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Special Report |
LAST UPDATE January 13, 2008
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| December 17, 2007 |
Global University Unit 3 – Exploring the Effects of Globalization |
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| Global University students showed through a series of skits the negative effects globalization is having on Japan and the world |
The third and final unit of Global University’s (GU) program aboard the 59th voyage examined the ways in which globalization is affecting both Japan and the world in general. While onboard, GU students had been studying a range of themes related to globalization, such as free trade, deregulation of employment, agriculture and sustainable society. For this unit, their in port program visited several sites in Venezuela that have benefited from President Hugo Chavez’s sweeping reforms in health, education and agriculture. In addition to redistributing wealth to the 80 percent of the population that has historically been steeped in poverty, Chavez’s socialist policies are also geared towards warding off the negative effects of globalization such as a dependence on food imports. This stands in contrast to Japan and GU students opened their presentation with a skit illustrating how dependence on foreign food imports have made agriculture in Japan inviable and difficult to sustain. From 1992 to 2000, for example, food imports from China increased 117.5 percent and 69 percent from the United States, while the rate at which Japan is sustaining itself in terms of food is a mere 39 percent. |
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| Dr Furusawa joined Peace Boat to discuss the complexities of globalization, especially related to agriculture, with GU students |
As part of the program, students discussed these issues with globalization specialist Dr Furusawa Kouyu who is an academic and executive board member of the Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society. Dr Furusawa brought the students’ attention to the complexities of globalization and used as a case study the trade of bananas from Jamaica to developed nations. Bananas, which are mass produced to meet demand, are bought by wealthy companies in developed nations. To meet the demand for the cheap products, pesticides and other chemicals are used, negatively affecting the environment. Workers are exploited to keep labor costs down and maximize profit which is monopolized by the developed countries who import the bananas. |
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GU students visited a watermelon farm in Venezuela where they experienced firsthand the positive outcomes of President Chavez’s socialist policies |
Students also discussed what they gained from their in port exposure program in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela where they experienced and examined the effects of president Hugo Chavez’s socialist policies. Through visiting a watermelon farm started by three men in 2005 with financial aid from the Chavez government, they witnessed how his policies are both creating employment opportunities and, through cultivating local produce, negating the negative effects of globalization. One student commented that, ‘Now the farmers work hard, feel connected to each other, their work, and their region. Chavez has given them an opportunity to make a life for themselves.’ |
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| Through growing and selling produce locally, Venezuela is creating employment and lessening the need for food imports |
Based on their experience in port and onboard, GU students devised and presented a proposal of what they would like to do in the future:
1. Be aware of global issues and share this awareness and knowledge with others so we can discuss the problems
2. Go to the polling station to vote
3. Study the constitution because it is where our rights are written down
4. Be a conscious consumer and support fair trade by buying fair trade products
5. Think critically about media and try to read alternative media; access many sources for information, not just the mass media. |
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GU students demonstrate how globalization is linked to the deregulation of employment in Japan whereby increasing numbers of people find themselves in part-time or temporary work situations |
There was an opportunity for audience members to express what they thought about the issues raised. Korean scholar Ko Chang Woo commented that, ‘I think the concept of globalization is good but the context is unfair. The starting line is different – we should make it equal by helping the developing countries. But in reality, globalization is making these countries poorer. Developed nations are just taking advantage of the poor countries. I saw a film recently about factory workers in Mexico. Because of the FTA [Fair Trade Agreement], their economy was growing but the reality was that the people were getting poorer. It means that somebody is benefiting, but not the poor people.’ |
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Global University coordinators Takahashi Masaki and Tasaki Sono watch proudly as GU students accept their certificates at their graduation ceremony which was held onboard |
The open discussion led to lively debate in which participants were divided as to whether or not buying only Japan-made products would solve any of the problems discussed. The sentiment that stopping imports from developing nations would be even more harmful to those countries was expressed, as was the counterargument that if people bought more Japanese agricultural products, then those who were forced to become part-time workers in Japan could become farmers instead. The closing comment came from 23 year old GU student Shirahase Katsuyuki who said ‘Don’t be silenced – stand up and do something – Chavez said this and that is the most important thing we learnt in Unit 3 of Global University.’ |
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