GLOBALISING RESISTANCE/253Globalisation is not a steamroller crushing everything in its path.
Resistance is alive and well in many places. Globalisation is a long
way from having created a coherent and harmonious economic
order. There are many contradictions within the Triad - contradic
tions between imperialist powers, contradictions between
companies, social discontent, a crisis of legitimacy of the existing
political system, and growing criminalisation in the behaviour of the
main economic players. Furthermore, there are growing contradic
tions between the centre and the periphery, due to the exclusive
nature of globalisation in its present form. Yet the countries of the
periphery account for 85 per cent of total world population. Those
who believe that these populations will quietly allow themselves to
be marginalised are utterly wrong. As wrong as those governments
in the 1940s and 19 50s that believed their colonial rule in Africa and
large parts of Asia would last for ever. Within the periphery itself,
governments that have chosen a neo-liberal path are experiencing a
growing crisis of legitimacy inside their respective countries. The
ruling classes in these countries are for the most part incapable of
offering credible prospects for progress to the great majority of their
citizens.
Is it unrealistic to expect that the inevitable social discontent will
once again assert itself through broad-based projects for emancipa
tion? Nowhere is it written that discontent must necessarily be
expressed in an inward-looking 'ethnic' or religious manner. Even in
the midst of hellish conditions, such as those found in Rwanda and
Algeria, there are significant forces seeking out progressive solutions.
Action by living, breathing social forces can transform even the
most seemingly inextricable economic and political situation.
More than ever before, any alternative must take into account a
number of different dimensions:
- The political dimension. While governments have deliberately
cast aside a part of their regulatory functions, to allow for the
deregulation of capital flows, they can also be pressured into
reinstating these functions. It is a question of political will; if
those in power cannot rise to the task, they can either step aside
or be ousted. - The dimensions of citizenship and class. Those 'from below' and
their organisations - whether from the labour movement born
in the nineteenth century (parties, unions), from other