Large Fierce Mammal

I first learned about GlobeIn from this article posted last Saturday to George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. I’ll start with letting GlobeIn explain themselves in their own words:

This is the lamest sales pitch for a fundamentally flawed and self-serving idea I’ve heard in hours. Let’s look at why I feel that way.

To begin, you may have already read my 12 September 2012 article in this series, Wordly Wisdom Wednesday – The Word of the Day is “Swadeshi”. If you haven’t, click the link and read it now. If you have, read it again. Absorb what it says before proceeding here.

Espousing swadeshi, Ghandi was going counter to the British/European model of centralized mass production, control, and distribution of goods in favour of having those aspects of commerce occurring on the local level, independent of outside forces. The level at which the producers of raw materials and those who processed or crafted them into useful goods were both benefitting directly from one another’s work.  This would prevent economic subjugation leading to absolute dependence on global forces that operate on their own agenda, and to which no individual cog in the machine really matters. In short,  swadeshi streamlines life by eliminating, insofar as possible, the middle man.

By contrast, the “global economy” model is all about the middle man because it’s in that realm wherein all the money is made. Ask a Farmer or Fisherman at one end, and the couple with a family to feed at the other if they don’t agree. You will often find the same people at both ends!

Distribution demands product, and availability of product requires sufficient quantities to feed consumption. Consumption is driven by marketing aimed at maximizing demand with no acceptance that there are any limits to growth. Profit is made in the middle, and at both ends are those who find their value to society is tied strictly to how much they can do for The Machine – how much they can produce and how much they can consume.

The global economy model has huge momentum and a strong will to survive, but as limits to growth are being reached, so too are appearing limits to public tolerance. We see a resurgence in supporting local producers and craftsmen by buying from them if at all possible. We see people questioning the quality and price of the the food they buy, focusing on produce that is in season. Buying truly locally, I can look the man or woman in the eye who grew or raised the food they sell me. They won’t live far away, in fact I know where they live. They have standing in the community that has been hard won by taking pride in providing a product they feed to their own families. The same goes for the leather crafter and the wood or metal worker. The maker of pottery. These take absolute, irrevocable, and very personal responsibility for themselves and the expression of their work.

Local. If there is one thing I find most unpalatable about the GlobeIn mantra it’s the usurpation of that word. Is the fictional Ermundo a “local” artisan? Only if you live near him in Mexico. And I can’t stop there. The story of Ermundo is that he comes from generations of people who made their living crafting items from clay and selling them by travelling from village to village. One would assume that this is the way of things as far as Ermundo is concerned, and as the beneficiary of a family pottery legacy, he enjoys a network of truly local customers who will be looking for him the next time he comes to call. One hopes he would be selling something more useful to poor Mexicans than terra cotta piggy banks, or if not, he would by now have set up his shop closer to a tourist mecca, but anyway, if he’s still in business one must assume he is filling a niche and at least earning a modest living.

The sales pitch here leads us to believe that Ermundo is a victim of the necessity to actually market his wares instead of “… doing what he loves to do – working on his beautiful creations.” As a one man show, doing things the way they have always been done in his family, why is this not an organic and natural side to his business as a whole? Why is he to be pitied and helped by people elsewhere who believe they know what’s best for him? Why doesn’t he have a wife and a couple of kids to help him out???

We see Judy from Canada to whom Ermundo’s “beautiful creations” fall into filling her burning need for a new dust catcher to adorn her end table, all the while making her feel good about playing her part in elevating poor Ermundo out of treading the dusty sales routes of Mexican poverty and into the lofty realm of labouring to fill internet orders that, if one accepts the GlobeIn hype, can be expected to exceed his capacity to fill in short order. He is only one man after all, and history has proven that when a solitary craftsman achieves sudden notoriety that leads to a flood of orders, it more often than not puts his business on the slippery slope to disaster. In the end, he won’t be liberated from drudgery by no longer having to travel to local markets to sell his crafts, nor will he be free to “… spend time perfecting his craft.” He will be alienated from his local customers and soon totally dependent on keeping GlobeIn happy. As a card carrying member of the global economy, keeping GlobeIn happy will naturally come with a big or else. If not, that would make them unique in all the world.

Lastly comes this claim:

GlobeIn creates world wide links between artisans, buyers, and travellers. It offers a unique opportunity for socially conscious individuals to help give all artisans a fair chance to join the global economy.

I ask how socially conscious it is to facilitate and participate in a global home shopping network without questioning exactly how all those objects will get from their “artisan” producer to the end table that’s in such desperate need of a certain something. Think on GlobeIn’s “carbon footprint” in your quest for some feel good involvement. Ships, planes, trains, and trucks don’t run on good will, nor do they expel perfumed rainbows from their tail pipes.

GlobeIn is nothing more than another middle man, and a not all that well disguised one at that. Leave Ermundo alone. He’s better off without you every bit as much as truly local craftsman would benefit from your business. Instead of a terra cotta piggy bank, look up a source for traditional Mi’kmaq storage boxes hand made from locally harvested Porcupine quills. I can give you names. Help the people you can walk or take a drive of your own to see in person. Visit co-ops and craft shows – most communities have them all summer. Get to know your local food producers and buy from them at your nearest Farmers’ Markets.

I’m for helping GlobeIn to dry up and blow away. It’s a lame symptom of globalization’s recognition of its own vulnerability in the face of localization.