BRICS from below: counterpower movements in Brazil, India and South Africa

[polly7]

By Patrick Heller
Source: open democracy
May 2, 2015

Much has been made of the recent wave of social movements against neo-liberalism and precarity. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy movements to the student protests against the educational system in Chile, commentators have detected a Polanyi-like wave of counter movements to neo-liberal globalization.

But what exactly do these movements have in common? The movements themselves are not specifically connected, are clearly rooted in domestic political fields, and have mobilized claims and framed grievances that are as diverse as they are localized. As the literature on moral economies has long argued, people don’t rise up against economic hardship but rather against injustice.

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The oligarchialization of power

These are less movements against neo-liberalism than movement against the oligarchialization of power under democratic conditions. In challenging the usurpation of power, these movements have reanimated the public sphere, re-thematized core democratic values of accountability, deliberation, consent and the public interest and pushed for more participatory forms of democracy that would shift the balance of power from political to civil society.

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Democracy is always messy, always in flux and always constrained. But it is nothing if it cannot block the translation of economic power into political power. In this respect, a permanently organized counterpower is a necessary condition for a flourishing democracy.

Full article: https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/brics-from-below-counterpower-movements-in-brazil-india-and-south-africa/

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[Judi Lynn]

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