Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Globalization is all about bigger units—
economic consolidation. More and
more banks, publishers, and airlines
survive only by consolidating. Family
farms can't compete and are plowed
under by big agriculture. And many
national economies will thrive only if
they also consolidate. In an age when
many international corporations have
a greater reach and power than entire
countries (ExxonMobil has the same
economy as Austria—$370 billion;
Toyota has the same economy as Ven-
ezuela—$230 billion), nations are join-
ing together in ever-bigger free trade
zones. A primary goal driving the unifi -
cation of Europe, for instance, was the
creation of that vast free trade zone.
As globalization shrinks our
planet, people worry that their rights,
livelihoods, and identities—religious,
national, and cultural—are in jeopardy.
This means that as our world consoli-
dates economically, it ignites forces
that can divide it culturally. As groups
perceive that their values and ways of
life are threatened, they will embrace
even more strongly their cultural dis-
tinctions. This is already happening,
and issues of cultural and national
pride are becoming politicized: Ameri-
cans fl y the Stars and Stripes from car
antennas, while Muslim immigrants
riot over a cartoon that insults their
prophet and insist their children be
allowed to wear their headscarves in
public schools. This creates a fearful,
schizophrenic dynamic that may stoke
today's terrorism and tomorrow's
international confl icts. As this fear and
nationalism make peaceful coexistence
more challenging, the value of people
building understanding through travel
will be greater than ever.
From Texas to Thailand, globalization and its resulting consolidation threaten cultural
traditions as well as family farms.
