Elizabeth Humphrys: The impact of 9/11 and the alter-globalisation movement
BA (Deakin) Grad Cert Social Inquiry (UTS)
Masters Candidate
Email:
Elizabeth.T.Humphrys@student.uts.edu.au
Thesis Title:
The impact of 9/11 and the war on terror on the alter-globalisation movement in Australia
Thesis Topic:
When the alter-globalisation movement of the developed world took a final step onto the global stage at Seattle in 1999, one of its defining features and strengths was its diversity. The movement encompassed a wide range of ideas, solutions, strategies, questions and organisations. Unity sprung from a shared critique and disgust at the neo-liberal project and in particular the role of multinational corporations, but there was much contestation about what the movement should do, how it should grow and what its aims were.
Over the following two years the movement grew in numbers and confidence, but it also faced many challenges. Initially this was in the form of debates about the use direct action and the need to articulate what the movement was for, rather than only what it was against. No challenges were bigger, however, than the experiences of police repression of street demonstrations and the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington and the resultant United States declaration of war.
It was not automatic that the movement's shared critique of neo-liberalism was extended to a shared critique of the role of the US nation state and its interventions abroad. In fact, many sections of the movement had seen the nation state as redundant or significantly transformed compared with the national alignments that dominated the globe last century. Alternatively, other sections of the movement reconceptualized their activity in light of what many call the American 'New Imperialism'. How the anti-capitalist movement in Australia understood and explained these challenges appears to have impacted on its size and visibility and shaped the national radical landscape in the following years.
This project will ascertain what impact 9/11 and the war on terror had on the form and trajectory of the alter-globalisation movement in Australia.
Principal Supervisor:
Dr Virginia Watson, Social Inquiry, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, UTS
Co-Supervisor:
Dr Chris Ho, Social Inquiry, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, UTS