Editorial

The Way Forward for the Movement

There are claims that the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11 have "changed everything" and that the problems facing the anti-capitalist movement since that date are fundamentally different from the problems of September 10. This is a hysterical reaction which has nothing to do with reality. These attacks have changed the situation, but not in any fundamental way.

Those making the claim for a "new situation" usually follow with calls for drastic alterations in the strategy and tactics of the movement. On the one hand, there are those who have seized on the tragedy to advocate an end to mass mobilizations and other forms of activism against neo-liberal globalization. In some cases, these individuals have gone so far as to link anti-globalization activism with the terrorist attacks on the U.S. At the very least, they are suggesting that mass actions in the present political climate will provoke violence.

On the other hand, there are those who say that the time for talking is over and that "action" is all that is needed. They cite the urgent need to prevent the U.S. from going to war to justify their position.

We consider both approaches, as well as the underlying thesis, to be seriously flawed. Prior to September 11, neo-liberal globalization was a policy of international capital to seize control of all world markets and consolidate its economic, political and social domination of the entire globe. While all sections of international capital recognize some potential benefit from this process, the undisputed leader of the push for neo-liberal globalization has been U.S. capital.

And since September 11, nothing has changed in this regard. The United States is still striving to bring the entire world economy under its control. But now it has added a new military campaign in the pursuit of its aims. Even this is not new in the sense that U.S. military policy has always played a key role in the pursuit of American economic goals.

However, what has changed is that many of the myths differentiating globalization from capitalism are in the process of being exposed for what they are. As we witness the mobilization of massive forces of destruction in country after country, it can no longer be claimed that globalization is weakening national states. Furthermore, the myth that neo-liberal globalization is a new policy unconnected to the system of imperialism is also being shattered.

In other words, we are emerging from a period in which myths and mystification dominated the movement against neo-liberal globalization, a period in which various forms of post-modernism denied the relevance of theory. In the past two weeks, we have witnessed an explosion in political discussion unlike anything we have seen since the 1960s. Particularly encouraging is the fact that this political discussion has taken root amongst the student youth, including the high school youth. It is precisely within this broad political discussion that the future of the movement lies.

At this time, the main task facing activists within the movement is to encourage this discussion, to provide it with structure and organization and to ensure that no section of society is untouched by it. This is no small task. It requires a focussed and concerted effort on the part of all activists to capture this historical moment and ensure that the interests of the people are defended. It requires a broad-minded, non-sectarian approach and the abandonment of dogmas and prejudices of all kinds. It also requires the broadest possible unity in action against the war hysteria and against the plans of the U.S. and others to extend their empires.