The new book Another World Is Possible: Globalization and Anti-Capitalism, by David McNally, is a powerful tool for all those who want to bring about social change. Below are excerpts that highlight the book's ability to inform and to inspire.

Socialism from Below: Radical Democracy for the Age of Globalization

Of course, the radical traditions of socialism from below would be of merely historical interest were they incapable of being revived and developed as part of living movements in the present and the future. Fortunately, there is every reason to think that, in addition to offering a sharp contrast with bureaucratic and authoritarian socialist traditions, socialism from below speaks directly to the forms of self-organization that many radical movements against globalization are devising today.

In the case of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil, for instance, groups which seize lands are democratically self-organized. In each locale, a network of between five and 20 families forms a self-governing base community which elects delegates who cooperate with other base communities on issues ranging from firewood to education.

As a rule, a general assembly is convened among all the communities in an area every two or three months, and this constitutes the highest decision-making body. Every individual takes some kind of larger social-political responsibility according to the principle that Òhere we are all leaders.Ó

Something quite similar is underway in poor, working class communities in parts of Argentina. The upsurge of popular struggles in recent years has been spearheaded by the Unemployed Workers Movement (MTD), a grassroots movement that is independent of the unions and political parties. After years of community organizing, the MTD has built vibrant forms of self-organization that embody local democracy.

James Petras explains: "The MTD is organized with a very decentralized structure. Each municipality has its own organization based on the barrios [neighbourhoods] within its frontiers. Within a barrio, multi-block areas have their informal leaders and activists. Each municipality is organized by its general assembly where all members participate. Policy is decided in the assembly; the demands and organization of the blockades are decided collectively in assembly. . . Hundreds and even thousands of women, men, and children participate in the blockage, setting up tents and soup kitchens at the side of the road. . . If the government decides to negotiate, the movement demands that negotiations take place with all the piqueteros [picketers] at the blockage. Decisions are made at the site of the action by the collective assembly. "

The MTD thus combines direct action and direct democracy in a militant grassroots movement of the poor and the jobless. And this form of participatory democracy sometimes extends beyond mass actions into the day-to-day life of communities.

So significant a force has the MTD become, continues Petras, that ÒIn some working class suburbs, the unemployed movement has led to quasi-liberated zones, where the power of mobilization neutralizes or is superior to that of local officials." New forms of popular democracy - radical, participatory and direct - are thus being created in the course of the struggle against neoliberalism.

While these Latin American movements may represent some of the highest forms of radical democracy emerging in the movements against globalization, they are not aberrations. When the people of Cochabamba, Bolivia were in the thick of the water wars, they held as many as five municipal assemblies in the course of a week, one of them bringing out 100,000 people, in order to decide the direction and methods of the struggle.

What we are witnessing, in other words, is the development of new forms of direct democracy as the means of waging struggle and organizing communities of the oppressed against global capital. The commitments of socialism from below to self-emancipation and radical democracy converge powerfully with these exciting developments, indicating that, far from a relic of the past, radical socialist democracy may become a driving force in the struggle for another world.

Ten Guiding Principles for Anti-Capitalist Politics

Let us now try to enunciate some of the guiding principles for twenty-first century anti-capitalism that can be derived from the struggles of the past and the present. Ten principles stand out as particularly important:

1. Opposition to gender, sexual and racial oppression as well as economic exploitation As we have seen, not only is capitalist domination organized through patterns of gender and racial domination, but women workers, indigenous peoples and people of colour have been playing leading roles in struggles for global justice. Genuine liberation cannot be provided by a narrow "class" politics that evades these issues; it requires the self-emancipation of women, sexual minorities, and racially-oppressed peoples. Yet, class politics are crucial if capitalism is to be challenged. Consequently, we need an anti-racist, feminist class politics; i.e., one which makes feminism and anti-racism central building blocks of its struggle for full human emancipation.
2. Radical democracy and popular power Anti-capitalism requires the extension of democracy into the economic sphere and the overcoming of passive, representative "democracy" by activist, direct democracy. Radical democracy - one that goes to and grows from the roots of social life - will once again rest upon rule of the poor. And this means all of the world's poor, organized by means of new forms of self-government in workplaces and communities. A liberated society will promote the replacement of bureaucratic administration by forms of "free association" of self-governing peoples.
3. Opposition to imperialism and war, support of self-determination for oppressed peoples If we are to have a just and peaceful world, this will entail an end to the domination of most of the world's peoples by elites from a handful of imperialist nations. This will necessarily require cancellation of international debts and the construction of co-operative programs for world social development. It will also mean disarmament and support for the rights of all oppressed peoples - indigenous peoples and dominated nations - to self-determination, to choosing for themselves the forms of self-government that address their needs.
4. Communal ownership of social-economic resources Since there can be no movement beyond capitalism so long as we have private ownership of the worldÕs economic resources, human liberation will entail new forms of communal ownership. Common ownership refers, of course, not to items for personal use, but to social control over the land, water, resources, technologies, infrastructure and collective knowledge of human kind. These should be utilized for the good of the human community, not private capitalists.
5. Production for need based on workersÕ control and democratic social co-ordination The dis-alienation of labour requires workers' control and self-management of the work process. At the same time, the satisfaction of human needs necessitates a democratic and participatory process by which social priorities can be established and co-ordination organized across workplaces and communities. Democracy at work and in creating a co-ordinating framework for social production are essential elements of a superior form of social life.
6. Social ecology A rationally organized society will treat the natural environment as a vital and integral part of the bio-cultural lifeworld. Forms of production should be compatible with biodiversity (maintaining the diversity of forms of life) and sustainability. A rational agriculture which does not deplete and degrade the soil and water, the development of environmentally sound sources of energy, and a commitment to safe, environment-friendly technologies ought to be fundamental social goals.
7. Internationalism An emancipatory society can only exist if people have overcome the horizons of nationalism and embraced their common humanity. Localism and nationalism cannot be the ethos of liberated peoples. Radical movements ought to promote an internationalist consciousness and practical programs designed to eliminate global inequalities and move toward an egalitarian world order. At the same time, unlike contemporary globalization, genuine internationalism will celebrate the rich diversity of cultural experiences that comprise the global human struggle for freedom.
8. A Culture of Freedom Some past radical theories and movements have seen human liberation in narrowly economic terms. As crucial as it is to ensure the satisfaction of all basic human needs, human life also involves imagination, play, culture, sexuality, art, architecture, and so on. A culture of liberation must be devoted to the free development and free expression of human creative energies, it must see emancipation as involving new forms of non-authoritarian relations in all spheres.
9. Constructive Involvement in all Genuine Struggles against Oppression To be a meaningful and living movement, anti-capitalism cannot be a dogma preached by esoteric groups. Instead, it must be a dynamic and developing current within real movements. Anti-capitalists have a responsibility to demonstrate the relevance of radical democracy - opposition to all forms of oppression and self-organization from below - as principles that can make current struggles against neoliberalism and capitalism more powerful and effective. This means demonstrating the power of direct action, mass mobilization and participatory democracy, and it requires a commitment to constructive involvement in all genuine movements against oppression.
10. Self-Emancipation and Democratic Mass Movements Since a liberated society can only be achieved through the self-emancipation of the oppressed and exploited, the struggle for a new society will require the creation of democratically organized mass movements in which people develop their capacities to change and remake the world. Liberation cannot be achieved for people by military or political elites; it can only be conquered from below, by people claiming their freedom for themselves.