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12. Popular Movements and Economic Globalization
- Temple University Press
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Popular Movements and Economic Globalization Jeremy Brecher Social movements are crucial vehicles through which non-elite groups express their values and interests, especially when these are imperfectly represented within central institutions. Economic globalization has had a profound impact on both the present condition and the future options for social movements around the world. In this chapter I explore some aspects of globalization that are signilicant for social movements and then discuss new responses that are emerging from such movements. I hope the chapter will confirm the important role of links between U.S. Latinos and Larin Americans in forging a constructive response to globalization. Until recently the focus of my work has been far more local than global. For the past fifteen years I have studied the Naugatuck Valley, a deindustrializing region in western Connecticut.] Only gradually have I been forced to recognize that in order to understand the Valleis deindustrialization , it is necessary to pay attention to the dynamics of globalization , of which the Valleis decline is a part. I carry in my mind a symbol of the impact of globalization on the Naugatuck Valleis sizable Puerto Rican community. In the early 1980s, the Brass Workers History Project, of which I was a part, interviewed Alejandro LOpez, the first Puerto Rican to work for what was then one of the Valley's largest employers, the Scovill Manufacnu"ing Company. Our 1982 documentary, Brass Valley) opened and closed with shots of Lopez working in the Scovill brass milI.2 Just last year I suggested that he be interviewed again for a documentary on the history of Puerto Ricans in Connecticut.3 He was-standing amid the bulldozed rubble of the plant in which he used to work. When I speak in generalizations about tl1e impact of globalization on Latinos, it is Alex Lopez who haunts my vision. Globalization Modern capitalism developed within a system of territorial states. Trade and investment between countries were important, but they usually were conducted by companies rooted in a single home country. Some companies had large holdings abroad, but usually as part of an imperial system Copyrighted Material 185 186 Popular Movements and Globalization ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi in which ultimate authority remained at home. National governments controlled treasury departments, central banks, trade and labor policies, tax:ation, commercial law, and other key economic instiwtions, thereby retaining the ability to manage their national economies. This system of nation-based economies is evolving rapidly toward a global economy. Computer, communication, and transportation technologies have slashed distances, mal<.ing possible the coordination of production and commerce on a global scale. Lowered tariffs have reduced national frontiers as barriers to commerce, facilitating transnational production and distribution. Corporations are globalizing not only to reduce production costs, but also to expand markets, evade tax:es, acquire knowledge and resources , and protect themselves against currency fluctuations and other risks. "As almost every factor of production- money, technology, factories, and equipment-moves effortlessly across borders:' former U.S. secretary oflabor Robert Reich wrote in 1991, "the very idea of an American economy is becoming meaningless, as are the notions of an Amelican corporation , AmeriCaL1 capital, AmeriCaL1 products, and AmericaL1 technology. A si.n1ilar transformation is affecting every other nation."4 Three hundred compaLues now own an esti.n1ated one-quarter of the world's productive assets.5 Of the largest one hundred economic w1its in the world, forty-seven are corporations-each with more wealth than 130 countries.6 International trade and financial instiwtions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the European Union (EU), and the new World Trade Organization (WTO) have developed powers formerly reserved for nation-states. Conversely, national governments have become less aL1d less able to control their own economies. This traL1sformation is what is often referred to as globalization. At the core of globalization lies a sharp increase in capital mobility, the capacity to move capital around the world. New transportation, communication, aL1d production technology helped mal