Global Justice Movement

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Activists protest policies of the World Bank in Washington, DC
Activists protest policies of the World Bank in Washington, DC

The Global Justice Movement is the broad transnational social movement opposing what is often known as “corporate globalization” and promoting equal distribution of economic resources.

A number of organisations and groups using this term have emerged at the beginning of this century - see links and references.

Contents

The Global Justice Movement describes the loose collection of individuals and groups—often referred to as a “movement of movements”—who advocate fair international trading rules and are critical of current institutions of global economic governance such as the World Trade Organization.[1] The movement is often labelled the anti-globalization movement by the mainstream media. Those involved, however, deny that they are “anti-globalization,” insisting that they support the globalization of communication and people and oppose only the global expansion of corporate power.[2] The term further indicates an anti-capitalist and universalist perspective on globalization, distinguishing the movement from those opponents of globalization whose politics are based on a conservative defence of national sovereignty. Participants include student groups, NGOs, trade unions, faith-based and peace groups throughout the world.

The movement is characterized by the massive citizen protests and alternative summits which have, for the last decade, accompanied most meetings of the G8, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank. The movement came to the attention of many in the US when activists successfully used protests to shut down the 1999 WTO Ministerial in Seattle. This represented, however, just one of a series of massive Global Justice protests that have included protests at the 1988 World Bank/IMF meetings in Germany,[3] "IMF riots" in Indonesia over the price of food in 1998,[4] and "water wars" in Bolivia over World Bank-imposed policies.[5]

The Global Justice movement places a significant emphasis on transnational solidarity uniting activists in the global South and global North. The World Social Forum is one excellent example of this emphasis, bringing activists together from around the world to focus on shared philosophy and campaigning. The Jubilee campaign has been among the uniting efforts activists have worked on together, calling for cancellation of unpayable third world debt.

The ethics of the Global Justice movement can be understood in a single acronym[citation needed]: G.R.A.C.E.[1] This acronym stands for the 5 major ethnics and/or beliefs of the movement:

  • Global Justice for All
  • Respect for the Earth
  • Abundance is Possible
  • Creativity at Work
  • Economic Democracy

according to the website of an organization called the Global Justice Movement.

The first principle, Global Justice for All, is the belief that with the innovations of the 20th and 21st centuries, it is possible for all persons of the world to seek out their own destiny, to have free and easy access to warm housing, food, and clean air and water.

The methods of procuring these rights are also included in the second principle of the Global Justice Movement, which demands respect for the earth. The earth and humanity are interdependent, and respect for the earth equals respect for all of humanity.[2]

The third principle of the Global Justice movement deals with freedom, and basically says that all human being are free and equal, and must be treated as such, especially through free speech, truly free markets, and equal access to property, and equality before the law.[3]

The fourth and fifth principles outline the urgent need for regulation and protection against personal privateering. The fourth principle is entitled “Creativity At Work”. According to this, the hierarchy of human work ranges from improvement of the social order to work for personal survival. The higher form is improving social order, which is also important for success in the fifth principle, listed as “Economic Democracy”. This talks about the importance of democratic government (true democratic governments, as outlined in principle three) to secure the rights of the people, and to govern for the benefit of the public, providing that the management of these affairs does in no way interfere with a citizen’s personal rights within the society.[4]

Some of the chief concerns of the Global Justice movement centre on the recognition of widespread poverty, hunger and homeless, and alienation from central government, as well as the increasing wage gaps. Crime and corruption are also recognized as problems within our society[5] . Acknowledging this, the global justice movement seeks to address and correct these social ills, not through traditional governmental organizations, but with the organization of humanity, in order to advance genuine empowerment of society, and maintain the security and self-determination of all peoples[6] . It is this vision that allows the Global Justice movement to be comprised of many different movements, such as environmentalism movements, women’s rights, and anti-capitalist movements. In order to achieve this vision, the movement deals with several obstacles that present themselves within the emerging global marketplace, and lists several changes that will have to take place. The first is the right to full participation of all persons in productive asset ownership, combined with the democratization of credit, in order to distribute ownership more evenly, which is designed to close the gap between the rich and the poor[7] . The movement also recognizes the importance of maintaining the rights already held by the rich, while at the same time achieving those same rights for the poor.

  • Rodney Shakespeare & Peter Challen, Seven Steps to Justice. London: New European Publications Limited, 2002. http://www.globaljusticemovement.net/home/seven-steps.htm
  • Alex Callinicos, An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto. London: Polity, 2003.
  • Notes from Nowhere, We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism. London: Verso, 2003.
  • David Solnit, Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World'.' San Francisco: City Lights, 2003.
  • Tom Mertes, Movement of Movements. New York: Verso, 2004.
  • Donatella Della Porta, The Global Justice Movement: Cross-national And Transnational Perspectives. New York: Paradigm, 2006.
  • The Global Justice Movement: http://www.globaljusticemovement.org

  1. ^ Tom Mertes, "A Movement of Movements", New York: Verso, 2004
  2. ^ della Porta, D. 2005. “The Social Bases of the Global Justice Movement: Some Theoretical Reflections and Empirical Evidence from the First European Social Forum.” Civil Society and Social Movements Programme Paper No. 21.Geneva: UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development).
  3. ^ http://www.daysofdissent.org.uk/berlin.htm
  4. ^ Greg Palast interviewing Joseph Steiglitz, "IMF’s Four steps to Damnation" The Observer (London), 29 April, 2001: http://www.jubileeresearch.org/analysis/articles/IMF_Four_steps_Damnation.htm
  5. ^ The Democracy Center, "Bechtel Vs. Bolivia: The Bolivian Water Revolt", http://www.democracyctr.org/bechtel/
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