European Social Forum Gets Underway: Four Influential Authors

Just a few days ago i finished a book called “Anti-Capitalism“. The title really should have been Alter-Globalization because it was a chronology of a global movement against so called neo-liberal economic policies. I have known people who are involved in this movement for some time, but i have been only marginally interested. After my reading however I was keen to find out more about how the movement is developing and how i could get involved. The best place to get involved is probably the World Social Forum (wikipedia), but that is in southamerica and i`d rather not fly. The second most obvious place for a european would be the regional European Social Forum. It turns out that this starts today! So i was a bit late.

I`ve reading a few books on the alter-globalisation (anti-globalisation) movement and a couple of names that keep reapearing are Susan George (recent book) of the Transnational Institute and Walden Bello (recent book) of Global South. In the UK a couple of other names George Monbiot (recent book) and Naomi Klien (recent book) are more well known due to thier best selling books; i love both of these authors but there roles seem to be more in terms of publicising the movement although neither of them are simply communicators.

The internet being brillian as always makes learning the basics of the movement remarkably easy:

Susan George:

Walden Bello:

Naomi Klien:

George Monbiot:

Climate change for agenda pushing?

One idea that was not uncommon at the Camp for Climate Action was that people have started using climate change to push there own political agenda. More specifically, Climate Camp has a distinct anti-capitalist flavour. Some therefore see the advancement of an anti capitalist agenda as extra baggage that we are being persuaded to drag along with our attempts to mitigate climate change. We certainly don’t need extra baggage, this is a long and arduous journey. The other side of this, that many at climate camp actually conceive as there position, is that climate change is a product of capitalist society and that although–in the technical sense–all we need to do is reduce emissions, we wont be able to do this without progress on a much larger political agenda.

I pointed out these two distinct positions at a climate camp meeting, i also argued in favour of the latter position. In 1988 the WCED produced a report called ‘Our Common Future’ which gave an overview of our planet’s situation, and a framing of the issues as development and economic issues not narrowly environmental. Despite the modern framing and clarity, the report has largely failed in mobilising the world on the requisite scale. There are two options that could explain this, firstly, there wasn’t enough knowledge throughout society of the issues being discussed and not enough people to push the agenda, secondly, the report could have missed out an important angle. It seems to me simply based on the scope of the report that the sidelining of political and economic power in its analysis was likely to be at least partly responsible for the lack of movement created. However, the best evidence for this is included in the report, it seems to highlight its own deficiencies–there are conclusions that the report seems to suggest but does not articulate.

So those are two extreme positions, the technical approach is where people start when connections are not obvious to them. The latter position is where they may end up if they don’t see the possibility of serious reform as a worthy alternative to dismantling the capitalist system. I`m currently a reformist capitalist with doubts about this approach but with the belief that it can allow progress if not solution of our planets immediate convergent crisis.

Naomi Klien: Two Ways to Deal With Climate Change

On Monday 19th of May Naomi Klein launched the paperback version of The Shock Doctrine in the UK. Rather than a traditional book launch she opted to launch the book at a fundraiser for Hands Off Iraqi Oil.

A facinating talk was given with many topics covored ranging from why concervatives are happier than lefties and liberals to the importance of the concept of ecological debt, the leftward trends in south america and–in this clip–a discussion of the way in which corporations are adjusting to and drawing profits from the results of climate change.