In recent decades, globalization has become a huge and objective indispensable tendency of the age having vigorous influence every country in the world. However, if globalization is a objective, necessary, law-abiding and irreversible tendency, why does the protesting against globalization movement spreads widely?
It is equally and without prejudice to say that globalization is a tendency which takes progressive direction onto human social development in general and in world economy in particular. It is the necessary outcome of the development of productive forces, as well as of science and technology, especially information technology.
Economically, globalization has been giving opportunities for countries to take full advantage of it to speed up their developing rate. Because globalization is a general condition for promoting productive forces, science and technology; also speeding up the division of labor in the world scale, and give condition for all nations to utilize absolutely their advantages through cooperations in international commerce and investment.
Politically, culturally and socially, globalization also has some possitive effects. It has brought countries and nations closer together and increased the interdependence of different systems of economy. Therefore it fosters and orients nations towards dialogue and cooperation, as well as reduce the danger of war on large area… In this context, globalization also gives opportunities for nations to broaden their cultural exchanges and import other nation’s cultural values in order to enrich their own cultures; concurrently, it speeds up the cooperation among nations in order to resolve effectively global problems, such as polution, international crime, life-threatening diseases, population, drug abuse and prostitution, etc.
Globalization’s possitive influences has awoken humankind by the needs of developing integration. However, globalization also gives great challenges to many countries, especially the developing ones. These challenges warn people of the tendency of globalization. In recent years, movements of anti-globalization have appeared in various ways and levels, for example: articles, publications, lectures, conferences, demonstrations, even using violence. Prominently, marathon demonstrations with crowed people of different stratums from many countries outside the important international conferences have become a popular phenomenon.
Form and scale of demonstrations are not the same, but all of them are in careful arrangement, and from time to time attracts more and more public attention all over the world.
The main initiators and leading forces of anti-globalization demonstrations are non government organizations (NGO) and social groups (often belong to the left wing), involving national and international ones, and progressive people from different countries over the world. They deputize for different groups of benefit and interest, who work in various fields, such as trade union, education, health care, culture, women’s right, monority’s right, religion, environment, human right. In some case, they are also supported and encouraged by political parties and government from backside. The special “glue” to consolidate all people from different countries and fields in a united movement of anti-globalization is their common “destiny” – the victims of globalization, who have lost every thing, be pushed aside to the edge and suffer all injustice by this process.
An International Anti-Globalization Organization was founded in Porto Aleger, Brazil, in 2001. It is named World Social Forum (WSF) – a counterpoit to the World Economic Forum (WEF). It is considered as an “international forum for promoting humanright, social justice and sustainable development”, so that it received much more popular support of individuals and organizations in the world.
The WSF’s programe is “… to discuss the project of superseding the economy in order to heighten human right, social justice and sustainable development…The WSF’s development is indispensable consequence of an international movement demanding for the representation of civil society in IMF, WB and WTO’s financial institutions. In recent decades these institutions had made policies influencing people’s life all over the world, but they did not have open report as their regulation, and also without democratic participation… The WSF will concentrate on issues, such as: project of economic policies, promoting the human development, international projects of the development of local grassroots orgnizations; proposing petitions about the worlf institutions, such as IMF, WTO and WB; Nations’ influence on local communities; to propose initiative for sustainable development on order to avoid poverty and to preserve environment; to protest against racism, gender unequality, to protect land and native culture”(1).
In number of years ago, the WSF has struggled for:
1. Global citizen should has right to be delegate properly in multipartite institutions of WTO, IMF, WB and many other organizations which are making global policies according to the needs of developed countries and transnational corporations.
2. To promote debt relief for poor countries with the reason that, it is the very colonialist, imperialist countries are in debt and they have guilty with the developing ones.
3. To observe the sovereignty of nations, and should not be in the name of globalization to trample on economic and politic independence of other nations. Do not allow the multipartite institutes to determine the finance, economy, commerce in the world.
4. To deploy sustainable development, give priority to each nation’s need, use internal force as fundamental one, in combining with international cooperation.
5. To build a world with justice and harmony of development and environment, of developed and developing countries, of economy and culture, society, of male and female(2).
In addition to the WSF, other regional forums also come in to being and operate actively, such as Asia Social Forum (ASF) in Hyderabad, India; Europe Social Forum (ESF) in Florence, Italia… In the same time, there are many anti-globalization organizations founded. For example, the “2000 Festival” group involves about 1000 associations (most of them are religious ones and as NGO) from nearly 70 countries, whose goal is to struggle with social aspects of IMF and WB, in order to ask them for the quittance to poor countries; the “Network Observing WB” group consists of 16 associations from 11 countries of Middle and East Europe with the goal to supervise the IMF’s actions and its influence on society and environment; The “Friends of Globe” involves more than 1 million members from 61 countries, special concerning the problem of invironment protection; The OXFAM does pay attention to the aim of “eradication of stavation and reduction of poverty”; The trade union “50 Years More Than Enough” consists of 205 associations with the demand of absolutely regorganizing IMF and WB… In addition, other national associations also take very important role in the movement of anti-globalization, such as the Association of German Social Member; the Association of Ruckus Society in America with the aim to protect forest, and protest against globalization and polution; The Ameican Youth Union who protects students’ benefit and protests against anti-racism; In United Kingdom there is 26-9 Group who protects environment, the poor and the third countries…
Slogans or goals of the demonstrations of anti-globalization are multiform, they depend on the themes of different conferences and participants of every demonstration. For example, the slogans as: Jobs for unemployment; Eradication of hunger and reduction of poverty; Stop subsidizing for agriculture and garment industry in rich countries; Preserving traditional culture… In short, the general and permanent goal of this movement is for a better globalization for the sake of human, that can be expressed fundamentally as: “Another Globalization is necessary” or “Another Globalization is possible”. Those slogans express obviously the aim of the movement. It does not object possitive aspects and results of globalization, but only protest against the negative aspects of this process, and exactly, struggles with capitalist globalization. For them, in present globalization is operating not in equal, and manipulated by developed capitalist countries. Thus it serves small number of the rich people, but damages the marority of the poor. They believe that, it is necessary to reform the principles of WTO, IMF and WB in the direction of more equal, justice, and humane. Even Mike Moore, the general director of WTO, conceded that, “Some time I have the feeling of company with the guys outside (means young guys are demonstrating against globalization). They are not always wrong”(3). It needs to understand that, non-globalization or dissolved globalization means to take a change from a global economy, which is moving in the orbit of transnational corporations with their intruments as IMF, WTO, WB and G8… to a new economy, which provides harmoniously the benefits among nations, countries, communities. Since, “nobody objects to the true, the good, the beautiful, the lofty, and the ideals of bourgeoisie revolution about the liberal, the equality, the humane if all of them are globalized, but it is necessary to struggle against the evil, the bad, the harmful which are expanded in the world by capitalism”(4).
Mahathir Mohamad, in his presentation at a conference in Kuala Lumpur on February 26 2000, appealed to reconstruct “a new world order” – one is not only new but also juster, smoother, kinder and more useful, altruistic with full of compassion. For him, “such world order will specially concentrates on moral and ethics, freedom and independence, justice and mutual respect, useful democracy and total human right”(5). A new globalization, according to him, “must be formed prudentially. Its determination should take into acount all human beings in any coner of the globe… This globalization must be deployed deliberately and its most important endeavour directs toward the most backward regions in the world”(6).
Thus, to object to globalization does not mean to oppose an objective tendency of history, but means oppose its blemish, dark sides which arise from this process and make harm for not small part of people of nations all over the planet. The object which is protested against vigorously and permanently is the very transnational corporations and international financial, commercial organizations, such as IMF, WB and WTO. We do not deny the need of those organizations as intruments for controling, managing and speeding up the process of development of globalization. But the matter is how will “a world common market” come into being when the most developed capitalist countries, transnational corporations are dominating and manipulating the world economy with its finance, commerce? Nowadays, transnational corporations are considered as powerful influences over government. They are pursuing profit, over-exploiting natural resource, deteriorating environment. They are also treated as the main driving force of globalization aiming at expanding its power and exploitaion in countries, those are damaging national cultural identity and national sovereignity. More than that, IMF, WB, WTO are often considered by most of protestators as the intruments to realize globalization, to serve transnational corporations and the rich countries’ benefit, but not deal with many countries’ problems of socio-economy as the same as those of globalization. Those organizations were founded by capitalist countries and manipulated by them as well. So that they must serve the benefit of the very countries only.
Those struggles against globalization have proved that, globalization which is at present has its “realy problem” and humankind needs “another globalization”. In other words, the movement of anti-globalization was proceeded from fundamental reasons as follow:
Firstly, the fundamental reason is the double-faced influence of globalization. It does not only provide opportunities, but also gives great challenges. May be they are the “defects” of globalization. Those “disasters” caused by them are unequality, and injustice in producing benefit and enjoying it, the reduce of humane, humanitarian ideal of humankind. The “defects” of globalization has kindled the initiation for struggles against globalization and now they develop vigoriously in the world.
The recent activities of anti-globalization have expressed the reaction of a part of people in facing negative influences of globalization.
Secondly, NGOs have developed rapidly and played an important role in resolving social issues. In spite of the government’s control, these organizations even take full opportunities to gather their force, affirm their position and participate more frequently in resolving world and nation’s problems.
Thirdly, due to the backside support from the political left-wing and number of politicians of some countries with their policies of giving high prominent to national thought, opposing against international capitalism or taking best advantages of the movement of anti-globalization for their own aim.
Fourthly, the quick expansion of the internet, transportation and free travel among countries are so convenient to inform and assemble forces and gather more people from places in the world in short time.
Certainly, the movement of anti-globalization has not yet pushed back successfully the current tendency of globalization, which is basically belong to the vigorious capitalism. However it has made considerable influence on the making decisive policy of interantional economic organizations, even contributed its part to dissipate many important conferences of WTO,IMF and WB. For example, with the encourage of the movement of anti-globalization the deligation of developing countries did not sign in the “very vague” documents of developing free commerce without any condition in the third congress of minister hold by WTO in Xiaton. Finally, this congress failed to get any joint declaration. Recently, the fail of the fifth WTO congress of miniters in Cancun hold by developed countries, because they insisted on keeping the same level of food subsidies, which gives distress for agriculture at developing countries and pushes famers fall into stavation and poverty. In many multipartite conferences and forums, delegations of many countries specially emphasized the problems such as: innovating the istitution of world fanical organizations (IMF, WB); many developed countries has pledges to obsolve the poor countries from payment of debt; giving more advantages for developing countries; concentraing on problems of employment and envirionment. At the same time they requested more jobs and employments, more improved working condition, human right and environment. On one hand they forced transnational corporations and governments to pay more attention to problems of unemployment, subsidizing for unemployment, improving working condition, preserving environment; on the other hand, they directly affected the arrangement of very coming rounds of negotiations by WTO.
Nevertheless, the movement of anti-globalization has its own limitations:
One, due to the serious disparity of interests and huge diversity of participants, the movement is not globally organized and even without a consistent leadership. Fundamentally it is a self-prompted movement that operates “seasonly”, only when there are important conferences of world organizations.
Two, this movement does not deputize for the interests of majority of social members, but it basically protects the interests of social groups which more or less did or will bear the negative influence of globalization. On the other hand, among them who directly participates the movement, not every one of them struggles against globalization unconditionally. But, most of them only object or simply express their fearful of the negative impacts from globalization.
Three, even with their more important role, but NGO should not exceed over governments and transnational corporations, thus it is difficult to maintain the movement vigoriously and in long term. In addition, the movement is disturbed with violence done by some extreme political groups, and more dangerously by terrorists; so that it is not supported by the whole society. This also lessens its possitive meaning.
In the future, the movement of anti-globalization will develop and expand in more countries and regions; at the same time it will have stronger impact on the decision-making process of governments and world organizations. However, it needs to learn that this movement only struggle against paradoxes, injustices of globalization, which is controled by rich and capitalist forces; it does not protest against a general one and never against its possitive influences. This struggle only can get its final success when completely resolve the very roots of globalization’s negative influences. Is is the contradiction between the high level of socialization of productive forces and capitalist private ownership. This means capitalist regime must be replaced by a new and more progressive – the socialist one. By the time, we would have the expected globalization together with a new world order full of justice and sustability that directs to the interests of every nations and people on the globe.r
(Translated by Hoang Thi Tho)
