[mobglob-discuss] Turning the Trolls to Stone: Strategy for the Global Justice Movement - Starhawk

[Tom_Childs at Douglas.BC.CA]

http://vancouver.indymedia.org/news/2002/08/14797.php


Turning the Trolls to Stone: Strategy for the Global Justice Movement
by Starhawk  Friday August 09, 2002 at 08:46 AM


In Tolkien's book The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins and his friends the dwarves are
caught by trolls and about to be stewed for dinner. They are saved by the
wizard Gandalf, who keeps the trolls busy talking and squabbling until
daylight. Sunlight turns trolls to stone.

That fantasy story could be a good model for a direct action strategy for
the global justice movement. Essentially, we're all in the stew pot, with
the trolls of corporate power feasting on the resources and labor of the
world. But global corporate capitalism depends on hiding its true nature and
functioning in the shadows. It cloaks itself in the rhetoric and semblance
of democracy. Exposed to light, it cannot continue to function. 

What is corporate globalization? It's an ideology that elevates corporate
profit to the highest value and determining factor for all human activity,
individual and collective. It says that corporations must be unfettered in
their pursuit of profit, that all natural and human resources should be open
to exploitation, that services and infrastructures once collectively
provided by governments should become arenas of profit making, and that
while some people will gain more than others under this regime, following
this program will make everyone richer and benefit all. 

Corporate globalization is implemented by certain institutions, such as the
World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that impose its constraints
on the heavily indebted countries of the third world in return for
participation in the global economy. It is enacted through trade agreements
such as NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement), the proposed FTAA
(Free Trade Agreement of the Americas -- the extension of NAFTA throughout
the hemisphere), and many others, including the global GATT, (Global
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), enforced by the World Trade Organization.
These agreements and institutions override democratically made laws of
countries, allowing them to be struck down in decisions by a tribunal of the
WTO which can rule, for example, that a law restricting imports of goods
made with child labor is "restraint of trade," and not allowed. Many of them
allow corporations to sue governments for loss of projected profits if laws
restrict them: a Canadian corporation has won a judgment of hundreds of
millions of dollars from the State of California for banning an additive in
gasoline that pollutes groundwater. A U.S. corporation has sued Canada for
banning an additive that causes brain cancer in children. 

This program is backed by the vast military and police power of the state --
primarily the U.S. but aided by our friends. The "war on terror" is the
perfect excuse for extending that power until it becomes a true global
hegemony. 

This program is problematic on a number of different levels: it is blatantly
unjust, it runs counter to every human impulse toward compassion,
generosity, and mutuality, it contradicts the teachings of every religion or
system of social ethics, it is destroying the basic life support systems of
the planet, and it doesn't work. It allows corporations free movement across
borders to seek the lowest common denominator of wages and regulations, and
lowers the global standard of living for workers everywhere. It appropriates
the resources that should belong to all and concentrates wealth and power in
fewer and fewer hands. In fact, it creates misery, poverty and despair for
billions. 

Trying to counter that system may seem an overwhelming and hopeless task.
How do we confront a system that can commandeer such vast economic
resources, control the major media, and mobilize all the military, police
and judicial power of the state in its defense? 

As powerful as the system seems, it rests on the compliance and tacit
consent of the very people it exploits. The vast, vast numbers of us who
don't truly benefit from the system support it through our participation.
Without our labor, without our obedience, without our willingness to police
ourselves, the system cannot function. 

The public complies with this system in part because the system hides its
true workings under fancy rhetoric, obscure economic theory, and the
trappings of democracy. Trolls breed in the dark. 

So a strategy for global justice involves exposing the trolls to light:
telling the truth about the system, showing how it affects people on an
everyday basis, pointing out clearly where it doesn't work. Ultimately, our
goal is to undermine the legitimacy of the system and erode the tacit
consent that supports it. 

There are many, many groups, from organizations such as Public Citizen or
the Council of Canadians to independent media, working on shining that
light. But in a world overloaded with information, how do we get people
overburdened with messages of fear and urgency to pay attention? 

Educators speak of the concept of the "teachable moment," that instant when
a bored and apathetic student suddenly becomes eager and able to learn.
People become teachable when they realize that they have a need for
information. 

That is one of the key purposes of protest: to create so much excitement, so
much urgency and drama around an issue that people who have previously tuned
it out suddenly feel a need to pay attention. 

But people are also controlled by fear. We might hate the system, but we
also depend upon it. What will happen to us if we act against it? How can we
trust those urging us to take action, or believe that what they propose will
be better? 

People comply with the system because they don't see an alternative or
believe that they have any choice. Systems of control always work by
limiting our perceptions of our options. 

Our challenge as a movement is to delegitimize the current system, pose a
wider range of choices, empower people to risk opposing the current system,
and to embrace an alternative vision. 

We've been relatively good at shining a spotlight, creating drama, and
delegitimizing the current system. In the two and half years since Seattle,
we've awakened public awareness of many of the institutions of corporate
globalization, shifted the terms of debate, and undercut the unquestioning
acceptance of their policies. 

We've been less successful at posing a clear, alternative vision, and
building public trust. 

Trust is built over time, of course. The global justice movement is not
centered on charismatic leaders or ongoing institutions that give a face to
trust. It's an amorphous, ever-evolving, self-organizing mass. But if people
involved in the movement devote time, attention, and their skills as
organizers to their home issues and support local community-based
organizations as well as large summit actions, trust can grow. 

But trust has to grow from a vision. And I believe we do actually have a
clear alternative to the ideology of global corporate capitalism: 

We stand for democracy, community, and true abundance. 

Democracy means that people have a voice in the decisions that affect them,
including economic decisions. Democracy requires time and public space and
quality education and freedom of information. And democracy means that no
group can be excluded from power because of race, gender, sexual
orientation, age, physical ability, or any other "ism." 

We stand for the right of communities to control their own destinies and
resources, whether that is indigenous community preserving its land and
culture or a neighborhood deciding to keep its local hospital open.
Enterprises and businesses must be rooted in communities and accountable to
them. 

We say that real abundance means protecting the life support systems of the
planet, that there are things too precious to be bought and sold for profit,
from ancient rain forests to the water that sustains all life. Abundance
does not come from the extraction and concentration of wealth, but from its
widest possible distribution. True abundance means security, and that can
only come from an understanding that we have a common responsibility for
each other, to see each other through hard times and support each other
through misfortune. 

We also say that democracy, community, and true abundance are the real
antidote to the despair that breeds terrorism, and the best means of
assuring our global security. 

When we think about actions and tactics, we need to consider how they fit
with our overall strategy. We need to create enough of a ruckus to arouse
people's attention, while making sure it's the system that gets
delegitimized, not us. Different tactics and actions serve different needs: 

Protests that are safe, permitted, and legal serve an important purpose:
they mobilize people who might otherwise be afraid to take action. They give
people a way to overcome fear, feel a sense of unity, and speak out, and can
embody our vision and build trust. 

Direct action, actions that directly confront oppressive power, actively
withdraw our consent from the system, create drama and confrontation and
urgency, and often make the violence inherent in the system visible. My own
generally preferred set of tactics involve nonviolent direct action, because
they allow us to both create urgency and trust. Nonviolent actions can be
openly organized, letting us mobilize more people and encourage people to
move beyond fear and take higher risks. 

The most powerful actions are those in which we create confrontations that
also embody our vision. When we live the alternatives, in our organizing, in
our coalition building, in our daily lives, in our courage to act, we become
the sunlight that can freeze the trolls in their tracks. 

Copyright (c) 2002 by Starhawk. All rights reserved. This copyright protects
Starhawk's right to future publication of her work. Nonprofit, activist, and
educational groups may circulate this essay (forward it, reprint it,
translate it, post it, or reproduce it) for nonprofit uses. Please do not
change any part of it without permission. Readers are invited to visit the
web site: 

www.starhawk.org


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