Alet Strijdom
Reaction paper
Globalization is a term used to describe the integration between countries and the mixture of
different cultures, foods, economies etc. Over the year, globalization has become much more
visible in our everyday life. The food franchises we eat at, brand names we wear, and even the
fruit we buy are made possible by a system, based on globalization and monopolization. The
economic effects on Jamaica that we see in this movie, is ever so real, but can be even worse
than illustrated. One can argue about the positive and negative sides of globalization, but in the
end it is the small farmer and small businessman that suffer the consequences. Yes it may be
good for the countries international relations, yes the country can become a better tourist
attraction having well known food chains but what is the price to pay for these small benefits?
First of all, when globalization is taking place without total control, things like cultural uses and
traditions like food and clothing can become overwhelmed by global, well known customs and
will eventually die a silent death. Not only is globalization putting the cultures in danger, it is
also putting the small businesses, farmers, bakers etc. in danger of being squashed by bigger
competition. A great example of this is the banana farms in Jamaica and the Nike shoe factories
in the eastern parts of the world. These banana farmers were once successful and proud
Jamaican citizens, but are now forces to abandon the farms and enter the tourism industry due
to globalization and laws created therefore. This strips the community not only from the
financial income, but also from the traditions of being a banana farmer. Companies like Nike
exploit these globalizing opportunities by making indirect use of things like cheap child labor,
when their contracts are subcontracted across East Asia. This helps them to produce products
for much cheaper, by making use of the indecent laws enforced in 3 rd world countries.
The occurrence of globalization won’t be coming to an end real soon, and there isn’t always
much to do from a consumer’s point of view. Small steps can be taken to help prevent
globalization and monopolization by making small but calculated decisions like only buying fuel
from a local company or only supporting locally produces foods. This will force bigger
companies to lower their prices and give smaller businesses and local citizens a chance for
survival.