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REVIEWS < THE COLLAPSE OF GLOBALISM and debt, as is still the case for the Third World. __ the other hand women were no longer the Reinvention of the World You may think you've heard all this before, regarded as equal to men. The brutality and by John Ralston Saul but it doesn't hurt to have Saul reiterate it. oppression that marked what Taylor calls Penguin Group (Australia), 2005, 2006 "The Fall" continues to this day, but there ISBN 0-14-300498-0 (309pp pb) THE FALL are signs that we're already emerging from Availability: http/www.penguin.com.au _ by Steve Taylor _ this dark phase of human history. anadian philosopher and author John © Books/John Hunt Publishing, Ropley, In his remarkable book (with foreword by Ralston Saul declares globalism a failure Hampshire, UK, 2005, www.O-books.net Dr Stanley Krippner), Taylor observes the in terms of its ideological foundation and its ISBN 1-905047-20-7 (336pp pb) advances in thinking from the egalitarianism practical application over the last few Availability: Visit http://www.O-books.net of the French Revolution and the rise of socialism and democracy to the more recent "second wave" leaps beginning with the 1960s explosion of the women's liberation and hippie movements and the associated blurring of gender boundaries. Other signs that we're in a "trans-Fall" period are the environmental movements and the more enlightened attitudes to indigenous peoples of the last few decades. One of the effects of "the fallen psyche", Taylor says, is an decades. Globalisation in practice may have Asdins to Manchester-based author expanded world trade, but it has failed to and university lecturer Steve Taylor as alleviate global poverty and the AIDS crisis, _ well as other historians such as Riane Eisler improve the public good or protect people and James DeMeo whom he quotes, human- from wars, dictators or terrorists. ity lived in peace and social equality and in In The Collapse of Globalism, Saul traces harmony with nature until around 4000 the progress of the globalism idea to its ulti- | BCE. Even the early horticulturalists of the mate downfall as he sees it. While decline Middle East, Central Europe, China and was setting in during the 1990s, the situation North Africa were as peaceful as their gath- was terminal by the end of 2001, symboli- ering/hunting forebears. There was no war, desire f ith and cally marked by the collapse of Enron. Its patriarchy or overt materialism and appar- intense listic « it wea ill in us SO Our demise was helped by the NGO-dominated ently little of the psychological alienation mean a culture a he "di ong mat to anti-globalisation movement (whose promi- __ that is so common in today's post-industrial 8 vitateness, vane rn force" in even nence, ironically, was assisted by the world world. But all this was before what Taylor thes and rekindle the Golden ‘Ave y wide web). People all over the world have calls "the Ego Explosion" which gave way e Be. seen through the empty promises. to 6,000 years of "collective psychosis". At the heart of the problem, Saul suggests, So what went wrong? Taylor argues that is a misplaced ideology that has imbued eco- _ large groups of people underwent a psycho- nomics with a quasi-religious power and logical shift as a result of climate change made economic growth the ultimate measure __ that began in North Africa, the Middle East of success—but at the expense of the multi- and Central Asia towards the end of the dimensional lives of real people. And far sixth millennium BCE and transformed fer- from the nation-state being dead (its deatha __ tile, semi-forested grassland into desert. presumed goal of the globalist agenda), itis | Bands of "mobile pastoralists" now had to alive and well and taking on new forms, for _ claim new territories and, before long, patri- better or worse. Saul has his prescription for —_ archal chieftain-based tribes, invasions and a better outcome that revolves around conquests, social stratification and theistic nations and citizens being able to make religions became the order of the day. There responsible choices to meet local needs was a newfound sense of individuality that without surrendering sovereignty to corpora- _ led to the achievement of high levels of cul- tions or superpowers or being strangled by tural and technological development, but on debt, as is still the case for the Third World. You may think you've heard all this before, but it doesn't hurt to have Saul reiterate it. the other hand women were no longer regarded as equal to men. The brutality and oppression that marked what Taylor calls "The Fall" continues to this day, but there are signs that we're already emerging from this dark phase of human history. In his remarkable book (with foreword by Dr Stanley Krippner), Taylor observes the advances in thinking from the egalitarianism of the French Revolution and the rise of socialism and democracy to the more recent "second wave" leaps beginning with the 1960s explosion of the women's liberation and hippie movements and the associated blurring of gender boundaries. Other signs that we're in a "trans-Fall" period are the environmental movements and the more enlightened attitudes to indigenous peoples of the last few decades. One of the effects of "the fallen psyche", Taylor says, is an intense desire for wealth and status, so our materialistic culture still has a long way to go if we're to transcend the "disease" of ego- separateness, see the "spirit-force" in every- thing and rekindle the Golden Age. 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