When a superpower sneezes, we shudder

[maruf]

This is why we know of course as Da'wah carries, we must follow the affairs of the "superpowers" or "superpower" of the day.

was-salaam




When a superpower sneezes, we shudder

Julian Hewitt The Boston Globe
Saturday, July 31, 2004


'Ubuntu' of globalization

BOSTON In South Africa, we have a term, "Ubuntu," which refers to the spirit of the community. It is a shortened version of a Xhosa saying which means that I am a person through other people. It means that my humanity is tied to yours.

This is probably the single most important aspect of living in a highly connected planet: Our humanity is tied together. We must respect each other, and we must always keep our interconnection in mind.

The United States needs to understand the meaning of these South African phrases more than any other industrialized nation. The ultimate global power, the United States creates ripples that cause big waves around the world. This happens more frequently than the average American comprehends.

When the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, cuts interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, it has a huge impact on me in South Africa. Straightaway it influences my still sizable student loan, as the South African financial markets react to this news by pre-empting a cut or a hike by the South African Reserve Bank. In short, globalization enables Greenspan's small action to have a large effect on me 13,000 miles away in South Africa.

Imagine how many other powerful decisions resonate with me as a citizen of South Africa. When the United States refuses to sign the Kyoto Protocol, it forces me to apply a few more layers of sunscreen in the summer. When the United States attacks Iraq, it heightens the religious animosity between the large Muslim and Christian communities living near Cape Town. Hollywood movies, music, multinationals, foreign policy, farming subsidies, and import tariffs have a similar effect. These endless ripples are reaching my distant shore.

As I spend time in the United States, however, I am discovering some startling realities. Despite the critical role of the United States in world affairs, for example, many U.S. citizens do not hold passports. They have traveled to many states but not to any other countries. They would be hard pressed to point out South Africa on a map.

The average American gets little information about what is happening in the world or about the role of the United States in world events.

Twenty or 30 years ago, there would be nothing wrong with an American who never left home, never owned a passport, never spoke a second language, never knew the capital of Denmark. But we live in a globalized world. We live in a world of causes and effects. We live in a world where a single superpower has an overwhelming influence on global affairs.

It is dangerous to be the source of global ripples but to ignore their effect. Over tme, those ripples may cause waves that will slap back on your shores.

Julian Hewitt is a 2004 Clinton Democracy Fellow from South Africa and president of AIESEC South Africa, a student-run organization focused on developing global change-agents. This comment first appeared in The Boston Globe.



Copyright © 2004 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com

[Islamic Revival]

"The average American gets little information about what is happening in the world or about the role of the United States in world events."


This is so true....but rather I would suggest that the average American is fed information from such biased sources (the US media) which give a completely skewed and brainwashed version of events. And since they have no first-hand knowledge, (because very few actually travel outside the US) they rely on this kind of information to develop their ideas about other peoples/cultures.

wa salam.

[Islamic Revival]

As-salam alaikum,

The following article reminded me of the topic we were discussing above. In particular the part which says:

The company has now launched geography classes for its staff to avoid further bloomers which have caused embarrassment and cost money on a grand scale. He said that as a geographer himself it was depressing that Americans had a reputation for being particularly unaware of the rest of the world. The annual National Geographic Survey had thrown up the sad fact that only 23 out of 56 young Americans knew the whereabouts of the Pacific Ocean.


It is also typical in showing decision-making based purely on capitalist thinking.


wa salam.




Microsoft pays dear for insults through ignorance [/u]

Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Thursday August 19, 2004
The Guardian


www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1286066,00.html


Insensitive computer programmers with little knowledge of geography have cost the giant Microsoft company hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business and led hapless company employees to be arrested by offended governments.

The problem has damaged the company's reputation and the "trust rating," which is seen as key to keeping the company competitive, has dropped, a senior Microsoft executive revealed yesterday at the International Geographers Conference in Glasgow.

In a frank assessment of the company's problems in trying to be a global player without offending local sensibilities, Tom Edwards, its senior geopolitical strategist, said employees' lack of basic geography was to blame.

The company has now launched geography classes for its staff to avoid further bloomers which have caused embarrassment and cost money on a grand scale. He said that as a geographer himself it was depressing that Americans had a reputation for being particularly unaware of the rest of the world. The annual National Geographic Survey had thrown up the sad fact that only 23 out of 56 young Americans knew the whereabouts of the Pacific Ocean.

"It is therefore no surprise that some of our employees, however bright they may, have only a hazy idea about the rest of the world," he said. "The repercussions on us can be very serious."

As an American company with a global reach, Microsoft had to try and foster trust for reliability of its software and not cause offence.

He said in all cases the mistakes made were simply through ignorance but this was not how they were seen in the countries concerned. They were all seen as deliberate policy and so the offence taken was far greater as a result.

Perhaps the best known, and one of the most expensive, errors was a colour-coded world map showing time zones, which showed the disputed Jammu-Kashmir region as not being in India - an offence under Indian law. The mistake led to the whole of the Windows 95 operating system being banned in the country, losing large sales. For its replacement, Microsoft, Office 97, Microsoft removed the colour coding and sold 100,000 copies in India.

Mr Edwards said the decisions on what to do about disputes arising over Microsoft products was taken entirely on commercial grounds.

For example when employees were arrested in Turkey because Kurdistan had been shown as a separate entity on maps of the country, a decision was taken to remove Kurdistan from all maps.

"Of course we offended Kurds by doing this but we had offended the Turks more and they were a much more important market for our products. It was a hard commercial decision, not political." [/u]

One mistake that caused catastrophic offence was a game called Kakuto Chojin, a hand to hand fighting game. The fighting went on with rhythmic chanting in the background which in reviewing the game Mr Edwards noticed appeared to be Arabic.

"I checked with an Arabic speaker in the company who was also a Muslim about what the chant meant and it was from the Koran. He went ballistic. It was an incredible insult to Islam." He asked for the game to be withdrawn but it was issued against his advice in the United States in the belief that it would not be noticed.

Three months later, the Saudi Arabian government made a formal protest. Microsoft withdrew the game worldwide.

His investigations showed the Japanese, who had developed the game for Microsoft, had added the chant to the tape because they liked the sound of it without checking its origins. "They were chastised and corrected," he said.

Mr Edwards said it was better to be honest and open about these mistakes. It was all part of rebuilding that vital trust in the product.

Expensive oversights

· A game called Age of Empires 2 offended the Saudi Arabian authorities because it showed victorious Muslim armies turning churches into mosques. The game was withdrawn from sale in the kingdom [/u]

· The Korean government, objected because Microsoft software showed the national flag in reverse. The software had to be changed.

· The Spanish version of Windows used the word Hembra - meaning "woman" in Spain - for choosing gender. But in some Central American republics, notably Nicaragua, the word is an insult meaning "dog". The programme was changed.

· Microsoft employees were questioned by police in China, where it is an offence to refer to Taiwan as country or as the Republic of China. Now Taiwan is not referred to as country and all software worldwide avoids the issue by referring to places as "regions or districts".

· Uruguay is a republic and proud if it but in Microsoft's Outlook in Uruguay, the company offended the government by describing Tuesday April 30 as the queen's birthday.