1. The Global Tide
Social movements and social change now occur all over the world, and have led to a greater
interdependence of all people. These trends are called globalization, which is based on technology
and rapid movement around the globe. This article describes these changes as part of a "global tide"
which is transforming the world in positive and negative ways. The hope for peace and cooperation
is great, but globalization increases tensions and the potential for conflict.
In the 1970s, babies in Third World nations were dying when they might have been thriving. The
apparent culprit: ersatz mother's milk made from powder. The Nestle Company, a Swiss-based
multinational, had identified Third World mothers as a high-growth marketing opportunity. Nestle
baby formula was aggressively pushed as the "modern" way to feed infants. In the developed world,
baby formula works fine. It may not be as good as mother's milk, but it's reasonably close. As long
as the bottles and rubber nipples for the formula are properly sterilized, the mixing water reasonably
pure, and the mixing proportions right, babies do well on it.
But in Third World villages in the 1970s, pure water was the exception, not the rule, and the need
for sterilization was hard to explain and seldom practiced. Beyond that, the formula was cheap by
First World standards, but expensive by Third World reckonings. That made it fatally tempting to
stretch the powder by diluting it too much, thus degrading the nutritional value. Health care
professionals and missionaries working in the Third World were outraged, and they communicated
their sadness and anger to Nestle, which did nothing, and to governments, which didn't seem to
care. Nestle had threatened no nation's security, broken no laws.
But nutritionists and activists in the industrialized world did care, and condemnation of Nestle's
marketing practices became widespread. As word got out, the cause was taken up by nearly 100
private organizations in 65 nations. A transnational economic boycott of Nestle products was
launched, coordinated by a U.S.-based transnational citizen coalition, the Infant Formula Action
Committee (INFACT). The INFACT-led transnational campaign ultimately forced Nestle to
abandon its Third World marketing practices, and it also led to the passage in 1981 of a World
Health Organization code of conduct governing the marketing and sale of infant formula. The
Nestle boycott was arguably the first activist campaign of its type. It attracted cross-border
participants who organized outside traditional diplomatic or political channels in an attempt to
accomplish reform in an area outside the immediate interests of international politics.
Transnational social movements are one aspect of "globalization"—a term pundits use to describe
the rapidly increasing cross-border economic, social, and political interactions that are not
originated by national governments. Although theorists argue about when the trend toward
globalization began, few would deny that the process has been accelerating for more than two
decades. It was in the 1970s that Americans discovered with a jolt that the world's economy had
become highly interdependent. In 1971, President Richard Nixon withdrew the dollar from the gold
standard. From then on, the dollar floated against other currencies, thus facilitating—in theory—
worldwide free trade.