The Anti-Poverty Committee (APC) was a militant left-wing anarchist organisation based in Vancouver , British Columbia that campaigned against poverty and homelessness .
94-688: The APC participated in direct action events such as sit-ins , squats , and vandalism to protest the closure of low-income housing projects and garnered considerable attention with disruptive protests centred on the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, including the instigation of a small-scale riot on the opening day of the games. According to its website, the Anti-Poverty Committee was "an organization of poor and working people, who fight for poor people, their rights and an end to poverty by any means necessary." The APC ceased meeting in
188-684: A 3-metre (10 ft) high wall around the portion of the city where the Summit of the Americas was being held, which only residents, delegates to the summit, and certain accredited journalists were allowed to pass through. On June 15 and 16, 2001, a strong demonstration took place in Göteborg during the meeting of the European Council in the Swedish city, coinciding with protests against
282-468: A banner from Mount Rushmore , placing President Obama's face next to other historic presidents. The banner read: "History honors leaders. Stop global warming." Human rights activists have used direct action in the campaign to close the School of the Americas (SOA). 245 SOA Watch protestors have collectively spent almost 100 years in prison, and more than 50 people have served probation sentences. In
376-540: A class action lawsuit still pending. In April 2000, around 10,000 to 15,000 protesters demonstrated at the IMF, and World Bank meeting (official numbers are not tallied). International Forum on Globalization (IFG) held training at Foundry United Methodist Church . Police raided the Convergence Center, which was the staging warehouse and activists' meeting hall on Florida Avenue on April 15. The day before
470-470: A form of direct action. Examples of direct action pranks include the use of stink , critter, and paint bombs. Protestors may pie their targets. The Yes Men practice nonviolent direct action through pranks. Some direct action groups form legal teams, addressing interactions with the law enforcement, judges, and courts. Definitions of what constitutes violent or nonviolent direct action vary. Sociologist Dieter Rucht states that determining if an act
564-643: A militant variant of anarchist ideology, primarily deals with direct action against governments. Insurrectionist anarchists see countries as inherently controlled by the upper classes, and thereby impossible to reform . While the vast majority of anarchists are not militant and do not engage in militant actions, insurrectionists take violent action against the state and other targets. Most insurrectionary anarchists largely reject mass grassroots organizations created by other anarchists, instead calling for coordinated militant action to be taken by decentralized cell networks . Fascism emphasizes direct action, including
658-406: A new mode of activist knowledge ( accommodative consciousness ), and a new format of solidarity, interactive solidarity . Some activists, notably David Graeber , see the movement as opposed instead to neoliberalism or " corporate globalization ". He argues that the term "anti-globalization" is a term coined by the media, and that radical activists are actually more in favor of globalization, in
752-661: A refusal to work within hierarchical bureaucratic institutions . Direct action protestors may perform activities such as: Some protestors dress in black bloc , wearing black clothing and face coverings to obscure their identities. Ende Gelände protestors wear matching white suits. One of Greenpeace's tactics is to install banners in trees or at symbolic places like offices, statues, nuclear power plants. Direct action protestors may also destroy property through actions such as vandalism , theft , breaking and entering , sabotage , tree spiking , arson , bombing , ecotage , or eco-terrorism . Pranks may also be considered
846-509: A similar percentage believed defacing art or public monuments should be criminalized. The question of engaging in radical protest is known as the "activist's dilemma": "activists must choose between moderate actions that are largely ignored and more extreme actions that succeed in gaining attention, but may be counterproductive to their aims as they tend to make people think less of the protesters." Anti-globalization The anti-globalization movement , or counter-globalization movement ,
940-525: A thrown rock. Some protesters destroyed the windows of storefronts of businesses owned or franchised by targeted corporations such as a large Nike shop and many Starbucks windows. The mayor put the city under the municipal equivalent of martial law and declared a curfew . As of 2002 , the city of Seattle had paid over $ 200,000 in settlements of lawsuits filed against the Seattle Police Department for assault and wrongful arrest, with
1034-704: A tool of both owners and workers, and for this reason he included lockouts and cartels , as well as strikes and sabotage . Canadian anarchist Ann Hansen , one of the Squamish Five , wrote in her book Direct Action that "the essence of direct action [...] is people fighting for themselves, rejecting those who claim to represent their true interests, whether they be revolutionaries or government officials". Activist trainer and author Daniel Hunter states 'Nonviolent direct action are techniques outside of institutionalized behavior for waging conflict using methods of protest, noncooperation, and intervention without
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#17327908635931128-424: A variety of names based on its general advocation for social change, justice, and radical activism, and its general opposition to capitalism, neoliberalism , and corporate globalization. Activists also resisted using a name conferred by corporate media to smear the intention of their protests. Some activists were also not necessarily against globalization. Many participants (see Noam Chomsky's quotes above) consider
1222-456: A widening of the global wealth gap . A report by Jean Ziegler , UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food , notes that "millions of farmers are losing their livelihoods in the developing countries, but small farmers in the northern countries are also suffering" and concludes that "the current inequities of the global trading system are being perpetuated rather than resolved under the WTO, given
1316-405: A world ruled by the capitalist system. Pacifist and anti-imperialist traditions have strongly influenced the movement. Critics of United States foreign policy such as Noam Chomsky , Susan Sontag , and anti-globalist pranksters The Yes Men are widely accepted inside the movement. Although they may not recognize themselves as antiglobalists and are pro-capitalism, some economists who don't share
1410-412: Is a social movement critical of economic globalization . The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement , alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or movement against neoliberal globalization. There are many definitions of anti-globalization. Participants base their criticisms on a number of related ideas. What
1504-546: Is actually support for alter-globalization . Several influential critical works have inspired the anti-globalization movement. No Logo , the book by the Canadian journalist Naomi Klein who criticized the production practices of multinational corporations and the omnipresence of brand-driven marketing in popular culture , has become "manifesto" of the movement, presenting in a simple way themes more accurately developed in other works. In India some intellectual references of
1598-408: Is enough") and principally aimed at cancelling the debt contracted by southern countries. A demonstration gathered 10,000 people and an important concert was held in la Bastille square with 200,000 people. It was the first anti-G7 event, fourteen years before that of Washington. The main political consequence was that France took position to favor debt cancellation. The 50th anniversary of the IMF and
1692-587: Is harm directed toward living things. American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. , who used direct action tactics such as boycotts and sit-ins , felt that the goal of nonviolent direct action was to "create such a crisis and foster such a tension" as to demand a response. Mahatma Gandhi 's methods, which he called satyagraha , did not involve confrontation and could be described as "removal of support" without breaking laws besides those explicitly targeted. Examples of targeted laws include
1786-499: Is not known when the term direct action first appeared. Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset wrote that the term and concept of direct action originated in fin de siècle France. The Industrial Workers of the World union first mentioned the term "direct action" in a publication about the 1910 Chicago strike . American anarchist Voltairine de Cleyre wrote the essay "Direct Action" in 1912, offering historical examples such as
1880-449: Is opposed to globalization, that is, international integration. Surely not the left and the workers movements, which were founded on the principle of international solidarity—that is, globalization in a form that attends to the rights of people, not private power systems. By 2002, many parts of the movement showed wide opposition to the impending invasion of Iraq . Many participants were among those 11 million or more protesters that on
1974-528: Is shared is that participants oppose large, multinational corporations having unregulated political power, exercised through trade agreements and deregulated financial markets. Specifically, corporations are accused of seeking to maximize profit at the expense of work safety conditions and standards, labour hiring and compensation standards, environmental conservation principles, and the integrity of national legislative authority, independence and sovereignty. Some commentators have variously characterized changes in
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#17327908635932068-481: Is violent falls along a spectrum or gradient—lesser property damage is not violence, injuries to humans are violent, and acts in between could be labelled either way depending on the circumstances. Rucht states that definitions of "violence" vary widely, and cultural perspectives can also color such labels. American political scientist Gene Sharp defined nonviolent direct action as "those methods of protest, resistance, and intervention without physical violence in which
2162-517: The AFL–CIO , and other unauthorized marches by assorted affinity groups who converged around the Convention Center. The protesters and Seattle riot police clashed in the streets after police fired tear gas at demonstrators who blocked the streets and refused to disperse. Over 600 protesters were arrested and thousands were injured. Three policemen were injured by friendly fire , and one by
2256-605: The Boston Tea Party and the American anti-slavery movement , and writing that "direct action has always been used, and has the historical sanction of the very people now reprobating it." In his 1920 book Direct Action , William Mellor categorized direct action with the struggle between worker and employer for economic control. Mellor defined it "as the use of some form of economic power for securing of ends desired by those who possess that power." He considered it
2350-553: The Green Movement that is now available on the Internet has been perhaps more influential than any printed book. Although over the past years more emphasis has been given to the construction of grassroots alternatives to (capitalist) globalization, the movement's largest and most visible mode of organizing remains mass decentralized campaigns of direct action and civil disobedience. This mode of organizing, sometimes under
2444-728: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank , that took place in West Berlin in 1988, saw strong protests that can be categorized as a precursor of the anti-globalization movement. One of the main and failed objectives (as it was to be so many times in the future) was to derail the meetings. A counter summit against G7 was organized in Paris in July 1989. The event was called "ça suffit comme ça" ("that
2538-513: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization , undermine local decision-making. Corporations that use these institutions to support their own corporate and financial interests, can exercise privileges that individuals and small businesses cannot, including the ability to: The movement aims for an end to the legal status of " corporate personhood " and the dissolution of free market fundamentalism and
2632-758: The Nobel Prize in Economics ) proposal for a tax on financial transactions (called, after him, the Tobin tax ) has become part of the agenda of the movement. Also, George Soros , Joseph E. Stiglitz (another Economic Sciences Nobel prize winner, formerly of the World Bank, author of Globalization and Its Discontents ) and David Korten have made arguments for drastically improving transparency , for debt relief , land reform , and restructuring corporate accountability systems. Korten and Stiglitz's contribution to
2726-923: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) and free trade treaties like the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement (TPPA), the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). In light of
2820-775: The Washington consensus . The term "anti-globalization" does not distinguish the international leftist anti-globalization position from a strictly nationalist anti-globalization position. Many nationalist movements, such as the French National Front , Austrian Freedom Party , the Italian Lega Nord , the Greek Golden Dawn or the National Democratic Party of Germany are opposed to globalization, but argue that
2914-609: The World Bank , which was celebrated in Madrid in October 1994, was the scene of a protest by an ad hoc coalition of what would later be called anti-globalization movements. Starting from the mid-1990s, Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group have become center points for anti-globalization movement protests. They tried to drown the bankers' parties in noise from outside and held other public forms of protest under
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3008-643: The World Bank . In France the well-known monthly paper Le Monde Diplomatique has advocated the antiglobalization cause and an editorial of its director Ignacio Ramonet brought about the foundation of the association ATTAC . Susan George of the Transnational Institute has also been a long-term influence on the movement, as the writer of books since 1986 on hunger, debt, international financial institutions and capitalism. The works of Jean Ziegler , Christopher Chase-Dunn , and Immanuel Wallerstein have detailed underdevelopment and dependence in
3102-669: The salt tax and the Asiatic Registration Act . His preferred actions were largely symbolic and peaceful, and included "withdrawing membership, participation or attendance in government-operated [...] agencies." Gandhi and American civil rights leader James Bevel were strongly influenced by Leo Tolstoy 's 1894 book The Kingdom of God Is Within You , which promotes passive resistance . Other terms for nonviolent direct action include civil resistance , people power , and positive action . Insurrectionary anarchism ,
3196-605: The Annual Meetings of IMF and World Bank in the streets of Washington, D.C. Protesting groups included the Anti-Capitalist Convergence , the Mobilization for Global Justice. 649 people were reported arrested, five were charged with destruction of property, while the others were charged with parading without a permit, or failing to obey police orders to disperse. At least 17 reporters were in
3290-699: The US, some organizations like the National Lawyer's Guild and, to a lesser extent, the American Civil Liberties Union , provide legal witnesses in case of law enforcement confrontation. Protesters often claim that major media outlets do not properly report on them; therefore, some of them created the Independent Media Center , a collective of protesters reporting on the actions as they happen. The Annual Meetings of
3384-610: The United States, direct action is increasingly used to oppose the fossil fuel industry, oil drilling , pipelines, and gas power plant projects. Direct action was taken at arms factories in the United States and the United Kingdom that supplied arms to Israel during the Israel–Hamas war . Anarchists organize almost exclusively through direct action, which they use due to a rejection of party politics and
3478-588: The WSF is little more than an 'NGO fair' driven by Northern NGOs and donors most of which are hostile to popular movements of the poor. After the Second World War, North Korea followed a policy of anti-globalization. However, in recent decades have shown a distinctive rise in globalization movements in North Korea, introducing a number of reforms in areas such as technology and trade. The reform that had
3572-471: The actual summits, this motivates the mobilizations and gives them a visible, short-term purpose. This form of publicity is expensive in police time and the public purse. Rioting has occurred at some protests, for instance in Genoa, Seattle and London – and extensive damage was done to the area, especially targeting corporations, including McDonald's and Starbucks restaurants. Despite, or perhaps because of,
3666-647: The aggressive use of export subsidies by some developed nations to make their agricultural products more attractive on the international market are major causes of declines in the agricultural sectors of many developing nations. Through the Internet , a movement began to develop in opposition to the doctrines of neoliberalism which were widely manifested in the 1990s when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) proposed liberalization of cross-border investment and trade restrictions through its Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). This treaty
3760-480: The alternative to globalization is the protection of the nation-state . Other groups, influenced by the Third Position , are also classifiable as anti-globalization. However, their overall world view is rejected by groups such as Peoples Global Action and anti-fascist movements such as antifa . In response, the nationalist movements against globalization argue that the leftist anti-globalization position
3854-449: The anti-globalism) represent the reconstructed forms of old and new left ideologies, respectively, in the context of current globalization, only the third one has shown the capacity to respond more effectively to the intellectual requirements of today's global complexities . Underlying this vision is a new conception of justice, coined accommodative justice by Hosseini, a new approach towards cosmopolitanism ( transversal cosmopolitanism ),
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3948-516: The banner of the Peoples' Global Action network, tries to tie the many disparate causes together into one global struggle. In many ways the process of organizing matters overall can be more important to activists than the avowed goals or achievements of any component of the movement. At corporate summits, the stated goal of most demonstrations is to stop the proceedings. Although the demonstrations rarely succeed in more than delaying or inconveniencing
4042-712: The conference center from three directions: one engaging in various forms of civil disobedience (the Yellow march), one (the Pink/Silver march) advancing through " tactical frivolity " (costume, dance, theatre, music, and artwork), and one (the Blue march) engaging in violent conflicts with the baton-armed police, with the protesters throwing cobblestones lifted from the street. These demonstrations come to resemble small societies in themselves. Many protesters take training in first aid and act as medics to other injured protesters. In
4136-613: The demonstrations and street actions around the IMF that followed, the number of those arrested grew to 1,300 people. A class action lawsuit was filed for false arrest. In June 2010, the class action suit for the April 15 events called ' Becker, et al. v. District of Columbia, et al .' were settled, with $ 13.7 million damages awarded. On September 11 2000, a meeting of the World Econmic Forum in Melbourne, Australia
4230-531: The developed countries." Economist and political scientist Mark Pennington and NYU professor of economics William Easterly have individually accused Chang of employing strawman arguments , ignoring counter-data , and failing to employ basic scientific controls to his claims. Economist Jagdish Bhagwati argues that reforms that opened up the economies of China and India contributed to their higher growth in 1980s and 1990s. From 1980 to 2000 their GDP grew at average rate of 10 and 6 percent respectively. This
4324-548: The economic gap between rich and poor countries, adherents of the movement claim that free trade without measures to protect the environment and the health and wellbeing of workers will merely increase the power of industrialized nations (often termed the "North" in opposition to the developing world's "South"). Proponents of this line of thought refer to the process as polarization and argue that current neo-liberal economic policies have given wealthier states an advantage over developing nations, enabling their exploitation and leading to
4418-928: The global economy as "turbo-capitalism" ( Edward Luttwak ), " market fundamentalism " ( George Soros ), " casino capitalism " ( Susan Strange ), and as " McWorld " ( Benjamin Barber ). Supporters believe that by the late 20th century those they characterized as "ruling elites" sought to harness the expansion of world markets for their own interests; this combination of the Bretton Woods institutions, states, and multinational corporations has been called " globalization " or "globalization from above." In reaction, various social movements emerged to challenge their influence; these movements have been called "anti-globalization," " alter-globalization " or "globalization from below." People opposing globalization believe that international agreements and global financial institutions, such as
4512-418: The interests of people incidental. That is why the business press, in its more honest moments, refers to the "free trade agreements" as "free investment agreements" (Wall St. Journal). Accordingly, advocates of other forms of globalization are described as "anti-globalization"; and some, unfortunately, even accept this term, though it is a term of propaganda that should be dismissed with ridicule. No sane person
4606-516: The lack of formal coordinating bodies, the movement manages to successfully organize large protests on a global basis, using information technology to spread information and organize. Protesters organize themselves into " affinity groups ," typically non-hierarchical groups of people who live close together and share a common political goal. Affinity groups will then send representatives to planning meetings. However, because these groups can be infiltrated by law enforcement intelligence, important plans of
4700-674: The larger protest scheduled on April 16, a smaller group of protesters demonstration against the Prison-Industrial Complex in the District of Columbia. Mass arrests were conducted; 678 people were arrested on April 15. Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning, The Washington Post photographer Carol Guzy was detained by police and arrested on April 15, and two journalists for the Associated Press also reported being struck by police with batons. On April 16 and 17
4794-553: The leaders of many democratic countries ( Spain , Italy , Poland and the United Kingdom ) were acting against the wishes of the majorities of their populations in supporting the war. Chomsky asserted that these leaders "showed their contempt for democracy". The economic and military issues are closely linked in the eyes of many within the movement. The movement has no singular name, chiefly because it has no singular leader or consensus to give it one. It has been called
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#17327908635934888-499: The legitimization of political violence , as a core part of its politics. While radical activism has been effective as part of the civil rights movement , forceful or violent environmental sabotage (FVES) can have a "negative impact on voter attitudes toward all environmental organizations", though that effect is contingent on the organizations' prior record. In polls conducted in the United Kingdom , two thirds of respondents supported non-violent environmental direct action, while
4982-428: The members of the nonviolent group do, or refuse to do, certain things." American anarchist Voltairine de Cleyre wrote that violent direct action utilizes physical, injurious force against people or, occasionally, property. Some activist groups, such as Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front , use property destruction, arson, and sabotage and claim their acts are nonviolent as they believe that violence
5076-459: The methodology used in arriving at the World Bank's statistics and argue that more detailed variables measuring poverty should be studied. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research , the period from 1980 to 2005 has seen diminished progress in terms of economic growth, life expectancy, infant and child mortality, and to a lesser extent education. One of the most common criticisms of
5170-420: The most isolated society in the world. The global justice movement has been quite successful in achieving some of its key aims, according to academic and global justice movement activist David Graeber. For example, many countries no longer rely on IMF loans and so, by the mid-2000s, IMF lending was at its lowest share of world GDP since the 1970s. Critics assert that the empirical evidence does not support
5264-417: The most significance to North Korea was trade; a change in trading partnerships resulted in the country not only traded with themselves but also with South Korea and China. North Korea introduced these reforms because it was lacking in areas of technology and trade and realized that it could not maintain itself as a society without help from other nations, but even with these new reforms North Korea still remains
5358-419: The motto "50 Years is Enough". While Spanish King Juan Carlos was addressing the participants in a huge exhibition hall, two Greenpeace activists climbed to the top and showered the attendants with fake dollar bills carrying the slogan "No $ s for Ozone Layer Destruction". A number of the demonstrators were sent to the notorious Carabanchel prison . One of the first international anti-globalization protests
5452-399: The movement about the role of the social forums. Some see them as a "popular university", an occasion to make many people aware of the problems of globalization. Others would prefer that delegates concentrate their efforts on the coordination and organization of the movement and on the planning of new campaigns. However it has often been argued that in the dominated countries (most of the world)
5546-511: The movement can be found in the works of Vandana Shiva , an ecologist and feminist, who in her book Biopiracy documents the way that the natural capital of indigenous peoples and ecoregions is converted into forms of intellectual capital , which are then recognized as exclusive commercial property without sharing the private utility thus derived. The writer Arundhati Roy is famous for her anti-nuclear position and her activism against India's massive hydroelectric dam project, sponsored by
5640-552: The movement include involvement in direct actions and street protest. In some Roman Catholic countries such as Italy there have been religious influences, especially from missionaries who have spent a long time in the Third World (the most famous being Alex Zanotelli ). Internet sources and free-information websites, such as Indymedia , are a means of diffusion of the movement's ideas. The vast array of material on spiritual movements, anarchism , libertarian socialism and
5734-593: The movement's opposition to free-trade agreements (which have often been considered part of something called " globalization "), various participants contend they are opposed to only certain aspects of globalization and instead describe themselves, at least in French-speaking organizations, as " anti-capitalist ", "anti- plutocracy ," or "anti- corporate ." Le Monde Diplomatique ' s editor, Ignacio Ramonet 's, expression of "the one-way thought" ( pensée unique ) became slang against neoliberal policies and
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#17327908635935828-540: The movement, which does not necessarily come from its opponents, is simply that the anti-globalization movement lacks coherent goals, and that the views of different protesters are often in opposition to each other. Many members of the movement are also aware of this, and argue that, as long as they have a common opponent, they should march together – even if they don't share exactly the same political vision. Writers Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri have together in their books ( Empire and Multitude ) expanded on this idea of
5922-427: The natural environment, human rights (especially workplace rights and conditions) and democratic institutions are likely to be placed at undue risk by globalization unless mandatory standards are attached to liberalization. Noam Chomsky stated in 2002 that: The term "globalization" has been appropriated by the powerful to refer to a specific form of international economic integration, one based on investor rights, with
6016-429: The neoliberal approach of international economic institutions have strongly influenced the movement. Amartya Sen 's Development as Freedom ( Nobel Prize in Economics , 1999), argues that third world development must be understood as the expansion of human capability, not simply the increase in national income per capita, and thus requires policies attuned to health and education, not simply GDP. James Tobin 's (winner of
6110-631: The non-violent protests as a collateral damage provoked by the clash between the law enforcement ranks themselves and the more violent and brutal fringes of protesters, who repeatedly hid themselves amongst peaceful protesters of all ages and backgrounds. Several hundred peaceful demonstrators, rioters, and police were injured and hundreds were arrested during the days surrounding the G8 meeting; most of those arrested have been charged with some form of "criminal association" under Italy's anti- mafia and anti- terrorist laws. The first World Social Forum (WSF) in 2001
6204-585: The parameter of per capita income growth, development economist Ha-Joon Chang argues that considering the record of the last two decades the argument for continuing neoliberal policy prescriptions are "simply untenable", and commented: "It depends on the data we use, but roughly speaking, per capita income in developing countries grew at 3% per year between 1960 and 1980, but has grown only at about 1.5% between 1980 and 2000. And even this 1.5% will be reduced to 1%, if we take out India and China, which have not pursued liberal trade and industrial policies recommended by
6298-510: The participation of 60,000 delegates and ended with a huge demonstration against the war (1,000,000 people according to the organizers). The following ESFs took place in Paris (2003), London (2004), Athens (2006), Malmö (2008), and the latest ESF in Istanbul (2010). In many countries Social Forums of national and local scope were also held. Recently there has been some discussion behind
6392-546: The protesters. After the November 2000 G20 protest in Montreal , at which many protesters were beaten, trampled, and arrested in what was intended to be a festive protest, the tactic of dividing protests into "green" (permitted), "yellow" (not officially permitted but with little confrontation and low risk of arrest), and "red" (involving direct confrontation) zones was introduced. In Quebec City , municipal officials built
6486-549: The protests are often not made until the last minute. One common tactic of the protests is to split up based on willingness to break the law. This is designed, with varying success, to protect the risk-averse from the physical and legal dangers posed by confrontations with law enforcement. For example, in Prague during the anti-IMF and World Bank protests in September 2000 demonstrators split into three distinct groups, approaching
6580-515: The radical economic privatization measures of the World Bank , the IMF, and the World Trade Organization. Activists are especially opposed to the various abuses which they think are perpetuated by globalization and the international institutions that, they say, promote neoliberalism without regard to ethical standards or environmental protection. Common targets include the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF),
6674-672: The round-up. Protestors sued in Federal Court about the arrests. The D.C. Attorney General had outside counsel investigate apparent destruction of evidence, and forensic investigations continue, and the testimony of the Chief of Police. In 2009, the city agreed to pay $ 8.25 million to almost 400 protesters and bystanders to end a class-action lawsuit over kettling and mass arrests in Pershing Park during 2002 World Bank protests Although local police were surprised by
6768-406: The sense of "effacement of borders and the free movement of people, possessions and ideas" than are the IMF or WTO. He also notes that activists use the terms "globalization movement" and "anti-globalization movement" interchangeably, indicating the confusion of the terminology. The term "alter-globalization" has been used to make this distinction clear. While the term "anti-globalization" arose from
6862-518: The simultaneous visit by George W Bush . Clashes between police and protestors were punctuated by vandalism by the extreme fringes of the demonstrators, the so-called black-blocs . Images of destruction bounced through the mass media, casting a shadow on the movement in the eyes of the public. The Genoa Group of Eight Summit protest from July 18 to 22, 2001, was one of the bloodiest protests in Western Europe's recent history, as evidenced by
6956-468: The size of N30, law enforcement agencies have since reacted worldwide to prevent the disruption of future events by a variety of tactics, including sheer weight of numbers, infiltrating the groups to determine their plans, and preparations for the use of force to remove protesters. At the site of some of the protests, police have used tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades, rubber and wooden bullets, night sticks, water cannons, dogs , and horses to repel
7050-448: The summer of 2010, when they stopped renting an office space for meetings, and is no longer an active organization. On a May weekend in 2007, Vancouver Police used a ruse to arrest APC organizer David Cunningham as part of their investigation into threats made to "evict" 2010 Winter Olympic Games board members from their homes and offices. The police had pretended to be a reporter with Vancouver's commuter newspaper 24 Hours . This ruse
7144-555: The term "anti-globalization" to be a misnomer . The term suggests that its followers support protectionism and/or nationalism , which is not always the case – in fact, some supporters of anti-globalization are strong opponents of both nationalism and protectionism: for example, the No Border network argues for unrestricted migration and the abolition of all national border controls. S. A. Hamed Hosseini (an Australian sociologist and expert in global social movement studies), argues that
7238-409: The term anti-globalization can be ideal-typically used only to refer to only one ideological vision he detects alongside three other visions (the anti-globalist , the alter-globalist and the alter-globalization ). He argues that the three latter ideal-typical visions can be categorized under the title of global justice movement . According to him, while the first two visions (the alter-globalism and
7332-735: The terms on which they engaged with the global economy. By contrast, the countries that have, by and large, had globalization managed for them by the International Monetary Fund and other international economic institutions have not done so well." According to The Heritage Foundation , development in China was anticipated by Milton Friedman , who predicted that even a small progress towards economic liberalization would produce dramatic and positive effects. China's economy had grown together with its economic freedom . Critics of corporate-led globalization have expressed concern about
7426-407: The unequal balance of power between member countries." Activists point to the unequal footing and power between developed and developing nations within the WTO and with respect to global trade, most specifically in relation to the protectionist policies towards agriculture enacted in many developed countries. These activists also point out that heavy subsidization of developed nations' agriculture and
7520-564: The use or threat of injurious force. Anti-globalization activists forced the Seattle WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 to end early via direct action tactics and prefigurative politics . On April 28, 2009, Greenpeace activists, including Phil Radford , scaled a crane across the street from the Department of State , calling on world leaders to address climate change. Soon thereafter, they dropped
7614-405: The views of the anti-globalization movement. These critics point to statistical trends which are interpreted to be results of globalization, capitalism, and the economic growth they encourage: Members of the anti-globalization movement argue that positive data from countries which largely ignored neoliberal prescriptions, notably China, discredits the evidence that pro-globalists present. Concerning
7708-555: The weekend of February 15, 2003, participated in global protests against the imminent Iraq war . Other anti-war demonstrations were organized by the antiglobalization movement: see for example the large demonstration, organized against the impending war in Iraq, which closed the first European Social Forum in November 2002 in Florence , Italy . Anti-globalization militants worried for a proper functioning of democratic institutions as
7802-535: The wounding of hundreds of policemen and civilians forced to lock themselves inside of their homes and the death of a young Genoese anarchist named Carlo Giuliani —who was shot while trying to throw a fire extinguisher on a policeman—during two days of violence and rioting by groups supported by the nonchalance of more consistent and peaceful masses of protesters, and the hospitalization of several of those peaceful demonstrators just mentioned. Police have subsequently been accused of brutality, torture and interference with
7896-591: Was accompanied by reduction of poverty from 28 percent in 1978 to 9 percent in 1998 in China, and from 51 percent in 1978 to 26 percent in 2000 in India. Speaking not only on China but East Asia in general, economist Joseph Stiglitz commented: "The countries that have managed globalization on their own, such as those in East Asia, have, by and large, ensured that they reaped huge benefits and that those benefits were equitably shared; they were able substantially to control
7990-855: Was an eviction of 2010 Winter Olympic Games special advisor Ken Dobell from his office. Direct action Direct action is a term for economic and political behavior in which participants use agency—for example economic or physical power—to achieve their goals. The aim of direct action is to either obstruct a certain practice (such as a government's laws or actions) or to solve perceived problems (such as social inequality). Direct action may include activities, often nonviolent but possibly violent, targeting people, groups, institutions, actions, or property that its participants deem objectionable. Nonviolent direct action may include civil disobedience , sit-ins , strikes , and counter-economics . Violent direct action may include political violence , assault , arson , sabotage , and property destruction . It
8084-518: Was an initiative of Oded Grajew [ pt ] , Chico Whitaker , and Bernard Cassen . It was supported by the city of Porto Alegre (where it took place) and the Brazilian Worker's Party . The motivation was to constitute a counter-event to the World Economic Forum held in Davos at the same time. The slogan of the WSF is "Another World Is Possible". An International Council (IC)
8178-479: Was arrested and convicted of throwing a rock at a police officer . The second major mobilization of the movement, known as N30, occurred on November 30, 1999, when protesters blocked delegates' entrance to WTO meetings in Seattle , Washington , USA . The protests forced the cancellation of the opening ceremonies and lasted the length of the meeting until December 3. There was a large, permitted march by members of
8272-412: Was criticised in newspaper editorials as endangering the media's appearance of independence. On May 22, 2007, following Cunningham's arrest, three APC activists pretended to be delivering flowers as a ruse to gain entry to the Vancouver offices of BC Premier Gordon Campbell . The group began destroying glassware, as well as overturning furniture and scattering documents. The group stated that this action
8366-567: Was disrupted for three days by up to 20,000 protesters. The WEF's Asia Pacific Economic Conference was opposed by a range of groups organising under the umbrella of the S11 alliance, which included anarchist, socialist, environmentalist and other social justice groups. Approximately twenty protesters were arrested and claims were made that 400 were injured by police, including fifty who needed to attend hospital. In September 2002, estimated number of 1,500 to 2,000 people gathered to demonstrate against
8460-599: Was held again in Porto Alegre and became a rallying point for worldwide protest against the American invasion of Iraq. In 2004 it was moved to Mumbai , India ), to make it more accessible to the populations of Asia and Africa. This Forum had 75,000 delegates. In 2006 it was held in three cities: Caracas , Venezuela , Bamako , Mali , and Karachi , Pakistan . In 2007, the Forum was hosted in Nairobi , Kenya , in 2009 it
8554-506: Was in Belém , Brazil, and in 2011 it was in Dakar , Senegal . In 2012, the WSF returned to Porto Alegre. The idea of creating a meeting place for organizations and individuals opposed to Neoliberalism was soon replicated elsewhere. The first European Social Forum (ESF) was held in November 2002 in Florence . The slogan was "Against the war, against racism and against neo-liberalism". It saw
8648-637: Was organized in dozens of cities around the world on June 18, 1999, with those in London and Eugene , Oregon most often noted. The drive was called the Carnival Against Capital , or J18 for short. The day coincided with the 25th G8 Summit in Cologne, Germany. The protest in Eugene turned into a riot where local anarchists drove police out of a small park. One anarchist, Robert Thaxton ,
8742-430: Was prematurely exposed to public scrutiny and subsequently abandoned in November 1998 in the face of strenuous protest and criticism by national and international civil society representatives. The neoliberal position argued that free trade and reduction of public-sector regulation would bring benefits to poor countries and to disadvantaged people in rich countries. Anti-globalization advocates urge that preservation of
8836-532: Was set up to discuss and decide major issues regarding the WSF, while the local organizing committee in the host city is responsible for the practical preparations of the event. In June 2001, the IC adopted the World Social Forum Charter of Principles, which provides a framework for international, national, and local Social Forums worldwide. The WSF became a periodic meeting: in 2002 and 2003 it
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