MISSION FIVE: The Cultural Dimensions of Globalization

OBJECTIVE 1:  How globalized are you?  Address this question through an original blog post, photo, or video, and upload it in YOUR BLOG to get points. 

OBJECTIVE 2: 

1. Find something in your life/world that you really, really love, whether it’s a hobby, a thing, an event….
2. Dissect this something you love by tracing where it came from or how it came to be.

One universal food that people really enjoy eating is chocolates. In every country you go, you'll never be disappointed if you look for chocolates. It is everywhere, whether you are from the Global North or from the Global South. Say "El Chocolate" in Spanish, "Schokolade" in German,  "Shokora" in Japanese or "La Cioccolata" in Italian... all of these refer to a same thing.  I find it hard to imagine a person who doesn't know what a chocolate is. For those who still don't know what a chocolate is, here is a definition: "a food preparation in the form of a paste or solid block made from roasted and ground cacao seeds, typically sweetened." This definition might sound so far from what chocolate taste like. You have to experience eating it to know what it is. 

Chocolates traces back from 4000 years ago. The Cacao tree was said to originate from South America. It was regarded by the Aztecs as "food of the gods". Christopher Columbus was the first European to bring the beans of the tree to Europe but it just received dubious response from the Western people. 4o years later, it was popularized by his fellow countryman,  Herman Cortes. It became a popular drink of the court and those people who have high status in the country. It was known as a drink of the rich and the royalty because it was an expensive import. Fast forward to today, the leading manufacturers of chocolates are  The Hershey Company and Mars followed by Nestle, Craft Foods and Lindt. I personally love the chocolates produced by Hershey's because it is just right for me, not too sweet. Chocolates are widely used during holidays especially Christmas and Valentines' Day in which people would give the dessert to each other as a sign of joy and love. 

We Filipinos have a different view on chocolates. For other people in the world, it might just be a dessert one look forwards to every end of a meal, but for Filipinos, its something more significant. Chocolate is not a native/local produce of the Philippines but it is everywhere in the country. When we Filipinos see chocolate, we think imported. Someone must have arrived from abroad or a balikbayan box has arrived. It's a foreign food that we come to love. 

I'm not actually a fan of chocolates on a regular day but there are certain days in a month where I will crave for EVERYTHING chocolate (I think most women can relate). I would want a chocolate cake, milk chocolate drink, chocolate mousse, basically everything chocolate. It is weird because sometimes, in my no-chocolate period, I would full-heartedly reject an offer of a chocolate but when I'm in the chocolate period, no one can stop me. 

Personal stash of "emergency" chocolates

Look at your daily world and see the coexistence of the two sides of globalization.  Document your insights through an original blog post, photo, or video, and upload it in YOUR BLOG for quiz points.


Globalization is not only having a piece of what other people in the opposite side of the world have. Globalization has both positive and negative effects. For once, globalization helps us communicate easier, share information, etc. However, these opportunities given to us doesn't always end up in good use. This is most evident in the World Wide Web. We use Twitter, Facebook, and all other social networking sites to relay information about ourselves and other people. Through these sites, people who are physically distant from us know what we are up to. Recently, I have observed that facebook has this new feature of "sharing". You now have the option to share other people's photo and it will show up in your profile, letting your friends see what you just saw. I think this is a double-edged sword situation. You can share other people's cause like animal abuse, human rights violation, etc. but there is a possibility that we would share "dirty" information about a person. It would not only bring this person to humiliation but the person's name and identity is tampered.  You could check in your own facebook newsfeed right now. You can see that there is a spread of photos that promotes different types of causes. Some helpful, some rebuking. Globalization gives us both a gift and a curse.     


Objective 3:  Choose the ending of your missions via an original blog post, photo, or video, and upload it in YOUR BLOG for points.


I would like to share my experience during the accomplishment of my missions. When I first heard the instructions during the first day of EUROCIR class, I groaned to the idea of it. MORE WORK! I didn't like it. However, right now, it is very ironic to think that I actually WANT more. I never thought that I would love accomplishing the missions. Yes, it was tiring and time-consuming but the lessons I learned during the process is priceless. There are times when I would wake up 3am on a Friday morning and panicking because I forgot to do the mission. Actually, there were a lot of times where I panicked at the last minute. I always forget about the missions and I would sometimes be reminded by my classmates. Sometimes, I just get so busy that I prioritized other stuff. Although, most of the times, I would end up having a good output in which I would be proud of. The missions taught me a lot of global issues that I have heard a lot of times but didn't care to decipher into insights. I see the need to stop look and listen to the world. It's all happening around us and we don't give a damn about it because we are busy doing things for our own self. We may have heard these issues but it is quite different when we put it in our own personal context. It gives it more impact when we realize we are also affected on the individual level because this is a one united global community. Not only did I learned a lot from the missions, I also practiced my writing skills. I used to write a lot. Its a shame that I am a part of writing club in school but I don't write more often than I used to because of hectic school work. With the missions, I was able to write again. Not just academic writing but writing like pouring your heart out. Writing with passion. That's what I missed about writing. I am thankful for these EUROCIR missions because I got my passion back. In conclusion, I would just like to say that I now learn to notice the things around me and that my simple actions are really important in shaping the global events. Whether it would just be posting stickers for the cause of animal rights or just simply sharing my experiences here, with the proper dissemination, I know it would go along way.       




Aaaynawrites. AGAIN. 

MISSION FOUR: Human Rights

OBJECTIVE 1:  Think about this — if states are supposed to protect their citizens, then why has recent history seen a spate of revolutions against the state?  Address this through an original blog post, photo, or video, and upload it in YOUR BLOG to get points. 

The photo above was originally taken by me during the inauguration of President Benigno Aquino, Jr. I have entered this photo in a photo contest with the theme of "Filipino Nationalism". For me, this photo has a deeper meaning and it signifies the Filipino's fight for their rights. The woman in the yellow shirt, showing the "Laban" sign signifies a citizen fighting for justice and equality. 


The previous administration raised a lot of controversial issues that made the Filipinos think that they don't get what their ancestors paid for. Filipinos who died for our independence would most probably be disappointed with what has happened during the past decade. It seems like our government does not really give their citizens quality service. Our ancestors didn't shed blood just for government officials today to steal our money away. A lot of us sympathize with this sentiment. A lot of us are disappointed, and to the extreme angry, with our government. We need a lot of things from our government which is sad because they only give us half-baked services. The citizens feel that they are being cheated on and their vote and money is not totally worth it. A lot of uprisings happen because mostly of dissatisfaction with the government. We don't like this policy, we rally about it. We don't like this government official, we overthrow him/her. It's as simple as that. When the government fails to do its job, the people assert their rights. This leads to the citizens going against with the government. 


This picture is sentimental for me. It shows that the citizens put a lot of hope and expectations to President Noynoy Aquino. After struggling from the past decade with the past two administration, the Filipinos need a leader that will make a change at once. That's a lot of pressure for President Noynoy. This picture shows that even if there were several uprisings before the presidency of the current president, the Filipinos still have hope that everything will be changed for good. The Filipinos believe that all their efforts in ousting the previous government will all be worth it because of the belief that President Noynoy will clean all the mess the previous government made. The Filipinos believe that their needs will be properly and fully given by the government. We can't expect every citizen to be in the side of the government. However it will go, (most of) the citizens would always do whatever they can to have their rights.   


OBJECTIVE 2: (classroom activity) 


OBJECTIVE 3:  What’s next for Egypt?  Create a possible future via an original blog post, photo, or video, and upload in YOUR BLOG to get the prized quiz points for class. 


I would like to compare what happened in Egypt with the transition of the Marcos to the Aquino regime. There are a lot of similarities between the two. One is the Hosni Mubrarak and former President Ferdinand Marcos both ruled for many years and ruled their own governments with abuse of power and corruption. Second is that they were succeeded by people who believe much on reestablishing democracy. And lastly, they were ousted by force by the people. Most likely, the consequences of what happened in Egypt would be somewhat similar to the transition of the Marcos to the Aquino regime. We should be honest to say that the economy during the term of the late President Corazon Aquino was not really improved. However, in Egypt, the economy was down during the term of Mubrarak. I think an opposite event will happen. I think that Egypt will improve its economy thus helping a lot of people in poverty. I think that the transition of the powers in Egypt will be politically smooth because the president after Mubrarak will restore democracy, which is what the Egyptians want. Just like during President Cory Aquino's term, I predict that democracy will be restored in Egypt but unlike the Aquino regime, the economy in Egypt will flourish. With the support of United Nations, European Union, and all other states, I think the transition in Egypt will be peaceful. 

MISSION THREE: Nongovernmental Organizations

OBJECTIVE 1:  Find a cause you believe in.  Then find an NGO — whether local or international — with a similar advocacy.  Tell us about your choice through an original blog post, photo, or video in YOUR BLOG to get credits. 


Year 2005. Just about six years ago, I went to this online site. I can't seem to remember how I got there. I just remembered the feeling of sadness as I cringe while watching the videos. As I intently watch every second of the video, a lot of things ran through my mind. The simultaneous feelings were mixed. I first felt sad like I was about to cry but I just can’t, angry, disappointed, and most of all, nauseous. Here’s the link of the video that I saw about 6 years ago that really made a big change in my life:

 'Meet Your Meat'

Yes, I believe that animals have rights and that they shouldn’t be treated cruelly. They are already about to be killed and I don’t get why they SHOULD kill them brutally. I don’t get why Kentucky Fried Chicken would get their chicken from dealers who treat chickens so bad when they kill it. Wait, actually, I kind of do get it. KFC needs mass production of chicken because a lot of people eat “Kentucky Fried Cruelty” everyday and most probably because it costs cheaper than the “traditional” way of killing chickens. I just find it so absurd why some animal farms, especially those that are very technologically advanced, resort to electrocution, pouring of hot water directly to the animals, mechanically cutting of the beaks of the chickens, and all other things that would be considered murder when done to a human being. Animals can't communicate with human beings and I want to be their voice and fight for their rights.

One of the major animal rights campaign group is PETA or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA’s renowned internationally with a lot of headquarters in all of the continents. You can always hear them in the news (specifically, the celebrity/entertainment news segment) because of famous personalities that would rally with them during protests and because their rallies are most of the time extreme to the point of people getting naked just to be recognized. If you are a celebrity or a famous person and you wear fur coat, expect PETA to be there everywhere you go and tell you things like fur is murder and that you should NOT wear fur anymore. I have been with PETA since the day I watched that video though I incline more with the “don’t-eat-meat” and the “animals-have-feelings-too” campaign. I’ve been reading a lot of the articles PETA made to show how other people kill and abuse animals. Since Day 1, PETA helped me to become stronger with my cause. It has been 6 years already since PETA turned me into a pesci-vegetarian (one who does not eat meat except seafood and dairy products) and I’m so comfortable with my diet now. I can easily say no to crispy “lechon baboy”, chicken adobo, or a burger when placed on my plate. I’ve been so strong especially with the help of PETA. I don’t think I’ll be able to survive not eating meat without the endless campaign of PETA. I love PETA and I support them all the way.        

International Relations (IR) is better with Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) like PETA because it voices out specific causes that states can’t. The state’s interests are sometimes too general that some “side” interests of the citizens are not given a damn. If there are no NGOs in IR, important issues (for other people) would not be addressed. Most of the time, these important issues are critical that they can shape the events in the world. So, if not given the adequate attention given by NGOs, these important issues will just be ignored. NGOs help in determining what issues should be really given an adequate attention.

OBJECTIVE 2:  Make an alliance with your friends or classmates, and find ways to lobby for your common cause.  Tell us how you’ve made this alliance, with whom, and what means you used to advocate for a good cause through an original blog post, photo, or video.  The return: not only do you get to be part of an NGO culture, but you also get points for your effort! 

Last July, PETA visited De La Salle University and had a booth in Central Plaza. They were giving out posters, stickers, flyers, etc. When I saw it, I was seriously shaking because I've been dying to get those cute stickers. I felt like I'm home! In their booth, they laid out all of the types of publicity materials. I got one of EVERYTHING. When I walked away from their booth after talking to a PETA volunteer about how to help PETA hands-on, I had a lot of posters, stickers, and flyers in my hand. I remember tweeting about it and telling people I got some and if they want too because I will gladly get some for them (there were replies asking where to get them and I'm glad I made it known to my followers and friends). 

My favorite from all those publicity materials are the stickers. Not only they are cute but they most importantly speak my cause. I brought some home at my province because I know killing animal abuse there is rampant. I gave some to our maids and they posted it in our door. I showed the stickers to my friends and they liked it and asked for some. Through the stickers and my friends, I was able to promote the cause. My friends and I were sticking it EVERYWHERE. You could find one in Agno (just right outside Nomi where a lot of people smoke and pass by). My friend and I also posted one in the bulletin board of the Beach House where a lot of people hang. I never got the chance in taking a picture of our effort but here's a picture of me and some of the stickers left that I got from PETA. 

I also made my 2011 planner look awesome by posting PETA stickers. 

"I'm scared of needles too!"
"Be a BUNNY's HONEY"
"100% Cruelty-Free"
and my favorite...
"CUT CLASS, NOT FROGS"

Through these stickers and with the help of my friends, I am able to promote my cause and what I believe in. I'm so glad I had a chance to get a hold of those PETA stickers for FREE. They are actually selling it online (shop for PETA stickers HERE). I honestly thought of working for PETA once I graduate because I wouldn't only love my job but the satisfaction that I will get would be priceless.   

OBJECTIVE 3:  Tell a vivid story about a new breed of actors — NGOs — overcoming the primacy of states in international relations.  What kind of world might that be?  Use an original blog post, photo, or video to get points. 

If NGOs were to be the primary actors in the international arena, most of the issues that are ignored or not given the needed attention today will be responded. Other issues that states think is important for themselves and more threatening like nuclear war would not be an issue. Instead, issues of environmental degradation, hunger in third-world countries, health epidemics, poverty, and animal abuse would be prioritized since NGOs would lobby for their own cause. I wouldn't say that it would be a better place because if states wouldn't be the primary actors, important interests of the states will not be addressed. A larger problem will arise if states will not pursue their own interests. If good governance of the states is the primary solution for the well being of the world, NGOs wouldn't struggle much with their cause. NGOs would go up like "We need to make effort to restore our forests!" and if the domestic government implement policies like legalizing cutting of trees in rain forests, NGOs would have a really hard time and it would seem like their efforts would not pay off. Let's face a little truth about NGOs. They are there to promote the issues that our governments think is not important a.k.a. "side" interests. I would like to compare it to academic and extra curricular work. States would be academic priority and NGOs would be extra-curricular activities. Academic priority is something that would go first in the list. Extra curricular work is just there to make you a well-rounded individual. Same goes in the international arena, NGOs are there to make the world balanced with the interests that is given attention to and states carry the important issues of the domestic government. Despite of these interest-clashing status, the generation today is also active in making NGOs known. People who support make it easier for the NGOs to speak their cause.        


P.S. 

Let's go vegetarian!