>From: [log in to unmask] (Les Levidow)
>To: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
> [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
>Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 21:23:55 +0100
>Subject: CSE conference proposal
>Organization: The Open University
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Gateway: NASTA Gate 2.0 for FirstClass(R)
>
>Note: This proposal is being circulated among CSE members before the
>AGM on 3rd July 1999. Please forward it to anyone relevant. We don't
>have any systematic list of members.
>
>====================================================
>
>Proposal for Millenium-Year CSE conference
>
>UNFREE TRADE AND GLOBAL RESISTANCE:
>WHAT COUNTER-STRATEGIES?
>
>'Globalization' and 'free trade' are being widely promoted as
>inevitable historical forces, even as natural ones. In response, Left
>intellectuals have debated various questions -- whether 'globalization'
>really exists, whether it is really new, how it could be managed, and
>how it relates to the neoliberal project. Such Left debate has had
>little link to opposition movements and to the practical questions
>facing them.
>
>Meanwhile resistance to neoliberal globalization has been mounting for
>several years. New organizational forms are emerging, beyond the
>familiar Left parties or single-issue campaigns. Their slogans
>include, 'No issue is single', and 'Resistance will be as transnational
>as capital'.
>
>New international networks attack 'free trade' as a strategy for
>imposing neoliberal policies. They target political institutions --
>the IMF, World Bank, WTO and latterly NATO -- which seek to tear down
>the collective gains of past struggles. Since the 1994 GATT-WTO
>agreements became a prime target for attack, the proposed Millenium
>Round has been attracting even broader opposition.
>
>Solidarity is being redefined as mutual learning about how to resist
>together. By drawing conceptual and human links among across the
>world, these movements forge a common interest in building a different
>future. They include: the anti-MAI campaign; People's Global Action
>against 'Free' Trade and WTO; the Inter-Continental Caravan (mainly of
>Indian farmers); and counter-summits at the EU and G7 summits in June
>1999.
>
>These movements present a new opportunity and challenge for us to
>recast Marxist theory in strategic terms. Key questions include:
>What is the neoliberal content of globalization?
>What forces are driving neoliberal globalization?
>What are its vulnerabilities to attack?
>How do trade barriers (and their removal) affect the exploitation of
>labour?
>How is trade becoming less free through 'free trade' agreements?
>How do they limit or provoke resistance?
>How are capital and the nation-state becoming internationalized in new
>ways?
>How do nation-states promote or resist neoliberal globalization?
>What is the scope for them to do so?
>How could mass resistance become more effective and more
>'transnational'?
>What alternative models of international economy are being promoted?
>
>The CSE has recently organized such discussions, e.g. at the 'Real
>People's Europe?' conference in June 1998, and at the 1997-98 seminar
>series on 'Resisting the Neoliberal Tide'. These events attracted
>various activists and writers beyond the CSE membership, e.g. from the
>Cardiff Counter-Summit, the EuroMarch and The Corner House.
>
>The CSE conference in July(?) 2000 could extend those links by inviting
>debate on counter-strategies against unfree trade and neoliberal
>globalization. We should involve participants from other countries
>early on in planning the event.
>
>Proposed by: Anne Gray, Les Levidow and Massimo De Angelis
>
>--
>Les Levidow, CCC-Technology
>Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
>fax +44-1908-652175 or 654825
>London home tel. +44-171-482 0266
>
Deborah Knight
CSE Business Manager
25 Horsell Road, London N5 1XL
Tel: 0171 607 9615
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|
