One no, many yesses: A Journey to the Heart of the Global Resistance Movement
by Paul Kingsnorth
(The Free Press)
verybody has an opinion on globalisation. Scholars produce papers on it for conferences – for, against or ambivalent – at a rate that must seriously contribute to deforestation somewhere. Journalists report on it all the time. Activists from all sides fight with each other over it. And books get written, all too often for one to keep up – and hold down one’s job in this competitive world economy.
So why read this latest effort? Quite simply, because its one of the better popular accounts of the anti-globalisation movement to be published in recent years. The author clearly sympathises with the movement, though he’s not a groupie above seeing its zanier or more tedious side. Ultimately this makes the book stand out.
Another aspect is its ‘global’ scope. Kingsnorth takes us a worldwide ‘tour’ of his subject: from Chiapas in Mexico to Genoa, Italy; from South Africa to New York, New Guinea, Brazil, the American West and back in time to 14th Century England. In many places he is as much participant as observer: he dodges teargas in the anti-G8 gathering in Genoa, marches with South African activists in Johannesburg, samples the many sessions and workshops at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil and tries to bring food into peasant-occupied land in Maranhao state, to its north.
He traces the roots of the movement to January 1st , 1994, the day on which Zapatista movement occupied a number of towns in Chiapas, Mexico, sparking the beginning of the most unusual guerrilla struggle in recent times, one waged as much on the internet as in the countryside. Visiting Zapatista areas, he talks with activists, peasants and visitors and gets the title for his book from such conversation: the one no (to economic globalization and homogenization of the planet) that is based on the many yesses of a worldwide network of resistance, a network committed to decentralized power and social, economic and cultural diversity.
Inevitably, he shows, such diversity is often a source of tension and conflict. Much time is spent in debating among activists; some groups (he singles out Trotskyite sects and violent anarchist movements) seem hell bent on trying to hijack the movement or seek violent solutions.
In some areas like Indonesian-controlled New Guinea, the anti-globalizing resistance movement see force as the only solution – even if its bows and arrows against helicopter gunships. Elsewhere, US activists build on their constitutional rights to enact laws that try, on a local level, to undermine big corporations, promote small business and develop grassroots political involvement among the apathetic or disillusioned.
Yet there is a funny side to some struggles. Some activists do ‘street theatre’ or put up satirical billboards to mock advertising and protest corporate monopolies, fast food and coffee shop chains. (In solidarity with such activists, I won’t name names!) I was most amused by the antics of an actor turned ‘preacher’ against … as I promised, no advertising here.
Despite the breakneck speed of Kingsnorth’s world tour, he manages to focus on key anti-globalisation themes and suggest common areas amidst diversity. There is no single anti-global ideology: socialists and capitalists alike, first and third worlders, intellectuals and peasants, share a common desire for what might be best summed up as decentralization and diversity. This point is hammered home by the author’s account of the 1381 English Peasants’ Revolt, which fell apart when its leader – a radical priest and medieval liberation theologian named John Ball – was killed.
One may not like the ‘global resistance movement’ (a generic term the author uses), but on reading about it one cannot help but feel it his here to stay: it is too big to be brushed aside as fringe, to diverse to be dismissed as leftie nostalgia-tripping. Its ideas deserve engagement and serious consideration. Most striking are the people Kingsnorth interviews: Papuan tribesmen, Zapatistas, South African socialists, Genoa protesters, American small businessmen and women, to recall a few: a wealth of often-overlooked experience. Apart from his stories and political observations, Kingsnorth includes a useful collection of endnote sources and a list of anti-globalisation organization websites. This is an added bonus (if I may be permitted such a naughty capitalist word) to a book that is packed with information yet has the energy of a well-written, fast-paced thriller.