*{The Future of Anti-Globalization [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/The%20Future%20of%20Anti-Globalization?open&topic_id=300250000&theme_id=300]

            01.02.2002

            Annual Meeting 2002}

            *partie=titre The Anti-globalization Movement: Looking Ahead *partie=nil

            Participants considered the motives behind the anti-globalization movement and how it has been affected by the events of 11 September. Moderator James Naughtie, Anchor, BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, BBC, United Kingdom, invited each discussion leader to set parameters for the session.

            Corporations and political leaders have done little more than wish away the protests against unfettered globalization, reckoned Neil Kearney, General Secretary, International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation, Brussels. While the 11th of September may have led to a moratorium on street demonstrations, there is still ,a growing bull market, in anti-globalization sentiment in workplaces around the world. The future of the movement is assured, Kearney concluded, unless governments enforce rules that promote development and secure a living wage for workers, and corporations shed their arrogance. 

            Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium and President of the European Council in the last six months of 2001, recounted how he had released an open letter to anti-globalization protesters in September last year and then met with key leaders of the movement in Ghent. It is necessary to navigate through many ideological roadblocks in pursuit of dialogue, he said. "Anti-globalization" is not the right word to use, "alter-globalists" may be a better term. The protesters don’t necessarily oppose globalization, but are against the unfair aspects of it. It is important to recognize that economic globalization has been beneficial for many poor countries, but it has also made the situation worse for others, particularly African nations. Globalization, Verhofstadt contended, needs "a political counterpart" if it is to encompass the goals of democracy and inclusion. To right the imbalances of globalization may require some kind of world federal structure such as a forum of the most important regional organizations.

            The world is so culturally diverse that there is no chance that a universal global culture could emerge, Felipe Fernandez Armesto, Professor, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, said. One would have to go back to the Palaeolithic Age to find a time when there was still a universal world culture. So in effect, the idea of globalization is doomed, and so therefore is the anti-globalization movement.

            In his remarks, Michael J. Wolf, Director and Senior Partner, Global Media and Entertainment Practice, McKinsey & Company, USA; Global Leader for Tomorrow 2000, argued that from a cultural standpoint, globalization is hard to stop. While there are fears that globalization could lead to the intrusion of American values into other cultures, the media and entertainment industry may in fact be a force for good if efforts are made to create local programming for specific markets. Alain Touraine, Director of Studies, Ecoles des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), France, stressed the importance of strengthening the state to defend national cultures in the face of the globalization tide. Peter Brey, Secretary-General, Terre des Hommes Foundation, Switzerland, said that the greatest fear of activists participating in the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is that nobody will listen to them. On the other hand, World Economic Forum members are in a state of denial about the real impact of globalization. Their main worry is that they could become a symbol of what the anti-globalization protesters are fighting against. Brey said that he was told that Forum members wouldn’t be interested in a workshop on the trafficking of children.

            Each discussion leader later reported on the debate at their respective tables. Brey noted that participants at his table talked about a possible role for the United Nations in managing the rules of globalization. Touraine reported that his colleagues were concerned about the increasing inequality in the world. Wolf’s group discussed the growing diversity of cultures. They asked who the legitimate voices of the anti-globalization movement are and whether the weak are adequately represented. Kearney’s table stressed the need for popular public pressure and government action to rectify the unfairness of globalization. Meanwhile, Verhofstadt’s group focused on how to develop a political counterpart to economic globalization and what form or structure such a system might take.
                       *{Contributors:       Brey Peter
                  Fernandez Armesto Felipe
                  Kearney Neil
                  Naughtie James
                  Touraine Alain
                  Verhofstadt Guy
                  Wolf Michael J.}