Ôèëîëîãè÷åñêèå íàóêè/7. ßçûê, ðå÷ü, ðå÷åâàÿ êîììóíèêàöèÿ

 

PhD. Nedainova I.V.

Luhansk National University named after Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine

Self/alien opposition in anti-globalization discourse

 

       The process of globalization which has been strengthening for the last 25 years contributed greatly to the world development. At the same time it has caused a lot of new problems as long time ago globalization became the present-day reality. It gave new opportunities for some countries, but it also founded some new dangers for other ones. Some scholars affirm that globalization is favourable first of all for rich people and rich countries, the ones that are the exporters of trade capital and modern technologies. They also find the global danger in the negative influence of the process on the national cultures and spirituality of the people and that can lead the world to the loss of cultural diversity [2].

       Against the background of the global changes of the 1990th, the beginning of the new 21st century is characterised by the growing activity of different unions that are called now anti-globalization associations [2]. This movement differs from the social protests of the previous years as it represents a new type of a political actor in the global space: it is transnational, very flexible and uses some new tactics in its struggle [5]. Anti-globalization activists in their own opinion are fighting for the different social layers people’s rights and are putting forward their demands to national governments and international organizations that influence the citizens’ state. The view of their opponents is quite different:  anti-globalization people are accused in opposing the circulation of people, goods and ideas around the world and their activity is often identified with the anti-capitalistic movement [6]. Naturally anti-globalization denies capitalism and advocates the reasonable connections in modern links between the countries but at the same time this movement not only claims to be the separate struggle with its special features, it HAS already HAD its own “face”.

        In such a way we can understand that the anti-globalization movement has its own goals and tactics. It has also some clearly targeted villains. They are different multinational firms (the MCDonald’s, for example), the International Organizations (like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization) and some national governments (as Brazilian or South African Republic). As for their opponents the anti-globalization fighters assert them in   aiming at the maximization of profits and widening the gap between rich and poor people, destroying the environment through their production and obliterating cultural identities.  And so the question of the strong effective way of the struggle is of current importance for the anti-globalization activists.

       One serious step that can contribute to the unity of social organizations in their alternative social and economic projects that helps to oppose to globalization is organizing social forums. The aim of such forums is changing the information between different social movements, organizations and uniting them in their struggle against various forms of injustice.

       In our research we will try to analyze how the anti-globalization activists position themselves and how they present their rivals. Focusing on the discourse realization we’ll analyze the  materials of the World Social Forum site [8].

       The World Social Forum is the political project the aim of which lies in the  creation of the common forum for all anti-globalization movement to give the activists the opportunity to discuss current problems of today’s world. Any organization can take part in the Forum which is usually held every year in January. The Forum’s activity results in the series of resolutions that are approved by all the participants. The World Social Forum was created as the opposition to the World Economic Forum in Davos for having the platform to develop anti-globalization movement programmes. As for the Forum’s site the publications of which we’re going to analyze its goal is to coordinate the activists’ activities, to give mass-media the information about the Forum’s work and events, to spread the Forum’s resolutions and decisions [1].  

         The forum’s homepage consists of some rubrics, like “What the WSF is”, “Charter of Principles”, “News”, “WSF Programme”, “Agenda of Events and Mobilization”. Of course they present the full picture of the Forum, its aims and activities, but we are more interested in columns like “News Board”, “Memorial”, “Library of Alternatives” and “Press Room” as the ones that are presented not so academically. We’ll decide on researching the rubric “Memorial” that includes such headings as “Bulletins”, “Themes”, “Evaluations”, “Conferences”, “Workshops”, “Declarations and Documents”, “Closing Ceremony”. So “Evaluations” is the focus of our analysis as on its pages the participants of different obsessions and from different countries express their thoughts and attitudes in various forms that gives us “food” for critical discourse analysis.

      Starting with Marc Becker’s evaluation, a teacher of Latin American History at Truman State University, we immediately find the example of self/alien opposition: “Every year at the end of January, the world’s corporate and government elite gather under tight police security in the Swiss resort town of Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) to plot the future of corporate-led globalization. Five years ago, community organizers, trade unionists, young people, academics, and others began to meet in Porto Alegre, Brazil to rethink and recreate globalization so that it would benefit people” [4]. The “self” concept community organizers, trade unionists, young people, academics have favourable description of the participants’ intentions: they intend to rethink and recreate globalization so that it would benefit people; their activity is fundamentally subversive and profoundly radical; the Forum has quickly grown into the most dynamic and important political event in the world. All in all in the article there are very few remarks as to the opponents’ part (which is represented by the concept the world’s corporate and government elite), the negative attitude is very carefully delivered with the phrases like “aliens” gathered under tight police security to plot the future of corporate-led globalization. But suddenly at the end of the article Marc Becker openly tells the names of the “aliens”, more over this is not some collective image or organization, these are real people: “The enemy has a name, some participants observed, and that name is Bush”, “If the enemy has a name... and for many people at the WSF that name would be Hugo Chavez” [4].

       Another evaluation taken for the analysis is produced by the participant Amit Sen Gupta from the hosting city Porto Alegre, Brazil. From the very beginning we can see that the article is written in a rather expressive way and in high tones, the “self” concept is here presented by “anti-war and anti-Bush protestors, anti-WTO activists, environmentalists, ... the landless peasants movement (MST), ... dalit groups”; communists, social democrats, fourth internationalists, religious groups).  Naturally, there are obvious differences within all these groups regarding the characterisation of globalization, the tactics and overall strategic understanding regarding it as the author of the article remarks [7], but as they are “friends” sharing some common anti-globalization ideology, the concept is linguistically realised through epithets, metaphors, cases of metonymy and hyperbole, lexical repetition, framing, rhetorical questions and exclamatory sentences: The same surging crowds – over 100,000 in number, the same cacophony of myriad voices, the same beating of drums, the same confusion, and the same determination on the faces of people who had come to celebrate protest and resistance; as will be numerous other places in the globe as the WSF takes wings and flies to different corners; the massive 100,000 strong opening march of the WSF on January 23; a huge contingent that marched behind a massive truck; this huge political mobilisation;  But the WSF is about shared concerns, about hope, and about belief that the tide must turn;  Good bye to Porto Alegre for ever? Perhaps the WSF is not ready for that yet!  [7].

       The “alien” concept here is represented by the collective image of the imperialist globalisation, which is later in the article adjusted: “Bush still rules at the White House, Iraq continues to be bombarded by a savage imperial monster, the WTO continues to use trade as a weapon of mass destruction, debt continues to cripple almost the entire continent of Africa, neoliberal economic policies continue to kill in thousands across Asia and Latin America” [7].

       In this research we have found far many examples of self/alien opposition on the World Social Forum pages and they prove that the anti-globalization discourse is ideologically centered. In our view this ideology is realized in the discourse rather tolerantly against the “aliens” (global movement, its forms and activists). The “self” portrait can be ideologically presented by the following: “... another world is possible, and we are part of that world” [4] and “... The WSF is also about differences – differences in what must change, and how it must change. But it is also about a conviction that we must join together in spite of differences” [7].

Literature:

1.     Àíòèãëîáàëèçì è ãëîáàëüíîå óïðàâëåíèå. Äîêëàäû, äèñêóññèè, ñïðàâî÷íûå ìàòåðèàëû [Ýëåêòðîííûé ðåñóðñ].  – Ðåæèì äîñòóïà http://worldpolitics.ru/fileserver/File/vinnik/global-anti.pdf.

2.     Ìåãîðñêèé Á. Â. Àíòèãëîáàëèñòñêîå äâèæåíèå â ñîâðåìåííîì ïîëèòè÷åñêîì ïðîöåññå : äèñ. ... êàíä. ïîëèò. íàóê : 23.00.02 / Ìåãîðñêèé Áîðèñ Âàäèìîâè÷.  – Ñàíêò-Ïåòåðáóðã, 2003. – 182 c.

3.     Õìåëüöîâ   À.È.   Êîãäà   "îíè"   ãîâîðÿò   î   "íàñ"   :  ïîëèòè÷åñêèé äèñêóðñ-àíàëèç    è    ñåìèîòèêà   âíåøíåé   ïîëèòèêè   â ìåæäèñöèïëèíàðíîé ïåðñïåêòèâå / Õìåëüöîâ À.È.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     // Ñáîðíèê íàó÷íûõ òðóäîâ "Àêòóàëüíûå ïðîáëåìû òåîðèè êîììóíèêàöèè". – Èçä-âî ÑÏáÃÏÓ, 2004. – C. 59-71.

4.     Becker  M.  World Social Forum /  Becker Marc [Ýëåêòðîííûé ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïà http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/dinamic.php?pagina=bal_becker_2005_ing

5.     Kirn W. The New Radicals [Ýëåêòðîííûé  ðåñóðñ].  – Ðåæèì äîñòóïà http://www.polyarchy.org/essays.

6.     Polyarchy. Essays on statism : Anti-Globalization: villains and slogans [Ýëåêòðîííûé  ðåñóðñ].  – Ðåæèì äîñòóïó http://www.polyarchy.org/essays.

7.     Sen Gupta A. The World Social Forum Sprouts Wings / Sen Gupta Amit [Ýëåêòðîííûé  ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïà http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/dinamic.php?pagina=amit

8.     The World Social Forum [Ýëåêòðîííûé  ðåñóðñ]. – Ðåæèì äîñòóïà http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/home.asp.