The 2001 WAIS Conference: Comments

Tim Brown rightly says that there is more to anti-globalization than the street mobs who are mostly people wishing to demonstrate and create violence on almost any pretext:

" I seen the problem as two tiered. Globalization as normally discussed deals only with the upper tier, trade, finance, international organizations both intergovernmental (IOs) and private (NGOs). But, noisy and visible demonstrators notwithstanding, the lower tier is the more dangerous because it feels threatened by the actions/successes of the upper group and has less to lose. The less visible but far greater mass of this lower tier is largely a fascinating mixture of traditional elites in lesser developed countries that feel threatened with losing their dominant positions within nation-states and groups that feel threatened in their identities [ethnic, class, religious, ideological, or other]."

PS. Tim Brown wants to know if he should invite to the conference people he knows who have expertise in the field. The answer is: certainly! WAISers should feel free to forward the announcement to anyone they think might be interested.

Ronald Hilton - 8/20/00