FEATURE
the fundamental process is the same: an
economic transformation driven by the
deregulation of global banks and corpo-
rations, largely through ‘free trade’ trea-
ties. And while the global giants are being
freed of regulation, businesses and indi-
viduals at the national and local level are
burdened with ever heavier regulations
and squeezed for taxes to subsidize trans-
nationals that pay almost no tax. For the
majority, it’s a process that dramatically
heightens insecurity in a number of ways:
- Job insecurity. With footloose corpo-
rations ruling the global economy, even
long-held jobs can disappear overnight.
Thanks to downsizing and offshoring,
mergers and takeovers, artificial intelli-
gence and automation, many people live
in constant fear of the unemployment line.
A lthough heightened job insecurity is a
consequence of globalization, the remedy
offered by policymakers is not to reverse
corporate deregulation, but simply ‘more
of the same’: more economic growth,
fewer environmental regulations, fewer
taxes, and more government support for
high-tech. These are corporate-friendly
responses, but they are often packaged
as a way to protect the ‘little guy’ from
big government. Because almost no
political leader is willing to say that the
corporate-led global economy is the root
cause of economic insecurity, voices
reflecting a rightwing, anti-government
and xenophobic perspective are able to
fill the gap with false narratives, blaming
immigrants or minorities – people who
are victimized even more profoundly by
the global economic system. - Political insecurity. Deregulation is
making global corporations and banks
richer, while impoverishing govern-
ments. National treasuries have been
drained by the heavy subsidies and tax
breaks handed out to attract big busi-
ness, and by the ability of transnationals
to hide profits in jurisdictions with lower
tax rates. Meanwhile, governments are
left to cover the heavy social and envi-
ronmental costs of global growth. As a
consequence, many people see their gov-
ernment leaders as inept at running the
nation’s affairs, while the growing wealth
of businesses suggests that the solution is
to ‘run the country more like a business’.
Increasingly distanced from the
institutions that affect their lives and
growing ever more insecure about
their economic livelihoods, many have
become frustrated, angry and disillu-
sioned. Unaware of the role of the global
economy in the downward spiral of their
communities, they blame individual
politicians or political parties – only to
be disappointed when a change in office-
holders makes no difference for their
community or their personal lives.- Psychological insecurity. As local and
national economies are undermined,
the fabric of interdependence that holds
communities together begins to fray.
This not only leads to social fragmen-
tation and isolation, it also unravels the
safety net that ensures that the surround-
ing community can be relied upon for
help in times of hardship.
At the same time, global consumer
culture is relentlessly expanding. People
all over the world are targeted with
advertising messages telling them:
‘You are not good enough as you are,
but buying our product will make
you better.’ With face-to-face rela-
tionships deteriorating and real-life
role models replaced by artificial
images of perfection in mass media
and in the hyperbolic world of social
media, unhealthy comparisons run
rife. In the Global South especially,
the breakdown of communities and
cultures is severing rich intergen-
erational relationships and uprooting
identities. Those healthier identities are
often replaced by destructive alterna-
tives which reflect a desperate need for
belonging. Ideological fundamental-
ism and extremism can seem to offer
an explanation for worsening social and
personal ills, as well as a radical solution.
They can provide personal validation
and meaning, solidarity and a sense of
community – all essential human needs
that have been undermined by globali-
zation. In this way, the uprooting of the
South’s land-based populations has been
the driver of much of the ethnic conflict,
fundamentalism and radicalism seen in
that part of the world.
Rural areas in the North have
been similarly hollowed out by global
economic forces. Family farms tied to
the global food economy are steadily
failing, and their demise devastates the
local economies and communities they
long supported. Young people who have
grown up in these rural areas often see
no future there: not only are jobs scarce,
but – just as in Ladakh – the media
and advertising tell them that urban
life is ‘cool’, glamorous and exciting by
contrast.Unable to grasp the destructive impacts
of the corporate-led global economy,
people are vulnerable to arguments
that scapegoat immigrants and minori-
ties. They can also become anti-Green
and anti-Left, believing that bloated
government bureaucracy and environ-
mental and social protection measures
are responsible for their economic woes.
Many will vote in support of free trade
and laissez-faire economics, believing
that these policies will provide the pros-
perity they have been denied.
To avoid spiralling further towards
extremism, we urgently need to get
active in spreading the word about global
economic deregulation and its impacts
on our communities and personal lives.
Ignorance about this system enables
the pseudo-solutions of Trump, Brexit,
Bolsonaro and others to gain strength,
even as the global economic system
marches onwards, unfettered. OHELENA NORBERG-HODGE IS THE AUTHOR OF
ANCIENT FUTURES (2000, NEW EDITION BY LOCAL
FUTURES, 2016), A LANDMARK WARNING ON
GLOBALIZATION, AND PRODUCER OF THE AWARD-
WINNING DOCUMENTARY, THE ECONOMICS OF
HAPPINESS. HER NEW BOOK, LOCAL IS OUR FUTURE:
STEPS TO AN ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS (LOCAL
FUTURES, 2019), DESCRIBES HOW SIMPLE STEPS
TOWARDS THE LOCAL CAN LEAD TO A SUSTAINABLE
AND FULFILLING FUTURE FOR PEOPLE AND PLANET.
LOCALFUTURES.ORG50 NEW INTERNATIONALIST
Insecure people can be highly
susceptible to false narratives
purporting to explain their
precarious situation