Search

Much has been written about the anti-globalization movement focussing on its activities around meetings of the World Trade Organization and the International Financial Institutions, in particular the International Monetary Fund. Opposition and resistances to regional ‘trade’ agreements have received less attention in the literature. In this chapter I intend to explore the (regional) opposition to regional trade agreements, or ‘regionalism from above.’ The Hemispheric Social Alliance opposing the Free Trade Area of the Americas is the chosen as the case-study for this chapter. The reason for selecting the HSA is in part timing--in 2004 the final negotiations for the FTAA are supposed to take place. In addition, Puebla, Mexico is the current seat of the FTAA secretariat and the final negotiations will take place in that city. As I am currently located in Puebla, this provides an excellent opportunity to observe SHA activities from up close. The focus of the paper will be on the internal dynamics of the SHA and its interactions with the inter-governmental negotiating process. In this context it will be analyzed what alternative (regional) identity/ies are being constructed to counterpose to the (implicit) regional identity produced by the ‘regionalism from above.’ In other words, what kind of ‘regionalism from below’ is being developed in the Americas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pioneering use of the Internet in the Zapatista movement has inspired social movement activists to adopt new media technologies to disseminate their agenda and mobilize resources. Internet-fueled social movements had also gained considerable momentum at the anti-corporate globalization movement in Seattle in 1999, which demonstrated an innovative pattern of transnational movements. The Zapatistas and the Seattle protests, however, are but two examples of the various kinds of Internet activism emerging at local, national and global levels: hacktivism, the alternative media movement, the anti-corporate globalization movement, the global anti-war movement, cyber-electioneering, minority-community construction, and other interactive forms of Internet media, including blogs and wikipedia. This study aims to suggest a preliminary conceptual map of Internet activism. It reviews literature that draws upon definition and characteristics of Internet activism, beginning with a debate on the political impact of new media technologies. It also discusses collective action and social movement theories from different perspectives. Classifying and synthesizing new trends of Internet-based activism, this study outlines three major domains of Internet activism: the use of the Internet as (1) a mobilizing tool, (2) a site of virtual struggles, and (3) a discursive space for alternative knowledge production. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]