Yet while the effects of communism still remain, with the fall of Communist Europe its power is waning before a new form of colonialism. The old economic colonialism has taken a new turn in the media age and has become the main force of a new Western cultural expansion. Colonialism is no longer propelled by Western armies but by multinational corporations centered or originated in the West. It does not assume the guise of religious or intellectual upliftment for its justification but that of economic liberalization, which has become the new moral excuse for spreading a wasteful consumer culture all over the planet.

Economic liberalization is hardly a spiritual or cultural liberalization, freedom or renaissance. It promotes what is primarily a low level and vulgar culture of fast food, fast living, and a sensate media - an outer shallow way of life that destroys any deeper or contemplative traditions. Yet should anyone protest against the evils of economic liberalization in Asia, they are criticized as being against economic development and therefore culturally backward and probably castist as well!

Coca Cola, McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken are nothing but new incarnations of the East India Company and other colonial corporations. While Western intellectuals commonly criticize such commercialism in their own countries, the intellectuals of the East are quite hesitant to do so in order not to encourage their countries to remain backward and so as not to encourage any revival of their traditional culture that they perceive as backward.

The colonialism of the media is perhaps the most invasive form of the economic colonialism because it enters directly into the homes and minds of the masses. Through the subtle influence of advertisement, it implants an alien mindset and new desires into people, making them unhappy with their traditional lives, families and cultures.

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