Table of Contents - The Barnes Review

tem of trade and its necessary domestic social reorganization. As
globalized capital actively seeks the overthrow of nations and their
moral standing as sovereign entities, classes victimized by this
process are turning to the very idea of the nation itself as a means
of retaliation. What was once taken for granted and latent is now
an active political creed. The objective reality of nationhood and culture
has now been given its subjective force.
Nationalism has a powerful economic component, and it thus
contains a profound class component. Global free trade has
destroyed the livelihoods of not merely millions of working men but
entire communities dependent upon a certain way of economic life,
such as textiles or farming. The isolated consumer has replaced the
active citizen and the ethno-linguistic community that forms and
nurtures him. This “massified man” has no control over the workings
of the global economy and thus the transformation of citizens
into consumers is more accurately understood as a function of political
domination. The American Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated
the job loss in the United States since the forced passage of
NAFTA in the millions. This means entire communities are wiped
out as corporations move to the third world in search of cheap labor
and a more compliant workforce.
Alternatively, America’s corporate
elite have also experimented
in importing third
world labor to displace blue
collar and poor rural
Americans. Not only do they work cheaper,
but they are very difficult to unionize given
the obvious linguistic and cultural barriers,
and, more importantly to the system in general,
they continually divide the working
classes in America along racial lines, making
any political organization nearly impossible.
In other words, the economic battle
automatically takes on a national tone as the national battle immediately
takes on a class tone. As international capitalism uses cultural
aliens to destroy American working class solidarity and an
American sense of self, leftist views of international economics
become irrelevant, given that they ignore or trivialize the national,
ethnic and cultural aspects of international economic organization.
Domestically, of course, in order for the United States to be
merged into the new economic order of free trade and global governance,
the ethnic and religious nature of the country must also be
altered accordingly. This is the crucial connection the left refuses to
make, and in refusing to make this connection, they have no relevance
to the struggle whatsoever. It is clearly not in the interests of
global capital, which seeks a world without borders for the sake of
marketing and the maximization of consumption in standardized
form, to tolerate ethnic and religious nationalism. As a result, if
globalism is to continue, or be maintained once it has occurred, ethnic
homogeneity must become a thing of the past, and, certainly, the
ethnic, religious and racial pride of any majority population must be
eliminated completely. The demands of the corporate elite globally
mean the imposition of multiculturalism as a semi-official ruling
ideology nationally.
The contemporary ideologies of multiculturalism and multilingualism
stem immediately from the political and social demands
of international capital. Simply, international capital cannot function
profitably if peoples seek social fulfillment and cohesiveness
within their own cultural structure. Multiculturalism is part of the
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Domestically, of course, in
order for the United States to
be merged into the new
economic order of free trade
and global governance, the
ethnic and religious nature
of the country must also
be altered accordingly.
marketing structure of international capital. If the world is to
become one global marketplace without regard to race, nation or
religion, then nationalism becomes the deadly enemy of modern
internationalized capitalism. The ultimate in marketing efficiency
is in the standardization of the market itself, which, in contemporary
terms, means the standardization of the tastes, ethnicities and
morals of the globe. Richard Berry and John Cavanagh write in
their celebrated (1996) essay the “Homogenization of Global
Culture,” which appeared in the excellent compilation, The Case
Against the Global Economy:
The owner of this global network of networks [referring
to Viacom] is Sumner Redstone [sic, his real name is
Murray Rothstein], a Boston multibillionaire who made a
fortune in movie theaters. Although his name is unknown
to the general public, he has become one of the most influential
educators of young people in the world. As MTV
was announcing plans to extend its worldwide home
entertainment networks to China, Korea and Taiwan and
to launch “Ren and Stimpy” in Europe, Redstone was celebrating
the arrival of the global child.
“Just as teenagers are the same all over
the world, children are the same all
over the world,” he declared (73).
As a result, American and European
nationalism—that is, the drive to reclaim
the local and ethnic—develops a class outlook
because of the class nature of the economic
system of domination. From a purely
economic point of view, the interest in the
adversely affected groups in political alternatives
is clear in that they stand to gain
nothing and lose everything in the new
elite-run global economic plantation. Blue
collar workers, given the existence of a free trade regime and third
world labor competition—in and out of their native country—realize
their precarious position in terms of wages, unionization and
economic security. The use of cultural aliens and the third world
generally to increase profits and eliminate any working class mobilization
immediately adds the national element to the economic.
Lower level white collar workers are well aware that, as
megacorporations consolidate, their lower management jobs and
clerical positions are often the first to be eliminated. Small businessmen
are aware that, given the megacorporations’ drive for market
share, owners of small businesses are an “unnecessary” and
“inefficient” irritant that needs to be eliminated. In other words,
every small business destroyed by the megacorporation automatically
means an increase in corporate market share. Small businessmen
and the management of the conglomerate are not of the
same class, nor do they have similar political views. They are inherently
opponents. The nature of globalization means that, for all
these victims of internationalization, the economic is infused with
the national.
The left, of course, has hid its head in the sand for decades in
light of these difficulties for class analysis in relation to nationalism.
The left has joined in a predictable coalition with megacorporations
to lobby for increased immigration to America and the imposition
of multiculturalism on public institutions in its semi-official
status as a ruling ideology. Furthermore, the left has done corporate
America’s dirty work for it by continually deemphasizing the neces-