Transnational youth activism
Larimore-Hall, Daraka
THERE HAS been much talk in Dissent's pages and elsewhere of the need to develop strong new transnational institutions of labor and civil society that could counterbalance the power of global...
...The question remains, though: could IUSY transform itself into an international activist network of the kind envisaged by critics of globalization...
...Of course, this would be quite a transformation...
...This day of action was organized not by some glossy new transnational organization, but by two old and venerable groups: the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU...
...If it were to do so, we would be saved from having to reinvent the wheel...
...DARAKA LARIMORE-HALL DISSENT / Winter 1999 51...
...Although the admission of new members from Africa and the Americas has changed IUSY's focus tremendously, it is still heavily influenced by the traditional European social democratic core organizations...
...Imagine a huge, well-organized network of trained activists switching its emphasis from electioneering to anti-sweatshop work and global labor solidarity...
...These powerful organizations hold different levels of commitment to IUSY's new course...
...This diverse list includes the Young Democratic Socialists (affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America), New Zealand's Young Labor, the Popular Socialists of Argentina, and many of the traditionally strong European organizations...
...IUSY's 132 member organizations, which range from community organizations to governmental bodies, have almost always been slightly to the left of their parent parties in the Socialist International...
...Until recently, IUSY has seen itself as a forum for discussion and largely abstained from internationally coordinated action...
...However, over the last few years, certain member organizations have been nudging it toward greater activism...
...Socialist and social democratic youth organizations worked with trade unions to raise awareness about the threat to trade-union rights posed by multinational corporations and repressive governments...
...condemned Nike for its labor practices in Southeast Asia...
...And that is perhaps the most hopeful part of the whole project—that future politicians are working side by side with the increasingly politicized and energized tradeunion movement to develop a new, grassroots strategy for advancing social justice globally...
...But in the face of serious linguistic, cultural, and institutional barriers—and with so many well-intentioned people throwing up their hands in postideological exasperation—these new transnational formations rarely take shape in the real world...
...To the extent that the European leadership of IUSY backs the new activism, and much of it does, we can only hope that it rubs off on the parent parties, who have yet to turn their electoral sweep of Western Europe into a coherent alternative to neoliberalism...
...The "Third Way" touted by some of the parent parties may prove to be shortlived...
...and passed out leaflets in seven languages denouncing the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment, which would codify the Robert Rubin model of globalization...
...One small ray of hope: this past October 30 young activists in twenty-five countries conducted an internationally coordinated day of action in defense of workers' rights...
...Among the day's demands were an increased commitment to crossborder organizing by unions and the recognition that living standards are tied together by the multinational club's race to the bottom...
...The left politics of the future has yet to be invented...
...THERE HAS been much talk in Dissent's pages and elsewhere of the need to develop strong new transnational institutions of labor and civil society that could counterbalance the power of global corporations...
...They held rallies in solidarity with the striking workers at the Han Young plant in Tijuana, Mexico...
Vol. 46 • January 1999 • No. 1
