A thought...

[justinsb]

I think people need a mental paradigm shift, we have gotten used to thinking of ourselves as citizens of our city, our region, and our country but political and business leaders don't think this way - fighting globalization is pointless, globalization already happened. Now we have to work for the kind of globalization we want. We have to start thinking of ourselves as citizens of the planet, and realizing that everything that happens everywhere affects us all.

The realities of trade, the environment and nuclear proliferation have made it quasi-suicidal to think any other way - be optimistic though. Wars are fought between politicians, generals, religious leaders and business leaders: There has never been a war between people - a war where the people of country A really truly hated the ordinary citizens of country B - not unless it was achieved through propaganda by the powerful.

[UdoKier]

1. I t has barely just started.

When we're all living at the same level as the average Haitian, you'll know that the process is complete.

[justinsb]

2. Then work to promote

unions in Haiti so their standard of living is higher when that time comes. Don't allwo politicians to convince you that the Haitians are any different than you are or that they want different things.

[bvar22]

3. The Global Community is REAL....

I like Dennis Kucinich" approach to International Trade:

withdrawal from ALL Corporate written Trade Treaties. Establish bi-lateral trade agreements prioritizing Human Rights, Labor Rights, and Environmental Protections.

[punpirate]

4. Well, there's some contrary evidence...

... to your latter remarks. Our own civil war, for example, which technically was a war between the United States and the seceded CSA. We are today still feeling the effects of that conflict between peoples.

Some of the most horrible, brutal modern-day wars have been between peoples--between the Hutu and the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Khmer Rouge against the urban people of Cambodia, what is now happening in the Congo. All of these horrible events had leaders of some description, true, but the animosity of one people for another drove those conflicts to the levels they attained, rather than their being organized from the start with special interests in mind. In fact, the abject mindlessness in the degree of the killing is implicit.

As for thinking globally, the watchword is still to act locally. United States policy drives much of the globalization debate, so what we do here, politically, has global effects. The rest of world knows that--that's why the rest of the world was so generally dismayed with Bush's re-election.

Cheers.

[justinsb]

5. I'm technically in the rest of the world

I'm in Canada - and yes the rest of the world does know that what happens in the US affects everyone, but the reality is that I think what everyone does ultimately affects everyone.

As to the conflicts you spoke of, I haven't studied them in depth, but my guess would be - even in the US civil war, that it took alot of propaganda and hate speech to create an environment that would allow for these wars.