VOL-II, ISUUE-I (Spring 2009)

VULNERABLE SOCIETIES IN MUSLIM AND THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES

PRONE TO THE CONTRARY EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION

Muhammad Wasim Akbar (PhD)

           Muhammad Anwar

Skhavat Ali

 

ABSTRECT

One of the most important political and economic changes during the last 25 years has been the rapid growth of globalization or interdependence among the different countries of the world. The increasingly integrated global economy proves an unprecedented opportunity for growth and higher living standards throughout the world, on the other hand; Globalization has shattered the cultural and educational system, politics and religious beliefs of the different nations. Mass Media is plying an important role in the expansion of globalization process.

  This paper stresses Muslim Ummah should maintain its identity and save God-gifted teachings of Islam. This paper also looks for suggestions to the visible and intended flow of western way of life in the traditional societies of third world countries especially the Muslim Ummah. In globalization, those countries have an edge, which are advance in technology and financially sound. It is also a major cause of arousing religious and cultural problems with in the developing countries affecting national integrity. Globalization poses major threats to the vulnerable societies.

  INTRODUCTION

Globalization has presented a great number of challenges for Muslims of the world. Whether in matter of beliefs, worldviews or practices, these global forces are compelling Muslim to leave their traditions and culture. Like the concept of Global village, the term Globalization is presented projected and programmed by America for its global economic ends. Globalization is the process of centralization of power through media, which will establish more political control all over the world. Resulting poor countries will become poorer and rich countries will become richer.

Globalization is trying to weaken the economic system of poor countries and want to grab their resources. According to Michael W. Bell (2000) as globalization has progressed, living conditions have improved significantly in virtually all countries that the income gap between high-income and low-income countries has grown wider is a matter of concern.

America has become conscious of the universal scope of its civilization, language and culture through media. America wants to secularize the world and destroy identity of developing countries especially Islamic countries. Globalization has a great impact on the identity of Muslims. One of the result of the process of globalization is that people living in different countries have now the same culture, language and food habits, increasing rate of fast food restaurants, use of deposable things, Hollywood and Bollywood films, music programs, mobile phone, jean, and use of coca cola are the steps which indicate that this is the process of Americanization, Macdonalization Cokacolization and secularization of the world.

What is Globalization?

Globalization has become one of the central themes in social sciences. Its widespread use today is clearly connected to the series of major social transformations of the 1990s, the fall of communism and the end of cold war. Globalization is more than internationalism, which is an older idea to describe the increasingly functionalized links between states and the emergence of world society. The global age is widely held to be one in which states are no longer the sole actors and in some formulations they have disappeared from a world of pure process and even of anarchy.

Globalization is an autonomous view and observable phenomena at regional, national and international happenings. Each and every thing should be observable in globalization. In other words, it is multidimensional, phenomena's. In media globalization, physical boundaries have been disappeared. 

According to water, M (1995) the word “Global” has been used for ever 400 years, however the common usage of such words as “Globalization”, globalize and globalizing did not begin until about 1960. Globalization first developed as a phenomenon for analysis in the field of economic, more recently, the term has been taken up by sociologists and cultural theorist, interested in the global flew of culture and its commodities.

Globalization has two circles of influences which Robertson (1992) called universalization of particularism and the particularization of universalism-It covers all aspects of life one may call this the umbrella function of globalization.

Dacid Andrew (1998), has discussed as, American Basketballization or westernization and even Europeanization of the world therefore, globalization in this respect means a particular culture influencing and spreading around the world through the mass communication system, distribution of economic goods, and the dissemination of information, science and knowledge.

According to Waters, M- (1995) in a globalized world there will be a single society and culture occupying the plant. This society will not be harmoniously integrated and but will probably tend towards high levels of differentiation, multi-centricity and chaos.

According to Gvet Kovic & Kellener (1997), globalization is new in terms of the speed at which appears to shrink geographical distance and time communication occurs beyond time and space. The message arrives at the destination a thousand times more quickly then it the sender of message delivered it personally. Waters, M 1995 defines, a social process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding.

According to Morley, D & Robins, K 1995 New information and communication technologies have played a powerful role in the emergence of new spatial structures, relations and orientat6ion. Corporate communication network have also produced a global space of electronic information flows. The new media conglomerates have created a global image space.

Tayyob Abdul Kader (1999) with globalization, the basic social and political contexts have changed. In fact, the world has physically changed to an extent unimaginable to the early communicators, of the Quran and Islamic jurisprudence. There is a desperate need for no less than a radical revision of the moral foundation of a global village.

Globalization has placed communities, religions and cultural, in the spotlight whereas modernization and secularization had favoured the individual. According to Tayyob Abdul Kader (1998) Globalization is a form of Europeanization and its over-whelming outlook was a belief in the progressive demystification and naturalization of world globalization has also placed religion, culture and human right at the top of the agenda of world relation.

As per Darreea Wo, (2002) in Universalization, we are talking about a world without barriers where there will be the concept of global village, with one law, uniform practice, rules, regulation, laws and attitudes. The nest one is the internationalization, it may lead world without barriers, free from custom duties and economic tariffs, with a lot of freedom of movement. According to Anthony Giddens (1999) globalization can be defined as “The intensification of world wide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring may miles away and vice-versa.

In a globalized world there will be single society and culture, Trade and cultural links between all the societies of the world and there will be no place for religion. Robertson (1994) has defined globalization as the process by which the world becomes a single place where events in one part of the world have significant consequences for action another part of the world.

GLOBALIZATION: Western secular ideologies and religion

According to Abdul Wahid Hamid (2001) the major challenge facing man today is the dominance of secular, materialistic ideologies which have not only set their own worldview and purposes. In fact a secularized view of religion is what is consciously or unconsciously accepted by many follows of religion, including nominal Muslims.

There is however no common ground between secularism and Islam. Secularism rejects belief in God, belief in revelation and belief in thereafter. The fundamental assumption of secularism is the material well being in the present world is the essential means to human happiness. Material well-being is notEconomic growth and efficiency is the main preoccupation of secular ideologies. Increasing wealth and the pursuit of leisure and pleasure are the main goals of secular man. Secularism makes religion, an individual personal matter, a thing of the conscience, a matter of private faith, which has little to do with man social economic or political life.

The extreme from of secularism is historical materialism especially as propounded by the Marxists who proclaim with Marx that communist man must believe that the entirety of history is the creation and work of man. He says that the religion of the workers consists in denying God and semi concluded; now we must go to the limit to definite and final elimination of religion. This is the expression of extreme hatred, fanaticism and intolerance.

According to Dr. Khalid Alwi (2005) western civilization and culture will be dominant due to globalization. The policy, to introduce western values has been started and expanded by International media. Actually globalization is the second name of western culture. They want to destroy family life, ethical values and the sense of sacrifice and mercy and want to promote obscenity and vulgarity, self-centeredness, homo-sexuality and prostitution culture. Their main target is Muslim societies.

According to Muhammad Musa Bhutto (1985) Muslim world is facing great challenge in the name of globalization. Its weapons are science and technology, nuclear power, monetary institutions and brain washing and propaganda techniques by mass media. The aim of globalization is to control the economy of weaker countries and to discourage or to close the religious institutions in Muslim countries. They want to distort shining face of Islam Sharia and to weaken the spirit of Jihad. According to Abdul Karim Abid (2003) western civilization encourages sexual and materialistic tendencies in the society. It has also expended musical concerts, cosmetic industry beauty contest and luxurious life style in developing and Muslim countries. Dr. Khalid Alwi (2005) Religion is the target of Globalization and Islamic is the basic target. Every religion is the pioneer of ethical values, which are the main hurdles in the way of globalization. So to decrease the religious impacts, religious fundamentalism is being propagated. Because western culture is based on liberalism so they are encouraging prostitution culture and sex industry in Muslim countries. The first impact of globalization in Muslim world will be the wilderness of social and ethical values in the Muslim societies.

GLOBALIAZATION AND MASS MEDIA

 

According to Akbar (2003) the secular and materialistic flood of western media is heading towards the developing and Islamic countries. The influx includes, newspapers, journals, magazines, radio, television videocassettes, cable-network, computer, Internet and satellite technology. They want to westernize the education, economy and civilization of Muslim and third world countries.

The purposes of cultural invasion are:

a)      To spread obscenity and vulgarity.

b)      To promote English language.

c)      To promote music, fashion and materialism.

d)      To sell the goods of multinational companies.

e)      To promote the idea of secularism.

f)        To promote the western life style fast food, coke, jean and liberalism.

g)      To prove Muslims as narrow minded extremist and terrorists.

The cultural invasion of western media has created mental slavery and cultural domination in the developing countries because there is one-way flow of information.

According to Maskeen Ali Hijazi (1995) not only Islamic countries but wide of the third world countries are under the invasion of International media. Eastern cultures and values are attacked by western films, drama, music and newspaper and journals. This tendency of mass media is producing many social psychological, ethical and family problems and creation idealogical and emotional disturbance in this society.

According to Nazrul Hafiz Nadwi (2001) today America , through United Nations trying to shatter the family system, has presented Western concept of family life through Cairo , Istanbul and Beijing conferences. And by putting political and economic pressure they want to create obscenity and vulgarity in Eastern nations on the other hand America is using media power in military and economic fields for example the successful experience of gulf war. America is using the term Globalization instead of new world order.

According to Muhammad Tahir (1996) Satellite revolution has affected four sphere of life, economic culture, social and political, with the different channels which are affecting our social traditions, customs and this is due to satellite technology.

According to Riaz Saqib (2003) the people of third world countries do not like the monopoly of Western media, especially BBC and CNN. They are of the opinion that American and European media have invaded on their civilization, culture and social values. The cultural invasion of western media has created so many social, economical, political and religious problems in developing countries.

According to Muhammad Musa Bhutto (1985) the Muslim Ummah should formulate one collective platform to face the challenge of globalization. For this purpose religion practices should have the full cooperation from the masses. They should provide ethical and ideological training and awareness to the masses and should teach them to avoid evils, dishonesty, telling lie, adulteration and mutual enmity. They should have close cooperation, simple life, and spirit of sacrifice for each other. Islam, from its beginning has encouraged and demanded intellectual activities and training. Through knowledge and training Islam brings changes in the lives of Muslims and teaches to practice Islamic values in the society.

It will be a great challenge for Muslim to save their religious values, tradition, culture, language and identity. The process of globalization with the great support of mass media campaign has been started which is the result of unification of western powers so Muslims should be united and draw their own line of action according to the teaching of Holy Quran and Sunnah.

CONCLUSION

The major objection on globalization is the penetration of media in vulnerable societies or third world countries especially Muslim world, which have traditional norms and values. The western media is trying to diffuse cultural values in these countries having no plural societies. This results in acculturation and enculturation besides social transformation. There is major threat to identities of these countries due to globalization. It depicts the developed countries' precedent that adversely affects local productions and changing the trade and culture in the Muslim countries.  The powerful websites on Internet also carry western dominated online services and products. These products and its advertisements also portray western culture. Some of western products alarmingly violate Muslims values and norms like obscene photos printed on packages.

The cultural aspects of globalization have also caused transmission of western cultural products directly targeting traditional societies. The western countries, through their advanced media technology, disseminate culturally biased programs in pretext to understand one-another culture perspective. However, it is quite obvious that developed countries take very little impact from developing countries culture whereas in return put great influence on their norms and values.

The globalization is two-edged sword; it not only adversely affects economic conditions of traditional societies but also cause threat to cultural environment. The economic debacle, caused by globalization, rendered thousand of workers jobless in developing countries because financially stable countries have dominated their markets. Resultantly, young generation, in these countries, is falling prey to anti social activities rather then becoming active members.

Similar is the impact of cultural production of media outlets in the developed countries which has brought about changes in norms, values and beliefs. Media reach and accessibility has considerably increased with the advent of satellite technologies, which affect vulnerable societies.

Third world countries including Muslim should counter the perilous affects of globalization on their social setups. There should be horizontal flow of communication instead of vertical trickle down effects.

 

REFERENCES

Abid, Abdul Karim (2003 August) Monthly Bedari, Hyderabad PP: 66.

Abdul Wahid Hamid (2001) Islam the natural way Wilshire UK , PP.148.

Akbar, Dr.Muhammad Wasim (2003 Feb) Media and Islam, Mecca Publishers Lahore , PP: 153.

Alvi, Dr. Khalid (2005June) Monthly Dawah, Islamabad PP: 29-30.

Alvi, Dr. Khalid (2005June) Monthly Dawah, Islamabad PP: 28.

Bhutto,Muhammad Musa (1985 July) Pakistani Muashra, Sindh National Academy Hyderabad PP:32.

Bhutto, Muhammad Musa (1985 July) Pakistani Mushra, Sindh National Academy . Hyderabad PP: 38.

C vet & Kellener, 1997, Introduction: thinking global and local; a cultural study Western press UK PP-11.

David Andrew (1998) Globalization, Americanization and British Muslim Society, Saied Reza Amele Dureea Wo, 2002, MWL Journal Sept, Oct, PP: 46.

Giddens. A, 1991, Runway World, How Globalization reshaping our lives London Profiles Book PP: 36.

Micheal W. Bell 2000, Globalization: threat or opportunity, world polities 10thed Mr. Graw Hill USA PP: 11.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

•  Dr. Muhammad Wasim Akbar is Assistant Professor in Mass Communication Department, Gomal University , Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan .

•  Muhammad Anwar is a student of Ph.D in Mass Communication Department Gomal University , Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan .

•  Skhavat Ali is M .Phil scholar in Mass Communication. Department, Gomal University , Dera Ismail Khan , Pakistan .