____________________________________________________________________ A Trans/forming Cultures conference, under the auspices of the Research Committee on 'Social Movements and Collective Action' of the International Sociological Association. ___________________________________________________________________ Call for Participation / Papers PROTESTING GLOBALISATION: PROSPECTS FOR TRANSNATIONAL SOILIDARITY 10-11 December, 1999 University of Technology Sydney, Australia A conference of workshops and discussions exploring the problems and possibilities of transnational solidarity, coinciding with International Human Rights Day, 1999. Protest movements are contesting globalisation. Military and corporate power is confronted, and free market globalisers are challenged. Peoples and campaigners work across borders to demand a different global order - one that serves workers, women, indigenous and colonised peoples, and secures social and environmental justice. What are the challenges and what are the prospects for this 'globalisation from below'? RATIONALE Globalisation rhetoric offers two options: either reject nationalism and embrace the global 'market', or defend the national state and reject global competition. The world is divided into globalising marketeers and nationalist xenophobes. 'Forward-looking' globalism is posed against 'backward-looking' nationalism, and alternatives are defined out of existence. Many protest movements reject this global-versus-national divide. For movements founded on grassroots participation there can be no leap into the global realm, while retreat into local or national enclaves can be both disempowering and defensive. Instead, many movements attempt bring together national and international perspectives, to construct a politics of transnational solidarity. Environmental, social, and financial crises - to name a few - have become transnational problems in search of transnational solutions. Protest movements exploit and widen the resulting legitimacy deficits, challenging the disempowering logic of neo-liberal globalisation. The Conference explores this emerging logic of protesting and politicising 'globalisation'. DRAFT PROGRAMME The intention is to have a mix of academic and NGO speakers in both the plenaries and workshops. The plenary titles and workshop questions are initial suggestions, designed to give an idea of the scope of the conference. It is hoped that information-sharing sessions and campaign workshops can be arranged, and that there will be some celebration of cultural solidarity on the Friday. The conference is preceded by a more informal two-day research workshop. The conference website will carry paper abstracts, and host discussions on conference themes before and after December 1999. A book focusing on the conference themes will be launched on 10 December, and conference talks will be prepared for publication in a second book and on the website. FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER 9.30-10.30 Welcome and opening plenary: 'Globalisation': propoganda and protest 11.00-1.00 Workshops Challenging corporate power What sort of alliances are formed when movements challenge TransNational Corporations? How can movements exploit the legitimacy-deficits of TNC's? Should movements engage with TNC's or confront them? Contesting inter-governmentalism Where do inter-state regimes respond to movement pressures, and where do they resist them? When are they a threat and when are they an opportunity? What dilemmas are faced when movements pursue international legitimacy? Challenging consumerism How do protest movements confront globalised consumerism, exposing 'mac-exploitation' or 'coca-colonialism'? How do they engage with it, offering alternative channels of 'conscientious' consumption? What is the potential for consumer-producer solidarity, what are the limitations of consumer campaigns? 1.00pm Book launch: Protest and 'globalisation': dilemmas, possibilities (Pluto Press, Sydney) 2.00-4.00 Workshops Redefining democracy How can protest movements operate as channels for participatory democracy? How do they relate to national structures of representative democracy? What are the prospects for transnational or 'cosmopolitan' democracy, whether participatory or representative? Questioning 'NGOism' To what extent do non-government organisations offer a framework for contesting 'globalisation'? Should they be seen as voicing popular priorities, or as legitimising domination and intervention? How useful are concepts of civil society, where distinctions between NGOs, social movements and peoples power movements? Defining justice How do globalising pressures influence agendas for social justice? What questions are silenced and what questions are privileged? How do globalising elites to manage and contain demands, for instance for woman rights, or for development rights or environmental justice? What consequences may this have for mobilisation? 4.30-6.00 Plenary 2: Contesting globalisation, conflicts and dilemmas 7.00pm Informal dinner and cultural evening: Celebrating solidarity and human rights SATURDAY 11 DECEMBER 9.30-10.30 Plenary 3: Anti-imperialism, old and new 11.00-1.00 Workshops Crossing global divides How do movements campaign across global inequalities? 'Globalisation' can be seen as a form of neo-colonial domination, but to what extent is this overlaid with new transnational divides? Where does neo-colonialism end and solidarity begin? What are the implications for movement strategy? Strength in difference? To what extent do globalising pressures define new possibilities for cross-movement strategy? Does there have to be a shared collective consciousness for cross-movement mobilisation? How far can mutual dialogue and understanding of differences offer a basis for action? Symbolic action, cultural politics How can movements build an emotive commitment, and establish affective solidarity across cultural and national differences? What role does symbolic action play in this? How can movements create cross-cultural consciousness for instance through the politics of celebration and commemoration? 1.00pm Discussion of conference resolution: Asia-Pacific Forum for Peace and Development 2.00-4.00 Workshops Communicating solidarity To what extent does the electronic media, especially the internet, open up possibilities for mobilisation? Is cyber-politics a diversion, or is it a new and vital field of ideological conflict? How far should movements rely on 'net-war' to achieve their aims? Values of solidarity How do movements construct solidarity? What are the underlying foundations for solidarity? What are the relationships for instance, between identification, consciousness, commitment, aspiration, action and emancipation? Principles of self-determination How do movements draw on principles of collective self-determination? How do they act together in transnational campaigns, for instance for indigenous rights, development rights, or rights to national self-determination? Defining transnational consciousness How do movements construct transnational affiliations? How does the national-versus-international divide shape movement practices? How might conflicts between nationalism and internationalism be superseded? 4.30-5.30 Approval of conference resolution, discussion of future initiatives 5.30-6.30 Closing plenary: Solidarity: between nationalism and globalism __________________________________________________________________ Supported by: Asia-Pacific Peoples Forum for Peace and Development; The Centre for Transnational Studies, University of Newcastle, UK; the School of Social Sciences and Planning, RMIT; the Research Centre in Intercommunal Studies, UWS Nepean; and the Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights, Deakin University. __________________________________________________________________ Where: University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia When: International Human Rights Day, Friday 10 December, Saturday 11 December 1999 Cost: $80 ($40 concession) Details: Trans/forming Cultures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007 Phone +61-2-9514 2309 Fax +61-2-9514 2332 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Conference website http://www.transforming.cultures.uts.edu.au/ Protest and globalisation website http://www.uts.edu.au/fac/hss/Research/protglob/ __________________________________________________________________ From: Dr James Goodman, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia, Tel: 9514 2714 Fax: 9514 2332 Email: james.goodman @ uts.edu.au -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
