1960s–1980s Contemporary anti-capitalism finds its roots among the
New Left and the
counterculture of the 1960s, which infused anti-capitalism with a
postmodern tendency by the end of the
Cold War. During this period, anti-capitalism began to developed within the
environmental movement, with
green politics drawing a lot of its influence from the New Left and groups such as
Greenpeace aligning themselves against
economic growth and pioneering new methods of
direct action which had previously been advocated by
anarchists.
Radical environmentalists such as
Earth First, which infused their green politics with anti-capitalism, used
decentralised clandestine cell systems to carry out large-scale acts of
sabotage; tactics which would later be taken up by the wider anti-capitalist movement. Capitalism was increasingly seen as responsible for
environmental degradation, leading to the adoption of anti-capitalism by those who aimed to stop it.
1990s By the 1990s,
neoliberalism had asserted a
hegemonic influence over the
global economy. In reaction against the rise of neoliberalism, a new anti-capitalist movement began to take shape. The contemporary anti-capitalist movement first emerged in January 1994, with the
Zapatista uprising against the implementation of the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Zapatista spokesperson
Subcomandante Marcos explicitly expressed
solidarity with
minority groups throughout the world, seeking to make a common cause with others who experienced
oppression under globalized capitalism. The
Zapatista autonomous region in
Chiapas inspired a new generation of anti-capitalists worldwide. Anti-capitalists began to defend
cultural pluralism and stand in solidarity with
indigenous rights movements, breaking from the 20th century's anti-capitalist movement, which had few links with the
decolonial and
anti-racist movements of its period. In 1995, the establishment of the
World Trade Organization (WTO), which sought to promote a neoliberal policy of
economic globalization, met with opposition from the nascent
anti-globalization movement (also known as the
alter-globalization movement or
global justice movement). Other opponents of neoliberal globalization included
nationalists and
religious fundamentalists, although these tendencies differed widely from anti-capitalism in their principles and objectives. The anti-capitalist movement provided a
militant opposition to the WTO and its
General Agreement on Trade in Services, distinguishing their
progressive politics from the prevailing
liberal democratic politics which upheld these institutions and had resigned to a belief that
no alternative existed. English philosopher
Mark Fisher referred to this phenomenon as
capitalist realism. Towards the end of the 1990s, the British environmentalist group
Reclaim the Streets sought to build ties with the anti-globalisation movement, culminating with the
Carnival Against Capital on 18 June 1999 in
London. Although the protest precipitated a decline in the British anti-capitalist movement, following the rise of
Tony Blair's
New Labour government, it also renewed contacts within the international anti-capitalist movement and accelerated a shift towards revolutionary anti-capitalism. During the late 1990s, confrontations between militant anti-capitalists and the police became commonplace at
G8 summits and
WTO conferences, which were regularly targeted for protests by a diverse and decentralised coalition of organisations. The largest of these were the
1999 Seattle WTO protests, where
anarchists,
environmentalists and
trade unionists caused conference negotiations to collapse; this inspired a new wave of anti-capitalist
activism in the 21st century, with large protests taking place against the
26th G8 summit in
Prague and the
27th G8 summit in
Genoa.
2000s 2010s During the 2010s, anti-capitalist ideas became synonymous with the a broader wave of global protest movements with regards to
economic crises, policies on
austerity, and growing inequality following the
2008 financial crisis. Mass mobilisations, including occupations of public spaces and large-scale demonstrations, were a defining feature of the decade. Movements during this period differed in form from earlier anti-globalization protests. Rather than focusing primarily on international summits, more began to adopt sustained occupations and “movement of the squares” tactics,
flat organisation, and
participatory democracy. Protests framed their demands in terms of
majoritarianism, presenting themselves as representing “
the 99%”, or any part of the broader population affected by inequality.
2020s == See also ==