Peoples Global Action

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Peoples Global Action (PGA) is a globalization-critical network .

PGA does not see itself as an organization , but as a platform for various movements, currents and groups that - according to the Zapatista understanding of politics and solidarity - try to experience mutual strengthening of the respective local and regional disputes through coordination. In their rejection of institutionalized organizational structures, lobbying and proxy politics, the Zapatista ideas hit groups in the global north and global south, who also reflect on the principles of emancipatory self-organization and direct (intervening) action. They also reject the bourgeois concept of politics, which is based on ideologies, media and states. Instead, many groups are demanding that people organize themselves in a self-organized and transparent manner in communal structures .

Emergence

The founding of the “Peoples Global Action” network was strongly influenced by the ideas and initiative of the Zapatistas . In 1997 they called for a “collective network of all our struggles” to be created. At the second “International Meeting against Neoliberalism and for a Human Society” in Spain , also called by the Zapatistas , first contacts were made and in February 1998 the network was founded in Geneva.

structure

PGA does not see itself explicitly as an organization, but as an instrument of coordination, it has no fixed structures and no legal status. Its organizational principles state that no one has the right to speak on behalf of the PGA and that there are no memberships. The network is organized via the Internet and regular regional and global conferences. All roles, such as the organization of conferences or the local representation of the PGA, are passed annually on a rotation principle to the groups or contexts involved.

Positions

The political positions of the PGA are briefly summarized in the " hallmarks ":

  1. A rejection of capitalism , imperialism and feudalism , as well as all trade agreements , institutions and governments that drive destructive globalization .
  2. A rejection of all forms and systems of domination and discrimination, including (but not limited to) patriarchy , racism and religious fundamentalism of all kinds. We recognize the full dignity of all human beings.
  3. A confrontational stance, as we do not believe that lobbying can have any significant impact on undemocratic organizations that are significantly influenced by transnational capital;
  4. A call for direct action and civil disobedience , support for the struggles of social movements that maximize respect for the lives and rights of the oppressed, as well as the building of local alternatives to capitalism.
  5. An organizational philosophy built on decentralization and autonomy . The PGA is a coordination tool, not an organization. It has no members and is not legally represented. No organization or person can represent the PGA.

A ten-page manifesto supplements and analyzes a wide range of problem areas from all areas of society. The analysis is based on the approach of the triple oppression (German: “triple oppression”), which traces social problems back to the three basic problems of capitalism , racism and sexism .

The following quote is written above the PGA manifesto: “If you only come to help me, then you can go home. But if you see my fight as part of your struggle for survival, then maybe we can work together. "

Forms of action

A first version of the hallmarks also contained a commitment to nonviolence; this was removed at the conference in Cochabamba , as individual groups rejected unconditional pacifism. As a substitute, the phrase “ We recognize the full dignity of all people. “Recorded. Of course, the PGA does not organize any political campaigns, but with its network it offers a platform for mobilization, coordination and the exchange of knowledge. For example, global days of action on specific topics are decided and coordinated through this network or contacts for solidarity campaigns are established.

In denial of finished concepts and in the belief that emancipatory politics not in institutions, governments or states can take place, but will have to implement in everyday life, you are just as united as in the belief, not the so often invoked end of the story arrived be. Especially groups from the south came together under the PGA and the Zapatista slogan »Questioning we go ahead«. Even if there are other networks such as the DAN ( Direct Action Network ), which was the contact point for all activists of the radical resistance in Seattle in 1999 , the PGA is still regarded today as the decisive network for movements from the south in the radical resistance ( Habermann, Friederike , P. 148 and PGA Attendees (2004)). For example, at the world conference in Cochabamba, 110 organizations from 44 countries were represented, and only a fraction of them came from industrialized countries.

literature

  • Research journal New Social Movements. Transnational Action Networks. Opportunities for a new culture of protest? Stuttgart 1/2002
  • Torsten Bewernitz: global x. Criticism, status and perspectives of the anti-globalization movement . Unrast, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-89771-418-3
  • Friederike Habermann : People's Global Action: For many worlds! In pink, silver and colored. In: Walk / Boehme (Ed.): Global Resistance. International networks in search of alternatives in global capitalism , Verl. Westfälisches Dampfboot, Münster 2002, pp. 143–156. ISBN 3-89691-515-0
  • Routledge, Paul. 2003. Convergence Space: Process Geographies of Grassroots Globalization Networks. In: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Sep., 2003), pp. 333-349
  • Maiba, Hermann. 2005. Grassroots Transnational Social Movement Activism: The Case of People's Global Action. In: Sociological Focus, February 2005, pp. pp. 41-63

Web links