Every place I've been to has had the same thing in common: globalization
Every place I've been to has had the same thing in common: globalization
Every place I've been to has had the same thing in common: globalization.
Globalization has other names: "development", "modernization", "progress", "Westernization".
The Development Dictionary
Wolfgang Sachs wrote: "The idea of development stands like a ruind in the intellectual landscape. Delusion and disappointment, failures and crimes have been the steady companions of development and they all tell a common story: it did not work. Moreover, the historical conditions, which catapulted the idea into prominence have vanished: development has become outdated. But above all, the hopes and desires, which made the idea fly, are now exhausted: development has grown obsolete."
The process is a Catch 22. People don't like it, but it happens anyway.
For example, in Ladakh, I asked the owners of the guesthouse if Leh would be a nice place to live in a few years. "Oh, no, no," they said. "Already the place is worse. These loud generators are running all the time, it's no longer quiet here. This road by the guesthouse used to be a path, and all of these other guesthouses didn't use to be here."
But of course, they are living off the tourists with their own guesthouse. Now, everyone is cashing in and building their own guesthouse. I have seen it everywhere, even in the smallest towns in Kinnaur and Spiti Valleys.
One problem is that when the tourist seasons are light, due to weather or changing political situations, the money dries up fast. People use loans to buy hotels, restaurants, shops, and taxis. When they can't cover their debt, they have problems.
The season is sometimes short. You can hear it in the voices of the shopkeepers, trying to get you into their shop.
Many places I have been complain about a sharp increase in crime. The locals usually blame "outsiders", who have come to the area to make easy money. The discrepancy in cash between these people and the tourists is tremendous, even though it doesn't seem like much to a Westerner. This discrepancy creates a strong incentive for crime.
The places that stand out in my head as having been strongly affected by development, in particular, by tourist development, are Calangute in Goa, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, and Pushkar, all in Rajasthan, Shimla and Manali, in Himachal Pradesh, and Leh in Ladakh. But it is not fair to single out places; tourist development is affecting many places, including little villages in Spiti and Kinnaur Valleys in Himachal Pradesh. Development - or Globalization, Modernization, Westernization - is affecting every place. I haven't found a place that hasn't been affected.
If you are opposed to development, stopping it is like trying to stop a train with your bare hands. Ivan Illich proposed a politics of powerlessness - the "politics of 'no'". An individual may not have a enough power to single-handedly stop a corporation or a government. But he or she has the power to vow not to take certain actions, such as use a certain form of transportation: recognizing one's powerlessness.
Can one travel without contributing to development? There's no getting out. I had flitting thoughts of walking across India and camping in open fields. Taking local busses and staying in inexpensive guesthouses is close. But in the end, here in Bangalore, I'm living the life I lived in the States, eating fast food and overdosing on the internet.
Hmmm, should I feel guilty about this? No, I don't have time for that.
Every place I've been to has had the same thing in common: globalization
