ATTAC
Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC - Association pour la Taxation des Transactions d'Aide aux Citoyens) is an activist organization for the establishment of a tax on exchange transactions.Originally a single-issue movement demanding the introduction of the so-called Tobin tax on currency-speculation, ATTAC now devotes itself to a wide range of issues related to globalization, monitoring the decisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). ATTAC attends the meetings of the G8 with the goal of influencing policymakers' decisions.
Though ATTAC criticizes the neoliberal ideology dominating economic globalization, it is not "anti-globalization". It supports globalization policies that are sustainable and socially just. One of ATTAC's slogans is "The World is not merchandise", denouncing the merchandization of society.
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Organizational History and Background
In December 1997, Ignacio Ramonet wrote in Le Monde diplomatique, an editorial in which he advocated for the establishment of the Tobin tax and the creation of an organization to pressure governments around the world to introduce the tax. ATTAC was created on June 3, 1998, during a constitutive assembly in France. While it was founded in France it now exists in over forty countries around the world. In France, politicians from the left and the right are members of the association.
ATTAC functions on a principle of decentralization: local associations organize meetings, conferences, and compose documents that become counter-arguments to the neoliberal discourse. ATTAC aims to formalize the possibility of an alternative to the neoliberal society that is currently required of globalization. ATTAC aspires to be a movement of popular education.
Critics say that ATTAC constitutes an identity-based reactionary group and that, contrary to that which ATTAC affirms, it does not speak in the name of the poorest. Another criticism is that ATTAC promotes policies that are in reality plain protectionism of the developed countries against the Third World, be it in agriculture or in industry, and thus will prevent the Third World from developing itself through trade.
The main issues covered by ATTAC today are:
- Democratic control of financial markets (e.g. Tobin tax)
- Fair instead of "free" trade (WTO, IMF, Worldbank, EU, NAFTA, FTAA, G8)
- Social security systems (it is against privatization of pensions and of the health system)
- Against tax evasion (tax havens, TNCs)
- Sustainable globalisation
ATTAC supports José Bové.
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