Bringing globalization back home

Commanding Moments
    By Michael Burstein

What are the images that our generation will recall the most? My parents posed this question to me over dinner one night. Their memorable moments were easily defineable: JFK's assassination, the civil rights movement, man's first step on the moon, Vietnam, Woodstock. What will come to define our formative years? I pondered for a few moments over my potatoes, and then answered: a lone student staring down a tank in Tiananmen Square, people dancing on the Berlin Wall as bulldozers removed it from existence, tying yellow ribbons for the Gulf War soldiers, Yassir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin shaking hands on the White House lawn.

Then it occurred to me what a striking difference there was between my parents answers and mine. Cynics will point out that our parents' generation was marked by activism and involvement, by young people making a change, while ours has simply sat glued to our TVs watching changes happen.

Although activism may be less common today than it was in the '60s, I challenge the notion that today's young people are apathetic. Rather, we face a different world--one in which problems that we face here at home inevitably impact those in other nations, and in which events taking place half a world away hit home with alacrity.

"Globalization" is now such a buzzword that its meaning has become obscured. But consider this: the most concern I heard expressed in Georgetown bars this summer over the Lewinsky scandal was its potential impact on our standing abroad and our ability to carry out foreign and domestic policy.

Globalization forces our generation to change the way we look at issues. For instance, financial difficulties in Russia and East Asia, leading to the recent wild ride on Wall Street, affected millions of ordinary Americans who put their savings in stocks.

This integrated world, though, is even more complex. Take free trade--the Congressional defeat of "Fast Track" authority for the President came partly out of protectionist sentiment, but more from concern over labor and environmental standards. Not only do our tougher standards at home raise questions about international competition, but the domestic practices of our trading partners enter into the realm of our own national concern. As international trade grows in importance, we can no longer ignore some of the more deplorable foreign practices.

Likewise, disputes over, say, abortion in the United States, impact other countries when they find their way into funding legislation for the United Nations or the International Monetary Fund.

Another major change in how we perceive issues involves the proximity of decisionmakers. As international issues become more important, the people making critical decisions become increasingly distant. When domestic environmental groups are upset by a World Trade Organization ruling--as happened in the famous tuna-dolphin case--it is difficult to know where to turn. The WTO is an inaccessible international body based in faraway Geneva. Communicating wants and needs is no longer as simple as writing to a Congressman. In order for people to have their voices heard, a greater degree of sophistication and organization is required.

International issues have grown in complexity. Even the Vietnam War, a controversy which encompassed a wide array of concerns, was played out in the backdrop of polarized superpowers. Today, issues of nationalism and ethnic conflict permeate news from abroad. Politics, economics, and values are unprecedentedly intertwined, clear objectives increasingly difficult to sort out. In short, we live in complicated times.

But, we certainly do not live in the face of insurmountable complexity. Globalization may have changed the way we can accomplish things, but not our ability to do so. We first have to be aware of our generation's interests, and what will be important to us in the coming years. Then we will be in a position to act. Sometimes action must be taken through organized international groups like Greenpeace or Amnesty International, which have the infrastructure needed to tackle challenges on a grand scale. Sometimes we need to concede that the world can't be changed all at once, and that a more localized, grassroots approach to action is appropriate. Sometimes we will need a creative mixing of strategies.

The students in Tiananmen Square and Berlin showed that young people can make a difference. As for us, we are not apathetic or jaded. We have the insights, the talents, and the enthusiasm to shape the world around us--we just have to use them. Taking action depends on realizing what is important, and then using our flexibility and creativity to help respond to global challenges.

In the immortal words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Every great and commanding moment in the annals of the world is the triumph of some enthusiasm." It's time we found ours.

Back to Opinion...