Editorial Note: From Seattle to Geneva
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Development. Copyright © 2000 The Society for International Development. SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), 1011-6370 (200006) 43:2; 3–5; 012975.
Upfront
Editorial From Seattle to Geneva WENDY HARCOURT
Who would say that eradication of poverty, promotion of full employment, social integration and social services for all are not among their priorities? In 1995, 117 heads of State and Government and ministerial delegations from 69 countries adopted 10 commitments of the World Summit for Social Development that were to pave the way for national and international social development. Yet five years later as we prepare for another global event, Geneva 2000, the resource constraints, political machinations, conflicts and natural disasters seem to have maintained business as usual. The rich get richer, the poor poorer, governments struggle while global business thrives. It seems the commendable commitments have remained on paper. Nothing has changed. Or has it? The civil society campaigns around debt relief, the collapse of the MAI, the civil society presence in G7 meetings in Birmingham, Cologne and Seattle suggest that civil society is pushing to make that change. The G7 and the World Trade Organisation can no longer ignore the civil society demand for openness, accountability and democracy and the very different opinions on how to redress trade imbalances and to address the needs of the poor in the South. The 1990s, ending up with ‘the battle of Seattle’ in November 1999 can be seen as one of the ‘rites of passage’ to the transnation state. The major shift in this passage has been civil society’s move from a single issue focus to much more hard line confrontations with economic and financial institutions. Several years of global and local interactions have produced a spirited analysis delving into the core of social injustice linked to sophisticated national and international lobbying and policy watching. As a result, the cultural, social and economic trends of globalization are understood well by civil society. Civil society-led campaigns over debt forgiveness, human rights, gender equity, environment, conflict and reproductive rights along with civil society’s networking on the web has produced a richness of knowledge and ideas combined with a new form of
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Development 43(2): Upfront
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political action which is pushing for tough institutional changes in financial trade and economic arenas. But we cannot afford to be completely celebratory. There are some unsettling questions that linger around ‘the battle of Seattle’. Was Seattle a success? Or did it deflect attention away from the real issues? Is civil society itself becoming instrumentalized in the media hype around Seattle? Why did Seattle receive such attention both on the web and in the media? Why is trade now so ‘sexy’ as the British based weekly The Economist put it and why is Geneva 2000 plugging away at poverty, employment social integration not the subject of such
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