I’ve written and re-written what I’m trying to say here a few times, and decided just to spit it out rather than give some elongated introduction.
I hate the fact that we live in a world where the benefits and inevitability of globalisation are preached throughout our entire culture, whilst the complete opposite is true for those of us who do not have the luxury of owning international corporations.
I hate how we are expected to buy into an idea of a ‘world society’ which allows massive (and predominantly American) companies to rack up massive profits across the world, whilst denying the same rights of cross-border communication to regular people in practice.
I hate the fact that it’s okay for shareholders and businesses to jump headquarters in order to avoid tax liability at the drop of a hat, yet it is almost impossible for people in different countries to make any meaningful connections with each other without jumping through bureaucratic hoops.
I can’t stand all this rhetoric of a ‘global village’ when I’m not allowed to stay in the USA for more than 3 months. I can’t stand that I can’t spend more than a tiny part of a year with people I really care about purely because they were born somewhere else in the world than I was. Most of all, I can’t stand the fact that whilst I’m left scrabbling to find ways to connect with those I love around the world, corporations are touting their wares irrespective of borders in the name of the ‘free market’.
Something about all of this is fucked up.