The Foundations of Alternative Globalization

Predominant trends of globalization are the political-economy of post-colonial capitalism and its relationship to the development of nation-states and ethno-national identities in all regions of the earth. The relationships of this pattern are extremely asymmetrical, and the consequence is that of global stratification of humankind into very large and broad-based political-economic classes that tend to cross-cut national or other community identities. In the disappearing skyline of a post-modern political economy, class identification is increasingly becoming "stream-lined" across traditional or even the industrial-age boundaries and borders. Dual citizenship and multiple identities are becoming a frequent state of political personhood in the world, with all the attendant conflicts of interest and divided sense of loyalties that this entails.

Current and past trends of globalization could not have succeeded without the reinforcement and coercion of military forces that are designed and defined within a post-industrial framework, and without the continuous application of authoritarian administration to preserve the status quo of the structural relations that are established within the system.

All nations today pursue political-economic development by whatever means at their disposal or that they can adopt. All nation-states today suffer some relative degree of domestic corruption that exerts a kind of friction resistance and inertia to the movement toward political economic development. In many new nations that were created from previous colonial entities, forging a national culture and identity is often cross-cut by communalism and the radical pluralism of competing ethno-national identities struggling for monopolistic control of the system.

Current technological trends that have been adopted by the developed nations are rooted to a petrol-chemical energy platform, which platform has favored the monopolistic political-economy of the world controlled by those interests who control primarily this energy platform. Both domestic and foreign policies pursued by these nations have tended to preclude the development of alternative energy platforms, and to promote the profitability of the already existing energy platform.

The factors of which I speak are all interrelated, and it is the system that these factors have created that we must deal with if we are to realistically pursue a strategy of alternative global development. It is a relatively simple matter to identify and label the primary objectives of alternative development. Almost all people would agree basically with the central components of this list of objectives. For instance, to cite the most important goals:

1. Universal Freedom and Equality for All Humankind--Universal Emancipation.

2. Promotion of Democratic Social Institutions throughout the world.

3. The Political Economic development and empowerment of all people worldwide.

4. The stabilization and protection of the global ecology and of nature in relation to human civilization.

5. The systematic elimination of the sources of human suffering and loss of human potential in the world, which include the eradication and control of: a. diseases; b. poverty; c. violence; d. ignorance & prejudice.

While agreement in general can be gained by most people of the world about these principles, one can expect wide-spread and irreconcilable disagreement about either the exact cultural interpretation of the implications and consequences of these goals, or of the best way of achieving them in the world. And, as often as not, good intentions and high-minded ideals are often put to the ideological services of narrow and short-range agendas that often have cruel and contradictory consequences. A great many people are involved in the manipulation of human knowledge, laws and values for personal advantage or gain at the expense of others in the world. It is clear therefore that merely listing the main objectives of alternative development is a useless endeavor in and of itself, except as a starting point in the elaboration of a more effective strategy for the implementation and realization of these goals in some reasonable and effective manner.

The critical and important question then becomes how to best meet these goals, given limited means and a tremendous amount of organized resistance, in a manner that is acceptable and reasonable to the broadest number of people in the world, and agreeable across the broadest range of the cultural spectrum. It does not serve in promotion of alternative development to "rob Peter to pay Paul." Merely turning the tables on the status quo of the larger system or advocating violence or destructive means of resistance to change the structural relationships embedded in the system are in the long-run fruitless endeavors that result mainly in back-firing of one's intentions.