While politicians and pundits bask in the media spotlight, spouting banalities about "mending the rifts" in Washington and "building bipartisan coalitions," we here at AlterNet are refocusing our attention on some folks who are building genuine coalitions and mending rifts around the globe.
For an eye-opener about the real core of the anti-corporate movement, you can't beat today's lead piece, "Globalization from Below." As its authors point out, the "anti-globalization" movement has largely been depicted as a series of dramatic demonstrations against the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank by a bunch of radical Westerners. But the real anti-corporate globalization movement -- globalization from below -- has been percolating in communities of Third World poor people, environmentalists, small farmers, organized labor, students, consumer groups ... the list goes on and on. The movement for globalization from below has been acting and linking up in an enormous range of ways that may be less visible than "meeting-stalking," but that transcend its limitations.
A great example of the fight against corporate globalization is highlighted in Olivia Greer's "Smoking Out Big Tobacco." Greer reports on how the group INFACT, armed with a powerful new documentary, is confronting Big Tobacco's efforts to hook Third World children on cigarettes. The INFACT boycott of Philip Morris/Kraft Foods is still going strong, and we urge readers to consider joining it.
We're also hoping you read through Linda Baker's insightful piece, "Sprawl: Soccer Moms' Public Enemy #1." As a mother of two school-age kids, Baker is struggling with the social, psychological and environmental effects of her new role as family chauffeur. What happens to a community, she asks, when the average mother spends more than an hour a day driving?
And yes, we are still covering the fallout of Election 2000, trying to make sense of it, but not afraid to make fun of it, either. Michael Moore's irreverant column today does both -- "Silver Lining of the Election #9: We will never have to look at James Baker or Warren Christopher again." While Arianna Huffington takes a somber stab at the Supreme Court, we've found a hilarious spam for thought that takes a silly stab at Bush: "Breaking News: GOD Overrules Supreme Court Verdict."
This will be the last Mix; we hope you enjoyed it, and that you'll give us some feedback about the whole AlterNet beta site. Thanks.