Civil Resistance and the Diversity of Tactics in the Anti-Globalization Movement: Problems of Violence, Silence, and Solidarity in Activist Politics
![handle is hein.journals/ohlj41 and id is 513 raw text is: CIVIL RESISTANCE AND THE DIVERSITY
OF TACTICS IN THE ANTI-GLOBALIZATION
MOVEMENT: PROBLEMS OF VIOLENCE,
SILENCE, AND SOLIDARITY IN
ACTIVIST POLITICS©
BY JANET CONWAY*
This article examines the (re)emergence of large-
scale civil disobedience and the accompanying debates
about violence and non-violence in the contemporary
anti-globalization movement. Rooted in the Canadian
movement but in conversation with wider debates, the
article tracks movement practices and debates from the
Battle of Seattle through to the Quebec Summit. The
debate took a new turn in Genoa, with massive police
brutality and the killing of a protester, and again
following the events of September 11,2001. The central
argument of the article is that the new forms of civil
resistance embody a critique of prevailing forms of
organization, participation, representation, and action in
Canadian social movements. Respect for diversity of
tactics emerged as a non-negotiable basis of unity in this
context. The author goes on to argue that, by June 2002,
this stance had hardened into an ideology that
functioned to restrict genuine diversity and threatened
democracy and pluralism in the movement. The article
ends with reflections on how the threat of war and the
emergence of a global anti-war movement has again
transformed the landscape of the anti-globalization
movement.
Get article examine ]a (r6)6mergence de ]a
d6sobeissance civile A grande 6chelle, et les d~bats qui
l'accompagnent en mati~re de violence et de non-
violence dans le mouvement contemporain
altermondiste. Axe sur le mouvement canadien, mais en
parall~le avec des dcbats plus 6tendus, l'article observe
les pratiques du mouvement et les d~bats intervenus
depuis la Bataille de Seattle jusqu'au Sommet de
Quebec. Le ddbat a pris une nouvelle orientation A
G~nes, A la suite de la brutalit6 policii:re massive et de
l'assassinat d'un manifestant, puis A la suite des
6v6nements du 11 septembre 2001. L'article se
concentre autour de l'argument selon lequel les
nouvelles formes de r6sistance civile incarnent une
critique des formes pr6dominantes d'organisation, de
participation, de repr6sentation et d'action dans les
mouvements sociaux canadiens. Dans ce contexte, le
respect de la diversit6 des tactiques est apparu comme
base non-n~gociable d'unit6. Dans sa lanc~e, 'auteur
pose que, d~sjuin 2002, cette position s'6tait cristallise
dans une id6ologie qui fonctionnait pour restreindre la
diversit6 veritable, menaqait la d6mocratie et le
pluralisme dans le mouvement. L'article se termine par
des observations sur la fagon dont la menace d'une
guerre et l'6mergence d'un mouvement mondial anti-
guerre a une fois de plus transformS le visage du
mouvement anti-mondialisation.
I. INTRODUCTION ................................................ 506
II. CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND DIRECT ACTION .................... 508
III. DIVERSITY OF TACTICS ........................................ 510
J. Conway, 2003.
Janet Conway is a long-time social movement activist. She teaches politics at Ryerson University
in Toronto.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ohlj41&div=30&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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