MPUP 5301: Globalization, Social Problem and Policy

Lecture 9: Global Civil Society and Global Social Movement

Prof. Wong Hung

Occupy Wall Street

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlxbKtBkGM

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG_TKAJyV6k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlxbKtBkGMhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlxbKtBkGM

Global Civil Society Origin and development (Korten, Perlas,

and Shiva, 2002)

• the final stage of an epic struggle between the forces of imperial rule (empire) — presently represented by the institutions of elite globalization — and the forces of democratic rule (community) — presently represented by global civil society.

• The stress imposed on social and environmental systems by empire’s exploitation of people and nature has passed beyond the limits of social and environmental tolerance.

Empire vs. Community

• the forces of empire reconstituted themselves to re-affirm their global dominion in the guise of development, the forces of community found parallel expression through a series of popular movements that drew inspiration from earlier national liberation movements.\

• Different movements sought to transform the relationships of power from the dominator model of empire to the partnership model of community.

Non-violence uncooperative movement

• An awakening consciousness of the possibility of creating truly democratic societies that honor life and recognize the worth and contribution of every person. Each sought deep change through non-violent means in the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

• challenged the legitimacy of dominator cultures and institutions, withdraw cooperation and support, and sought to live a new reality into being through individual and collective action.

Rio Earth Summit in 1992

• The reality and significance of the emerging mosaic began to come into focus at the International NGO Forum at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. This gathering engaged some 18,000 citizen of every nationality, class, religion and race in crafting citizen treaties articulating positive agendas for cooperative voluntary action to create a world that works for all.

• initial step in forming the complex web of alliances - global civil society.

Anti-corporate globalization

• In the late 1990s global civil society gained public visibility primarily as a popular resistance movement challenging the institutions and policies of corporate globalization.

• Less visible was the on going work of articulating and demonstrating positive alternatives.

• This more positive and proactive face of the movement came to the fore in 2001 at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre Brazil nine years after Rio.

2001 World Social Forum

• It was the first major convocation of global civil society in the third millennium and it reflected a new stage in the movement’s self-confidence and sense of its historic role in light of the failing legitimacy and increasing public awareness of the failures of the institutions of empire.

Great Turning

• Global civil society is a manifestation of social energies released by an awakening of human consciousness to possibilities for creating societies that nurture and rejoice in a love of all beings.

• The energy thus released is flowing toward what writer and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy calls the “Great Turning.” Macy sees three dimensions to the work of bringing forth the Great Turning.

3 Great Tuning (Macy)

1. Resistance, organizing holding actions like the WTO protests that slow the destruction

2. Creating new social and economic structures

3. Spiritual awakening.

Living web

• The foundation of the change ahead is the awakening of a cultural, social, scientific, and spiritual consciousness of the interconnections that bond the whole of life — including the human species — into the living web of an Earth community.

• The melding of ancient spiritual wisdom with advanced scientific knowledge and a planetary perspective is unique to the present moment in history and opens the way to an evolutionary leap to a new level of human social, intellectual, and spiritual function.

Sense of Community

• All humans share a desire for meaning, community, and purpose. Some find it in love, hope, generosity, compassion, and a sense of spiritual connection to the whole of life.

• Belief that community will ultimately prevail is grounded in the premise that for the vast majority of people a life of love, hope, generosity, compassion and spiritual connection is more attractive than a life of ruthless competition, fear, violence, and hate

• individual and collective means to consciously choose the former.

GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY: ITS MEANING (KEANE, 2003)

Overlapping streams in 1990s:

– Revival of the old language of civil society

– Appreciation of revolutionary effects of the new communications – the “Global Village”

– New awareness as members of a fragile and potentially self-destructive world system

– Implosion of Soviet-type communist systems implied a new global order

Overlapping streams

– World-wide growth of neo-liberal economics and market capitalist economies

– Disillusionment with unfulfilled promises of post-colonial states and the vacuums opened by the collapse of empires and states and the outbreak of uncivil wars

Talk of global civil society

• is a response to the rising concerns about the need for a new social and economic and political deal at the global level. And parallels are sometimes observed with the early modern European invention of the distinction between ‘government’ and ‘civil society’

Analytic-descriptive

• is used to probe either the past or the present, or both simultaneously, to seek an explanatory understanding of the world’s complex socio-political realities.

Strategic political calculation

• the term serves as a campaigning criterion – to establish what must be done (or what must be avoided) like freedom and justice. They concentrate on institutional constraints and opportunities as well as the manoeuvres of power groups and movements;

Normative ideal

– Usage of the term can be in two ways: precautionary concept that serves to issue warning about the undesirable consequences , or the

– Advocacy function: efforts to explain the reasons why a global civil society is a good thing.

GLOBAL SOCIAL MOVEMENT (GSM)

Global social movements

• contest not only the actual nature and consequences of current global socioeconomic relations but also the very foundation governing them.

• The manner and speed with which global economic and technological integration has taken place—often consistently disarming the traditional welfare function of the state—is generating increased misery, inequalities and conflicts.

• Provided grounds for civil society groups of diverse origins to express their resentment and advance claims in increased numbers.

News form + transnational

• “new forms of civic participation and involvement in a globalising world” and “located in some transnational arena not bound or limited by nation-states or local societies” are being interpreted as a distinct phenomenon of the emergence and consolidation of “global civil society” (Kaldor et al. 2003:4)

“organized” and “sustained”

• to advance a specific cause, interest or pursuit

• Escobar (2001:2) see social movements as “sources of alternatives, hopes and theories of how the world can be made differently”

• Bourdieu (2001:16) asserts that there can be no change in the functioning of global economic systems and dominant institutions without powerful social movements.

Neutral View

• Touraine (1985:773) contend that social movements are not positive or negative agents of history, of modernization, or of the liberalization of mankind.

• They act in a given type of social production and organization.

• Touraine (1978:47) also believes that “social movements are not any dramatic or exceptional events: they are in a permanent manner the heart of the social life”.

Social change or resistance,

• In structural terms, social movements are networks of groups and/or organizations; regarding their aims, they are attempts to fundamentally change society (including power structures and basic values) or to resist such changes

• transnational protest movements, known commonly as the “antiglobalization” movement—and more recently as “alter-globalization” movements—have brought together diverse social forces with multiple and sometimes contradictory agendas.

World Social Forum (WSF)

• most recently regional and international annual gatherings of the World Social Forum (WSF)—also known as the Porto Alegre Forum—for promoting plentiful ideas and claims.

• The WSF, an annual event that rallies a large number of people and organizations , is now described as a “movement of movements” within the broader antiglobalization movement.

WSF Events

World Social Forum

• refers to it as a phenomenon of the “globalization of alternative globalization” similar to the current processes of economic, cultural and political globalization.

• “the label ‘anti-globalisation’ is at best a contradiction, at worst a slander”

World Social Forum

• Criticizing the negative side of the global economic and political systems embodied in powerful institutions yet defending the public mission and role of the state

• seeking to advance diverse propositions, the movement asserts itself to be “alter” (or alternative) rather than “anti” globalization as such

Antiglobalization movement

• claim for “immediate rupture with capitalism” (see also Forum social libertaire 2003), the logic of profit, wage economy and money

• comprises non-violent struggles, democratic practice, social justice, peace, solidarity and so forth, hence not a total break with, or violent revolution against, the present economic and political order

Porto Alegre 2003

• the production of wealth, access to wealth and sustainability, civil society, political power and ethics.

• this forum of collective thinking, political action and common elaboration of projects as a demonstration of solidarity and help toward the victims of neoliberal policies, as utopies réalistes ( Bourdieu , 2001:37), .

Generate Global Movements

• in relation to debt relief,

• changing trade rules and barriers,

• global taxation,

• anticorruption and

• fair trade

Alternatives by way of action

• Assessing their framework of actions, resources and ability to open new opportunities as well as create new limits. It is important to note that there is no reason why it is necessary to automatically cajole a general mood of high expectations and demands on what is frequently called “global civil society”. Nevertheless, of particular interest regarding these five movements is that frequently their responses extend beyond simple protests or advocacy, as they seek to offer certain alternatives by way of action.

Developmental

• to protect the vital public sector from privatization and curtail the power of multinational corporations. They call for the eradication of political and economic corruption.

• Call for alliances with broad-minded national elites and governments and the strengthening of the United Nations system, while expressing opposition to the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO

Reformist approach

• Attempts to develop and implement various proposals within the existing institutional structure, as well as seeking to strengthen the role of the state and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, have profound development implications

• takes a more reformist orientation by seeking to work within the system, various contradictions and tensions are likely to arise. First, the movement is highly heterogeneous. Second, its popular legitimacy could be negatively affected if the movement appears to be fostering its contacts with formal institutions

Debt relief movement

• to raise the issue of debt cancellation among G8 leaders, multilateral and bilateral donors and creditors.

• The movement campaigns for the removal of conditionality on IMF debt relief and also calls for more transparency in the process—with a level of success in G8 countries writing off some of the bilateral debts, and the IMF and the WB having proposed debt relief schemes, such as the initiative for heavily indebted poor countries

Debt relief movement

• In order to intensify pressure and encourage media coverage, campaigners frequently collect signatures for global petitions and organize huge gatherings and human chains around the buildings where powerful politicians and donors meet.

• Many networks of NGOs, religious groups, unions and academic centres have commonly rallied behind the debt problem in developing countries, with the Jubilee 2000 Debt Campaign being the acme.

Slow Implementation

• On the whole, although debt in developing countries is frequently an issue at international summits and meetings, with powerful multilateral and bilateral agencies proposing diverse debt relief plans,

• Their implementation has been slow, partial and has, above all, involved a relatively insignificant amount—that is, less than the amount paid as interest

Movement to change international trade rules and barriers

• to draw attention to the problem caused by the repeated creation of trade obstructions in Northern countries for Southern products, while at the same time undermining Southern industrial and agricultural capacity through export dumping by rich countries.

• The Trade Justice Movement in the United Kingdom (UK), which claims to have affiliations with 50 civil society organizations with over nine million members, calls for a fundamental change in the unjust rules and institutions governing international trade.

Oxfam GB vs. Focus on Global South

• launched a major market access campaign, arguing that the removal of trade barriers in rich countries would produce clear benefits for poor countries, although some groups have criticized this campaign by saying that more emphasis should be given to the development of local and national self-reliance economies rather than to international trade

• The Focus on Global South, based in Bangkok, is another powerful network on trade issues and has asserted that the trade position of Oxfam International does not challenge the WTO-led globalization process in any forceful way

WTO negotiation Cancun 2003

• An example of this was the alliance between civil society groups and powerful governments from developing countries at the Cancun trade negotiations in September 2003, which insisted on the removal of Northern agricultural subsidies and changes in the rules for foreign investment and competition that were unfavourable to developing countries

Tobin tax

• due to the rapid growth in financial speculation and volatility of markets, with enormous effects on the economy of many developing countries. It is argued that a small universal tax on foreign exchange earnings would deter speculation and, most importantly, create an important source of publi

• Although conservative writers and institutions have tended to express doubts regarding the feasibility of this proposal—especially its ability to prevent currency and financial crises c financing for social development.

ATTAC

• The International Movement for Democratic Control of Financial Markets and their Institutions/L’Association pour une taxation des transactions financières pour l’aide aux citoyens (ATTAC), founded in France in June 1998, is a leading network calling for the introduction of the Tobin tax. In July 2004, it had affiliations in 38 countries, principally in Africa, Europe and Latin America. The number of people adhering to the movement has increased dramatically; and in some countries it has become a focal point for anticapitalist movements

International anticorruption movement

• corruption is a “behaviour that deviates from the formal duties of a public role (elective or appointive) because of private-regarding (personal, close family, private clique) wealth or status gains” (Nye 1967:417). Corruption takes such forms as bribery, embezzlement, fraud and extortion.

• civil society actors who have tended to play a primary role in exposing extreme cases of corruption and raising public awareness about the damaging effects of corruption, as well as advocating policy reforms.

Transparency International (TI)

• Transparency International (TI) is a leading anticorruption organization, bringing together numerous civil society organizations as well as governments, donor agencies and business groups in over 80 countries.

• TI’s national chapters work to increase levels of accountability and transparency, monitoring performance of institutions and calling for reforms to reduce corruption. countries.

Fair trade movement

• Realizing that current international trade rules favour the narrow commercial interests of industrialized countries and large corporations, the fair trade movement has sought to offer producers in developing countries fair prices for their goods.

• But fair trade is more than an economic campaign. It is about consumer campaigns and evolving public attitudes toward more responsible forms of day-to-day living and expression of support toward producers and their social and physical environment.

Networks for Fair Trade

• various networks and outlets facilitating this process in Europe and North America, some of them dating from the 1970s.

• Currently, many trade union groups, indigenous peoples’ organizations, Via Campesina, cooperative movements, women’s groups and environmental associations have shown strong support for the movement, and some are also linked to a number of specific fair trade projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Fair trade groups

• Typically, fair trade groups are small structures linked to solidarity organizations and consumer outlets, although larger production units and multinational organizations have also begun to take advantage of a growing consumer interest in fair trade goods (Jacquiau 2004:55–58).

• Fair trade initiatives support the establishment of business cooperatives of farmers, workers and crafts people seeking assistance in promoting improved self-help provisioning locally

Occupy WallStreet Movement

Occupy Wall Street

• The Occupy Wall Street protests were part of the 15 October 2011 global protests, a series of protests inspired by the Arab Spring, including also the Spanish "Indignants" and the Greek Protests.

• These movements shared a critical view on the global effects of unregulated banking and domestic political issues.

Growing disparity in wealth

• In mid-2011, the Canadian-based group Adbusters Media Foundation, best known for its advertisement-free anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters, proposed a peaceful occupation of Wall Street to protest corporate influence on democracy, address a growing disparity in wealth, and the absence of legal repercussions behind the recent global financial crisis.

The initiator

• Adbusters suggested the idea on their email list in mid-July and “it was spontaneously taken up by all the people of the world.” At their website they wrote:

• "Beginning from one simple demand—a presidential commission to separate money from politics—we start setting the agenda for a new America." They promoted the protest with a poster featuring a dancer atop Wall Street's iconic Charging Bull.

The supporters

• Activists from the internet group Anonymous encouraged its followers to take part in the protests, calling protesters to "flood lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street."

• Other groups began to join in the organization of the protest, including the internet group, Hacktivists Anonymous, the U.S. Day of Rage, and the NYC General Assembly, the governing body of the Occupy Wall Street group.

The Event

• On July 13, 2011, "Culture Jammers HQ" at Adbusters issued a call to action: Occupy Wall Street! The goal stated is to gather 20,000 people to Wall Street, in New York, NY on September 17, 2011, beginning a popular occupation of that space for two months and more.

• Inspired by the popular assemblies of Egypt, Spain, Oaxaca and worldwide, those gathered will work to find a common voice in one clear, unified demand.

OccupyWallSt.org

• This is why we've created OccupyWallSt.org. Technology has made it easier than ever before for the people to stay in close contact and assist one another in acheiving a collective goal. Our aim is to make these tools available so our users--the true organizers of this event--can make an occuptation of Wall St. successful. We may not be able to teach a person to fish, or do it on their behalf, but we can build a damn good fishing pole.

Because we can!

• The sovereign people of any nation have the power, the right, and the duty, of guiding the destiny of their nation. Most just do not realize this. An organizer brings the process of realization.

• “Why occupy Wall Street? Because it belongs to us! Because we can!”