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Peoples' Global Action (PGA) is the name of a worldwide co-ordination of radical social movements, grassroots campaigns and direct actions in resistance to capitalism and for social and environmental justice. PGA is an important network of communication and solidarity in the so-called anti-globalization movement.1 History of PGA
The initial inspiration for the formation of PGA came from a global meeting called in 1996 by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), which had started a grassroots uprising in the impoverished Mexican state of Chiapas on new year's day 1994 when the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA) came into effect.
The Zapatistas sent out an email calling for a gathering, called an 'encuentro' (encounter), of international grassroots movements to meet in specially constructed arenas in the Chiapas jungle to discuss common tactics, problems and solutions. Six thousand people attended, from over 40 countries, and declared that they would form 'a collective network of all our particular struggles and resistances...an intercontinental network of resistance against neoliberalism...(and) for humanity'.
In August 1997, the European Zapatista support network called for a Second 'Encuentro' in Spain, which it had planned with the Zapatistas during the 1996 encuentro. Delegates came again of movements from around the world, such as the Brazillian Landless Workers' Movement (MST) who occupies unused land to create farms, and the Karnataka State Farmers Union (KKRS) from India, renowned for their 'cremate Monsanto' campaign which involved burning fields of genetically modified crops. Here some of the primary objectives and organisational principles of the emerging network were drafted.
In February 1998, movements from all continents met again, this time in GenevaGeneva ( French: Geneve German: Genf Italian: Ginevra Spanish: Ginebra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zurich), located where Lake Geneva (French: Lac de Geneve or Lac Leman empties into the Rhone River. It is the capital of the Can, where Peoples' Global Action was launched.
2 The PGA Hallmarks
Peoples' Global Action is seen by those involved with it as an instrument for communication and coordination, not as an organizationAlternative meaning: Organisation (band). An organization (also organisation in many Commonwealth countries) is a formal group of people with one or more shared goals. This topic is a broad one. According to management science, most human organizations fa. PGA has no membership and nobody can speak in its name. There is no leadership, although continental 'convenors' are periodically elected to organise conferences and maintain important communication tools. The identity of PGA is mainly enshrined in its five hallmarks. These were first created in 1996 but have evolved and changed during subsequent conferences, in particular to take a clearly anti-capitalistAnti-capitalism is any and all opposition to capitalism. Since anti-capitalism covers a very wide collection of ideologies (some of which oppose each other more than they oppose capitalism), common objections to capitalism have been collected here, while (not just anti-neoliberal) stand, to avoid confusion with right-wing anti-globalisers and to strengthen the perspective on genderRadical feminism views women's oppression as a fundamental element in human society and seeks to challenge that standard by broadly rejecting standard gender roles. The traditional Radical feminist standpoint may be expressed as viewing the division in al. These are the hallmarks in their current version:
- 1. A very clear rejection of capitalism, imperialismImperialism is the policy of extending the control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires, either through direct territorial control or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics and/or and feudalismThis page relates to medieval Europe. Compare feudal Japan at the entry Tokugawa shogunate''. Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum itself borrowed from a Germanic root fehu a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held; all trade agreements, institutions and governments that promote destructive globalizationGlobalization (or globalisation in its literal sense is a social change, an increased connectivity among societies and their elements due to transculturation; the explosive evolution of transport and communication technologies to facilitate international.
- 2. We reject all forms and systems of domination and discrimination including, but not limited to, patriarchyA patriarch (from Greek: patria means father; arch means rule, beginning, origin) is a male head of an extended family exercising autocratic authority, or, by extension, a member of the ruling class or government of a society controlled by senior men., racism and religious fundamentalism of all creeds. We embrace the full dignity of all human beings.
- 3. A confrontational attitude, since we do not think that lobbying can have a major impact in such biased and undemocratic organisations, in which transnational capital is the only real policy-maker.
- 4. A call to direct action and civil disobedience, support for social movements' struggles, advocating forms of resistance which maximize respect for life and oppressed peoples' rights, as well as the construction of local alternatives to global capitalism.
- 5. An organisational philosophy based on decentralisation and autonomy.
