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In ‘Things Fall Apart’, Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, conveys the story of a Nigerian Village’s transformation through colonization. In Achebe’s novel, the main protagonist is forced to commit suicide because he cannot adapt to the changing times. His right, rituals and beliefs were all pushed aside in the name of Western superiority. Colonization has taken a new form. Gone are the days that western powers would ‘invade’ a nation, stealing its land and resources whilst forcefully setting its own ideals unto the inhabitants. Today, instead of armed forces, Western powers use their armies of lawyers and vast financial reserves to bully native inhabits from their homes whilst ignoring their customs in the name of progress. In the article below, Mark Zuckerberg, is using his vast wealth to buy large sums of land in Hawaii that he will never use. 700 acres of land is an insane amount of land to purchase in a country as small as Hawaii especially if used just as a ‘vacation paradise’. Zuckerberg is also attempting to take away the ancestral lands from native Hawaiians, who view these lands as an important part of their culture, by building walls surrounding the area. His lawyer believes he is doing the right thing saying that many do not even know they own the land in the first place but by enclosing off the area, he is ignoring the native culture and expecting to replace it with money.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/23/mark-zuckerberg-hawaii-land-lawsuits-kauai-estate

Hey sashaduarte! You have a lot of very astute points, I really enjoyed reading your comment! My only contention, though, is that I do not think Facebook represents all of the good of globalization. I may be a bit more against the website as I don't use it myself, but I do think it's very easy to forget that Facebook is a private company. As beneficial as Facebook has been to connecting individuals across borders, it still operates by transforming its user base into 'products' - through targeted marketing, advertising, and the selling of personal information, Facebook profits from the information of its users. And, while it is certainly possible to opt out of sharing to an extent, many users are not so diligent in protecting themselves online. In this regard I find it very unsurprising that Zuckerberg would try to take native land; his entire net worth has been, in part, generated by selling and exploiting the identities of those who trust his enterprise. After all, who can forget his comments, "Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard. Just ask. I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS [...] People just submitted it. I don't know why. They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks" (Business Insider). I think this is a topic we could also extend very readily to Cosmopolis and the tendency of individuals to be perceived according to their net worth and their potential profit, rather than any cultural meaning.