[Previous posts have described the vision laid out in the "Beijing Declaration" on "The global economic crisis: An historic opportunity for transformation" and the specific proposals that make up its" transitional program" to move toward a "radically different kind of political and economic order." This post looks at next steps toward realizing such a vision and program.]
The convergence of social forces we call "globalization from below" has a lot of experience in how to challenge globalization from above. Its various overlapping organizations and networks have played critical and globally visible roles in challenging the formation and further empowerment of the WTO; demanding debt relief for poor countries; opposing IMF structural adjustment policies; providing high-quality, high-profile critiques of the World Economic Forum, the G-7, and the international financial institutions; fighting for affordable AIDS drugs for the world's poor; demanding protection of the world's climate; contesting imperial adventures like the US attack on Iraq; and challenging the myth that "there is no alternative" to neo-liberal capitalism.
Globalization from below has become a kind of global social bloc, drawing together a diversity of forces around common interests and joint action. It has depended less on formal organizations than on new forms of social networking that have allowed rapid coordination of thinking and campaigns worldwide. It has utilized asymmetrical methods to counter the centralized power of globalization from above with the linkage of thousands of grassroots movements, constituencies, and organizations around the globe.
The dense set of connections and dialogues that constitutes globalization from below provides a vehicle for responding to the emerging economic crisis. As the "Beijing Declaration", "The global economic crisis: An historic opportunity for transformation" indicates, the upcoming World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil at the end of January 2009 provides an opportunity to jumpstart the process. Here are some thoughts about objectives the Forum – and the wider nexus of social networks that interact with it – might pursue.
The movement can organize itself to play these mutually reinforcing roles .
Project a vision of an alternative. The Beijing Declaration provides an excellent starting place for articulating not only that "another world is possible" but many of that world's concrete features. A follow-on statement can articulate its approach in a way that will make clear to millions of people the elements of such an alternative vision. Such a vision can then be used to position globalization from below (under whatever name) as the alternative in the global public debate to the catastrophe of globalization from above.
Expose the perpetrators of economic wrongdoing. A high profile Global Economy Truth Commission could educate the world about the individuals, institutions, policies, and structures responsible for the global economic meltdown and the devastation of the common interests of humanity cause by "globalization from above." This could be, not a single event, but a series of public actions around the globe on the model developed by the World Tribunal on Iraq which held nearly twenty locally organized sessions in countries around the globe, or the Permanent Peoples' Tribunals held on a variety of global justice issues in recent years.
Confront the perpetrators of the crisis. Mass demonstrations and educational actions at international G-7 and IFI gatherings have been a crucial tactic for the movement from the Battle of Seattle against the WTO to the many actions to cancel third world debt. The first such demonstration of the new era was held in Washington in November to welcome the leaders of the G-20. We need to learn how to frame such events so that they attract large numbers of people who are affected by the economic crisis, show that the effects of the crisis are global, and project an alternative to that of the tattered establishment.
Develop concrete demands to put on world leaders that reflect genuine common global interests not corporate and financial interests. For example, demand that stimulus and bailout funding stop going to rescue banks and start going to rescue the planet from global warming and provide poor people a global safety net.
Delegitimize governments and politicians who won't put people and the planet first. Politicians and government leaders who resist these demands, and who support instead giving more money to banks and corporations, should be identified for what they are: opponents of common human interests. This can be done at every level from local to global.
Develop allies in places of power. As the crisis deepens, more and more people "inside the system" will be considering alternatives, both for principled and for opportunistic reasons. The movement can benefit in power and legitimacy by reaching out to them for cooperation as long as it doesn't let them call the shots.
Crumble off countries, constituencies, and institutions. As the power and legitimacy of the dominant forces declines, more and more forces are going their own way. This has occurred dramatically in Latin America over the last few years. People can promote the emergence of similar independence in whatever polities, milieus, and organizations they find themselves in. They will thereby contribute not only to their own liberation, but to ongoing global transformation.
Provide an alternative "center of gravity" through which forces favoring transformation can connect. The World Social Forum and the nexus of networks it connects with already helps play this role. As the global economic crisis drives new individuals and groups into opposition, they need to be actively drawn in to what is in effect an emerging alternative global social bloc.
Help people at the grassroots meet their survival needs by organizing themselves and connecting with each other. Hard times force people to act on the principle "fight – don't starve." They often develop coops, barter, local currencies, and other forms of self-help. They often must turn to "squatting," workplace occupations, strikes, general strikes, "IMF riots," and other forms of direct action to survive – note the recent sit-in in Chicago. Too often such actions are portrayed just as isolated, knee-jerk reactions of a marginalized rabble seeking at best to preserve their own privileges. Such actions should instead be celebrated as grassroots resistance to globalization from above and linked as part of globalization from below.
Address hard times with global solidarity. Define global economic problems as common problems of the economically disenfranchised, not as national problems to be addressed by a struggle among nations. Don't treat other workers at home and abroad as the enemy. Don't let national elites solve their problems and line their pockets through "beggar your neighbor" policies and international trade wars.
Project a new global consensus. The "Washington Consensus" purported to be based on the idea that neo-liberalism, though propounded by global elites and their mouthpieces, represented the common interests of all. The Washington Consensus is now in shambles. Globalization from below should aim ultimately to produce an alternative consensus around the necessity to protect the well-being of people and planet, and the necessity of democratic control over financial and economic institutions to do so.
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