries; those institutes are the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which are making such policies that are only benefiting the developed nations but ignoring the nations that are still underdeveloped.
Financial institutes impose biased regulations on developing nations, undermining their decision-making methods. The activists of this movement criticize the policies of these organizations that purely work for those businesses that can only take benefits, and it’s against the mutual benefit of those nations who are part of globalization. The privileges given to big corporations are not granted to other organizations and countries regarding international trade. These privileges involve free movement across borders and easy access to all the resources of developing countries, which are being exploited by those big corporations. There are several cases in which corporations have permanently exploited the resources, but no action has been taken against such acts. After being the victim of such exploitation, this movement started against it and spoke in favor of those nations continuously exploited by those corporations. The natural resources that were destroyed have caused severe damage to the environment, and as a result, the whole world is facing climate change impacts. Those developing nations are more vulnerable to those impacts because of a lack of resources. Apart from the environmental issues, other issues have also been considered, such as rights of labor, feminism, preservation of cultures, freedom of migration, organic farming, and reforming or ending capitalism.
If we specifically gain insight into the damages caused by the exploitation of globalization, which influences, the distribution will consist of three parts. The firs one is local firms of developing nations, lack of funds make the local firms vulnerable to the rapid change caused by the globalization because participants from the developed nations brings advanced technology. The second part that is being affected by globalization is the local population; the local firms have gone out of business because the big firms have taken over the market, which causes unemployment, and big corporations can’t accommodate all the unemployed people, which creates a high rate of unemployment, and it leads to further problems. The third most significant damage caused by globalization is on developing nations’ economies. When the developing nation opened the border rapidly, in the same way, that happened in 1997 when the whole world forced the developing nation to open the borders for trade, It resulted in the export of all natural resources, such as agricultural products, and it causes damage to the economy of developing nations by the increased inflow of foreign currency.
The world first took notice of the anti-globalization movement when the protests started in 1999 in London, UK. The protests soon turned into riots which, as a result, created great chaos. The other incident took place in Seattle in the same year. The aim of the protesters was to block the entrance of the World Trade Organization so that the conference could not take place. The protest was successful, and the conference was canceled. The protest turned into a riot, and police arrested almost 600 protestors. the conditions got worse, and martial law was imposed to end the riots. The anti-globalization movement also claims that the wars that occurred in developed nations and developing nations are because of the exploitation of the developing nations. That’s why the participants protested against the Iraq invasion by America.
This movement also received much criticism from politicians and economists, as well as the support of those organizations that are being run by capitalists. Mostly, they are criticized for their ideas and direction, which are not clear. The followers of this movement do not have common goals to achieve because it consists of people who seek different aims. Few favor human rights, some ask for labor rights, and recently, environmentalists joined hands with this movement to protect the world and its environment. The major criticism they are receiving is that the third-world economies are not growing because of this movement. The globalization process can help all countries, but these protests create barriers to globalization. The World Trade Organization was created to promote free and fair trade, and protesting against that organization will cause difficulties in achieving these goals. Further, those who oppose globalization are actually gaining the personal benefits of protecting the Western laborers. They don’t have any concern for the rights of developing countries. Still, they are protesting to pressure the governments of developed countries so that they could have higher wages even in developed countries.
As a result, the main aim of anti-globalization is to protect the rights of the labor force regardless of which country they belong to and where they are working. The activists’ claims that all the allegations are wrong because the main aim to help in maintaining the living standards of all the citizens by providing them the equal opportunity. Many big corporations use globalization and shift their manufacturing departments to developing countries so that they can cut the cost of labor, which, as a result, causes unemployment in developed countries. The movement of anti-globalization works strongly in favor of mutual benefits. The awareness of people in developing countries will help them understand their rights and provide equal benefits to laborers in developed countries. The issues that have been brought to light are valid and can’t be ignored. The fair use of globalization can benefit all rather the capitalists taking the benefit all alone by ignoring the basic rights of people.
Conclusions
In conclusion, there are always pros and cons to globalization. The movement emphasized the fair use of this process. The exploitation done by the big corporations should be taken care of rather than ignoring the thought that globalization is helping the economy. Violent protests are not the right way to speak against anything, but labeling them as the enemy will never help find positive results. It cannot be ignored that the environment, the economy of developing countries, small industries, and the population are being badly affected by globalization. The vices that oppose the misuse of the globalization process and exploitation of resources should be considered when dealing with the problem. On the other hand, fair and ethical means to raise voices should be the priority of the activists of this movement. Even though, still the attention is not being given to this movement and it has always been ignored which is making the future of this movement uncertain.
