Globalisation

Critical review of an article: "The noble feat of Nike"

Nowadays the globalization is certainly one of the biggest point of discussion and confrontations in our society. Day by day we can see the birth of more anti-globalist associations that strongly denounce the globalization and his methods and try to boycott the multinational that are the symbol of this new economic global world.

In his article published on "The Spectator" on 13 June November 2003, Johan Norberg pick up as example one of the biggest and most powerful company of the world, Nike. Nike is in every sense a symbol of globalization. His sneakers (running shoes) and its t-shirts are worn (or copied) in Los Angeles as in Beijing, in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and the occupied territories of Palestine. His spot advertising invade the small screen on CNN or Al Jazeera. He enlisted for advertising the greatest champions from football to basketball. As has been able to establish itself among the desired objects of consumerism worldwide, Nike in its production understood better than anyone the mechanisms of the global economy. It has only has 24,000 employees in the strict sense. But in reality the proletarian army who makes her shoes and her clothing is of 650,000 people employed by a myriad of suppliers not connected to each other, but subjected to a quality control of the American colossus: the maximum productivity, flexibility , at the lowest cost. That's why Nike could be considered actually as the "mother" of globalization.

But to the eyes of protesters, Nike is evil. It's a company where shoes made in the poorest country of the world by people working in inhuman conditions are sold all over the world for a price which is bigger than a monthly wage of that people. Norberg in his article tries to find a different key of reading for this situation, saying that actually is true that comparing to our west society that conditions of work and that wages are unacceptable, but we must observe...