Last night I went to a Hollywood Hill event, a fantastic LA based non-profit which brings together Hollywood creatives around social good. This time Benjamin Barber presented his thought provoking arguments on globalization, interdependence and the impact of consumerist culture.
He described an erosion in the concept of sovereignty, which, today is meaningless. There is no problem that a country can solve by itself. Living in a multi-faceted society, the enemy can come from the inside. There is a blurring between the notions of inside and outside, yet we are still trying to build more walls around us, if between US and Mexico or Israel-Palestine. The US is nominally more powerful than it ever was – incredibly strong military, huge economy and a world leader in academic research. However, at the same time it is the least capable and has little power to protect itself, because of asymmetrical fighting structures. This is something Israel has been facing for many years – how DO you battle against a group of insurgents who are also civilians by day? How do you target terrorists who live within civilian communities? The enemy no longer has an address. It is not a country, but a global entity.
We are misled to believe that as a country under a democratic regime, we are completely sovereign and independent. However, we put little thought into how interdependent we are on foreign goods, especially when we are presented with such a wide variety of choice. I’ve lived in the states for some two and a half years, and am still in awe every time I walk into Home Depot and see the sheer size of that store. Barber argues that most Americans call this a basic freedom – being provided with the choice to buy different products. Personally it frightens me. Effectively, by having this amount of choice, America is placing itself in a position of dependence on foreign manufacturing, goods and oil. There is an inadvertent social public consequence to consumerism, one that many tend to oversee. By shopping at Wal-mart you are helping bring down your neighborhood shops since they cannot compete with the corporation prices. By buying a car (even Prius) you are inadvertently supporting the continuation of America’s dependence on oil, and therefore its involvement in the Middle East and the continuation of the war.
He ended by describing an African Nut Trap, used in Africa to catch monkeys. The idea behind it is simple. Place a nut in a wooden structure with only a small hole. The hole is large enough for a monkey’s hand to squeeze through, but will not allow the hand to come out if clenching onto the nut. The monkey can escape if it lets go of the nut, but it never does. It keeps its clench, and gets caught that way. Barber suggested that our economy is clenching onto consumerism as its engine, and sometimes, it might be worthy to let go and free ourselves from its clutches. He is worried that none of the current US candidates speak about these problems that are causes by consumerism. Instead they ask people to continue shopping in order to strengthen the US economy, a destructive cycle which feeds itself and has no end in sight.
Looking forward to reading the book.