There Is An Alternative

New Socialist Magazine


That there has been a noticeable shift in the political climate over the last couple of years can hardly be disputed. The idea that there is no alternative to capitalist domination of our lives - that everything needs to be subordinated to the imperatives of corporate profitability - is being challenged by a growing minority of people. What's more, this challenge is taking on an increasingly radical form. Is this simply a momentary blip on the political radar?

We don't think so. The global wave of protest, far from fizzling out, has gathered momentum despite escalating state repression. That thousands of people in the so-called Western democracies are willing to risk life and limb to express their opposition to the policies of the institutions of global capital is a significant development indeed. To be sure, the tens of thousands who have taken part in these mobilizations still represent a small minority of people. This is a fact that we must not overlook. However, we must also not overlook the equally important fact that the movement has been growing, both numerically and politically.

As with any growing movement for social change, we have witnessed an important process of political clarification in the anti-globalization movement. In Seattle, the most prominent politics were around "fair trade" and the inclusion of environmental and labour-rights clauses in the trade agreements under negotiation. In Quebec City, in contrast, the sentiment had shifted towards rejection of the trade pact. Moreover, there was a significant segment of protestors who were explicitly anti-capitalist.

What this process signifies is the recognition among a growing layer of activists that the unjust policies of global institutions are only part of a broader exploitative and oppressive system. There is thus a greater openness to the kind of politics which connects international solidarity and opposition to global institutions of capitalism to local struggles. The OCAP-initiated Common Front campaign against the Tory government in Ontario this fall, for instance, has been endorsed by several organizations which took part in the anti-FTAA protests in Quebec City.

This juncture between the movements against global capitalism and domestic struggles is becoming increasingly urgent. The capitalist offensive is escalating within the Canadian state. In BC, the new Campbell appears ready to follow the road of Mike Harris in his first year in office, ushering in a new era of confrontation. The energy and radicalism of the anti-globalization movement needs to be brought into the fight-back against Campbell and his flagrant attacks on workers' rights, the environment and the native people's movement.

In our view, a convergence like this is precisely what is needed. We believe that the success of the global justice movement depends on its ability to recognize capitalism for what it is - an inherently violent, inhumane, unjust, and exploitative system - and unambiguously oppose it. We also believe that it is crucial for more people to understand that only working people, through their own self-organization and self-mobilization, can bring the system down.

In a capitalist society it is those whose labour keeps society going who have the potential power to achieve this goal. This, in turn, requires the outflanking of the existing labour leaderships (which in most cases act as agents of capital) and the development of militant workers' organizations whose objective is not to negotiate alternatives within the system but to organize, in alliance with movements of the oppressed, for struggle. The mobilizations of recent years have helped expose the cowardly and collaborationist role of the labour bureaucracy, thereby creating an opening for militant and democratic workplace organizing.

The coming together of the most militant workers and the most militant sections of the global justice and environmental movement, anti-racists, anti-poverty activists, students, etc., is extremely important. This convergence will no doubt result in new tactics and novel forms of organizing which, in some cases, might violate the sacred formulas of the past generations of activists. There is nothing wrong with this, as new circumstances call forth new responses. We should not let old formulas become fetters on our ability to organize today. At the same time, we should not fail to learn from the experience of the previous generations.

One lesson, in particular, is of critical importance: no movement will develop the capacity to truly challenge the capitalist system unless it incorporates in its core politics, and reflects in its organizational structures, a politics that fights sexism, racism and heterosexism as well as class exploitation.

Opposition to capitalism and its associated forms of human exploitation and environmental destruction, opposition to all forms of oppression, anti-imperialism and international solidarity built through the self-activity of the exploited and the oppressed to create a world of freedom and equality: these are the politics of socialism from below. We don't pretend to have all the answers. But we encourage all who share these ideas to join us, to bring their ideas, experience and knowledge so that together we can build a an organization of activists committed to linking today's struggles with this possible future.