Posted on: Sunday, March 20, 2005

COMMENTARY
Thinking globally —and locally

By John Griffin

Globalism and localism are increasingly the yin and yang of today's Hawai'i — opposite yet also complementary forces that define the Islands' position at home and in the changing world.

Some scholars use the term "glocalization" to indicate how the two work together.

Like it or not, globalization is one of the most important trends of our times. It's an old process (think ancient Hawaiians and various old traders and colonizers) of interaction between peoples and cultures that has been speeded up by growing technology, rising economic forces and other aspects of modernization.

In the early 1990s, I started writing about an influential magazine article and book by political scientist Benjamin Barber. His then-title, "Jihad vs. McWorld," may be shadowed now by Mideast events. But he was using jihad not as an Islamic holy war but as shorthand for broader cultural clashes as also seen in

Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland and Israel and Palestine.

His point remains that two axial principles of our time are tribalism and globalism: "The planet is falling precipitanty apart and coming reluctantly together at the same moment."

Both tribalism and globalism have their problems in today's world. Yet both are part of life here and around the world. And, while they may clash at times, they also can coexist if you use softer terms such as traditionalists and modernizers.

Globalism today is still driven by economics as world trade keeps growing and other nations, led by China and India, are rising. Yet globalization, at its best, also has its educational, political and social benefits from bringing people together.

If you are wondering how this old-yet-speeding interplay of global and local forces is changing Hawai'i, you are hardly alone. As elsewhere, it is a mix of progress and problems. What is happening is special yet also just the latest chapter for these islands that have always had to deal with strong outside forces.

At a recent conference here that discussed globalization, one scholar suggested that while it's still good to be aware of history, a focus on the new (called "presenting") is more important in today's world.

Localism in Hawai'i in its broadest sense includes people from all races who are attuned to our island culture and point of view. But there are also some points made by interim University of Hawai'i President David McClain in a briefing at the state Legislature:

"We seek first and foremost to preserve and perpetuate the values that are at the core of our strategic plan, the values of our host Hawaiian culture. This centering of our strategic plan on Native Hawaiian values allows us to be both locally responsive, as every good public university should, but also positions the University of Hawai'i to be globally significant."

McClain went on to explain that when he first came to the university 15 years ago, the emphasis was on Hawai'i's role as a bridge between East and West, and UH saw itself as an Asia-Pacific university.

"With all the globalization of the last 15 years, however, there are now many bridges between East and West. We remain an interesting bridge, to be sure, but our uniqueness, or special identity, is found less in that role.

"Now, drawing on the core of our identity from values based on our indigenous culture, we are able to articulate to the newly globalized world — 'Island Earth' — the values of community and respect that animate island societies generally, Polynesian island societies more particularly, and Hawai'i specifically, and that are sometimes in short supply in continental societies."

I'm not sure that everyone here would buy the UH viewpoint for all of Hawai'i, although I find it attractive.

Regardless, McClain's remarks point out that the idea of our being "the Geneva of the Pacific" is outdated in a time when even the real Geneva is not always what it used to be, and that the Pacific Century didn't get off the ground much before it was overcome by the Global Century. That's so even though Asia and the Pacific Basin are major growth areas and especially vital to Hawai'i.

Red-state Americans especially, and even many people here, may have a hard time seeing themselves as Global Citizens in the strict traditional sense. We are mostly proud to be Americans, despite our national flaws, just as people in other globalizing nations remain proud of their nationalities. It is not a zero-sum situation.

Now even the Bush administration is showing signs of a more positive global outlook that stresses more international cooperation and fewer colonial mannerisms.

So it should not be hard to see that Hawai'i, in its special place, needs to think and act both locally and globally, and that those ideas fit together like the ancient intertwined symbols for yin and yang.

Glocalization is a term that will take longer to catch on.

John Griffin, a frequent contributor, is a former Advertiser editorial page editor.