Civil Society Marches Toward Global Governance

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Mon Jan 10 14:31:21 PST 2000


Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:


>For some, however, (including myself) "civil society" simply denotes
>voluntary, civic and self-help organizations collectively.

If you're talking about social mobilization of a very plural sort, I'm all for it. That isn't the way the term is used by its proponents though. If I get another propaganda sheet from some squishy foundation promoting civil society I may buy an assault rifle. The kind of mobilization you're talking about isn't very civil - if it's done right, it means sharpening social conflict. The civil society people are all about neat conversation and the "reasoned" mystification of social conflict.

Doug



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