![Manifestation anti-G8 au Havre - 21 mai 2011 - 025 v1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Manifestation_anti-G8_au_Havre_-_21_mai_2011_-_025_v1.jpg)
Alter-globalization (also known as alternative globalization or alter-mundialization—from the French alter-
mondialisation—and overlapping with the
global justice movement
The global justice movement is a network of globalized social movements demanding global justice by opposing what is often known as the “ corporate globalization” and promoting equal distribution of economic resources.
Movement of movements
...
) is a
social movement whose proponents support global cooperation and interaction, but oppose what they describe as the negative effects of
economic globalization
Economic globalization is one of the three main dimensions of globalization commonly found in academic literature, with the two others being political globalization and cultural globalization, as well as the general term of globalization.
Econom ...
, considering it to often work to the detriment of, or to not adequately promote, human values such as
environmental
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
and
climate protection,
economic justice
Justice in economics is a subcategory of welfare economics. It is a "set of moral and ethical principles for building economic institutions". Economic justice aims to create opportunities for every person to have a dignified, productive and creativ ...
,
labor protection
Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...
,
protection of indigenous cultures,
peace
Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
and
civil liberties.
The name may have been derived from a popular slogan of the movement, namely "another world is possible", which came out of the
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum (WSF, pt, Fórum Social Mundial ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemoni ...
. The alter-globalization movement is a cooperative movement designed to "protest the direction and perceived negative economic, political, social, cultural and ecological consequences of
neoliberal globalization". Many alter-globalists seek to avoid the "disestablishment of local economies and disastrous humanitarian consequences". Most members of this movement shun the label "
anti-globalization" as pejorative and incorrect since they actively support human activity on a global scale and do not oppose economic globalization ''per se''.
Instead they see their movement as an alternative to what they term
neo-liberal
Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...
globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...
in which international institutions (the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
,
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
,
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...
and the like) and major corporations devote themselves to enriching the developed world while giving little or no attention to what critics say are the detrimental effects of their actions on the people and environments of
Less Developed Countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
, countries whose governments are often too weak or too corrupt to resist or regulate them. This is not to be confused with
proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all communist revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that ...
as put forth by
communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
in that alter-globalists do not necessarily oppose the
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...
, but a subset of free-market practices characterized by certain business attitudes and political policies that they say often lead to violations of human rights.
Etymology
The term was coined against accusations of
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
by
neoliberal proponents of globalization, meaning a support of both
humanism
Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and Agency (philosophy), agency of Human, human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical in ...
and
universal value
A value is a universal value if it has the same value or worth for all, or almost all, people. Spheres of human value encompass morality, aesthetic preference, human traits, human endeavour, and social order. Whether universal values exist is ...
s but a rejection of the
Washington consensus and similar neoliberal policies. The "alter-globalisation" French movement (from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for 'other', as in 'alternative' and French ) was thus opposed to the "
Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an un ratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European ...
" on the grounds that it only advanced neoliberalism and an
Anglo-Saxon economic model.
Originally developed in
French as , it has been borrowed into English in the form of ''altermondialism'' or ''altermondialisation''. It defines the stance of movements opposed to a
neoliberal globalization
Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...
, but favorable to a globalization respectful of
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
, the
environment,
national sovereignty
Westphalian sovereignty, or state sovereignty, is a principle in international law that each state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory. The principle underlies the modern international system of sovereign states and is enshrined in the Un ...
and
cultural diversity
Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural evolution. The term "cultural diversity" can also refer to having different c ...
.
Following the French usage of the word , the English counterpart ''alter-globalist'' may have been coined.
The term ''alter-globalization'' is derived from the term ''anti-globalization'', which journalists and others have used to describe the movement. Many French journalists in particular have since ceased using the term ''anti-globalisation'' in favor of ''alter-globalisation''. It is supposed to distinguish proponents of alter-globalization from different "anti-globalization" activists (those who are against any kind of globalization, such as
nationalists
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
,
protectionists,
communitarians and so on).
History
Economic integration via trade, financial flows, and investments had been occurring for many years, but the
World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999
The WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 was a meeting of the World Trade Organization, convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington, USA, over the course of three days, beginning Tuesday, 30 November 1999. ...
brought significant attention to the outcry against neoliberal economic integration through media coverage, support groups, and activists. Though this opposition first became highly popularized in the
1999 Seattle WTO protests
The 1999 Seattle WTO protests, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Seattle, were a series of protests surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, when members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened at the Washington State Co ...
, it can be traced back prior to the 1980s when the
Washington Consensus became a dominant development in thinking and policy-making.
The movement was later helped by Internet communications.
The 1970s and Southern resistance
The 1970s saw resistance to global expansion by both government and non-government parties. U.S. Senator
Frank Church was concerned with the role multinational corporations were beginning to play in global trade, and created a subcommittee that reviewed corporate practices to see if they were advancing U.S. interests or not (i.e. exporting jobs that could be kept within the United States). The results prompted some countries in the
Global South (ranging from Tanzania to the Philippines) to call for rules and collective action that would raise or stabilize raw material prices, and increase Southern exports.
Issues and activities
Alter-globalization activists fight for better treatment of developing countries and their economies, workers' rights, fair trade, and equal human rights. They oppose the
exploitation of labor, outsourcing of jobs to foreign nations (though some argue this is a nationalistic rather than alter-globalist motive), pollution of local environments, and harm to foreign cultures to which jobs are outsourced.
Aspects of the movement include:
# Attempts at an alter-globalization movement to reform policies and processes of the
WTO
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
include: "alternative principles of public accountability, the rights of people and the protection of the environment" through the theoretical framework of Robert Cox.
# Labor movement and
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
initiatives have begun to respond to economic and political globalisation by extending their cooperation and initiatives to the transnational level.
#
Fair trade initiatives, corporate codes of conduct, and social clauses as well as a return to local markets instead of relying too heavily on global markets.
# "Alter-globalization activists have promoted alternative water governance models through North-South red-green alliances between organized labor, environmental groups, women's groups, and indigenous groups" (spoken in response to the increase in privatization of the global
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
).
# "The first current of the alter-globalization movement considers that instead of getting involved in a global movement and international forums, the path to social change lies through giving life to horizontal, participatory, convivial and sustainable values in daily practices, personal life and local spaces. Many urban activists cite the way that, for example, the Zapatistas in Mexico and other Latin American indigenous movements now focus on developing communities' local autonomy via participatory self-government, autonomous education systems and improving the quality of life. They appreciate too, the convivial aspect of local initiatives and their promise of small but real alternatives to corporate globalization and mass consumption."
Groups and conferences
![Opening walk of 2002 World Social Forum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Opening_walk_of_2002_World_Social_Forum.jpg)
Advocates of alter-globalization have set up an online global news network, the
Independent Media Center
The Independent Media Center, better known as Indymedia, is an open publishing network of activist journalist collectives that report on political and social issues. Following beginnings during the 1999 Carnival Against Capital and 1999 Seatt ...
, to report on developments pertinent to the movement. Groups in favor of alter-globalization include
ATTAC
The Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l'Action Citoyenne (''Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen's Action'', ATTAC) is an activist organisation originally created to promote the e ...
, an international trade reform network headquartered in France.
The largest forum for alter-globalization activity is the annual
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum (WSF, pt, Fórum Social Mundial ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemoni ...
. The
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum (WSF, pt, Fórum Social Mundial ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemoni ...
is intended as a democratic space organized in terms of the movement's values.
See also
References
Further reading
* Razsa, Maple. ''Bastards of Utopia: Living Radical Politics After Socialism''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015
* Graeber, David. ''Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology'', Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press, 2004
* Klein, Naomi. ''No Logo''. London: Fourth Estate (2010)
External links
"Henrietta L. Moore review of "Alter-Globalization. Becoming actors in the global age"b
"Geoffrey Pleyers" Cambridge, Polity, 2011.
from
Dollars & Sense
''Dollars & Sense'' is a magazine focusing on economics from a progressive perspective, published by Dollars & Sense, Inc, which also publishes textbooks in the same genre.
''Dollars & Sense'' describes itself as publishing "economic news and ana ...
Magazine
The other worldPhoto-documentary on the alter-globalization movement 2003–2005
from the original.
*
:fr:Altermondialisme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alter-Globalization
World democracy
World government
Anti-globalization movement
da:Alter-globaliseringsbevægelsen