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Friday, October 04, 2002 - 04:38 PM Permanent link for The Anti Capitalist Convergence
The Anti Capitalist Convergence

This would be a *really* fun read if it weren't so depressing.   The Anti-Capitalist Convergence (ACC) is a keystone anti-globalization group.  A few entries in their FAQ are worth highlighting:

What is the Anti-Capitalist Convergence?

The Washington DC Anti-Capitalist Convergence is a coalition of anti-capitalist activists organizing locally, nationally and internationally, under the Principles of Unity to put an end to the oppressive and destructive capitalist system. We are currently organizing a People's Strike, a day of non-compliance and resistance on September 27, 2002. We intend to show a strong and beautiful resistance to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions which facilitate capitalism's promotion of poverty, racism, sexism, environmental destruction, and the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of a few.

They seem to have left out a few other beefs toward society including Pro-Palestine,  AIDS activism, clean energy, and anti-war. 

The real fun is the ACC's history of economic thought in 1 paragraph:

What is neo liberalism?

"Neo liberalism is a variation on the classical liberalism of the nineteenth century, when Britain and other imperialist powers used the ideology of competition and 'free trade' to justify their own colonialisms. Anticolonial revolt ended the empires, and worker revolt in the 1930s ended classical liberalism but was contained by Keynesianism: government management of the wage, the welfare state. and 'development.' An international cycle of worker, student, peasant, woman, and pro-ecology revolt in the 1960s eroded Keynesian economics, and it was replaced by neoliberalism-designed, pushed, and implemented by some of the biggest, most powerful institutions in the world, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World bank. Think tanks, university departments, and government agencies house an international army of neoliberal architects, planners, and apologists--backed up by the armed might of the state in all its forms. This history suggests that defeating neo liberalism will not be enough; we must go beyond reformism to defeat all forms of capitalism."

Wowza.   Last time I looked, Classical Liberalism was a constitutional / governance theory and not an economic one (though, as I have argued, there are Good Things that happen when it is linked with capitalism).  In particular, many/most 'deep' classical liberals frowned upon colonialism. 

One of the perennial questions is once they've accomplished "defeat [of] all forms of capitalism" what exactly do they want to replace it with?


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