I recently joined the Association of World Citizens. In honor of this group, which I urge everyone to join, I am including the following excerpt from my book, "We Don't Agree, But..."
Globalism, Not Globalization
Americans and Westerners, in general, believe in globalization. They believe in free enterprise, free trade and unrestricted capitalism.
The super-competitive among us prefer the power of business to the power of government. They contend that globalization will enable business to eclipse politics. Soon the entire world will be one big free-enterprise system. We have the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and many more economic organizations working towards this goal.
The Arabs and Easterners, in general, believe in Islamization. They are Muslims and believe everyone should lead a noble life worshipping Allah--God. According to the teachings of Islam, there is no distinction between religion and politics. They believe, not only that religion and politics are one, but religion should triumph over business and all else.
The super-competitive among Muslims want to spread Islam to all corners of the Globe. They are ready to become martyrs to their cause. They are the terrorists.
Here is a global war of ferocious competitors where each side "knows" it is right. Each side believes it is good and the other side is evil. Neither side is willing to talk to the other. Westerners call the result war. Islamists call it Jihad.
Benjamin R. Barber wrote Jihad and McWorld, where "McWorld" is his term for globalization. He wrote the book in 1995, long before the horrible Trade Center attack. He demonstrated that both globalization (McWorld) and Islamization (Jihad) undermine democracy. I quote:
"..Jihad and McWorld have this in common: they both make war on the sovereign nation-state and thus undermine the nation-state's democratic institutions."
Competitors destroy. Cooperators build.
Competitors focus on one aspect of life--business or religion--to the exclusion of all else. Cooperators consider all aspects of life. They cooperate with diverse people because they know they need other people to accomplish anything worthwhile.
As a cooperator, it is useful to think of the entire world as one Global Ecosystem and yourself as a global citizen.
I call working cooperatively within this Global Ecosystem globalism. It contrasts sharply with globalization, which implies coercion of countries into doing business the Western way.
Globalism enables you to contribute to important unifying movements within the five spheres:
· SOCIAL > ENVIRONMENTALISM--Includes, not only clean air and water, but nutrition, safety, health and sustainability
· RELIGIOUS > ECUMENISM--Includes agnostic ethical groups in addition to established religions
· WORK > PROFESSIONALISM--Includes healthier interactions among people of different skills and backgrounds, in addition to the usual technical considerations
· BUSINESS > INTERNATIONALISM--In addition to alliances, allows localism when more beneficial to a specific country
· POLITICAL > PACIFISM--Work for peace, but allow military operations against those destroying the peace
