Contrary to the common view that globalization undermines social agency, 'alter-globalization activists', that is, those who contest globalization in its neo-liberal form, have developed new ways to become actors in the global age. They propose alternatives to Washington Consensus policies, implement horizontal and participatory organization models and promote a nascent global public space. Rather than being anti-globalization, these activists have built a truly global movement that has gathered citizens, committed intellectuals, indigenous, farmers, dalits and NGOs against neoliberal policies in street demonstrations and Social Forums all over the world, from Bangalore to Seattle and from Porto Alegre to Nairobi. This book analyses this worldwide movement on the bases of extensive field research conducted since 1999.
Alter-Globalization provides a comprehensive account of these critical global forces and their attempts to answer one of the major challenges of our time: How can citizens and civil society contribute to the building of a fairer, sustainable and more democratic co-existence of human beings in a global world?
Foreword by Alain Touraine xi
Acknowledgements xvii
Part 1 Alter-Globalization - Becoming Actors in the Global Age 1
Introduction 3
From the first uprisings to the global crisis 7
A global movement 10
1 The Will to Become an Actor 16
An actor against neoliberal ideology 16
Social agency in the global age 23
Part 2 The Way of Subjectivity 33
2 The Experience of Another World 35
Resisting through subjectivity 35
Spaces of experience 37
Diversions of experience 54
3 From the Mountains of Chiapas to Urban Neighbourhoods 58
The Zapatistas 58
Barricade social and cultural centre 68
Alter-activist youth 73
From the Zapatistas to alter-activists 88
4 Expressive Movements and Anti-Power 90
A concept of social change 90
A social and subjective engagement 95
Illusions of anti-power and diversions of spaces of experience 96
Facing the political 100
Conclusion 104
Part 3 The Way of Reason 107
5 Expertise for Another World 109
Resisting through reason 109
Spaces of expertise 112
The ambivalence of expertise 123
Conclusion 128
6 Citizens, Experts and Intellectuals 130
Introduction 130
A citizen movement 131
Committed intellectuals 135
Theories of another world and practices of expertise 142
Conclusion 152
7 Reason, Democracy and Counter-Power 154
A movement against neoliberal ideology 154
Rationality at stake 157
Democracy at stake 163
A concept of social change 169
Conclusion 177
Part 4 Confl uence of the Two Paths 179
8 Tensions and Collaborations 181
Common problematics 181
Dichotomization: from tension to opposition 185
Absorption: tension erased by hegemony 191
Combination: tensions and complementarities 193
Conclusion 200
9 The Main Debates 201
Think local and global, act local and global 202
The movement-internal organization 210
Rethinking social change 216
Conclusion 226
10 Towards a Post-Washington Consensus Alter-Globalization 228
Reconfi gurations 228
Towards concrete outcomes 237
Climate justice 251
Conclusion 256
Conclusion 258
Notes 264
Bibliography 280
Index 302
