"Davos" has become synonymous with everything bad about globalization-capitalist imperialism, elitism, secrecy, and antidemocratic operations. Dating from the first confrontations at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2001, the World Social Forum has become the largest political gathering in human history and offers a direct challenge to the extreme inequities of corporate-led globalization. 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. This book is itself an experiment in collaboration among twelve leading scholars, all of whom 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 keeping with the spirit of the World Social Forums and the collaborative authorship of the book, royalties will be donated to Grassroots Global Justice. This is the first book we know of on the World Social Forum process that specifically addresses a nonspecialist U.S. audience Many of the book's authors are well-known experts in the fields this book addresses The book's multiple authors have participated in all of the World Social Forums and in many regional and local ones, offering a unique approach to analyzing this major global phenomenon The World Social Forum is the most happening event on the planet and Americans are just starting to learn about it This is a perfect handbook for those interested in social activism in the contemporary world Leading scholars wrote this book for a general readership including activists and students to alert them to the World Social Forum, currently the most significant global political event

Product Description: The South American country of Ecuador provides a fascinating case study for understanding the construction and emergence of race and ethnic identities. While themes of ethnic identities, indigeneity, and race relations are commonly examined in our respective disciplines, it is less common to bring together essays with scholars from such a broad variety of disciplines...read more

Product Description: This authoritative book provides a deeply informed overview of one of the most dynamic social movements in Latin America. Focusing on contemporary Indigenous movements in Ecuador, leading scholar Marc Becker traces the growing influence of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), which in 1990 led a powerful uprising that dramatically placed a struggle for Indigenous rights at the center of public consciousness...read more

Product Description: Martin Stirzel untersucht die Steuerung von Mechatronik-Projekten und analysiert ein Modell, das Einflussfaktoren, Controlling-Gestaltungsparameter sowie Erfolgsvariablen enthält. Darauf basierend werden Implikationen für das Controlling abgeleitet.

In June 1990, Indigenous peoples shocked Ecuadorian elites with a powerful uprising that paralyzed the country for a week. Militants insisted that the government address Indigenous demands for land ownership, education, and economic development. This uprising was a milestone in the history of Ecuador’s social justice movements, and it inspired popular organizing efforts across Latin America. While the insurrection seemed to come out of nowhere, Marc Becker demonstrates that it emerged out of years of organizing and developing strategies to advance Indigenous rights. In this richly documented account, he chronicles a long history of Indigenous political activism in Ecuador, from the creation of the first local agricultural syndicates in the 1920s through the galvanizing protests of 1990. In so doing, he reveals the central role of women in Indigenous movements and the history of productive collaborations between rural Indigenous activists and urban leftist intellectuals.Becker explains how rural laborers and urban activists worked together in Ecuador, merging ethnic and class-based struggles for social justice. Socialists were often the first to defend Indigenous languages, cultures, and social organizations. They introduced rural activists to new tactics, including demonstrations and strikes. Drawing on leftist influences, Indigenous peoples became adept at reacting to immediate, local forms of exploitation while at the same time addressing broader underlying structural inequities. Through an examination of strike activity in the 1930s, the establishment of a national-level Ecuadorian Federation of Indians in 1944, and agitation for agrarian reform in the 1960s, Becker shows that the history of Indigenous mobilizations in Ecuador is longer and deeper than many contemporary observers have recognized.