Globalization is often treated as an inherent threat to the Third World, for these nations are in a position of having less power and wealth to combat foreign influences on their society and culture. As we discussed in Module 1, however, globalization works in multiple ways, and at times Western powers find themselves fundamentally changed by non-Western cultures. No single person in the twentieth century makes that more evident than Mahatma Gandhi, whose call to nonviolent protest inspired oppressed groups across the world. While Gandhi himself was most active in South Africa and India, he stands as one of the foremost examples of popular culture being made from the bottom up in the age of globalization. As a cultural outsider to British authority, he sought to inspire individuals to seek change through protests that involved not violence, but quiet defiance. Ho Chi Minh, Western-educated like Gandhi, also sought to inspire his fellow people to seek independence from Western authority. After his original efforts at defiance through non-violence fell short, he became the leader of a peasant, anti-Western revolutionary force that would eventually give the Vietnamese their first taste of independence in over a century. Both of these leaders represent the power of ideas and their ability to affect public behavior. Each cultivated a specific image of righteousness through media technologies that influenced popular culture. Their efforts saw both individuals at times elevated to mythic status. Through the use of technology that allowed both to travel across a good part of the world, each saw the consequences of globalization from the eyes of both the colonizer and colonized. Upon returning to their home countries, each used media technologies from radio to pamphleteering to public speeches in order to transmit their ideas to the far corners of their countries and all the way to the West. In these multiple efforts at remaking culture, each used Western values, especially as it related to the idea of national independence, to refute the very presence of the West in their countries. They ultimately cultivated a spirit of independence, but one that was ironically dependent in part on Western philosophy. Begin your post by highlighting the key points both leaders offered. To what extent did Gandhi and Ho Chi Minh use the values of Western popular culture (e.g. the right to self-determination, democracy) to argue for their people’s right to be independent? What role did technological advances that allowed peoples and ideas to move between different cultures (e.g. airplane travel, radio, television, etc) play in the success of their messages?
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