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2 The PGA Hallmarks 3 Global Actions 4 Criticism of the PGA 5 External links |
The initial inspiration for the formation of PGA came from a global meeting called in 1996 by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), which had started a grassroots uprising in the impoverished Mexican state of Chiapas on new year's day 1994 when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect.
History of PGA
The First Encuentro |
The Zapatistas sent out an email calling for a gathering, called an 'encuentro' (encounter), of international grassroots movements to meet in specially constructed arenas in the Chiapas jungle to discuss common tactics, problems and solutions. Six thousand people attended, from over 40 countries, and declared that they would form 'a collective network of all our particular struggles and resistances...an intercontinental network of resistance against neoliberalism...(and) for humanity'.
In August 1997, the European Zapatista support network called for a Second 'Encuentro' in Spain, which it had planned with the Zapatistas during the 1996 encuentro. Delegates came again of movements from around the world, such as the Brazillian Landless Workers' Movement (MST) who occupies unused land to create farms, and the Karnataka State Farmers Union (KKRS) from India, renowned for their 'cremate Monsanto' campaign which involved burning fields of genetically modified crops. Here some of the primary objectives and organisational principles of the emerging network were drafted.
In February 1998, movements from all continents met again, this time in Geneva, where Peoples' Global Action was launched.
Peoples' Global Action is seen by those involved with it as an instrument for communication and coordination, not as an organization. PGA has no membership and nobody can speak in its name. There is no leadership, although continental 'convenors' are periodically elected to organise conferences and maintain important communication tools. The identity of PGA is mainly enshrined in its five hallmarks. These were first created in 1996 but have evolved and changed during subsequent conferences, in particular to take a clearly anti-capitalist (not just anti-neoliberal) stand, to avoid confusion with right-wing anti-globalisers and to strengthen the perspective on gender. These are the hallmarks in their current version:
So far, PGA's major function has been to serve as a political space for coordinating decentralised Global Action Days around the world, to highlight the global resistance of popular movements to capitalist globalisation. The first Global Action Days, during the 2nd WTO ministerial conference in Geneva in May 1998, involved tens of thousands of people in more than 60 demonstrations and street parties on five continents.
The PGA Hallmarks
Global Actions
Prague, September 2000 |
Subsequent Global Action Days have included the 'carnival against capital' (June 18, 1999), the 3rd WTO summit in Seattle (November 30, 1999), the IMF/World Bank meeting in Prague (September 26, 2000), the G8 meeting in Genoa (June 21, 2000) the 4th WTO summit in Qatar (November 9, 2001), etc..
Decentralised mobilisations have in turn inspired ever stronger central demonstrations. From the first mobilisation in Geneva, direct action was taken to block the summits, as this was considered the only form of action that could adequately express the necessity, not to reform, but to destroy the instruments of capitalist domination.
Groups involved in PGA have also organised Caravans, regional conferences, workshops and other events in many regions of the world. Since Geneva, Global PGA conferences have been held before WTO ministerials: in Bangalore, India (1999), and in Cochabamba, Bolivia (2001). Since then, PGA has been organising mainly in the various continents. Its hallmarks are often used as ad-hoc 'principles of unity' for groups co-operating in direct action and civil disobedience campaigns.
This section is still under debate. See the [page] for details.
A frequent criticism of the euphemistically-termed "decentralised mobilisations" is that they are, in fact, simple riots. While the PGA website shows pictures of peaceful demonstrators showing their solidarity in opposing globalisation, news programs, critical web sites and other, similar sources of information show demonstrators smashing windows, overturning cars and setting things on fire. Even those sympathetic to the anti-globalisation viewpoint tend to find such images counter-productive to the cause.
A further criticism in the same vein points out that the people whose property is damaged in the assorted PGA-influenced/organised riots are not the people the PGA-affiliated people are protesting against. The smashed windows, overturned cars and burned shops tend to belong to small business owners and private citizens, not to government officials and mulinational executives.
A final criticism questions how popular the "popular movements" which comprise the PGA actually are. The PGA claims to speak on behalf of "the People", but, it is argued, many groups with highly conflicting goals all claim to speak on behalf of "the People". Who is right?Criticism of the PGA