Anti-Globalisation Movements: Making and Reversing History

In: Environmental politics, Band 11, Heft 3, S. 164-167

Abstract

A review essay on books by (1) Jose Bove & Francois Dufour, The World Is Not for Sale: Farmers against Junk Food (London & New York: Verso, 2001); (2) Edward Goldsmith & Jerry Mander (Eds), The Case against the Global Economy and for a Turn towards Localization (London: Earthcan, 2001); (3) Francois Houtart & Francois Polet (Eds), The Other Davos: The Globalization of Resistance and the World Economic System (London & New York: Zed, 2001); & (4) Amory Starr, Naming the Enemy: Anti-Corporate Movements Confront Globalization (London & New York: Zed, 2000). Bove & Dufour, the two leaders of the radical French Farmers' union (Confederation Paysanne), reveal the mechanisms of a system of "farming against nature" where consumers save on food only to pay a premium as citizens. The results are rationalization, mono-culture, productivism, health & environmental hazards, an increasing gap between small farmers & cereal growers, & relocation of production to countries with cheaper labor & lower feed prices, together with highly subsidized exports from France. Therefore, a real shift would prioritize food sovereignty over international trade. Goldsmith & Mander outline the global social & environmental impact of globalization on everyday life, values, & communities. They equate development with postcolonialism & analyze the failure of Bretton Woods, rejecting the assumption that expanding world trade & continuing economic growth benefits everyone & is compatible with the preservation of ecosystems. They do not advocate total self-reliance but reject the move from local nonwaged, nonmonetized economies to market economies. Houtart & Polet devise a set of alternatives based on an analysis of social relations from a Marxist perspective against the current economic system. The status of neoliberalism is challenged. Starr focuses on the use of culture by antiglobalization movements. She determines how the 15 movements studied identify their enemy, conceptualize their space of resistance, & construct alternatives. She contends that rebellion is aimed against corporate hegemony; for most movements the common enemy is globalization, not capitalism. E. Sanchez