Globalization and Yemen

One of the subjects we talked about in my conversation class was the concept of globalization. Since this is a controversial topic in the US for some reason, I was curious what Yemenis thought about it. As it turned out, it was a pretty dull class because they had a uniformly positive view of the process. In the US, the opponents of globalization tend to the processes of globalization as exploitative. Here, they see it as an opportunity to get a job, and a good one at that. My students saw nothing exploitative in working for a multinational company (of which they all thought was a good thing) even if the salary was a 6th or even a 10th of what it might be in the US. A couple of them said that they would not work in the factory or business if it paid them too little but they all saw potential advantages for many people here in Yemen.

In addition, they all saw the influx of products from China and India as a positive thing. All of them remembered what it was like not being able to buy those things and so they approved of the added choices they have available today. The things they liked about globalization were trade (and the resulting product choices from it), employment, knowledge transfer, and the cultural exchange that come from it. The only potential qualm they had about globalization was the potential of watering down the Islam they practice although several saw the potential to spread it as well.

When I asked about a country that has benefitted the most from globalization, the students picked one that I had never thought of, The UAE. I was thinking of Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, and the US, but the UAE? Yes, they have a lot of oil and LNG, but the main reason they are so fabulously wealthy is that they have almost completely opened up to the rest of the world. It is very easy to start a business and there is a vanishingly small amount of taxes to worry about. Compare the UAE to Nigeria, Russia, KSA, and Venezuela, and you can see why they see trade in a good light. I wish that the people that campaign so relentlessly in order to “save” people from evil, greedy multinational corporations would actually go to places like Yemen and see all of the positive things that that “exploitation” can accomplish.