At a particularly urgent world-historical moment, this volume brings together some of the leading researchers of social movements and global social change and other emerging scholars and practitioners to advance new thinking about social movements and global transformation. Social movements around the world today are responding to crisis by defying both political and epistemological borders, offering alternatives to the global capitalist order that are imperceptible through the modernist lens. Informed by a world-historical perspective, contributors explain today's struggles as building upon the experiences of the past while also coming together globally in ways that are inspiring innovation and consolidating new thinking about what a fundamentally different, more equitable, just, and sustainable world order might look like. This collection offers new insights into contemporary movements for global justice, challenging readers to appreciate how modernist thinking both colors our own observations and complicates the work of activists seeking to resolve inequities and contradictions that are deeply embedded in Western cultural traditions and institutions. Contributors consider today's movements in the longue duree-that is, they ask how Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, and other contemporary struggles for liberation reflect, build upon, or diverge from anti-colonial and other emancipatory struggles of the past. Critical to this volume is its exploration of how divisions over gender equity and diversity of national cultures and class have impacted what are increasingly intersectional global movements. The contributions of feminist and indigenous movements come to the fore in this collective exploration of what the movements of yesterday and today can contribute to our ongoing effort to understand the dynamics of global transformation in order to help advance a more equitable, just, and ecologically sustainable world.

At a particularly urgent world-historical moment, this volume brings together some of the leading researchers of social movements and global social change and other emerging scholars and practitioners to advance new thinking about social movements and global transformation. Social movements around the world today are responding to crisis by defying both political and epistemological borders, offering alternatives to the global capitalist order that are imperceptible through the modernist lens. Informed by a world-historical perspective, contributors explain today's struggles as building upon the experiences of the past while also coming together globally in ways that are inspiring innovation and consolidating new thinking about what a fundamentally different, more equitable, just, and sustainable world order might look like. This collection offers new insights into contemporary movements for global justice, challenging readers to appreciate how modernist thinking both colors our own observations and complicates the work of activists seeking to resolve inequities and contradictions that are deeply embedded in Western cultural traditions and institutions. Contributors consider today's movements in the longue duree-that is, they ask how Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, and other contemporary struggles for liberation reflect, build upon, or diverge from anti-colonial and other emancipatory struggles of the past. Critical to this volume is its exploration of how divisions over gender equity and diversity of national cultures and class have impacted what are increasingly intersectional global movements. The contributions of feminist and indigenous movements come to the fore in this collective exploration of what the movements of yesterday and today can contribute to our ongoing effort to understand the dynamics of global transformation in order to help advance a more equitable, just, and ecologically sustainable world.

The World Social Forum (WSF) has become the focus for a diverse array of movements advancing alternative visions of globalisation. The numerous WSF's have helped to connect activists in an increasingly dense network of advocates for radical social change. They have mobilised hundreds of thousands of people and may be one of the most important political developments of our time. The Handbook of World Social Forum Activism brings together leading scholars of the social forum process from North America and Europe. The collection contributes to the ongoing process of reflection from the WSF experience, and is accessible to activists, students and scholars alike.

Political Altruism? deals with participation in political activities aimed at defending the rights of other individuals and groups, such as asylum seekers, immigrant workers, populations of Third World countries, and people whose fundamental human rights are being harmed. Solidarity movements have become an important collective actor in contemporary western societies, yet virtually no scholarly work up to now has addressed them theoretically and empirically. This volume shows why political altruism is better seen as the result of social interactions rather than of a supposedly altruistic outburst. Contributors address the theoretical questions at the core of social movement theory, using country-specific studies including France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, and the US, while also examining the growing internationalization of solidarity movements, their outcomes and consequences.

The World Social Forums began in 2001 as a civil society countersummit to the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of global corporate and political elite that shapes global economic policies. Since then the World Social Forums have become the premier focal point for a diverse array of movements and associations advancing alternative visions of globalization. The World Social Forum "process" encompasses a variety of meetings and networking activities taking place around the world at local, national, regional, and global levels. United by a belief that Another world is possible, World Social Forum activists are engaging in a massive global experiment to bring about a more democratic and just world. Social Forums held at multiple levels from local to global help connect activists in an increasingly dense network of advocates for radical social change. They have mobilized hundreds of thousands of people and may be one of the most important political developments of our time. The Forums overlapping networks link conversations across vast distances as well as over time, allowing unprecedented learning and sharing across movements and across continents. "Handbook of World Social Forum Activism" brings together some of the leading scholars of the WSF process from North America and Europe to offer comparative and longitudinal analyses of the World Social Forum process. Succinct chapters offer lessons and insights on this important global movement drawing from a variety of innovative research methods. The collection documents and contributes to the ongoing process of reflection and learning from World Social Forum experiences and is accessible to activists, students, and scholars alike."

Coalitions across Borders shows how social movements have cooperated and conflicted as they work to develop a transnational civil society in response to perceived threats of neoliberalism--free trade, privatization, structural adjustment, and unbridled corporate power. The authors explore the processes of transnational mobilization, discussing the motivations and methods of cross-border cooperation as well as the conflicts that have affected movement abilities to promote social change. The original case studies included in this volume represent a diverse cross section of transnational movement coalitions--from various regions and nations, representing different movement interests, and addressing a range of economic injustices. Coalitions across Borders reveals the many social conditions that enable and constrain the formation of transnational civil societies and the ways in which movement actors manage conflicts as they work toward common goals.

Globalization and Resistance brings together cutting edge theory and research about how global economics and politics alter the way ordinary people engage in contentious political action. The cases range from nineteenth-century Irish immigrant networks, to protests against World Bank projects in the Amazon, to contemporary transnational organizing for the environment, to the 'battle of Seattle.' The volume illuminates the different ways that globalization processes affect social movements, and vice versa.

In this work, the author shares the history of candle magic along with the recipes, spells, and divinations anyone can use to increase love, prosperity, luck, and abundance.

The World Social Forum quickly became the largest political gathering in human history and continues to offer a direct challenge to the extreme inequities of corporate-led globalisation. It has expanded its presence and continues to be an exciting experiment in global and participatory democracy. The book's contributors have participated in World Social Forums around the globe. Recounting dozens of dramatic firsthand experiences, they draw on their knowledge of global politics to introduce the process, its foundations and relevance to ongoing transnational efforts toward democracy. This second edition of Global Democracy shows how the Forums have developed since their inception in 2001 and how they are now connected with other global movements including Occupy, the Arab Spring and beyond.

The World Social Forum quickly became the largest political gathering in human history and continues to offer a direct challenge to the extreme inequities of corporate-led globalization. It has expanded beyond a single event to spin-offs in a variety of countries including the United States. The forums are an experiment in global and participatory democracy, bringing together networks, organizations, and activists from around the world to create visions of a just and liberated global society. All of the authors involved in this book have participated in World Social Forums around the globe. Recounting dozens of dramatic firsthand experiences from their attendance, these authors draw on their knowledge of global politics to introduce the World Social Forum process, explain its foundations, and discuss its relevance to ongoing transnational efforts toward freedom, peace, and democracy. In the new edition, Global Democracy shows how the World Social Forums have grown and developed since their inception in 2001 and how they are now connected with other global movements including Occupy, the Arab Spring, and beyond.

This groundbreaking study sheds new light on the struggle to define the course of globalization. Synthesizing extensive research on transnational activism, "Social Movements for Global Democracy" shows how transnational networks of social movement activists--democratic globalizers--have worked to promote human rights and ecological sustainability over the predominant neoliberal system of economic integration.

Using case studies of recent and ongoing campaigns for global justice, Jackie Smith provides valuable insight into whether and how these activists are succeeding. She argues that democratic globalizers could be more effective if they presented a united front organized around a global vision that places human rights and ecological stability foremost and if they were to directly engage governments and the United Nations.

Illuminating the deep-seated struggles between two visions of globalization, Smith reveals a network of activists who have long been working to democratize the global political system.

People's Peace lays a solid foundation for the argument that global peace is possible because ordinary people are its architects. Saikia and Haines offer a unique and imaginative perspective on people's daily lives across the world as they struggle to create peace despite escalating political violence. The volume's focus on local and ordinary efforts highlights peace as a lived experience that goes beyond national and international peace efforts. In addition, the contributors' emphasis on the role of religion as a catalyst for peace moves away from the usual depiction of religion as a source of divisiveness and conflict. Spanning a range of humanities disciplines, the essays in this volume provide case studies of individuals defying authority or overcoming cultural stigmas to create peaceful relations in their communities. From investigating how ancient Jews established communal justice to exploring how black and white citizens in Ferguson, Missouri, are working to achieve racial harmony, the contributors find that people are acting independently of governments and institutions to identify everyday methods of coexisting with others. In putting these various approaches in dialogue with each other, this volume produces a theoretical intervention that shifts the study of peace away from national and international organizations and institutions toward locating successful peaceful efforts in the everyday lives of individuals.