Saturday, February 18, 2006

"let’s not get conned into believing that globalisation is on par with liberalisation"

...or that modernisation implies americanisation. Agreed. Vir Sanghvi has written a characteristically lucid piece.

But here are my views on the Arcelor story:

Frankly, I think that many in India are overdoing the Xenophobia and racism angles when it comes to Mittal Steel's bid to take over a French steel company. The French and their friends in Luxembourg are reacting as they would to a takeover bid by any non-European company. Most of "old Europe" has not realised that the golden post-war days of Europe are over - wealth from the colonial days is drying up and liberal socialism (and its many namesakes) is often a cloak for laziness. But this is NOT the same as saying that the European reaction is racist. The Europeans are just trying a defence that they think works best against the effects of a takeover - such as having to be more efficient, more hard-working and earning salaries based on merit!

BTW, is it racism if Indian media, ministers and just abt everyone else jumps to defend a British citizen of Indian descent (L.Mittal) or takes pride when second-generation Indians win local elections in the US? Why not?

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