Global Justice Movement
Encyclopedia
The Global Justice Movement is a network or constellation of globalized
social movements opposing what is often known as the “corporate globalization” and promoting equal distribution of economic resources.
rules and are negative to current institutions of global economics such as the World Trade Organization
.
The movement is often labeled the anti-globalization movement
by the mainstream media. Those involved, however, frequently deny that they are “anti-globalization,” insisting that they support the globalization of communication and people and oppose only the global expansion of corporate power. The term further indicates an anti-capitalist
and universalist
perspective on globalization, distinguishing the movement from those opponents of globalization whose politics are based on a conservative
defence of national sovereignty
. It is, however, argued by some scholars of social movements, that a new concept of justice, alongside some old notions, underlies many critical ideas and practices developed in this movement. . S. A. Hosseini coins this new mode of conceptualizing justice, accommodative justice and argues that both the very unique nature of the movement and the global complexities of the post-Cold War era can be accounted for the rise of such notion. According to him, "this new concept of justice has emerged from many activists’ experiences of and reflections on the complexities of globalization" .
Important organizational pillars of the movement are Via Campesina
, the family farmers' international; Peoples' Global Action
, a loose collection of often youthful groups; Jubilee 2000
, the Christian-based movement for relieving international debt; Friends of the Earth
, the environmentalist international; and some think-tanks like Focus on the Global South
and Third World Network
.
Participants include student groups, NGOs
, trade unions, faith-based and peace groups throughout the world. A loose coordination of the movement is taking place on the Social Forums
. However, although formal power is often situated in the global South, the resources of North-based NGOs give these disproportionate power to often informally marginalize popular organizations from the South.
, World Trade Organization
, International Monetary Fund
, and World Bank
. The movement came to the attention of many in the US when activists successfully used protests to shut down the 1999 WTO Ministerial
in Seattle. This represented, however, just one of a series of massive Global Justice protests that have included protests at the 1988 World Bank/IMF meetings in Germany, "IMF riots" beginning in Lima in 1975, over cuts in the social safety-net presided over by IMF and other international organizations, and spreading through the world, and "water wars" in Bolivia and South Africa.
is one excellent example of this emphasis, bringing activists together from around the world to focus on shared philosophy and campaigning. However others see the World Social Forum as dominated by Northern NGOs, donors and activists and argue that Southern representation is largely organized via Northern donors and their NGOs and that popular organizations in the global South are systematically marginalized or included in a deeply subordinated manner. For this reason many grassroots movements in the South boycott the forum and the NGOs that gate-keep representation at the forum or, in some instance, actively oppose it as just one more space of domination.
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
social movements opposing what is often known as the “corporate globalization” and promoting equal distribution of economic resources.
Movement of movements
The Global Justice Movement describes the loose collection of individuals and groups—often referred to as a “movement of movements”—who advocate fair tradeFair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
rules and are negative to current institutions of global economics such as the World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
.
The movement is often labeled the anti-globalization movement
Anti-globalization movement
The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalisation movement, is critical of the globalization of corporate capitalism. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or...
by the mainstream media. Those involved, however, frequently deny that they are “anti-globalization,” insisting that they support the globalization of communication and people and oppose only the global expansion of corporate power. The term further indicates an anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
and universalist
Moral universalism
Moral universalism is the meta-ethical position that some system of ethics, or a universal ethic, applies universally, that is, for "all similarly situated individuals", regardless of culture, race, sex, religion, nationality, sexuality, or any other distinguishing feature...
perspective on globalization, distinguishing the movement from those opponents of globalization whose politics are based on a conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
defence of national sovereignty
National sovereignty
National sovereignty is the doctrine that sovereignty belongs to and derives from the nation, an abstract entity normally linked to a physical territory and its past, present, and future citizens. It is an ideological concept or doctrine derived from liberal political theory...
. It is, however, argued by some scholars of social movements, that a new concept of justice, alongside some old notions, underlies many critical ideas and practices developed in this movement. . S. A. Hosseini coins this new mode of conceptualizing justice, accommodative justice and argues that both the very unique nature of the movement and the global complexities of the post-Cold War era can be accounted for the rise of such notion. According to him, "this new concept of justice has emerged from many activists’ experiences of and reflections on the complexities of globalization" .
Important organizational pillars of the movement are Via Campesina
Via Campesina
Via Campesina describes itself as "an international movement which coordinates peasant organizations of small and middle-scale producers, agricultural workers, rural women, and indigenous communities from Asia, Africa, America, and Europe"...
, the family farmers' international; Peoples' Global Action
Peoples' Global Action
Peoples' Global Action is the name of a worldwide co-ordination of radical social movements, grassroots campaigns and direct actions in resistance to capitalism and for social and environmental justice...
, a loose collection of often youthful groups; Jubilee 2000
Jubilee 2000
Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church...
, the Christian-based movement for relieving international debt; Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
, the environmentalist international; and some think-tanks like Focus on the Global South
Focus on the Global South
Focus on the Global South is an international, non-governmental organisation, based in Bangkok, Thailand since its creation in 1995.Its founding director is sociologist Walden Bello, and it is affiliated with the Social Research Institute of Chulalongkorn University...
and Third World Network
Third World Network
The Third World Network is an international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to environment, development and the Third World and North-South issues. It has its international secretariat in Penang, Malaysia...
.
Participants include student groups, NGOs
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
, trade unions, faith-based and peace groups throughout the world. A loose coordination of the movement is taking place on the Social Forums
World Social Forum
The World Social Forum 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-hegemonic globalization...
. However, although formal power is often situated in the global South, the resources of North-based NGOs give these disproportionate power to often informally marginalize popular organizations from the South.
Massive protests
The movement is characterized by the massive citizen protests and alternative summits which have, for the last decade, accompanied most meetings of the G8G8
The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...
, World Trade Organization
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...
, International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
, and World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
. The movement came to the attention of many in the US when activists successfully used protests to shut down the 1999 WTO Ministerial
WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 protest activity
Protest activity surrounding the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, which was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations, occurred on November 30, 1999 , when the World Trade Organization convened at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle, Washington,...
in Seattle. This represented, however, just one of a series of massive Global Justice protests that have included protests at the 1988 World Bank/IMF meetings in Germany, "IMF riots" beginning in Lima in 1975, over cuts in the social safety-net presided over by IMF and other international organizations, and spreading through the world, and "water wars" in Bolivia and South Africa.
International solidarity
The Global Justice Movement claims to place a significant emphasis on transnational solidarity uniting activists in the global South and global North. Some have argued that the World Social ForumWorld Social Forum
The World Social Forum 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-hegemonic globalization...
is one excellent example of this emphasis, bringing activists together from around the world to focus on shared philosophy and campaigning. However others see the World Social Forum as dominated by Northern NGOs, donors and activists and argue that Southern representation is largely organized via Northern donors and their NGOs and that popular organizations in the global South are systematically marginalized or included in a deeply subordinated manner. For this reason many grassroots movements in the South boycott the forum and the NGOs that gate-keep representation at the forum or, in some instance, actively oppose it as just one more space of domination.
Further reading
- Alex Callinicos, An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto. London: Polity, 2003.
- Notes from Nowhere, We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism. London: Verso, 2003.
- Gelder, Melinda, Meeting the Enemy, Becoming a Friend. Boulder: Bauu Press, 2006.
- Hadden, J. Tarrow, S., Spillover or Spillout? The Global Justice Movement in the United States after 9/11, Mobilization, 2007, VOL 12; NUMB 4, pages 359-376 , online
- David Solnit, Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World'.' San Francisco: City Lights, 2003.
- Donatella della PortaDonatella della PortaDonatella della Porta is a professor of political science and sociology, known for her research in the areas of social movements, corruption, political violence and political sociology....
, The Global Justice Movement: Cross-national And Transnational Perspectives. New York: Paradigm, 2006. - Hosseini, S. A., Alternative Globalizations: An Integrative Approach to Studying Dissident Knowledge in the Global Justice. Movement Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2010.
External links
- Seven Steps to Justice by Rodney Shakespeare & Peter Challen.
- Summary of the Just Third Way.
- Origins of the Global Justice Movement, (n.d.: November, 2002?).
- Turning the Trolls to Stone: Strategy for the Global Justice Movement - by StarhawkStarhawkStarhawk is an American writer and activist. She is well known as a theorist of Paganism, and is one of the foremost popular voices of ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and On Faith, the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum on religion...
, July 2003 - What is the global justice movement?, (n.d.).
- Conform or Reform? Social Movements and the Mass Media by Michael Barker at Fifth-Estate-Online - International Journal of Radical Mass Media Criticism. February 2007
- David Graeber's article on Infoshopnews, October 12, 2007