The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization
movement, is a social movement critical of
economic globalization. The movement is also
commonly referred to as the global justice
movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist
movement, anti-corporate globalization movement,
or movement against neoliberal globalization.
Participants base their criticisms on a number
of related ideas. What is shared is that participants
oppose large, multinational corporations having
unregulated political power, exercised through
trade agreements and deregulated financial
markets. Specifically, corporations are accused
of seeking to maximize profit at the expense
of work safety conditions and standards, labour
hiring and compensation standards, environmental
conservation principles, and the integrity
of national legislative authority, independence
and sovereignty. As of January 2012, some
commentators have characterized changes in
the global economy as "turbo-capitalism" (Edward
Luttwak), "market fundamentalism" (George
Soros), "casino capitalism" (Susan Strange),
and as "McWorld" (Benjamin Barber).
Many anti-globalization activists do not oppose
globalization in general and call for forms
of global integration that better provide
democratic representation, advancement of
human rights, fair trade and sustainable development
and therefore feel the term "anti-globalization"
is misleading.
== Ideology and causes ==
Supporters believe that by the late 20th century
those they characterized as "ruling elites"
sought to harness the expansion of world markets
for their own interests; this combination
of the Bretton Woods institutions, states,
and multinational corporations has been called
"globalization" or "globalization from above."
In reaction, various social movements emerged
to challenge their influence; these movements
have been called "anti-globalization" or "globalization
from below."
=== Opposition to international financial
institutions and transnational corporations
===
People opposing globalization believe that
international agreements and global financial
institutions, such as the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization,
undermine local decision-making. Corporations
that use these institutions to support their
own corporate and financial interests, can
exercise privileges that individuals and small
businesses cannot, including the ability to:
move freely across borders.
extract desired natural resources.
use a wide variety of human resources.The
movement aims for an end to the legal status
of "corporate personhood" and the dissolution
of free market fundamentalism and the radical
economic privatization measures of the World
Bank, the IMF, and the World Trade Organization.
Activists are especially opposed to the various
abuses which they think are perpetuated by
globalization and the international institutions
that, they say, promote neoliberalism without
regard to ethical standards or environmental
protection. Common targets include the World
Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF),
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD) and the World Trade
Organization (WTO) and free trade treaties
like the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA), Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA),
the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement (TPPA),
the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI)
and the General Agreement on Trade in Services
(GATS). In light of the economic gap between
rich and poor countries, adherents of the
movement claim that free trade without measures
to protect the environment and the health
and wellbeing of workers will merely increase
the power of industrialized nations (often
termed the "North" in opposition to the developing
world's "South"). Proponents of this line
of thought refer to the process as polarization
and argue that current neo-liberal economic
policies have given wealthier states an advantage
over developing nations, enabling their exploitation
and leading to a widening of the global wealth
gap.A report by Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur
on the right to food, notes that "millions
of farmers are losing their livelihoods in
the developing countries, but small farmers
in the northern countries are also suffering"
and concludes that "the current inequities
of the global trading system are being perpetuated
rather than resolved under the WTO, given
the unequal balance of power between member
countries." Activists point to the unequal
footing and power between developed and developing
nations within the WTO and with respect to
global trade, most specifically in relation
to the protectionist policies towards agriculture
enacted in many developed countries. These
activists also point out that heavy subsidization
of developed nations' agriculture and the
aggressive use of export subsidies by some
developed nations to make their agricultural
products more attractive on the international
market are major causes of declines in the
agricultural sectors of many developing nations.
=== Global opposition to neoliberalism ===
Through the Internet, a movement began to
develop in opposition to the doctrines of
neoliberalism which were widely manifested
in the 1990s when the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) proposed
liberalization of cross-border investment
and trade restrictions through its Multilateral
Agreement on Investment (MAI). This treaty
was prematurely exposed to public scrutiny
and subsequently abandoned in November 1998
in the face of strenuous protest and criticism
by national and international civil society
representatives.
Neoliberal doctrine argued that untrammeled
free trade and reduction of public-sector
regulation would bring benefits to poor countries
and to disadvantaged people in rich countries.
Anti-globalization advocates urge that preservation
of the natural environment, human rights (especially
workplace rights and conditions) and democratic
institutions are likely to be placed at undue
risk by globalization unless mandatory standards
are attached to liberalization. Noam Chomsky
stated in 2002 that
The term "globalization" has been appropriated
by the powerful to refer to a specific form
of international economic integration, one
based on investor rights, with the interests
of people incidental. That is why the business
press, in its more honest moments, refers
to the "free trade agreements" as "free investment
agreements" (Wall St. Journal). Accordingly,
advocates of other forms of globalization
are described as "anti-globalization"; and
some, unfortunately, even accept this term,
though it is a term of propaganda that should
be dismissed with ridicule. No sane person
is opposed to globalization, that is, international
integration. Surely not the left and the workers
movements, which were founded on the principle
of international solidarity—that is, globalization
in a form that attends to the rights of people,
not private power systems.
=== Anti-war movement ===
By 2002, many parts of the movement showed
wide opposition to the impending invasion
of Iraq. Many participants were among those
11 million or more protesters that on the
weekend of February 15, 2003, participated
in global protests against the imminent Iraq
war. Other anti-war demonstrations were organized
by the antiglobalization movement: see for
example the large demonstration, organized
against the impending war in Iraq, which closed
the first European Social Forum in November
2002 in Florence, Italy.Anti-globalization
militants worried for a proper functioning
of democratic institutions as the leaders
of many democratic countries (Spain, Italy,
Poland and the United Kingdom) were acting
against the wishes of the majorities of their
populations in supporting the war. Chomsky
asserted that these leaders "showed their
contempt for democracy". Critics of this type
of argument have tended to point out that
this is just a standard criticism of representative
democracy — a democratically elected government
will not always act in the direction of greatest
current public support — and that, therefore,
there is no inconsistency in the leaders'
positions given that these countries are parliamentary
democracies.The economic and military issues
are closely linked in the eyes of many within
the movement.
=== Appropriateness of the term ===
The movement has no singular name, chiefly
because it has no singular leader or consensus
to give it one. It has been called a variety
of names based on its general advocation for
social change, justice, and radical activism,
and its general opposition to capitalism,
neoliberalism, and corporate globalization.
Activists also resisted using a name conferred
by corporate media to smear the intention
of their protests. Some activists were also
not necessarily against globalization.Many
participants (see Noam Chomsky's quotes above)
consider the term "anti-globalization" to
be a misnomer. The term suggests that its
followers support protectionism and/or nationalism,
which is not always the case – in fact,
some supporters of anti-globalization are
strong opponents of both nationalism and protectionism:
for example, the No Border network argues
for unrestricted migration and the abolition
of all national border controls. S. A. Hamed
Hosseini (an Australian sociologist and expert
in global social movement studies), argues
that the term anti-globalization can be ideal-typically
used only to refer to only one ideological
vision he detects alongside three other visions
(the anti-globalist, the alter-globalist and
the alter-globalization). He argues that the
three latter ideal-typical visions can be
categorized under the title of global justice
movement. According to him, while the first
two visions (the alter-globalism and the anti-globalism)
represent the reconstructed forms of old and
new left ideologies, respectively, in the
context of current globalization, only the
third one has shown the capacity to respond
more effectively to the intellectual requirements
of today's global complexities. Underlying
this vision is a new conception of justice,
coined accommodative justice by Hosseini,
a new approach towards cosmopolitanism (transversal
cosmopolitanism), a new mode of activist knowledge
(accommodative consciousness), and a new format
of solidarity, interactive solidarity.
Some activists, notably David Graeber, see
the movement as opposed instead to neoliberalism
or "corporate globalization". He argues that
the term "anti-globalization" is a term coined
by the media, and that radical activists are
actually more in favor of globalization, in
the sense of "effacement of borders and the
free movement of people, possessions and ideas"
than are the IMF or WTO. He also notes that
activists use the terms "globalization movement"
and "anti-globalization movement" interchangeably,
indicating the confusion of the terminology.
The term "alter-globalization" has been used
to make this distinction clear.
While the term "anti-globalization" arose
from the movement's opposition to free-trade
agreements (which have often been considered
part of something called "globalization"),
various participants contend they are opposed
to only certain aspects of globalization and
instead describe themselves, at least in French-speaking
organizations, as "anti-capitalist", "anti-plutocracy,"
or "anti-corporate." Le Monde Diplomatique
's editor, Ignacio Ramonet's, expression of
"the one-way thought" (pensée unique) became
slang against neoliberal policies and the
Washington consensus.
=== Civic and Racial Nationalist opposition
against globalization ===
The term "anti-globalization" does not distinguish
the international leftist anti-globalization
position from a strictly nationalist anti-globalization
position. Many nationalist movements, such
as the French National Front, Austrian Freedom
Party, the Italian Lega Nord, the Greek Golden
Dawn or the National Democratic Party of Germany
are opposed to globalization, but argue that
the alternative to globalization is the protection
of the nation-state. Other groups, influenced
by the Third Position, are also classifiable
as anti-globalization. However, their overall
world view is rejected by groups such as Peoples
Global Action and anti-fascist groups such
as ANTIFA. In response, the nationalist movements
against globalization, argue that the leftist
anti-globalization position is actually a
support to alter-globalization.
=== 
Influences ===
Several influential critical works have inspired
the anti-globalization movement. No Logo,
the book by the Canadian journalist Naomi
Klein who criticized the production practices
of multinational corporations and the omnipresence
of brand-driven marketing in popular culture,
has become "manifesto" of the movement, presenting
in a simple way themes more accurately developed
in other works. In India some intellectual
references of the movement can be found in
the works of Vandana Shiva, an ecologist and
feminist, who in her book Biopiracy documents
the way that the natural capital of indigenous
peoples and ecoregions is converted into forms
of intellectual capital, which are then recognized
as exclusive commercial property without sharing
the private utility thus derived. The writer
Arundhati Roy is famous for her anti-nuclear
position and her activism against India's
massive hydroelectric dam project, sponsored
by the World Bank. In France the well-known
monthly paper Le Monde Diplomatique has advocated
the antiglobalization cause and an editorial
of its director Ignacio Ramonet brought about
the foundation of the association ATTAC. Susan
George of the Transnational Institute has
also been a long-term influence on the movement,
as the writer of books since 1986 on hunger,
debt, international financial institutions
and capitalism. The works of Jean Ziegler,
Christopher Chase-Dunn, and Immanuel Wallerstein
have detailed underdevelopment and dependence
in a world ruled by the capitalist system.
Pacifist and anti-imperialist traditions have
strongly influenced the movement. Critics
of United States foreign policy such as Noam
Chomsky, Susan Sontag, and anti-globalist
pranksters The Yes Men are widely accepted
inside the movement.
Although they may not recognize themselves
as antiglobalists and are pro-capitalism,
some economists who don't share the neoliberal
approach of international economic institutions
have strongly influenced the movement. Amartya
Sen's Development as Freedom (Nobel Prize
in Economics, 1999), argues that third world
development must be understood as the expansion
of human capability, not simply the increase
in national income per capita, and thus requires
policies attuned to health and education,
not simply GDP. James Tobin's (winner of the
Nobel Prize in Economics) proposal for a tax
on financial transactions (called, after him,
the Tobin tax) has become part of the agenda
of the movement. Also, George Soros, Joseph
E. Stiglitz (another Economic Sciences Nobel
prize winner, formerly of the World Bank,
author of Globalization and Its Discontents)
and David Korten have made arguments for drastically
improving transparency, for debt relief, land
reform, and restructuring corporate accountability
systems. Korten and Stiglitz's contribution
to the movement include involvement in direct
actions and street protest.
In some Roman Catholic countries such as Italy
there have been religious influences, especially
from missionaries who have spent a long time
in the Third World (the most famous being
Alex Zanotelli).
Internet sources and free-information websites,
such as Indymedia, are a means of diffusion
of the movement's ideas. The vast array of
material on spiritual movements, anarchism,
libertarian socialism and the Green Movement
that is now available on the Internet has
been perhaps more influential than any printed
book.
== Organization ==
Although over the past years more emphasis
has been given to the construction of grassroots
alternatives to (capitalist) globalization,
the movement's largest and most visible mode
of organizing remains mass decentralized campaigns
of direct action and civil disobedience. This
mode of organizing, sometimes under the banner
of the Peoples' Global Action network, tries
to tie the many disparate causes together
into one global struggle.
In many ways the process of organizing matters
overall can be more important to activists
than the avowed goals or achievements of any
component of the movement.
At corporate summits, the stated goal of most
demonstrations is to stop the proceedings.
Although the demonstrations rarely succeed
in more than delaying or inconveniencing the
actual summits, this motivates the mobilizations
and gives them a visible, short-term purpose.
This form of publicity is expensive in police
time and the public purse. Rioting has occurred
at some protests, for instance in Genoa, Seattle
and London – and extensive damage was done
to the area, especially targeting corporations,
including McDonald's and Starbucks restaurants.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the lack of
formal coordinating bodies, the movement manages
to successfully organize large protests on
a global basis, using information technology
to spread information and organize. Protesters
organize themselves into "affinity groups,"
typically non-hierarchical groups of people
who live close together and share a common
political goal. Affinity groups will then
send representatives to planning meetings.
However, because these groups can be infiltrated
by law enforcement intelligence, important
plans of the protests are often not made until
the last minute. One common tactic of the
protests is to split up based on willingness
to break the law. This is designed, with varying
success, to protect the risk-averse from the
physical and legal dangers posed by confrontations
with law enforcement. For example, in Prague
during the anti-IMF and World Bank protests
in September 2000 demonstrators split into
three distinct groups, approaching the conference
center from three directions: one engaging
in various forms of civil disobedience (the
Yellow march), one (the Pink/Silver march)
advancing through "tactical frivolity" (costume,
dance, theatre, music, and artwork), and one
(the Blue march) engaging in violent conflicts
with the baton-armed police, with the protesters
throwing cobblestones lifted from the street.These
demonstrations come to resemble small societies
in themselves. Many protesters take training
in first aid and act as medics to other injured
protesters. In the US, some organizations
like the National Lawyer's Guild and, to a
lesser extent, the American Civil Liberties
Union, provide legal witnesses in case of
law enforcement confrontation. Protesters
often claim that major media outlets do not
properly report on them; therefore, some of
them created the Independent Media Center,
a collective of protesters reporting on the
actions as they happen.
== Key grassroots organizations ==
Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa
The EZLN in Mexico
Fanmi Lavalas in Haiti
The Homeless Workers' Movement in Brazil
The Landless Peoples Movement in South Africa
The Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil
Patriota in Brazil
Movement for Justice en el Barrio in the United
States of America
Narmada Bachao Andolan in India
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign in
South Africa
== 
Demonstrations and appointments ==
=== Berlin88 ===
The Annual Meetings of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, that took place
in West Berlin in 1988, saw strong protests
that can be categorized as a precursor of
the anti-globalization movement. One of the
main and failed objectives (as it was to be
so many times in the future) was to derail
the meetings.
=== Paris89 ===
A counter summit against G7 was organized
in Paris in July 1989. The event was called
"ça suffit comme ça" ("that is enough")
and principally aimed at cancelling the debt
contracted by southern countries. A demonstration
gathered 10,000 people and an important concert
was held in la Bastille square with 200 000
people. It was the first anti-G7 event, fourteen
years before that of Washington. The main
political consequence was that France took
position to favor debt cancellation.
=== Madrid94 ===
The 50th anniversary of the IMF and the World
Bank, which was celebrated in Madrid in October
1994, was the scene of a protest by an ad-hoc
coalition of what would later be called anti-globalization
movements. Starting from the mid-1990s, Annual
Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group
have become center points for anti-globalization
movement protests. They tried to drown the
bankers' parties in noise from outside and
held other public forms of protest under the
motto "50 Years is Enough". While Spanish
King Juan Carlos was addressing the participants
in a huge exhibition hall, two Greenpeace
activists climbed to the top and showered
the attendants with fake dollar bills carrying
the slogan "No $s for Ozone Layer Destruction".
A number of the demonstrators were sent to
the notorious Carabanchel prison.
=== J18 ===
One of the first international anti-globalization
protests was organized in dozens of cities
around the world on June 18, 1999, with those
in London and Eugene, Oregon most often noted.
The drive was called the Carnival Against
Capital, or J18 for short. The day coincided
with the 25th G8 Summit in Cologne, Germany.
The protest in Eugene turned into a riot where
local anarchists drove police out of a small
park. One anarchist, Robert Thaxton, was arrested
and convicted of throwing a rock at a police
officer.
=== Seattle/N30 ===
The second major mobilization of the movement,
known as N30, occurred on November 30, 1999,
when protesters blocked delegates' entrance
to WTO meetings in Seattle, Washington, USA.
The protests forced the cancellation of the
opening ceremonies and lasted the length of
the meeting until December 3. There was a
large, permitted march by members of the AFL-CIO,
and other unauthorized marches by assorted
affinity groups who converged around the Convention
Center. The protesters and Seattle riot police
clashed in the streets after police fired
tear gas at demonstrators who blocked the
streets and refused to disperse. Over 600
protesters were arrested and thousands were
injured. Three policemen were injured by friendly
fire, and one by a thrown rock. Some protesters
destroyed the windows of storefronts of businesses
owned or franchised by targeted corporations
such as a large Nike shop and many Starbucks
windows. The mayor put the city under the
municipal equivalent of martial law and declared
a curfew. As of 2002, the city of Seattle
had paid over $200,000 in settlements of lawsuits
filed against the Seattle Police Department
for assault and wrongful arrest, with a class
action lawsuit still pending.
=== Washington A16 ===
On April 2000, around 10,000 to 15,000 protesters
demonstrated at the IMF, and World Bank meeting
(official numbers are not tallied). International
Forum on Globalization (IFG) held training
at Foundry United Methodist Church. Police
raided the Convergence Center, which was the
staging warehouse and activists' meeting hall
on Florida Avenue on April 15. The day before
the larger protest scheduled on April 16,
a smaller group of protesters demonstration
against the Prison-Industrial Complex in the
District of Columbia. Mass arrests were conducted;
678 people were arrested on April 15. Three-time
Pulitzer Prize winning, Washington Post photographer
Carol Guzy was detained by police and arrested
on April 15, and two journalists for the Associated
Press also reported being struck by police
with batons. On April 16 and 17 the demonstrations
and street actions around the IMF that followed,
the number of those arrested grew to 1,300
people. A class action lawsuit was filed for
false arrest. In June 2010, the class action
suit for the April 15th events called 'Becker,
et al. v. District of Columbia, et al.' were
settled, with $13.7 million damages awarded.
=== Washington D.C. 2002 ===
In September 2002, estimated number of 1,500
to 2,000 people gathered to demonstrate against
the Annual Meetings of IMF and World Bank
in the streets of Washington D.C. Protesting
groups included the Anti-Capitalist Convergence,
the Mobilization for Global Justice. 649 people
were reported arrested, five were charged
with destruction of property, while the others
were charged with parading without a permit,
or failing to obey police orders to disperse.
At least 17 reporters were in the round-up.
Protestors sued in Federal Court about the
arrests. The D.C. Attorney General had outside
counsel investigate apparent destruction of
evidence, and forensic investigations continue,
and the testimony of the Chief of Police.
In 2009, the city agreed to pay $8.25 million
to almost 400 protesters and bystanders to
end a class-action lawsuit over kettling and
mass arrests in Pershing Park during 2002
World Bank protests
=== 
Law enforcement reaction ===
Although local police were surprised by the
size of N30, law enforcement agencies have
since reacted worldwide to prevent the disruption
of future events by a variety of tactics,
including sheer weight of numbers, infiltrating
the groups to determine their plans, and preparations
for the use of force to remove protesters.
At the site of some of the protests, police
have used tear gas, pepper spray, concussion
grenades, rubber and wooden bullets, night
sticks, water cannons, dogs, and horses to
repel the protesters. After the November 2000
G20 protest in Montreal, at which many protesters
were beaten, trampled, and arrested in what
was intended to be a festive protest, the
tactic of dividing protests into "green" (permitted),
"yellow" (not officially permitted but with
little confrontation and low risk of arrest),
and "red" (involving direct confrontation)
zones was introduced.In Quebec City, municipal
officials built a 3-metre (10 ft) high wall
around the portion of the city where the Summit
of the Americas was being held, which only
residents, delegates to the summit, and certain
accredited journalists were allowed to pass
through.
=== Gothenburg ===
On June 15 and 16, 2001, a strong demonstration
took place in Göteborg during the meeting
of the European Council in the Swedish town.
Clashes between police and protesters were
exacerbated by the numerous vandalism of the
extreme fringes of the demonstrators, the
so-called black-blocs. Images of devastation
bounced through the mass media, putting a
negative shadow on the movement, and increasing
a sense of fear through common people.
=== Genoa ===
The Genoa Group of Eight Summit protest from
July 18 to July 22, 2001 was one of the bloodiest
protests in Western Europe's recent history,
as evidenced by the wounding of hundreds of
policemen and civilians forced to lock themselves
inside of their homes and the death of a young
Genoese anarchist named Carlo Giuliani—who
was shot while trying to throw a fire extinguisher
on a policeman—during two days of violence
and rioting by groups supported by the nonchalance
of more consistent and peaceful masses of
protesters, and the hospitalization of several
of those peaceful demonstrators just mentioned.
Police have subsequently been accused of brutality,
torture and interference with the non-violent
protests as a collateral damage provoked by
the clash between the law enforcement ranks
themselves and the more violent and brutal
fringes of protesters, who repeatedly hid
themselves amongst peaceful protesters of
all ages and backgrounds. Several hundred
peaceful demonstrators, rioters, and police
were injured and hundreds were arrested during
the days surrounding the G8 meeting; most
of those arrested have been charged with some
form of "criminal association" under Italy's
anti-mafia and anti-terrorist laws.
=== International social forums ===
The first World Social Forum (WSF) in 2001
was an initiative of Oded Grajew, Chico Whitaker,
and Bernard Cassen. It was supported by the
city of Porto Alegre (where it took place)
and the Brazilian Worker's Party. The motivation
was to constitute a counter-event to the World
Economic Forum held in Davos at the same time.
The slogan of the WSF is "Another World Is
Possible". An International Council (IC) was
set up to discuss and decide major issues
regarding the WSF, while the local organizing
committee in the host city is responsible
for the practical preparations of the event.
In June 2001, the IC adopted the World Social
Forum Charter of Principles, which provides
a framework for international, national, and
local Social Forums worldwide.The WSF became
a periodic meeting: in 2002 and 2003 it was
held again in Porto Alegre and became a rallying
point for worldwide protest against the American
invasion of Iraq. In 2004 it was moved to
Mumbai, India), to make it more accessible
to the populations of Asia and Africa. This
Forum had 75,000 delegates. In 2006 it was
held in three cities: Caracas, Venezuela,
Bamako, Mali, and Karachi, Pakistan. In 2007,
the Forum was hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, in
2009 it was in Belém, Brazil, and in 2011
it was in Dakar, Senegal. In 2012, the WSF
returned to Porto Alegre.
The idea of creating a meeting place for organizations
and individuals opposed to Neoliberalism was
soon replicated elsewhere. The first European
Social Forum (ESF) was held in November 2002
in Florence. The slogan was "Against the war,
against racism and against neo-liberalism".
It saw the participation of 60,000 delegates
and ended with a huge demonstration against
the war (1,000,000 people according to the
organizers). The following ESFs took place
in Paris (2003), London (2004), Athens (2006),
Malmö (2008), and the latest ESF in Istanbul
(2010).
In many countries Social Forums of national
and local scope were also held.
Recently there has been some discussion behind
the movement about the role of the social
forums. Some see them as a "popular university",
an occasion to make many people aware of the
problems of globalization. Others would prefer
that delegates concentrate their efforts on
the coordination and organization of the movement
and on the planning of new campaigns. However
it has often been argued that in the dominated
countries (most of the world) the WSF is little
more than an 'NGO fair' driven by Northern
NGOs and donors most of which are hostile
to popular movements of the poor.
=== North Korea ===
After the Second World War, North Korea followed
a policy of Anti-Globalization. However, in
recent decades have shown a distinctive rise
in globalization movements in North Korea.
Under the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, Pyongyang(2002), introduced a number
of reforms in areas such as technology and
trade. The reform that had the most significance
to North Korea was trade. North Korea saw
a change in trading partnerships. They now
not only traded with themselves but also with
South Korea and China. North Korea introduced
these reforms because they were lacking in
areas of technology and trade and they realized
that they could not maintain themselves as
a society without help from other nations.
But even with these new reforms North Korea
still remains the most isolated society in
the world.
== Criticisms ==
The anti-globalization movement has been criticized
by politicians, members of conservative think
tanks, and many mainstream economists.
=== Lack of evidence ===
Critics assert that the empirical evidence
does not support the views of the anti-globalization
movement. These critics point to statistical
trends which are interpreted to be results
of globalization, capitalism, and the economic
growth they encourage.
There has been an absolute decrease in the
percentage of people in developing countries
living below $1 per day in east Asia (adjusted
for inflation and purchasing power). Sub Saharan
Africa, as an area that felt the consequences
of poor governance and was less responsive
to globalization, has seen an increase in
poverty while all other areas of the world
have seen no change in rates.
The world income per head has increased by
more over period 2002–2007 than during any
other period on the record.
The increase in universal suffrage, from no
nations in 1900 to 62.5% of all nations in
2000.
There are similar trends for electric power,
cars, radios, and telephones per capita as
well as the percentage of the population with
access to clean water. However 1.4 billion
people still live without clean drinking water
and 2.6 billion of the world's population
lack access to proper sanitation. Access to
clean water has actually decreased in the
world's poorest nations, often those that
have not been as involved in globalization.Members
of the anti-globalization movement argue that
positive data from countries which largely
ignored neoliberal prescriptions, notably
China, discredits the evidence that pro-globalists
present. For example, concerning the parameter
of per capita income growth, development economist
Ha-Joon Chang writes that considering the
record of the last two decades the argument
for continuing neo-liberal policy prescriptions
are "simply untenable." Noting that "It depends
on the data we use, but roughly speaking,
per capita income in developing countries
grew at 3% per year between 1960 and 1980,
but has grown only at about 1.5% between 1980
and 2000. And even this 1.5% will be reduced
to 1%, if we take out India and China, which
have not pursued liberal trade and industrial
policies recommended by the developed countries."
Economist and political scientist Mark Pennington
and NYU professor of economics William Easterly
have individually accused Chang of employing
strawman arguments, ignoring counter-data
and failing to employ basic scientific controls
to his claims.Jagdish Bhagwati argues that
reforms that opened up the economies of China
and India contributed to their higher growth
in 1980s and 1990s. From 1980 to 2000 their
GDP grew at average rate of 10 and 6 percent
respectively. This was accompanied by reduction
of poverty from 28 percent in 1978 to 9 percent
in 1998 in China, and from 51 percent in 1978
to 26 percent in 2000 in India. Likewise,
Joseph E. Stiglitz, speaking not only on China
but East Asia in general, comments "The countries
that have managed globalization...such as
those in East Asia, have, by and large, ensured
that they reaped huge benefits..." According
to The Heritage Foundation, development in
China was anticipated by Milton Friedman,
who predicted that even a small progress towards
economic liberalization would produce dramatic
and positive effects. China's economy had
grown together with its economic freedom.
Critics of corporate-led globalization have
expressed concern about the methodology used
in arriving at the World Bank's statistics
and argue that more detailed variables measuring
poverty should be studied. According to the
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR),
the period from 1980–2005 has seen diminished
progress in terms of economic growth, life
expectancy, infant and child mortality, and
to a lesser extent education.
=== Disorganization ===
One of the most common criticisms of the movement,
which does not necessarily come from its opponents,
is simply that the anti-globalization movement
lacks coherent goals, and that the views of
different protesters are often in opposition
to each other. Many members of the movement
are also aware of this, and argue that, as
long as they have a common opponent, they
should march together – even if they don't
share exactly the same political vision. Writers
Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri have together
in their books (Empire & Multitude) expanded
on this idea of a disunified multitude: humans
coming together for shared causes, but lacking
the complete sameness of the notion of 'the
people'.
=== Lack of effectiveness ===
One argument often made by the opponents of
the anti-globalization movement (especially
by The Economist), is that one of the major
causes of poverty amongst third-world farmers
are the trade barriers put up by rich nations
and poor nations alike. The WTO is an organization
set up to work towards removing those trade
barriers. Therefore, it is argued, people
really concerned about the plight of the third
world should actually be encouraging free
trade, rather than attempting to fight it.
Specifically, commodities such as sugar are
heavily distorted by subsidies on behalf of
powerful economies (the United States, Europe,
and Japan), who have a disproportionate influence
in the WTO. As a result, producers in these
countries often receive 2-3x the world market
price. As Amani Elobeid and John Beghin note,
the world price might decline by as much as
48% (by 2011 / 2012 baselines) were these
distortions to be removedMany supporters of
globalization think that policies different
from those of today should be pursued, although
not necessarily those advocated by the anti-globalization
movement. For example, some see the World
Bank and the IMF as corrupt bureaucracies
which have given repeated loans to dictators
who never do any reforms. Some, like Hernando
De Soto, argue that much of the poverty in
the Third World countries is caused by the
lack of Western systems of laws and well-defined
and universally recognized property rights.
De Soto argues that because of the legal barriers
poor people in those countries can not utilize
their assets to produce more wealth.
=== Lack of widespread "Third World" support
===
Critics have asserted that people from poor
(the Developing countries) have been relatively
accepting and supportive of globalization
while the strongest opposition to globalization
has come from wealthy "First World" activists,
unions and NGOs. Alan Shipman, author of "The
Globalization Myth" accuses the anti-globalization
movement of "defusing the Western class war
by shifting alienation and exploitation to
developing-country sweatshops." He later goes
on to claim that the anti-globalization movement
has failed to attract widespread support from
poor and working people from the developing
nations, and that its "strongest and most
uncomprehending critics had always been the
workers whose liberation from employment they
were trying to secure."These critics assert
that people from the Third World see the anti-globalization
movement as a threat to their jobs, wages,
consuming options and livelihoods, and that
a cessation or reversal of globalization would
result in many people in poor countries being
left in greater poverty. Jesús F. Reyes Heroles
the former Mexican Ambassador to the US, stated
that "in a poor country like ours, the alternative
to low-paid jobs isn't well-paid ones, it's
no jobs at all."Egypt's Ambassador to the
UN has also stated "The question is why all
of a sudden, when third world labor has proved
to be competitive, why do industrial countries
start feeling concerned about our workers?
When all of a sudden there is a concern about
the welfare of our workers, it is suspicious."On
the other hand, there have been notable protests
against certain globalization policies by
workers in developing nations as in the cause
of Indian farmers protesting against patenting
seeds.In the last few years, many developing
countries (esp. in Latin America and Caribbean)
created alter-globalization organizations
as economic blocs Mercosur and Unasur, political
community CELAC or Bank of the South which
are supporting development of low income countries
without involvement from IMF or World Bank.
== See also ==
== Notes
