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Globalization Guide
with related information about activism |
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Some Context
Global conferences feature contemporary struggles for betterment... particularly those related to globalization (both corporate/economic and cultural/social). The information below is useful in its own right, but also capable of providing a backdrop for the next Global Conference. Most of these topics would make for excellent workshops. Taking some time to share your knowledge helps legitimate its very existence... please click participate to propose workshops. |
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Advice and Comments about this Guide
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All item descriptions have been kept succinct as possible to help alleviate any strains associated with assimilating so much potentially foreign information. If you choose to pursue greater details, each item also links to an in-depth source. Using this guide as a quick and occasional reference might work best for some. The complete item index can help navigate this page and displays the most frequently discussed terms and protested international bodies or plans in bold. Hopefully this guide will soon be capable of helping expose minds to realities that inspire far more than just temporary anger, but long-term desires to organize and take action. Originally added in October 2005 and last updated on 2/24/06... expect many future improvements.
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Some Introductory Links
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Specific Campaign Links
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Complete Item Index (86 total)
ATTAC,
AFTA,
AID,
ARI,
Biodiversity,
Bureaucratic,
CAFTA,
Caucus,
Consensus,
Critical Mass,
Culture Jamming,
Desertification,
Direct Action,
DIY,
Dumpstering,
Ecology,
Empirical,
Fair Trade,
Fast Track,
Food Dumping,
Food Not Bombs,
FTAA,
Free Trade,
Front Group,
The G8,
GATS,
GATT,
Gender,
Gentrification,
GMOs,
Free Trade,
Hegemony,
Hierarchy,
HIPC,
Homogenization,
IADB,
IMF,
Imperialism,
Infoshop,
IWW,
MAI,
Maquiladora,
May Day,
MFA,
Mountaintop Removal,
NAFTA,
Nationalism,
Neo-Liberalism,
NGOs,
OAS,
Objective,
OECD,
Organic,
PARSU,
Peak Oil,
Plan Columbia,
Permaculture,
PPP,
Qualitative,
Quantitative,
Privatization,
Progressive,
Radical,
Riot Porn,
PRSPs,
SAPs,
SEAC,
Security Culture,
SOA,
SOTA,
Straight Edge,
Subjective,
Sustainable,
Sweatshop,
Tabling,
TNCs,
Transparency,
TRIPS,
Unschool,
USAS,
Vegan,
Vegetarian,
World Bank,
WHINSEC,
WTO,
Zine
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Economy and Trade (Western Hemisphere)
| OAS |
Organization of American States... foundation for globalization created in 1948 with 35 nations currently. View an article and protest pictures. |
| SOTA |
Summits of the Americas... began in 1994 with help from OAS. Trade agreements including FTAA were promoted at the 4th Summit in 2005. |
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| IADB |
Inter-American Development Bank... formed in 1959. Issues highly conditional loans that lead nations into major debt and towards corporate privatization of services, trade liberalization and deregulated labor and environment standards. World Bank and IMF have similar principles. |
| PPP |
Plan Pueblo-Panama... was announced by Mexico's president Vicente Fox in 2000, but the IADB in Washingon DC actually developed this scheme for exploiting human and natural resources... from southern Mexico through all Central American nations. Questions and answers. |
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| NAFTA |
North American Free Trade Agreement... was enacted in 1994. Helped setoff expanded corporate exploitation (primarily of Mexican workers) by limiting 'barriers to trade' (like tarrifs, environmental regulations and labor laws) from transactions between Canada, Mexico and the USA. |
| CAFTA |
Central American Free Trade Agreement... was partially enacted in 2005. Major step in current attempts to gradually realize FTAA piecemeal. Full establishment would occur (despite popular opposition) among Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the USA. |
| AFTA |
Andean Free Trade Agreement... has been stalled since its proposal in 2004. Another step in attempts to realize total liberalization of Latin America gradually that is modeled after CAFTA. Would establish free trade between Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the USA and maybe Bolivia. |
| FTAA |
Free Trade Area of the Americas... has struggled ever since its initial proposal at the Summit of Americas in 1994. A plan that would extend NAFTA's corporate driven (and often partially written) neo-liberal free trade policies throughout all 34 countries in North and South America. |
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| PC |
Plan Columbia... championed by Clinton in 2000 as part of the war on drugs. Indiscriminate crop-dusting has caused greater human misery than reductions in cocaine output. Also provides Columbia with billions in military aid intended to secure the region against left-wing rebels. |
| ARI |
Andean Regional Initiative... initiated by Bush in 2001. Has expanded PC strategy to Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. |
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| SOA |
School of the Americas... formed in 1946 (after WWII) and was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in 2001. Combat training school at Fort Benning, Georgia for Latin American soldiers. It has produced graduates with terrible human-rights abuses. |
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Economy and Trade (Worldwide Implications)
| The G8 |
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United States and Russia... was formed in 1975 as the G6 (Canada and Russia joined later). These top eight industialized nations hold yearly summits. They draw massive protests and demonstrations from groups and individuals who understand that although the G8 can eliminate the debt of poor contries and other causes of despair by leveraging their control over economic regimes like the WB and IMF (where these eight countries hold around 50% of total voting power)... they rarely take serious actions. |
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| IMF |
International Monetary Fund... formed after WWII in 1944 at the Bretton Woods conference to help stabilize currency exchange rates. |
| WB |
World Bank Group... formed after WWII in 1944 at the Bretton Woods conference to help fund and manage the reconstruction of Europe. |
| SAPs |
Structural Adjustment Programs... implemented in the late 1980's and renamed Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers in 1999 to avoid negative associations. When nations commit to a restructured economy that favors export goods and foreign privatization schemes for local industries. |
| HIPC |
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative... created in 1996 by the WB and IMF. Supposedly intended to reduce strains on indebted nations, but has been weak and ineffectual overall. Despite reform in 1999 after public pressure on the G8, full debt cancellation is still never offered. |
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| OECD |
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development... formed after WWII to assist with the Marshall Plan and reconstruction of Europe. Has slowly mutated over time to include around 30 countries, mostly major first world industial powers, and promote free market economics. |
| MAI |
Multilateral Agreement on Investments... OECD first initiated this idea in 1995. Would remove obstacles to foreign investment among OECD countries. Corporations could sue host countries with laws they deem detrimental to immediate or projected profits (like NAFTA's Ch. 11). Stalled since 1998 by popular pressure. Some seek preservation of its principals under another international body such as the WTO or WB. |
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| GATT |
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade... This international treaty was signed by 23 nations during the first 'Geneva' round of discussions in 1948 (after WWII) and 123 countries signed onto the latest 'Uruguay' round in 1993 that futher reduced 'trade barriers' (like tariffs, quotas and export subsidies) in typical fashion. Most significant and unfortunate action was agreement to begin creating the WTO, GATS and TRIPS. |
| WTO |
World Trade Organization... was formed in 1994. Single most powerful governing body in the world with control over around 150 member nations. Both its design and operation have been greatly removed from the concepts of democracy and transparency. While meaningful citizen input is essentially nil... big-shot corporate lobbyists have significant influence over negotiations. Most of its rulings concern trade laws, practices and disputes between nations. They have tended to progress neo-liberalism and benefit corporations rather than common people. |
| GATS |
General Agreement on Trade in Services... has not been fully implemented since adoption as part of the WTO in 1994. Leads nations toward removing local laws that restrict actions by foreign companies, and privatization of services including basics like water, health and education. |
| TRIPS |
Trade Related Intelectual Property Rights... have not been fully implemented since adoption as part of the WTO in 1994. Such patents often greatly benefit corporatate profits... but contradict pure neo-liberal concepts by establishing governmental structures for limiting competition. |
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Activist Groups and Organizations
| ATTAC |
Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens... international movement for sustainable and just globalization. |
| AID |
Association for India's Development... helps teach people about alternatives to the destructive corporate globalization currently within India. |
| IWW |
Industrial Workers of the World... 'one big union' intended for all workers in all industries in all countries. Members are known as 'wobblies'. |
| MFA |
Mercy for Animals...works to end all instances of animal abuse and create a culture where all animals are treated respect and compassion. |
| PARSU |
Progressive and Radical Student Union... helps to connect every progressive and radical group and person at the University of Cincinnati. |
| PETA |
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals... stands opposed to animals being eaten, worn, experimented on and used as entertainment. |
| SEAC |
Student Environmental Action Coalition... progressive students attempting to uproot environmental injustices through action and education. |
| USAS |
United Students Against Sweatshops... an international student movement fighting for sweatshop free labor and workers' rights in general. |
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Activist Endeavors and Strategies
| Caucus |
Meetings that bring people together around a particular topic (or from a particular community) to connect and plan future actions. |
| Consensus |
Decision-making strategy often used by small groups of radicals hoping to avoid unwanted heirarchy and unbalanced influence. |
| Critical Mass |
Frequent and fun community bike rides that romote the benefits of this environmentally and personally healthy alternative to cars. |
| Culture Jamming |
Various clever methods of spreading radical ideas by utilizing or compromising the traditional means of mass media distribution. |
| Direct Action |
Active or militant form of protesting or demanding change, which might involve selective and purposeful disruptions or aggression. |
| DIY |
Do It Yourself... self-explanatory concept often centered around alternative health practices and generally non-corporate solutions. |
| Dumpstering |
Attempting to retrieve still edible food or useable items from the trash receptacles of commercial businesses or residential homes. |
| Food Not Bombs |
Feeding hungry people with food that would be wasted and revealing the backward priorities of many within this nation and world. |
| Infoshop |
Self-managed community space featuring many resources and events such as food, reading materials, shows and skill-sharings. |
| Riot Porn |
Enjoyable protest or demonstration footage wherein the situation develops a particularly free-flowing or perhaps rebellious spirit. |
| Security Culture |
Environment among activists seeking to protect themselves, each-other and their goals by carefully regulating all communication. |
| Tabling |
When groups promote their cause or recruit new members by utilizing tables to display and distribute literature or other materials. |
| Unschool |
Not attending public or private schools (particularly high-school) such that individuals may be responsible for their own education. |
| Zine |
Inexpensively produced and self-published magazine intended to inform and/or entertain anyone capable of and willing to read it. |
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Terms with Negative Connotations
| Bureaucratic |
Characterizes large hierarchical institutions (corporations, universities and governments) obsessed with strict rules or procedure. |
| Desertification |
Degradation of productive land into any desert variety. Caused by climate change and/or strains from growing human populations. |
| Fast Track |
Congress giving the president power to quickly negotiate trade deals. Allowed NAFTA to pass without meaningful public scrutiny. |
| Food Dumping |
Surpluses carelessly distributed in poor nations... dominance of foreign agri-corps increases when local farmers cannot compete. |
| Free Trade |
When government 'barriers' (like tarrifs, environmental regulations and labor laws) to the international flow of capital are removed. |
| Front Group |
Deceptive organizations controlled by (and intended to benefit) another party or interest whose identity is purposefully concealed. |
| Gentrification |
Systematically displacing lower-class communities with housing or commercial developments geared toward the higher-classes. |
| GMOs |
Genetically Modified Organisms... unnecessary and risky engineering of life forms. Driven by numerous corporate ulterior motives. |
| Hierarchy |
System wherein people are ranked sequentially one above another, thereby granting higher status or authority over subordinates. |
| Hegemony |
Countries or social groups asserting unwanted leadership or dominance over another such entity. Helps skew history and culture. |
| Homogenization |
When local or unique aspects of culture are replaced by corporate products or businesses crafted with efficiency and profit in mind. |
| Imperialism |
Nations expanding their area of control with often brutally aggressive military action and total disregard of local desires or interests. |
| Maquiladora |
Sweatshops throughout Latin America created by foreigners to produce export goods. Numbers in Mexico increased after NAFTA. |
| MTR |
Mountaintop Removal... coal mining technique that is destroying entire towns and temperate ecosystems in Appalachian regions. |
| Nationalism |
Idolizing support of one's nation as a singularly powerful and worthy force in the world. Typified perfectly within the Olympic games. |
| Neo-Liberalism |
Reviving economically liberal philosophies from the late 18th to early 20th century that called for no government in economy/trade. |
| Peak Oil |
When global levels of crude oil extraction stop increasing and begin decreasing. Many believe this will occur soon or already has. |
| Privatization |
Moving industries or services (water etc) from the public domain (governments) to the profit motivated private sector (corporations). |
| Sweatshop |
Workplace of exploitation and inhumane conditions... long workdays, ultra-low wages and extremely poor health/safety standards. |
| TNCs |
Transnational Corporations... driving forces behind globalization that wield enormous power without checks from common people. |
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Terms with Positive Connotations
| Biodiversity |
Variety of life on earth... more plant and animal species help prevent a range of potential environmental and ecological disasters. |
| Ecology |
Branch of biology that deals with the relationships between living organisms and their interaction with surrounding environments. |
| Fair Trade |
When imported goods (coffee, bananas, art etc) are purchased for prices that uplift workers and support small farming operations. |
| May Day |
International recognition of labor struggles (for the eight hour workday etc) on May 1st that is unfortunately not an American holiday. |
| NGOs |
Non-Governmental Organizations... a largely self-explanatory term, with thousands of examples both nationally and internationally. |
| Organic |
Healthy and environmentally beneficial food products that are grown without artificial pesticides, herbicides or genetic modification. |
| Permaculture |
Contraction of permanent agriculture (or permanent culture) that usually refers to making land use and food production sustainable. |
| Progressive |
Ideas or plans to significantly reform the current system that are usually very far from commonplace ideology but still highly rational. |
| Radical |
Seriously challenging the status quo (or elements within it) while working outside of the system... or seeking to destroy it altogether. |
| Straight Edge |
Self applied label that usually indicates a person is drug free... or in limited cases that they also abstain from casual sexual activity. |
| Sustainable |
References making human development practices (architecture, food production) equitable and non-damaging of the environment. |
| Transparency |
Describes openness with all decision-making (and communication in general) by any organization, but particularly governments. |
| Vegan |
Strict vegetarian who attempts to neither eat nor use anything derived from animals... primarily including eggs, milk, fur and leather. |
| Vegetarian |
Typically refers to 'ovo-lacto' (egg-milk) vegetarians who abstain from eating meat... but will still consume other animal by-products. |
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Helpful Descriptive and Neutral Terms
| Empirical |
Based upon or verified with something tangible like an experiment, observation or experience rather than conjured theory or logic. |
| Gender |
References all traits and behaviors which are socially and culturally deemed appropriate for each sex (biologically male or female). |
| Qualitative |
Using words to describe and evaluate objects or properties according to empirical or subjective natures... as opposed to quantities. |
| Quantitative |
Any object or property capable of being measured and described numerically according to amount or level... rather than qualities. |
| Objective |
Describes actual facts about the universe that exist independently of individual evaluation... and could be proven with observation. |
| Subjective |
Based upon or influenced by an individual's perceptions, feelings, preferences or opinions... rather than emperical or factual reality. |
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