Global Justice Movements:
Questions, Approaches, Answers
Dieter Rucht
Research Group „Civil Society, Citizenship and
Political Mobilization in Europe“
Masarykova univerzita Brno, December 2, 2008
Questions
1. What are the Global Justice Movements (GJMs)?
2. How did the GJMs emerge and develop?
3. What are the structures and strategies of GJMs?
4. What is the impact of GJMs?
What is a social movement?
- A network of individuals, groups and
organizations
- based on a sense of collective identity
- aiming at fundamental social change
- (predominantly) by means of collective and
public protest
1. What are the GJMs)?
Negatively defined:
Social movements against neoliberalism and its
negative side effects
(marketization/commodification of public goods,
withdrawal of the state, exploitation of human
labor, environmental degradation, destruction of
indigenous economies and cultures…)
Positively defined:
Social movements aiming at global justice,
solidarity and democratization:
„Another World is Possible“
The struggle over naming the
movements
Anti-globalization movement, anti-globals,
mouvement antimondialiste
= negatively loaded)
- „global justice movements“ (Anglo-american)
- „globalisierungskritische Bewegungen“
(German)
- „mouvements altermondialistes“ (French)
2. How did the GJMs emerge and
develop?
The myth of Seattle 1999:
The alleged birth of the GJMs
Protests before Seattle I I
Venue
Bonn
Berlin
Washington,
D.C.
Date
1985
1988
1990
Occasion
G7 Summit
Worldbank and IMF
Worldbank and IMF
Munich
Naples
Madrid
1992
1994
1994
Halifax
1995
G7 Summit
G7 Summit
Worldbank and IMF,
50th anniversary
G7 Summit
Johannesburg April 1996
Lyon
Chiapas/
Mexico
1996
27.7.-2.8.1996
Denver
1997
UN trade conference
(UNCTAD); 2500 to
3000 delegates
G7 Summit
G7 Summit
Number of Protesters
20.000-30.000
50.000-80.000 at mass rally
'Parallel Summit', organised by the
Bank Information Center in
Washington;
partly massive protests (taz 3/11/98)
demonstrations
parallel summit themed „50 years is
enough“
demonstrations, formation of the
Halifax Initiative
kleinere Gegenkonferenz der NGOs
im nahe gelegenen Midrand
protests
international Zapatista convention,
ca. 3.000 participants from more
than 100 countries
protests
Protests before Seattle II
Venue
Singapore
Date
Occasion
1996 December WTO conference, 4.000
delegates from 150
countries
Hong Kong
Vancouver
1997
1997
Davos
Birmingham
Geneva
1998 January
1998 May
1998 May
Cologne
Seattle
1999 June
1999 Nov/Dec
Number of Protesters
min. 300 representatives of NGOs;
interdiction of demonstrations; only
press conferences by NGOs
permitted
small parallel summit
“thousands” of protesters
Worldbank and IMF
Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC)
World Economic Forum
G8 Summit
70.000 protesters
WTO-conference, 50th 'People’s Global Action' with 4.000
anniversary
to 8.000 participants; shop windows
smashed, cars set on fire; tear gas,
20 arrests; 700 arrests reported in email; caravan „Money or Live“ with
60 participants broken up by police
G8 Summit
35.000
WTO
40.000 to 50.000
Protests after Seattle I
Ort
Washington,
D.C.
Okinawa, Japan
Prag
Melbourne
Nizza
Davos
Porto Alegre I,
Brasilien
Zeit
2000
April
2000
Juli
2000
September
2000
September
2000
Dezember
2001
Januar
2001
Januar
Buenos Aires
2001
April
Washington
2001
April
2001
Mai
Honolulu
Anlass/Bezugspunkt
Weltbank und IWF,
Tagung
G8-Gipfel
Protestierende
5.000 bis 10.000 Demonstranten; ca.
200 Gewalttäter, ca. 2.000 Festnahmen
10.000 bis 27.000 Demonstranten
Weltbank und IWF,
Tagung
World Economic Forum
(Asiatisch-Pazifisches
Treffen), 850 Teilnehmer
EU Gipfel
10.000 bis 12.000 Demonstranten;
859 Verhaftete
mehr als 5.000 Demonstranten
World Economic Forum
3.000 Demonstranten in Davos, 2.000
in Bern; 70 Verhaftete
knapp 10.000 Teilnehmer/innen
60.000 bis 80.000 Demonstranten
Indirekter Bezug des
World Social Forum zum
parallelen World
Economic Forum
Free Trade Area of the
mehr als 10.000 Demonstranten
Americas,
Ministertreffen
Weltbank und IWF,
400 Demonstranten
Tagung
Asian Development
1.500 Demonstranten
Bank
Protests after Seattle II
Quebec City
2001
April
Göteborg
2001
Juni
Genua
2001
Juli
Brüssel
2002
Dezember
New York
2002
Januar
Porto Alegre II, 2002
Brasilien
Januar/
Februar
Barcelona
Hong Kong
Scotland,
Gleneagles
Germany,
Heiligendamm
2002
März
2005
Dezember
2005
June 2007
Free Trade Area of the
Americas, Tagung
EU-Gipfel
20.000 bis 30.000 Demonstranten, 400
Festnahmen
Ca. 25.000 Demonstranten
G8-Gipfel
200.000 Demonstranten
EU-Gipfel
Ca. 60.000 Demonstranten (13.12) und
ca. 25.000 Demonstranten (15.12)
World Economic Forum 2.000 bis 10.000 Demonstranten
Indirekter Bezug des
50.000 Teilnehmer/innen
World Social Forum zum
parallelen World
Economic Forum
EU-Gipfel
85.000 Demonstranten (07.03) und ca.
300.000 Demonstranten (09.03)
WTO meeting
G8-meeting
Several ten thousands
G8-meeting
70,000 Demonstrators
20
05
20
04
20
03
20
02
20
01
20
00
19
99
19
98
19
97
19
96
19
95
19
94
19
93
19
92
19
91
19
90
Growth of Global Justice Events 1990-2005
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
3. What are the structures and
strategies of GJMs?
Dimensions of transnational protest mobilization
Dimension
Value
Scope of mobilization
local
global
Participating countries
bilateral
Degree of formalization
formal
Structure
vertical
horizontal
Decision-making
majority rule
consensus
Range of topics
single issue
Kind of change
personal change
Strategy
reformist
Action orientation
event-oriented
Action form
moderate
multilateral
informal
multiple issue
structural change
revolutionary
domain-oriented
radical
Map of GJM Groups in Germany
moderate field
reformist
Misereor,
Brot für
die Welt
BUND
church-based
action groups
local
NSM groups
social
fora
spontaneous
unions
Weed
Attac
Die Linke
intermediary
networks
BUKO
PGA
anti-systemical field
Linksruck
SAV
FAU
radical
organised
The Charter of Porto Alegre
The charter of the principles was established after the first Social
Forum of 2001 in Porto Alegre to perennialize the initiative and to
establish a general control, according to federator principles which
made the success of the Forum.
1. The World Social Forum is an open meeting place for reflective thinking,
democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of
experiences and interlinking for effective action, by groups and movements
of civil society that are opposed to neoliberalism and to domination of the
world by capital and any form of imperialism, and are committed to building
a planetary society directed towards fruitful relationships among
Humanking and between it and the Earth.
8. The World Social Forum is a plural, diversified, non-confessional, nongovernmental and non-party context that, in a decentralized fashion,
interrelates organizations and movements engaged in concrete action
at levels from the local to the international to built another world.
9. The World Social Forum will always be a forum open to pluralism and
to the diversity of activities and ways of engaging of the organizations
and movements that decide to participate in it, as well as the diversity
of genders, ethnicities, cultures, generations and physical capacities,
providing they abide by this Charter of Principles. Neither party
representations nor military organizations shall participate in the
Forum. Government leaders and members of legislatures who accept
the commitments of this Charter may be invited to participate in a
personal capacity.
Approved and adopted in São Paulo, on April 9, 2001, by the organizations
that make up the World Social Forum Organizating Committee, approved
with modifications by the World Social Forum International Council on
June 10, 2001.
http://www.portoalegre2002.org/default.html
World Social Forums
Est. no. of
participants
Delegates from
NGOs &
movements
Accredited
journalists
No. of
countries
Budget
Porto Alegre
January 2001
Porto Alegre
January 2002
20,000
4,700
1,870
117
n.a.
50,000
12,274 from
4,009 groups
3,356
123
Porto Alegre
January 2003
Mumbai
January 2004
Porto Alegre
January 2005
Caracas
January 2006
Bamako
January 2006
Karachi
March 2006
Nairobi
January 2007
120,000
4,000
123
111,000
20,763 from
5,171 groups
1,653 groups
1.55 million €
from official
sources
4 to 6 million €
3,200
117
155,000
6,588 groups
6,588
135
52,000 2,500 groups;
almost
80,000
19,000 delegates 5,000
15,000 - 20,000 289-584 groups n.a.
140
1.5 to 3.8
million €
3.3 to 5 million
€
6.6 million €
51
2 million €
30,000 - 40,000 350-400
Groups
50,000 - 57,000 n.a.
n.a.
46
200,000 Euro
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
Geographical distribution of Indymedias
Region
USA
Canada
Latin America
Europe
Asia
Africa
Oceania
Total
2002
(June)
2003
(June)
2004
(June)
2005
(June)
2006
(June)
2008
(June)
39
46
53
56
61
60 (52a)
11
11
12
13
12
13 (6)
9
14
15
17
17
18 (18)
20
31
40
41
47
66 (62)
3
5
8
8
12
10 (6)
2
3
5
5
5
6 (5)
5
7
8
12
8
8 (6)
89
117
141
153
162
170
Source: Web Searches/Rucht et al.
a
Numbers in brackets: Websites that were accessible at the time of the web search.
4. What is the impact of GJMs?
Impact dimension
Level of impact
Information about GJMs’
issues
Medium
Individual attitudes
Low
Individual behaviors
Almost none
Agenda setting
Medium to high
Policy impact
Varies considerably across issues (soft vs. hard)
and countries (e.g., Latin America)
Among the few successes are:
- Ban of Landmines
- Withdrawal from MAI (Multilateral
Agreement on Investment)
- Failure of Doha process
Polity impact
Almost none (some changes in international
institutions such as World Bank)
Power constellation
Almost none (if changes, mainly due to an alliance
between movements and some governments)
Number of articles on different campaigns in
German newspapers
taz
FR
SZ
Welt
FAZ
Bild
Zeit
Spiegel
Focus
Total
Seattle
25
22
25
26
24
2
4
1
0
129
Prague
34
15
22
23
15
2
2
0
0
113
Genoa
98
57
80
48
54
25
9
17
6
394
Götheborg
11
7
3
10
11
2
1
2
4
51
Bush in Heiligen
Berlin -damm
44
314
18
83
16
163
36
88
31
109
40
64
7
14
3
12
4
11
199
858
Proportion of thematic foci in German
newspapers (per cent)
HeiligenThematic focus
Seattle Prag
Genua damm
Protest
33,9
32,8
32,7
37,7
Only violent protest
6,9
7,1
10,6
9,8
Security/Police
1,5
5,3
28,7
24,9
Only police violence
0,0
5,3
13,6
0,6
Official Summit
51,5
38,1
15,6
11,7
Arguments by officials
7,7
14,2
1,8
3,2
Arguments by demonstrators
1,5
0,9
3,8
1,7
Globalization
3,1
2,7
5,0
1,4
Other focus
0,8
6,2
12,1
19,5
Total (Percent)
100
100
100
100
N
130
113
398
1158
Evaluation of protesters in different campaigns
in German newspapers
Evaluation of protesters
Seattle
Prag
Genua
Heiligendamm
Taz
1,00
1,38
0,60
0,24
FR
1,20
1,00
0,45
0,03
SZ
0,89
0,29
0,45
0,10
Welt
1,67
0,40
0,32
-0,71
FAZ
0,64
1,00
0,23
-0,58
Bild
0,00
-2,00
-0,91
-1,49
Zeit
1,00
2,00
0,00
-0,31
Spiegel
1,00
0,92
0,40
-0,25
-0,89
Focus
Total
N
0,90
0,81
0,41
-0,11
39
36
254
801
*Evaluations from -3 (very negative) to +3 (very positive). Figures in italics: N<5.
Content Analysis of Newspaper Coverage on Prague 2000
Newspaper
Circulation
Ideological leaning
GERMANY
die tageszeitung (taz), daily
60.000
Left-libertarian. close to NSM
Frankfurter Rundschau (FR), daily
175.000
Left-liberal. close to trade unions
Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), daily
420.000
Liberal. independent
Die Welt, daily
Frankfurter Allg. Zeitung (FAZ), daily
265.000
Conservative
420.000
Conservative
Bild, daily
4.375.000
Conservative. tabloid
Die Zeit, weekly
440.000
Liberal
Der Spiegel, weekly
Die Woche, weekly
1.00.000
135.000
Liberal
Left
Focus, weekly
780.000
Conservative
CZECH REPUBLIC
Lidové Noviny, daily
82.000 (1999)
Serious. center-right
Právo, daily
249.000 (1999)
Mladá Fronta, daily
354.000 (1999)
Critical towards government;
highly professional
Serious. center-right
Týden, weekly. political magazine
21.000 (2001)
Liberal. lost critical zeal
Blesk, daily
Respekt, weekly
284.000 (1999) Tabloid. low quality
357.627 (04/02)
417.000 (12/02)
approx. 30.000 *Center. modern. somewhat
superficial
The foci of newspaper articles on the Prague event (per cent)
Focus
Germany
Czech
Republic
Summit in general
38.1
12.2
Arguments of the officials
14.2
1.3
Police/security in general
14.7
Police non-violent action
2.1
Police violent action
Protest in general
5.3
10.0
25.7
11.1
Demonstrators' non-violent action
Demonstrators' violent action
8.1
7.1
27.3
.9
6.2
Globalization in general
2.7
6.8
Other foci
6.2
.2
100.0
100.0
Arguments of the demonstrators
Total
The space devoted to main themes in newspaper articles
on the Prague event
Germany
Czech Republic
Number of
articles*
Aggregated**
space
Ø of
space***
Aggregated
Space**
2,7
Number
of
arcticles*
673
Protest
119
326
Summit
47
Police
1834
2,7
131
2,8
126
289
2,3
36
101
2,8
310
787
2,5
4
11
2,8
17
40
2,3
Claims
179
492
2,7
206
449
2,2
Other
121
326
2,7
50
105
2,1
Total
393
1078
2,7
1382
3504
2,5
Investigations
* Number of articles reporting on the particular theme (multiple response question)
** Aggregated space for the theme, based on a 6-point scale (1 = any; 6 = all).
*** Average of space per article per country
Ø of
space***
Police actions as reported in newspapers (in percent)
Germany
Type of action
Czech
Republic
Police surveillance/repression prior to event
21.9
2.4
Formal restrictions on protest location/march route
15.6
9.4
9.4
2.0
Border restrictions/arrests
Search of protesters' headquarters prior to event
0.6
Physical blockage and/or removal of demonstrators
24.7
Agents provocateur (or suspicion thereof)
3.1
8.2
Use of water cannons
3.1
4.1
15.6
1.2
3.1
2.9
Use of chemicals and/or pepper spray
Use of batons
Use of rubber bullets
Arrests of demonstrators
2.4
21.9
17.1
Denial of food and/or water to arrested protesters
1.2
Denial of access for protestors to lawyers/telephone
0.6
Physical abuse of (arrested) protesters
6.3
4.7
Other
0.6
0.5
Total
100
100
Conclusion
-
-
new generation of „progressive“ movements,
but not a genuinely new type of movements
„diversity instead of monotony“, plurality of
movements
participation, deliberation, consensus principle
(„horizontals“)
tendency to stagnate in the north, open
dynamics in the south
differentiated impact:
agenda setting: substantial
policy effects: minor, most likely on „soft
issues“
institutional effects: marginal