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Anti-Globalization and Anarchism

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Anti-globalization, in terms of how it is addressed by anarchism (and anarchists), is more accurately dissected as anti-statism, anti-capitalist, and generally, anti-oppression. Anarchism as a tradition and a practice has, historically and presently, been misunderstood on all sides of the political spectrum. On the left, some Marxists perceive anarchists to be an unorganised rabble incapable of forging any concrete idea or method of radical social change; on the right, anarchists are mostly seen as violent discontents interested in destruction and terror. In actuality however, anarchism proves to be a highly dynamic and progressive tradition, which gives serious considerations to organization, progressive social, political, and economic change, as well as a rich history of how these aims can be achieved in theory and practice.

The anti-globalization movement has allowed anarchism to resurface as a powerful force of radicalism and change, showing once again that it is capable of organizing mass action (Seattle: November 30, 1999) and expressing alternative modes of political and social relationships outside the confines of the authoritarian and oppressive capitalist system. Working beyond the borders of rigidly structured bureaucratic parties, the anti-globalization anarchist movements are capable of confronting not only the global expanse of capital, but also the sexist and racist consequences which accompany the neo-liberal globalist agencies and agendas (institutions such as the WTO, IMF, World Bank, etc.), while at the same time attacking the state apparatus itself (the nations which enforce international free-trade and the current virulent strain of globalization). Unlike particular social democratic and Marxists groups, anarchism does not advocate for the usurption of the state, nor for the reassertion of protectionist (and subsequent xenophobic legislation) ideals which vilify foreign labour and products over domestic goods and workers. Instead, the anti-globalization struggle becomes one that forms solidarity between all those subject to the ravages of exploitation and oppression – a universal characteristic of economic globalization.

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Anti-Globalization and Anarchism

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