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CONNECTING THE DOTSThe rise of the anti-corporate globalization movement and the creation of the many coalitions who were so visible in the streets of Seattle last year during the World Trade Organisation ministerial have given cause for many peace groups to re-evaluate their strategies - and to find ways to build links with this burgeoning global movement for the environment, human rights, and social justice. What follows is an abridged version of a report by End the Arms Race (one of Canada's largest peace groups and one of the few peace groups which plays an active role in the anti-globalization movement) on a day-long strategy session that asked several activists from the peace and the anti-corporate globalization movements to suggest ways to build bridges between the movements. In my presentation at the end, I put forward five-point action plan to build bridges between the peace and anti-corporate globalization movements. I hope that you find this report useful and thought provoking. -- Stephen Staples, Canada Connecting the Dots: A one-day strategy session connecting the peace movement and anti-corporate globalization.June 3, 2000 - End the Arms Race Annual General Meeting -- Peace and social activists gathered in Vancouver to discuss the connections between the peace and social justice movements; emphasis was placed on the burgeoning anti-corporate globalization movement. Peter Coombes, National Organizer, End the Arms Race, began the strategic discussion by asking why militarism is largely absent from discussions on anti-corporate globalization and how we can get the two movements working together. Below is a summary with excerpts from the presentations given by the guest speakers. The guest speakers were: Jillian Skeet - The Anti-Corporate Globalization Movement is the New Peace MovementThe peace movement is in a crisis. When the Cold War ended, many people assumed that the threat of nuclear weapons had subsided and the peace movement began losing funding, members and supporters. Yet the threat of nuclear war remains and the threat of global militarization is with us each and every day. Having spent many years doing peace work in Switzerland, I was struck by the contrast between the peace movements in Europe and the movement in North America. During the Gulf War, for example, the peace movements in Europe were unanimously opposed to the war. In North America, however, it was obvious that there were serious divisions within the movement. The North American peace movement had fallen victim to manufactured consent, as Noam Chomsky would say. The largest contributing factor was the constant barrage of the North American media that demonized not only Sadam Hussein but also all Iraqis. The American government's position was presented as fact and as the only reality. At the same time, social justice movements everywhere have tended to work in isolation, often failing to recognize the linkages between the issues of peace, poverty, human rights and the environment. The North American peace movement has more potential to embody a more holistic approach to its work, uniting within it the many peace and social justice groups. Globalization provides us with a new opportunity to take a more holistic approach to our work, and to unite the many sectors working for peace and social justice. The anti-globalization movement may well be the next generation of peace activism - transformed to meet the challenge of globalization in the next millennium. It is the movement that many of us wanted in the 1980s when we understood peace to mean not just the absence of war but also to include social and economic justice. The anti-corporate globalization movement has recently proven to be incredibly strong, encompassing a multitude of issues that address democracy and social justice. Rather than seeing the peace movement as separate, we must include ourselves as a natural partner within the anti-corporate globalization movement. The peace movement's task, then, is to bring the discussion of militarism to the anti-globalization table. We must be the ones who explain that the military enforces globalization. It is, in fact, the foundation of the globalization process and is the force that connects peace with poverty, human rights and the environment. In particular, we must highlight this issue when reaching out to young people because they understand many of the connections. We must provide concrete information that connects all of the issues. For example, we should conduct further research into the environmental damage caused by the entire military cycle. Finally, we must find ways to involve as many people as possible in the struggle. There is tremendous hope in young people. From the elementary level through university, an increasing number of students are making the necessary connections. We must continue to drive the issues home, letting everyone know how world militarism affects them on a personal, financial and social level Murray Dobbin - Common GroundTo work together, the peace and social justice movements need to have a common analysis of the world and its most powerful institutions. Communication between the movements is key. In particular, we have to have a common agreement about what we mean by democracy and social justice. By the 1980s the corporate elite had decided to dismantle the social programs and labour rights won in the 1930s. The global corporate elite systematically attacked the social contract. Within months of each other they created right-wing think tanks, like the Fraser Institute, to go after "the excesses of democracy." Today, corporations are buying elections and creating laws that protect property rights above individual and collective rights. Neo-liberal principles have overtaken democratic ones. However, the neo-liberal ideology is only delivering its promise of wealth to the corporate elite and is failing to deliver any semblance of prosperity and good government to the vast majority. Most people are losing under the neo-liberal agenda, and government institutions that cannot respond are perceived as more and more illegitimate. Thus, the social contract is being replaced by force and coercion. Essentially, the global elite believes coercion is cheaper and more efficient than social programs. The United States uses NATO to impose its ideology upon the rest of the world and protect its own interests. It uses NATO to share the financial, political, and moral responsibility with the member countries. Meanwhile, the authority of the United Nations as a governing body has been subverted in favour of empowering the pro-corporate globalization bodies such as the World Trade Organisation and other economic institutions. Thus, instead of building a global social consensus, the United States and Europe have turned NATO into the police force of global capitalism: the United States and Europe will use NATO to enforce the global corporate agenda. Despite this harsh reality, we can change the current reality. We still have some democracy in Canada, much more than in other places. Instead of abandoning the political realm, we must challenge the institutions and try to change them. Otherwise, they will be entirely subverted. We must engage with social democratic governments when they make good decisions and take positive action, rather than only acknowledging the bad. Elected officials need incentive to continue to represent our needs, and the only way to ensure that is to be by their side as they do so. Social justice institutions themselves should also be more representative: for example, the Council of Canadians could have a representative from the peace movement on its board. Finally, we must further develop our strategies to use political language wisely, as our adversaries have learned to do. It is critical to name imperialism and capitalism for what they are, and not shy away from the truths we need to change. Lyndsay Poaps - Youth Want Global JusticeThis is the first generation of Canadians that is extremely multi-racial and multi-ethnic, and youth do not see that reflected in the peace movement. Part of this ethnic and racial mix means that many young people are from war-torn countries, so war is not a widely accepted topic of conversation. This generation of North American youth, unlike the generation of the 1980s, does not feel the immediate threat of war. In particular, in the 1980s nuclear war seemed imminent; today nuclear war is seen as an improbability. Without the immediate threat of war, there is an inability to sympathize with people in war-torn countries. Furthermore, young people are no longer shocked by war and violence; as young children they were immersed in the Gulf War, and numerous regional wars around the world. The media's portrayal of war is often of far-away uncivilized people, so even when war is shown, its sincerity is questioned. The outcome is that youth are not scared; they are cynical. They have never known anything else but corporate commercialization of their lives and the world around them. A major factor in the lack of participation in social movements is that today's youth believe they will not be better off than their parents; they believe they will fare worse economically and socially. Thus, the attitude of "I'll make my million, and then I'll help the poor" prevails. Today, instead of the three R's (reading, writing, and arithmetic), young people are growing up with the three C's: corporations, capitalism, and consumption. Corporations are seen as the new authority; governments, on the other hand, are perceived as lacking the power and ability to do anything. It is corporations that provide us with jobs and the material goods we need, and make decisions that affect our personal lives, the environment and our social well-being. Yet corporations have no political responsibility to anyone but their shareholders. If there is an issue for youth to rally around, it is corporate rule. War is seen as the issue of the past generation. Check Your Head, a Vancouver based youth group, encourages young people to act as citizens, rather than consumers. There is potential for the peace movement to join in this effort, but it must do so strategically. For example, environmentalists have had some great successes in the schools. The idea of recycling is imprinted in youth today and everyone wants to 'protect the earth,' but often environmentalism ends with simplistic apolitical messages. We need to know how to save the planet from corporate control. Similarly, everyone wants peace. The peace movement needs to take advantage of that, but needs to make strong connections to corporate rule. It is important to respect the path that young people are taking. Therefore, it is essential to address the issue from the common analysis that the new corporate authority must be challenged. Steven Staples - A Plan for Building BridgesWe are on the cusp of exciting times with new energy and a new sense of rising optimism. The decisions we make now will impact the direction of the social movements over the next decade. Today's issue is corporate globalization. Whether people are fighting to protect the environment, workers' rights or peace, corporate globalization makes it that much harder. To advance our fight we have to forge strong alliances with groups that 'get it'; those that get it understand that globalization not only affects their particular cause but that they cannot resolve the problems without addressing corporate rule. On the national and international level, the peace movement is not represented at anti-globalization teach-ins, rallies, and other events. Many peace groups do not yet 'get it', and so we are simply not at the table where these vast global social movements are being built. The result is a lack of understanding of who or what the peace movement is. People perceive the peace movement as old hippies who are 'soft' and apolitical, who spend too much time lobbying the United Nations, and who do not deal with the tough issues that affect all of us. People tend to equate pacifism with being passive. Furthermore, the dominant view of the military is of a civil service with tanks: a neutral tool that the government can control and use for good or bad. So, too often, people who take a stand against the military are seen as collaborating with the neo-conservative agenda of anti-government. These misconceptions about the peace movement and the military combine to create a situation in which the anti-corporate globalization movement does not take the peace movement seriously. Not having peace groups at the anti-corporate globalization table combined with peace groups not having a globalization analysis means that many social justice, labour and environmental groups are not getting a full understanding of global militarism. The outcome is that they support military actions, like the war against Yugoslavia, because it is outside their domain of research and understanding. For example, many people and organizations that should be natural allies of the peace movement supported the war against Yugoslavia because they did not have someone who was ready to quickly explain to them that the war was simply part of the corporate globalization agenda. These groups relied on the media and upon the social democratic leaders, e.g. the German Greens, for analysis. Here is a proposed five-point plan of action to build the necessary bridges between the peace and anti-corporate globalization movements: 1. Develop an analysis of the "military-corporate complex" with the understanding that the military is separate from the government and is allied with the global corporate elite. 2. Develop a strong body of knowledge that makes links between the peace movement and the anti-globalization movement and join the coalition groups working against corporate globalization. 3. Rebuild the peace movement at the grassroots level, using an anti-corporate analysis. 4. Choose campaigns that address corporate power-campaigns about weapons and corporations, govt subsidies for war, and military connections to globalization. 5. Take these new analyses and campaigns and build a new national organization to educate the media and all Canadians about the connections between militarism and corporate globalization. End the Arms Race# 405 - 825 Granville St , Vancouver BC V6Z 1K9 Canada |
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