“L’Asia siamo noi”

Based on the novel: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

Main points:

• Globalization: war, culture, aspirations, etc.
• Being / feeling foreing and not belonging completely to a country
• What is universal? A shared humanity with different accents.
• Constant values in everyday behavior → universality.
• What’s the role of Asia (= not Western world) today? → countries different from each other → protagonists: USA, Russia, Japan (decline); China, India (growing) → economic MAD (Mutual assured destruction).
• Pakistan: terrorism, war, violence, fundamentalism VS progress (women go to university, women can be elected, etc) → a Nation isn’t just one thing → it’s not ally or enemy, it’s both.
• Crisis = not being coherent → Globalization vs localism (who are we? Different answers)
• Pakistan VS India (→ Narendra Modi): which will outnumber the other? → Atomic weapons → MAD.
• Who voted Modi? (experiment) → Nationalism → will Asia run the World? Asia isn’t united like Europe → World War I → Germany / France = Pakistan / India → solution.
• will Asia run the World? Asia does not exist. Progress → China (no Japan, India) → long run thinking → will China be able to do it?
• Novel: Economic system vs individual happiness → growth of market = focusing on one’s interests / self-center → crisis because people change with time → migration: traditional values are not the same → Self center VS “I love you (you’re not/less alone)” → disinterested love → “Sufi” poetry (Islam)
• Fundamentalism VS capitalism → is there a third way?
• Free market: it’d be better with “free work” → we need to tell what we really want → common interests.
• Globalization: only a few earn something → redistribution of wealth. Capitalism = some people are poorer.
• End of democracy: what will happen?