The future of the “anti-globalisation” movement post-September 11th

Debate between Mark Curtis and John Lloyd

The Ecologist, 22 February 2002

Dear Mark,

My argument is that 11 September has made the global movements of protest even less intellectually sustainable than they were before. I am not arguing that 11 September was an event which completely transformed the movements’ landscape. They had very large organisational, intellectual, even moral, problems before it. But the consequences of the attack have made these more visible.

The global movements of protest are exceptionally diverse. One sort are the big and relatively well-established NGOs like Oxfam and Médecins sans Frontières: they generally protest against specific events or actions or states of affairs. They seek peace and security in which to do humanitarian work: they often cannot count on it, thus put pressure on governments to ensure it. They also, in the course of their work and experience, have evolved views on aid, development and wars: in close alliance with the media, they have been able to make these views generally recognised and admired.