Well, after the fiasco in Barcelona, I decided I'd have a look at this Globalize Resistance movement. They laid out their beliefs in a maifesto from Porto Alegra. (A manifesto...this shold immediately put the analyst on alert...)
Let's go through the points one by one ( you can find them at http://www.resist.org.uk/reports/bac...toalegre2.html )
1. An intro.
2. "We are diverse..." Diversity as unity is a questionable ideal; it rarely happens. They talk about alternate solutions they are coming up with. None are voiced here. The kicker: they are fighting capitalism and patriarchy. Where have we heard that before?
My analysis: you've got people operating on a socialist/communist ideology. I find it interesting this is the only solution that Europe's really been able to sling around since the 1848 revolutions. Save for fascism, but that's just another form of statism.
3.Everything from sunspots to hair loss is caused by the capitalist system. Environmental degredation -- they have a point here, though I think it arguable how badly we have affected the planet. Wars -- most of the wars currently in action around the world have nothing to do with corporate sponsorship. (I'm surprised no one's try to buy ad sapce on tanks, actually...) Destruction of social solidarity -- was there ever any? Really?
Analysis: capitalism bad.
4. Opposition to war. Find me someone who really WANTS war. But it's a sentiment I agree with. I wish we could just talk things over, but sometimes reason doesn't work. As for the condemnation of all violence..I didn't hear too much out of these guys when the al-Qaida beheaded one of our soldiers. At least our prisoners are well-fed, have health care, and are allowed to practice their religion without impediment (gee, so much for the demonization of Islam...)
Analysis: war bad. I agree. Islam good. When not in the hands of fanatics, yes.
5. The war destabilizes the Middle East and harms poor, innocent Palestinians. Have you been there? No good guys. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians truly want peace. They just want victory.
Analysis: Palestinians good and noble. Take a closer look at the Palestinians' record vis-a-vis the offers they've gotten. They just want Israel gone. Israel bad. In many ways, yes.
6. Argentina has been screwed by capitalists. Not entirely. The IMF is a cpaitalist organ with an awful track record for aiding the developing world. But they took the loan. The other troubles were due to a half-assed system of government regulation of the alleged free-market. You can't do an economic system halfway or you get this kind of thing. Rejecting the criminalization of social movements: hear hear! Political speech is the most important form of speech.
Analysis: capitalists bad. Hurt Argentines. But they took the loans. If I'm dumb enough to tkae a credit card with 23%+ interest, that's my bad; save applies here: caveat debtor.
7. Enron: corruption exemplifying the captialist system. Actually, Enron broke the laws of the capitalist system, the first being: don't screw your investors.
Analysis: see, Enron shows capitalism bad. Actuality, Enron was a Ponzi scheme that had the investor known about it, wouldn't have been so bad. Arrest and try the guys responsible; the invesor should class action suit the guys that crept off with their golden parachustes for compensation.
8. Oh, that arrogant USA -- protecting their own interests...how dare they! They won't hamstring their economy with environmental rules based on junk science, give money to the Africans 'cause they demand it, and they won't get rid of guns 'cause they think it might be good to have a population that can stand up to the government, should the need arise.
Analysis: 50 years of climate data, of which only 10 is anywhere near accurate, is a bit small on the global timeframe to make snap decisions about out impact on the planet. The race thing is just an attempt to extort money by tyring to play on feelings of guilt (which the Euros have in spades...after all, they were the main colonizing powers on that continent.) And besides, the Africans that sold their brothers already got paid (ok...cheap shot). As for the guns -- I reserve my RIGHT, as a US citizen and a free thinking being, to defend myself from those who would rob, kill, or opress me.
9. Global government. Yeah...nothing like busting on capitalism throughout this document, then turning to the G8 for global government. The G8 is an economic outfit for the discussion of trade arrangements. Oh...and it's a GREAT idea to have a one-world monolithic government (with no guns, high taxes, and self-serving bureaucrats) running everything.
Analysis: hints of utopian pipe dreams. Every utopian I've seen posited is a controlling, uniformed technocracy. No thanks...I'll take my chances with the corporations.
10. Global recession and those poor laid-off workers. Take you skills, get together, and build your own company. Oh, nd maybe we wouldn't have the unemployment problems if we kept our population size in check.
Analysis: you're out of work due to greedy capitalists. Unlike the 19th century or the early part of this one, more capital was squarely in a few people's hands. Now a great number of people hold stock in companies. So are we all the villain here? Maybe instead of looking for a daddy government to protect you, you should get off your asses and find a way to ue the system to your advantage.
11. Social justice and solidarity. Militarism is passe. Let's talk it out. (I'm all for that...but when they don't want to talk..?) It's all because of discrimination and dominance that war exists. I think that's an oversimplification. Mankind is a hunter/scavenger -- biologically speaking. We are hardwired for the notion of self-interest and competition. Most of the countries that are unstable are due to a lack of democratic social history. Most have dicatators that have used political and religious ideologies to set themselves apart from the rest of the world (but I thought diversity was strength?). This is one reason why utopian ideals of peace rarely work.
Trade unionism: all for it. But once again, there's a balance. In a capitalist system, there's only so far you can push your employer before they are no longer viable. At that point, you've cut your own throat. As for governments shutting them down. It's wrong.
Analysis: capitalism bad. It oppresses people. Well, talk to the 8 year old whose family is able to feed themselves or a better place to live. Most of them welcome capitalism. There's a lot of fear of mechanization here too; the global movements owe a lot to the Luddites and Saboteurs of the 19th Century. They were afraid of machine then...apparently, we still are.
As for the war thing: an example of when negotiation doesn't work: Iraq. Sanctions for 12 years have done no good. Now what?
12. Neoliberalism causes trafficking and slavery of women and children. This is the biggest load of crap in this document. The majority of these people are fleeing TO neoliberal countries and are exploited by their own people, who rob them and enslave them. No 'capitalist' country I know of allows this sort of thing. When it is discovered, the people are freed and the miscreants arrested. How about the enslaved diamond miners in Angola working for those noble socialist liberators...oh wait, that's blacks enslaving blacks and that doesn't happen. Never mind.
Analysis: this shows the virulence of this group to capitalism. They will essentially make any connection, no mater how false, to the 'casino economy' and any evil they see in the world.
13. Countries' debts as illegitimate (wrong, they agreed to the stipulations in their loan), unjust (I'll back that wholeheartedly...usury, anyone?), and fraudulent (questionable.)
Anaylsis: a bit heated and emotional, but some very good points here. I agree that the IMF should go ahead and forgive these loans. But these countries shouldn't just rush out and sign up for more...if they do, that's their own fault.
14. The common assets. The culture thing -- cultures act just like their individual ements, humans. They compete for dominance. The most successful are the ones that adapt and include elements from other societies. As for the biodiversity thing...food free from genetic manipulation. Wouldn't that kind of adjustment to crops be encouraging biodiversity? Oh, wait...it's not NATURAL biodiversity.
Analysis: Luddite-like fears of bioengineering. Question: what do you get when you put a gene splice from a firefly into the genetic structure of corn? Answer: corn.
15. The WTO and the commodification of everything. This is Marx, pure and simple.
Analysis: fear of a dehumanization of people.
16. Final points: I agree with most of them, save the Tobin Tax crap. Just what I need, the government stealing more money from me so it can do nothing for me with it. As for the self-determination part -- you won't get that with an overarching world authority.
What we have here is the same socialist humanism of the 19th Century. There's a few additions here and there, but they are running on a 100+ year old platform that is not entirely compatible with the modern ay issues they are trying to tackle. There are some huge assumptions about capitalism that are incorrect. There are some massive leaps of logic to connect points they are concerned with.
My main problems with this group are their lack of real examination of the issues and the lack of real 'alternate social system' here that they are proposing -- merely the same ephemeral utopian pipedreams that enslaved the Soviet people for 70 years. We saw how successful that was; now we're being offered the same carrot they were.
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