Anti-Globalization Movement

The anti-globalization movement is a worldwide movement opposing the mechanisms of global capitalism--particularly organizations like the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Trade Organization (WTO) and free trade treaties like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trades (GATT).

The first major mobilization of the movement occurred on November 30, 1999, when protesters blocked delegates' entrance to WTO meetings in Seattle, USA. The protests lasted the length of the meeting until December 3, during which time there were intermittent delays of the meeting and intermittent violence between the protesters and the Seattle police.

Since, other major mobilizations have occurred in Quebec City, Canada, Washington, D.C., USA, Gothenburg, Sweden, and Genoa, Italy.

Media

The protesters often claim that major media outlets do not properly report on them; in response, they created the Independent Media Center, a collective of protesters reporting on the actions as they happen.

Reasons

There are many different reasons why protesters join the movement. Among them are: labor rights, environmentalism, preservation of indigenous cultures, and ending capitalism. The number of different, and sometimes contradictory, issues has been a point of annoyance for the people they are protesting. Many trade ministers have made statements to the effect of: "What are you protesting?"