Globalisation and the anti-globalisation movement

Appunto in lingua inglese di cultura sulla Globalizzazione in particolare parla di una protesta studentesca del 1999 da parte del movimento “anti-globalisation” vs. local McDonald’s.

Protest in Seattle

In November 1999, a collection of 50,000 environmentalists, students, anarchists and ordinary members of the public gathered in Seattle, USA, to protest against a meeting there of the World Trade Organisation. The demonstration began peacefully, but by the end of the day, protestors had smashed shop windows and destroyed property, the police had fired plastic bullets and gas into the crowd, and a state of civil emergency had been declared. The ‘Battle of Seattle’ is now seen as the start of a world-wide anti-globalisation movement.

Spread of the protests

Similar demonstrations have now spread outside of the USA and have become common in cities that host global monetary meetings. In London’s financial district, anti-globalisation demonstrations take place annually every 1st of May. The largest protest so far took place in Genoa, Italy, in 2001, where 300,000 demonstrators clashed with police in a violent conflict: one person died and hundreds were injured.

What are the motivations of the protesters?

Anti-globalisation protestors are protesting about the dominance in the world economy of large (usually American) multi-national companies. They consider that these companies spread their own western culture at the expense of other cultures, and that they exploit developing countries and the environment in general.

Targets for violence and vandalism are often American companies such as McDonald’s, GAP and Starbucks.

Episode of José Bové

In 1999, José Bové, a French farmer who had been in the Seattle protest, became a national hero when he demolished a new McDonald’s as a protest about the standardisation of food, the impact of McDonald’s on local businesses and the high level of US taxes on imported European food.