The rice crisis the country experiences today is greatly a result of the government’s policy on globalization. Although globalization is mainly economics, it carries a cultural impact that erodes our outlook about rice and our farmers.

With globalization, the catchphrase is “world-class.” Upheld and rated-A are products that answer the needs of the international market and not the needy. A good or a bad enterprise is based on this. Thus, the military’s role today is to harass small farmers off their lands and protect corporate interests. Culture-wise, planting rice is good only in paintings; in actual practice, it is deemed passé.

With globalization, cash is king. “In” are products that promise sales and profits and not those that would be useful to society. A profession is chosen according to how much one will earn, and not on how much it can be of service to the people. Given these, rice farming and being a farmer are definitely “out.”

With globalization, export is the buzz word. What is economically viable is what is exportable. In our case, it’s the people themselves. Thus, overseas employment is encouraged and overseas contract workers are dubbed new heroes.

Meanwhile, fighting for an ideology outside of the globalization scheme is “old-fashioned,” and those emulating our ancestors, who waged a revolution against colonial Spain and the imperialist United States so that Filipinos would be empowered to control their own lands and destiny, are called terrorists.

With globalization, salvation means tourism. For the non-exportable population, the government presents an alternative livelihood through tourism. Notice that suddenly there is an abundance of tourism-related activities, mostly fiestas, whose meaning could be lost to the locals, except as a chance to cash in on the influx of tourists. Fiestas are originally celebrations for a good harvest and pleas for a bountiful next. These are community affairs that affirm and reinforce the Filipino spirit of “bayanihan,” or collectivity. Culture is the basis of tourism. If tourism comes before culture, it is called commerce.

Farming is a noble tradition. Farming and the process that revolves around it can give jobs to the majority of our people. The produce of this process will ensure that there will be food to eat, and that food will be accessible to more people because of the jobs that the process creates.

On the other hand, while globalization presents a picture of modernity, the state of poverty and starvation under this economic mode is actually a giant stride toward barbarism. It becomes more so, as globalization breeds a culture of decay.

JULIE L. PO, Concerned Artists of the Philippines, 39 Scout Bayoran St., Quezon City