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[matthewpanacci]

"Voluntourism" in my Life

“Voluntourism” is the words volunteering and tourism combined. According to the dictionary “Voluntourism” is “a form of tourism in which travellers participate in voluntary work, typically for a charity.” “Voluntourism” is an extremely popular act that brings in lots of money in order for wealthy people across the world to feel like they have made a change. They do this by offering trips to third world countries like Ecuador in order to offer a helping hand.

The reason I have this image above is because it reminds me of the time I had gone to Ecuador when I was 13. On this trip I had gone to see my grandmother and she has many friends in the poorer provinces in Ecuador. During this trip my grandmother had brought me for a day to go help a less fortunate family. Until this day I remember the amazing feeling that it had brought me and how it made me feel amazing because I was able to help another person and create a bond. The problem with all this is that, although I helped this family and had a great time I left with a close relationship to these people. This is a problem because I haven’t been back to Ecuador since then. This means I had made a friendship/relationship with a family and then I left and haven’t seen them since.

Therefore, although “Voluntourism” may look like we are helping the people around us it still does have its negatives. This shows how my experience with voluntourism is a perfect example of why we shouldn’t participate in voluntourism. This is due to the fact that you can form a bond a raise a person’s hopes high and then never see them again.

[matthewpanacci]

Globalization and Sport

Sports over the years have had a massive impact on being a lens for globalization throughout the world. The most noticeable example of globalization through sports would be the FIFA World cup and the summer and winter Olympic games. The image above is a picture of my goalie pads and a bunch of other pieces of hockey equipment that were made all over the world.

The reason I used the image above was because the brand Brian’s is a Canada based goalie company that has its products made in Canada to be sold around the world. The best example of globalization in hockey would be the use of North American hockey brands such as Brian’s, Bauer, and CCM being transported and sold across the globe. This has been proven throughout hockey as goalies and players that play in the KHL which is a Russian hockey league have been seen playing in North American brands such as Brian’s, Bauer, and CCM. This goes to show that as Canadians we participate in globalization even though we aren’t importing the items. Lastly, although sports have had a positive effect from an economic, social, and even physical standpoint some may argue that sport has also created negative outcomes. The most noticeable negative outcome in recent years would be the effects the 2010 World Cup had on South Asian migrants. The effect that the 2010 World Cup had on South Asian migrants were that 6,750 thousand of them had died whether it be because of poor living situations, or poor work environments that weren’t safe.

Therefore, although sport has had a major impact over the globe especially in the recent years it still doesn’t change the fact that there are both positives and negatives to globalization through sport.

[matthewpanacci]

Globalization to "Slowbalization"

The image above is a product of one of first multinational corporations. The Hudson’s Bay Company was founded in 1670 and has had a massive amount of success over the 251 years that it’s been around. I used the image of a Hudson’s Bay product because it’s Canadas oldest multinational corporations and has had a lot to do with the beginning of economic globalization. The Hudson’s Bay company just like any other company has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharging “slowbalization” trends.

“slowbalization” is the essentially the slowing down of globalization. Although COVID-19 has had a major impact on turbocharging “slowbalization” affects, it isn’t the only reason for “slowbalization”. Examples of “slowbalization” could be found before the COVID-19 pandemic had even started. One example would be how trade has gown down from 61% in 2008 to 58% of world GDP as seen in the week 7 slides. Another great example of “slowbalization” before the pandemic would be Trump’s trade wars/tariffs, restrictions on Huawei as seen in the week 7 slides. The COVID-19 pandemic has helped the “slowbalization” movement because of its “Initial & recurring lockdowns severely disrupted global flows (Week 7, Slide 14). An example of how COVID-19 has turbocharged “slowbalization” trends can be seen through the longer waiting time on certain products on amazon. At the beginning of the pandemic the restrictions and lock downs had caused amazon prime to go from a one day wait to a three to seven day wait.

Therefore, “slowbalization” has been around long before the COVID-19 pandemic was even a thing. This doesn’t change the fact that due to the COVID-19 pandemic “slowbalization” has become more visible in our everyday life. Lastly, we can see its effects through the longer waits or back orders in store and online.

[matthewpanacci]

My mom is a politician, and I tend to follow in her footsteps which means I have a strong passion for politics myself. The signs seen in the image above were used in the 2020 Federal election that had just taken place on September 20th and on them is my mothers name. Throughout this campaign my mother and I had met many new people, many of which are immigrants and migrants. This campaign wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for globalization, whether it be where the materials for the signs came from, or even where the voters themselves came from.

The World Economic Forum defines globalization as “the process by which people and goods move easily across borders.” This really stood out to me for two reasons, the first being that my mom is an immigrant, and the second being the amount of diversity seen in my moms riding. In my moms campaign it was very easy to spot when globalization came into play. Whether it had been the European cars used to go door knocking, the plastics to make the signs, and like I said before the voters foreign backgrounds. Globalization is also closely tied to global awareness. This was seen in the past federal election when former President of the United States Barrack Obama was seen giving his support to Justin Trudeau.

Even people like Donald Trump say 'The future does not belong to globalists' which is ironic since he has Trump towers in countries such as India Turkey and Uruguay. This just goes to show how globalization is used in our everyday life and is present more than we know. This also goes to show how proud I am of my mother and what she's accomplished, because not every kid can say their mom has run for a Member of Parliament.

Side note: I'm writing this blog about Canadian politics and globalization on an American website?