This project is interested in whether a revolutionary love offers potential in igniting a politics of alter-globalisation no longer confined by nation states or party systems….
Could a theory of revolutionary love act as a central, constitutive mode and motor of politics into the 21st century?
Discuss!
The below is all in quotes for now, from online research, so that's a caveat, but I'm interested in the etymology of "alter-globalisation" and how these terms come into being as a starting point or literally sometimes a "pointing to" of layers of meaning that can be brought into this experience of a new way of being.
"The first current of the alter-globalization movement considers that instead of getting involved in a global movement and international forums, the path to social change lies through giving life to horizontal, participatory, convivial and sustainable values in daily practices, personal life and local spaces. Many urban activists cite the way that, for example, the Zapatistas in Mexico and other Latin American indigenous movements now focus on developing communities' local autonomy via participatory self-government, autonomous education systems and improving the quality of life. They appreciate too, the convivial aspect of local initiatives and their promise of small but real alternatives to corporate globalization and mass consumption.
The "alter-globalisation" French movement was thus opposed to the "Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe" on the grounds that it only advanced neoliberalism and an Anglo-Saxon economic model.
Originally developed in French as altermondialisme, it has been borrowed into English in the form of "altermondialism" or "altermondialisation". It defines the stance of movements opposed to a neoliberal globalization, but favorable to a globalization respectful of human rights, the environment, national sovereignty and cultural diversity.
Following the French usage of the word altermondialist, the English counterpart "alter-globalist" may have been coined. The name may have been derived from a popular slogan of the movement, namely "Another world is possible"
Thanks Siobhan.
Yes, the alter-globalisation movement is usually seen as a specific, isolated movement wave spanning from the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 into the first decade of the 21st century. This (Revolutionary Love and AlterGlobalisation) project reclaims and extends the meaning of the term 'alter-globalisation' as a useful way of framing the ongoing movement of movements whose proponents support global cooperation and interaction while opposing global capitalism – in general subscribing to anarchistic principles of freedom and the practice of a non-hierarchical democratic politics – and within which this project includes movements such as the Arab Spring, Spain’s indignados, radical environmental movements, and the global Occupy movement.
This research suggests that a framework of unity is required for this ongoing movement of movements which avoids the dominations and hierarchies of previous structures, maintains its constituent diversity, and yet allows for the construction of a cohesive collective identity - and is asking whether a Revolutionary Love might provide such a framework!
I would agree with the importance of a political praxis which is responsive to the present and rooted in everyday experience, or as the Zapatistas put it: ‘preguntando caminamos’ (‘walking we ask questions’) - but also acknowledge that without visions of how the world might be different, struggles will stagnate and decline. Therefore this project attempts to develop a mode of praxis that imagines futures in order to realign current movement trajectories whilst simultaneously grounding itself in present moment realities - thus providing a space for a utopian re-imagining of current (and therefore future) social relations which are firmly grounded in contemporary grassroots struggle.