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CHAPTER 8 Organizing to Combat the New World Order At the end of the previous chapter, I argued that ideological, theoretical, and political shifts as well as changes in the nature of the time-space-place context of production that encompass the new world order necessitate a change in the nature of organizing. Generally, previous chapters have demonstrated that the new world order has imposed inequalities throughout the world. The question becomes, How can millions of people negatively affected by these inequalities successfully contest them? Thus far I have argued that the new world order is a global system for the accumulation of capital that includes mobile capital, goods, and services; flexible production; and flexible labor markets fueled by debt and speculation. This system has been institutionalized at an international level through the redirection of global institutions such as the IMF, WTO, and GATT (now WTO) and the creation of new ones such as NAFTA. This system has also been institutionalized nationally through public policies that include economic policy and specifically urban policies that impact housing, employment , and economic development. And these public policies, as the previous chapter demonstrated, have been bolstered by changes in theory grounded in ideology and philosophy. These elements constitute a global system. And it is a system that has led to growing inequalities among and within nations throughout the world. The contradictions embedded in inequality also appear nationally in the United States as economic and urban policies create serious local collisions with the poor and the working class whose standard of living is under attack. This book has been focused on such local collisions and how citizens are fighting back-especially in Chicago. The relationship between the new world order and its local collisions establishes a new context for organizing. But this new context presents a problem. Copyrighted Material ORGANIZING TO COMBAT THE NEW WORLD ORDER 199 The local collisions relating to economic development, housing, and employment discussed in this book did not begin with the new world order. As the case of Chicago demonstrates, these problems were very much a part of urban life under the Fordist era. However, the motor that generates such problems, and hence effective means to contest them, are very different today. In the case of housing, the issue during the Fordist era was the equitable sharing of resources. The federal government financed public programs that led to the development of suburban white communities, gentrified neighborhoods in the central city, and massive public housing. Again, organizers took on the inequities that resulted from these programs. And their target was often big city mayors and the federal government. In the new world order, however, gentrification and the elimination of housing for the poor are driven by the fact that housing is now integrated into the new global system. Publicly owned housing is falling to the wrecking ball and the privatization of government housing programs. Housing finance is now privately generated through globalized capital markets. And these shifts are accompanied by the reduction of housing to a pure commodity, undermining the notion that housing is first and foremost a place of shelter and hence a social good or human right. During the Fordist era, the problems of employment and low wages in cities like Chicago were occurring in a context of an economic policy that stressed growth in the demand for workers. Full employment was a national social goal. At the time the United States was a dominant economic power in the world. And capital was firmly entrenched on U.S. soil. Inequality in this context involved the extent to which U.S. prosperity came at the expense of other nations and also the extent to which all racial groups and classes shared in that prosperity. Most demands of activists were directed at governments and corporations for a fair share. Also, toward the end of the Fordist period those demands became increasingly inclusive of other peoples of the world. As we have seen, however, today's urban policy context has changed drastically. Mobile capital is at the center of the new world order, which has destroyed living wage jobs and trade unions. There has been a full retreat from the goal of full employment. Work itself has been individualized as the fruit of human capital investments rather than national and local economic policies. The impetus for these changes comes from a variety of sources. International institutions, national and local governments, and transnational corporations are all important players. The international finance sector is...

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