Friedman a foot soldier for globalization<\/p>\n
Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
It is not important to agree or disagree with Thomas Friedman,
\nbut it is important to listen to him, simply because he seems to
\ngo out of his way to listen to others.<\/p>\n
Ever since the Sept. 11 attack on America, the 48-year-old
\ninternational affairs columnist for the New York Times is one of
\nfew Americans to continuously travel all over the Muslim world to
\nfind out why his country is so hated. Friedman, who was in
\nJakarta last week for the launch of the Indonesian translation of
\nhis best-seller The Lexus and the Olive Tree, keeps a diary and
\nwill soon publish another book of his travels.<\/p>\n
He realizes that a cowboy comment like either the world is
\nwith America in its war against terrorism or is not has put all
\nmoderate Muslims in a quandary. The vast majority of Muslims
\ndislike the Taliban but also disagree with the American
\ngovernment's view of the world that is suspected of being
\nsaturated by self-interest.<\/p>\n
Even Friedman's tireless talk of peace and democracy makes
\nmany wonder if his vision is not limited to creating a social
\norder around the world where free market capitalism is allowed to
\nhave a field day without thought of the fate of the farmer in the
\nbowels of the countryside.<\/p>\n
\"The driving idea behind globalization is free market
\ncapitalism, the more you let market forces rule and the more you
\nopen the economy to free trade and competition, the more
\nefficient and flourishing your economy will be. Globalization
\nmeans the spread of free-market capitalism to every country in
\nthe world,\" Friedman writes in The Lexus and the Olive Tree, a
\nwork on how globalization has come to shape virtually everyone's
\ndomestic politics and international relations.<\/p>\n
The book is as much a celebration of the end of the Cold War
\nyears and system as a guidebook to the new era of globalization.<\/p>\n
Asked to pinpoint any negative aspects of globalization, he
\nsays that rapid economic development has to beware of devastating
\nthe environment. Individual identities are threatened and
\ncultural homogenization happens.<\/p>\n
The most important lesson that Friedman has learned after
\nSept. 11 is that new technologies have connected societies like
\nnever before but the lack of understanding between cultures is
\ncolossal.<\/p>\n
\"The closer we get the less we seem to understand each other,\"
\nFriedman worries, comparing the world to a big family where
\neveryone, including the crazy aunt, has the right to have her
\nsay. He constantly talks of building a future together instead of
\ndestroying it. The question is how can this be done without
\ndriving sections of the world population to desperation?<\/p>\n
Friedman is all ears even when he is told that some of his
\ntheories especially on globalization are too naive. He waits for
\nyou to have your say but then counter questions whether you have
\nan alternative.<\/p>\n
And while you talk he notes it all down on his personal
\ncomputer that is probably never unplugged. A cameraman
\naccompanying Friedman is recording his odyssey for American
\nviewers to eventually see what people around the world think of
\nthem and expect of them as the sole remaining Superpower.<\/p>\n
Friedman regrets that people with differences seem to pierce
\nthe eardrums and refuse to listen to each other. The result is
\nthat wars continue endlessly and differences remain unresolved,
\nhe said at the Freedom Institute.<\/p>\n
\"It is still not clear to me what alternative the anti-
\nglobalization lobby has in mind. What is clear now is not whether
\nwe globalize but how we globalize.\"<\/p>\n
The institute's director, Rizal Mallarangeng, later moderated
\na discussion between members of the Indonesian intelligentsia,
\nlike Goenawan Mohamad, and Friedman.<\/p>\n
Friedman has said in the past that all the intellectual and
\ncreative energies in the Arab-Muslim world that are as bountiful
\nas in any other region can never reach their full potential under
\nrepressive regimes. The last century has been so stagnant for the
\nregion not because of America, but because authoritarian
\ngovernments strike bargains with religious leaders who often
\nindulge in antimodernist religious education that produces
\npoverty.<\/p>\n
This is one of his many trips to Indonesia and he is excited
\nat watching the largest Muslim country in the world reform its
\ninstitutions and reach out to the world. The ideas of religious
\nfreedom, individual liberty and responsibility are not
\nincompatible with Islam but he is full of regret that much of the
\nMuslim world has turned its back on the classical liberal
\ntradition practiced by Muslim societies in the past.<\/p>\n
He is quick to remind that the Muslim world reached the zenith
\nof its influence in the Middle Ages when it preserved the best of
\nclassical Greek and Roman teachings and inspired breakthroughs in
\nmathematics, science, medicine and philosophy. That is also when
\nIslam was at its most open to the world when it enriched and was
\nenriched by the Christian, Greek and Jewish communities in its
\nmidst and when it was actively trading with all corners of the
\nworld.<\/p>\n
Apart from dreaming of making globalization work what
\npreoccupies him is also the future of US-Muslim relations. He is
\nmost interested in finding out what the reaction of a cross
\nsection of Indonesians is to September 11 and their opinion of
\nAmerica. During his travels he has found an iron wall of
\nmisunderstanding between America and the Muslim world.<\/p>\n
\"Just go anywhere Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and you'll hit
\nyour head against this wall,\" he says adding that it has taken
\nmany hands to build this wall, blaming American officials for
\nfailing to speak out against Israeli settlements in the occupied
\nterritories and depriving Palestinians of any potential homeland.<\/p>\n
America's Muslim allies also helped to erect this wall. Their
\nleaders have encouraged the press to print the worst lies about
\nAmerica as easy excuses for why they never have to look at
\nthemselves.<\/p>\n
And for lending a ear to everyone Friedman has built up quite
\na following of foes as well as friends, making his wife and two
\ndaughters proud of the three times Pulitzer Prize winner but also
\nworried about his constant wanderings around the world.<\/p>",
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