An escape from the crises of economy, sustainability and governance is a huge and urgent task that may last a generation. From this perspective, the three trends of the “alter-globalisation” movement could be seen as politically complementary rather than competing strategies. An imaginative understanding of this kind could be the basis of a shared approach that gives the World Social Forum a fresh lease of life.
On the occasion of the World Social Forum in Belem starting on January 27th, and the relative crisis of a movement which would be expected to be at a cusp of growth given the crisis, Geoffrey Pleyers offers an interesting analysis of its dynamic components, for Open Democracy:
Geoffrey Pleyers:
“Alter-globalisation” activists divide into three distinct currents about the way forward.
The local approach
The first current of the alter-globalisation 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 globalisation and mass consumption.
This approach is exemplified also in initiatives such as the “collective purchase groups” that have multiplied in western Europe and north America. These typically gather small groups of people who buy from local (and often organic) food-producers in the effort to make quality food affordable, create alternatives to the “anonymous supermarket” and promote local social relations. In many Italian social centres, critical-consumption movements have taken the space previously occupied by the alter-globalisation mobilisations. The “convivial de-growth” and “convivial urban” movements belong to a similar, sustainable and environmentally friendly, tendency.
The advocacy approach
The second current of the movement believes that the way forward lies through efficient single-issue networks able to develop coherent arguments in areas such as food sovereignty and developing-world debt; in turn this work can become a route to raising broader questions.
The protection of water-supplies from privatisation, for example, can be used to explore the issues of global public goods, the role of global corporations and “the long-term efficiency of the public sector”. After several years of intense exchanges among citizens and experts focusing on the same issue, the quality of arguments has considerably increased to the extent that this form of activity has become the core of the social-forums’ dynamic.
There are several examples of the effectiveness of such networks – often without media attention. The European Public Water Network’s influence on the city of Paris’s decision in November 2008 to restore municipal control over water distribution is just one.
The state approach
The third current of the movement holds that progressive public policies implemented by state leaders and institutions are the key to achieving broad social change.
In the past, “alter-globalisation” activists have struggled to strengthen state agency in social, environmental and economic fields; but now that state intervention has regained legitimacy in the wake of systemic crisis, this more “political” component of the movement believes that the future lies in solidarity with the projects of radical leaders such as Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales.
The national policies of these leaders (social programmes favouring the poor, or taking control of key economic sectors) and their regional alliances and new institutions (the Alternativa Bolivariana por Nuestra América [Alba] coalition, the Banco del Sur) represent a strong pole of attraction for many activists. But if Latin America is the main focus for such identification, similar processes have been at work in western countries too; for example, much of the impetus of the first United States Social Forum in 2007 was redirected towards Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.”