Successful Global Justice School
A highly successful school on the theme of
globalization took place at the IIRE over three weeks in June 2005. There were
in all 21 participants (counting the two interpreters, who both took an active
part in the school). Of these 6 were from Asia, 7 from Europe and 8 from Latin America. Seven of the participants were women. The
school took place in English and Castilian, with roughly half the participants
participating in each language.
The programme approached the question of
globalization and the global justice movement from several angles. The first
sessions dealt with the economic and social effects of globalization -
transformations in the working class, the effect of migrations, land and the
peasantry, the effects of globalization on women and the struggles of
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender people, particularly in the Third
World. Subsequently the programme moved on to questions like the
effects of globalization on the nation state, the national question,
communalism and 'identity politics'. One session was devoted to the influence
on politics of religious fundamentalism. Two sessions dealt with the question
of developing alternatives to neoliberal globalization. The final sessions of
the school centred on political recomposition, the emergence of new parties,
the relations between parties and movements, the need for a new
internationalism.
Several hot issues came up again and again
from report to report, showing that they are on activists' minds around the
world. Participants were hungry for information about China, for example: the extent of its challenge
to US
world power, how fast its economy is likely to keep growing, and what the
chances are that the labour movement and other movements can have an
independent impact on Chinese society and politics. There was a sense of
excitement about Venezuela's
Bolivarian revolution; Hugo Chávez's speech at this year's World Social Forum
made him internationally known as an adversary of neoliberalism, but people
were unsure about how far Venezuelan radicals can go in transforming their
country. Events in Europe have also evoked
strong opinions from non-Europeans; even fervent opponents of fundamentalism
from Muslim countries for example raised questions about the ban on headscarves
in French public schools.
Those who took part in the school were
political activists, usually with leadership responsibilities in their
organizations, and activists in social movements. The evaluation they made at
the end of the school showed that they had found it very useful, and that it
had enabled them to discuss questions that there is not usually time to discuss
in the hurly-burly of political activity. Some felt that the programme was a
bit heavy and that it could perhaps have been stretched over four weeks instead
of three. But that would have posed other problems, since most of the
participants do not work fulltime for social organizations but had had to take
time off work to come to the school. In any event the majority of the
participants expressed their eagerness and commitment to share their insights
from the school more broadly in their organizations and to encourage more
activists to participate in the IIRE's upcoming sessions.