How then as a global citizen should I respond to Globalization?

OK big question. What should I be doing to respond to Globalization?

Be informed. I need to be aware of the goings on in this world. I should take a lively interest in national and international affairs.

As a Canadian, I am pretty lucky to be able to have a voice. To have the right to free speech. Many people in the world are without a voice. As a global citizen, I can join with others to speak up for the rights of those without a voice.





As a consumer, I can make ethical choices. I can do a little research on fair trade and social clauses before making purchases. I can try not to be cynical as if no one person can make a difference.

Parliament of Canada

I can let the government know when I oppose or support their work at a global level.









Most of all, I can act locally to take care of the part of the world where I live. Change usually starts at home.

The Global Citizen

It is funny to hear children making sense of where they live. They are not sure exactly what Edmonton is, where Alberta fits in and if they are in or out of Canada. Oh yes, and then they discover the whole notion of Earth: one of eight planets in a solar system in a very, awesomely big universe.

I am a citizen of Canada. I have documents to prove it. I have a birth certificate. I soon will have a passport. I belong. But citizen of the world is different. I have no citizen of the world document. It is a poetic way of saying that I live on Earth and that with that comes responsibilities to my fellow Earthlings. It means that I have to care about the little part of the Earth that I occupy. It means caring about the others, near and far. 

When I see global injustices, how do I react? Do I see global issues as my issues? The internet has allowed me to be more connected to places all over the earth. The internet gives news from all over the world. If you hear about a disaster somewhere on the other side of the world, you can google local news from that area and get a different or close up perspective. 

When there was an earthquake in Haiti, I felt connected to their suffering. I have an aunt who has worked with the poor in Haiti for all my life. Every month, she sends a letter telling about her adventures and misadventures with the poor of Haiti. So when the earthquake happened, I kind of felt close to those people. Like many, my family sent money to help with the relief. 

My family has supported children in Asia for years. I see their photographs and read their little letters and news from their schools and orphanages. It is another way to be connected with fellow citizens. 

Changing face of Canada

In the first 60 years of Canada's twentieth century, most immigrants came from European countries. Most were white. Most were Christian. By the sixties, things started to change. Immigrants were coming from all over. The racial and ethnic profile of the new immigrants changed and so with it the face of Canada changed. More colour, more ethnic diversity. The world wants to come to Canada. It is seen as a pretty good place.

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Global Connections - Face to Face

World Youth Day - Madrid 2011

World Youth Day bring youth from all corners of the world together in one place. Modern fast transportation has allowed for these big meetings. Someday, I hope to attend one of the World Youth Days and meet up with members of an amazing global - universal family.

Global Connections - virtual communities.

Of course, I am writing this blog as a member of a virtual community: Centre for Learning @ Home. Twenty-five years ago, this would have seemed like some crazy science fiction movie. It took the internet, personal computers and a whole lot of technology to make this work.

It seems virtual communities are springing up everywhere. People join Facebook groups that hold similar interests. No one really has to leave home to get to a meeting.

Kip meets the love of his life on the computer (Napoleon Dynamite)

But is this all good? We seem closer to the world, but maybe we are further from our own neighbours. We have virtual friends who may or may not be our friends.

It is amazing though, how with a click of the button you can SEE what is happening where ever. If you want to see the streets of Paris, go on Google Earth. Navigating around Google Earth is amazing. Earlier this year, when studying about the Congo, I went to Google Earth to follow the Congo River. Easy and cheap way to travel. I felt more connected to Africa.






EBay opens up international garage sales. A couple years back, my Mom went crazy buying a certain kind of puppet from Australia. It was no longer being made so the sales were second hand. I had no idea there was an international community of puppet fanciers that roam the internet looking for that special one.

Of course, there are now the pandemics. The black death took years to spread from one port to another. Now disease gets carried across the world via air travel in hours.

Black Death

Everyone wants a deal!

Becoming aware of inequalities created by global trade helps individuals begin to make ethical choices. But still ... it's hard. I know when I head out to buy a pair of runners, cost is a big consideration. Also, size selection - I've got big feet. ... limits choice. Somehow, I find it hard to do all that and remember to find out who made these runners and how much they got paid and what were the working conditions like.

This is why individuals together under the umbrella of a human right organization can investigate the sweat shops. As individuals, we can pressure the government to demand "social clauses" in all trade agreements. This will help the average person make an informed and ethical choice. But, I still think that for most people a deal is a deal.

Black Friday -  Deals and more deals

Below is a description of Oliberte Shoes. I heard about them on Dragon's Den, (a CBC television show) and it was interesting to hear the dragons debate ethical trade. Here is a youtube link to that episode: Dragons Den Oliberte Shoe

The following is taken from the Oliberte website: http://www.oliberte.com/story/

The Why Africa?

When we first shared the idea of manufacturing our footwear in Africa, many asked: Why? Why or how could anyone want to make shoes in a place full of so much poverty and corruption?
The answer is simple: We never have and still don't see an Africa that's categorised by negative generalizations. Oliberté believes that with the right partners, each country within Africa has the means to grow and support its people. So that's what we do – Oliberté partners with factories, suppliers, farmers and workers to produce premium footwear in Africa, but we do more than that. We work create fair jobs, with the goal of contributing to the development of a thriving middle class.
It is generally accepted that a thriving middle class is a key component to the success of any country. In Africa, the middle class is increasing in size, and one of Oliberté's goals is to support that growing middle class by building a world class footwear brand that can create thousands of jobs and encourages manufacturers from other industries to work in Africa.
Currently, Oliberté operates in Ethiopia, Liberia and Kenya with the goal of expanding to Cameroon, Congo, Uganda and Zambia in the coming years.

Labour and Employment Issues - Canada and the World

Historical patterns of employment in Canada have changed drastically in the last few decades. Many manufacturing jobs have left Canada. They have gone to places where labour is cheap and labour regulations are few or none. Profit rules. Whether we like it or not, Canadians have to face the facts that the global economy has changed and is changing. We have to face the challenges of the changing economy. Things are not going back to the way they were.

Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair says that the Alberta Oilsands are responsible for the loss of manufacturing jobs in the rest of Canada. The trouble with that is that most of those jobs disappeared long ago. But the oil sands has provided Ontario with many new oilsands related  manufacturing jobs. Canadians find themselves divided.

Global employment patterns also cause tension when Canadians get talking about foreign workers. Unions and labour groups say that the new foreign worker program (changes were made May 2012) is a tool for cheap labour. They are opposed. The government contends that the program is to help meet labour requirements: filling jobs that Canadian won`t take.  Here is a link to an article about a protest against the foreign worker program from May 25, 2012, Waterloo, Ontario.

Group protests new foreign worker program as tool for cheap labour

Gender Gap - not on Jeopardy Teen edition 2012

Jeopardy host Alex Trebek said that this year there was no gender gap problem on Jeopardy Teen edition.  The three finalists were all female. 


Season 28 (April 30–May 11, 2012) 

Winner: Elyse Mancuso ($79,600)

1st runner-up: Rose Schaefer ($36,000)

2nd runner-up: Catherine Briley ($31,000) 

Boys are falling behind girls in areas of education

In Canada and the United States, and the UK, there is a gender gap when it comes to post-secondary education but not the one many people think. More women than men are going and more are graduating.   Here is a link to an interesting article out of the UK. Striking university gender gap

A terrible gender gap is unfolding in China. Culturally, male babies are more welcome than female babies. Unwanted unborn and newly born babies are aborted or victims of infanticide. And the numbers prove it. There is a marked imbalance in the ratio between male and female. The one child policy has put pressure on families to favour a boy rather than a girl.

Where are the missing girls?

But in Canada???  Cultural preference for male babies is showing up in Canada. Recently, it came to light that in the Asian communities in Canada, new Asian immigrants are finding ways to get a boy. Sex selection almost always favours male babies.      Gendercide in Canada

Social Media being used to hunt down Joseph Kony

  

Jason Russel`s campaign to make Kony a household name went viral Tuesday when roughly 2.7 million viewers watched his 30 minute documentary posted online.

can-social-media-help-hunt-down-a-ugandan-warlord 

Joseph Kony - Ugandan Warlord.

In the first week of March, I along with millions of other viewers watched the online documentary. It was very disturbing. But I was left with a weird feeling as to the hype. Joseph Kony seemed like the popular cause, but can you really fight a madman from in front of a screen?

Global Awareness through social media

Global awareness: around the world people were encouraged to participate in Everybody Draw Muhammad Day. This call to participate went global on the internet and in social media, including Twitter. Pakistan, a Muslim country, responded by banning Twitter for 8 hours. Pakistan to Twitter Yes we ban.

The internet and social media (texting and twitter) are being used to promote global change as in the Arab countries during the Arab Spring. It also being used to create chaos and public disturbances in response to G8 meetings, NATO meetings, and even Stanley Cup riots. Digital cameras allow everyone to be a freelance reporter for better or worse. In the case of Syria, the traditional press has not been allowed in to report what is going on. But still the story is getting out. How? by the people in Syria using their camera phones and social media. 

In - alien -able!

Inalienable - I like this word. Not alien to us.

Inalienable rights.  Belong to us by the fact that we are human.


The Government didn't give them to us.

The Government can't take them away from us.

Freedom of Conscience

Freedom of Conscience - another one of the rights that are enshrined in both the UN Declaration on the Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom is the right of freedom of conscience. 

Again, this one seems to be increasingly under attack. In the recent provincial election, Premier Redford had to be reminded that right to freedom of conscience is in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Premier Redford and Conscience Rights 

Then the Canadian Catholic Bishops wrote a letter that again spoke in defence of the right to religious freedom.      

Bishops' Letter in defence of Religious Rights

In Canada, we really do enjoy the freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. But still vigilance is necessary. 

In many parts of the world, there is no freedom of conscience or religious freedom. Canada must stand up and speak for the rights of peoples throughout the world who have no voice.

As the American election heats up, more and more will be said about freedom of conscience and religion. 

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Whose rights, whose freedoms?

Individual Rights vs Collective Rights. Is there a problem?

Sometimes under the name of democracy, individual rights are at risk of being voted away. A basic right is not something that can be voted away. Democratic elections or referendum should not be used as a weapon against a minority by a majority. The same can be said for judicial activism.

The Supreme Court of Canada interprets the Canadian Charter as to what our basic rights involve. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms declared that Canadians had a basic right to life. In the section under Legal rights we find 'a right to life.'


 Life, liberty and security of person
7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

Did that mean everyone? including the unborn. In 1969, the Parliament of Canada passed a law that allowed for abortion in many circumstances and therefore ruled against the right to life of the unborn. In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada tossed out any legal restriction against abortion. It was called the Morgentaler decision.

Today, in Canada, there is no time before birth that the unborn child has the legal right to life. This issue is truly a global issue. At a local level, last Thursday,  I marched with about 1400 person across down town Edmonton  for the rights of the unborn.

R. v. Morgentaler ^[1] was a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada which held that the abortion provision in the Criminal Code of Canada was unconstitutional, as it violated a woman's right under section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to security of person. Since this ruling, there have been no criminal laws regulating abortion in Canada. 

(reprinted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._v._Morgentaler)

Human Rights: Cultural Take

In late June of 2009, three young women and their quasi step-mother were victims of honour killings. In the fall of 2011, their father, mother and brother were found guilty of their murders. Canadians from across this country followed the case carefully, and suddenly we were talking about the so called culture that gives birth to honour killing. A pamphlet that was being made available to new Canadians described honour killings as 'barbaric.'

Justin Trudeau, Liberal MP (and some say possible future leader of the federal Liberal Party) baulked at the word barbaric. He thought it was culturally insensitive. He was uncomfortable with the word barbaric.

Trudeau the multiculturalist uncomfortable with calling honour killing barbaric.

The United Nation Declaration of Human Rights says that human rights are Universal. There is no honour in the murder of these women or others who have broken some cultural code. 

Democracy: my take

Democracy: a lot of words ... ideas and images come to mind. The big one for me is FREEDOM - free speech, free elections, freedom to travel, freedom to study, freedom to work, freedom to pray and freedom to play! 

But with freedom comes responsibilities: the responsibility to be informed, to participate in government, to vote, to uphold the laws, to pay taxes....

I think many people think democracy is only about freedom - their freedom. Freedom to have whatever they want, when they want it, just for the asking. They forget about the responsibility bit.

Quebec Students riot


In Canada this winter and spring, we have watched young and not so young Quebecois strike and protest about tuition increases. At least that is how it started. Now it seems to be about everything. The other night, I heard on the news, a young man say "it was about democracy." I wonder what democracy he was talking about. The majority of the people of Quebec may beg to differ about his notion of democracy.

To what extent should I, as a citizen, respond to globalization?

In the next couple weeks, as I work through this unit, I am going to have to consider what part do I play in this big world. What responsibility do I have to my fellow earthlings and what should I be doing about it. I will consider what part has globalization affected me, my family and my community.

Start-up

It's Monday and I begin Unit 4. Instructions to get a blog up and running. Done. Paul