Media reports portray a frightening image, Devine (2001) reported that there are disturbing links between the anti-globalizationists and religious zealots, they have a shared aim, similar structure and methods, and a vocabulary of extreme violence. Mitchell (2000) described activists as hardened international protesters with a potential for violence and a recent report (The Australian 18 March 2002, p. 6) depicted a sea of demonstrators leaving a trail of damage in its wake. Reports like these reflect the way in which activists are frequently presented in the mainstream press, violent, destructive extremists, but, as Anleu (1991, p. 5) claims, deviant behaviour can increase when police intervention creates new opportunities for crime. In a capitalist society only the established legal system has the authority to effect formal social control, the obvious police presence at protests can have the effect of agitating the emotions of the activists and provoking conflict. Informal social control is found in the pages of the press, the might of the media and the labeling of these groups and their members as deviant. Fowler (1996) suggests that the media’s obsession with violent individuals, and using them as symbols, avoids any serious discussion or explanation of the underlying social and economic factors: the brick-throwing rioter is imaged over and over again, but the reasons behind these displays of deviance are rarely documented. By deliberately focusing on the actions of a few the message from the many is often overlooked. The negative publicity generated by the media, Windschuttle (1990, p. 294, 295), both excites the readers’ emotions and comforts them by reinforcing their prejudices and their acceptance of the status quo.
THE ENVIRONMENTALISTS
The reality, however, may not be the same as that which is portrayed in the press. The groups involved with the environmental, anti-globalization movement include the likes of Oxfam Community Aid Abroad, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Australian Council of Trade Unions, Reclaim the Streets, the Democratic Socialist Party, Socialist Alliance, Peoples’ Global Action, Campaign Against Corporate Tyranny United in Struggle (CACTUS) and the Industrial Workers of the World, to name just a few. Members from more than 70 independent groups have been involved with anti-globalization protests in Australia alone. Pakulski writes:
(…) Movement activists and supporters are predominantly under 36 years of age and college educated. They live in urban areas, hold white collar frequently professional positions, and enjoy security of employment and relatively high incomes. They are employed in the public sector and in the areas of welfare and cultural services.’ (1991, p. 180)
So, today’s middle-class are radicals. The may look like anyone else but they have strong views regarding political reform, they want to change the world and make it better.
The majority of those groups involved share similar attitudes towards the issue of violence, some are quite vocal in denouncing violence and declaring a commitment to peaceful protest, others encourage non-violent, confrontational civil disobedience. Violence is not something these activists invite, but Melucci (1992) suggests, the participants have assessed their environment and calculated the costs and the benefits of their actions, by challenging the ‘natural’ process they can create a degree of controversy and doubt about what is actually happening. For the activists the environment and globalization are of paramount concern. Unfortunately, as the media often portrays a negative image of these groups, the case may be that bad publicity is still preferred to no publicity at all. As Johnston and Klandermans state:
‘Hence the characteristic ambivalence with which so many movements organizations approach the mass media as both a means for changing society and a target that epitomizes the objectionable cultural practices being challenged.’ (1995, p. 101, 102)
CONCLUSION
Halimi (1997) questions the role of journalists and intellectuals in a world where 358 billionaires control wealth equivalent to the combined income of nearly half the world’s population. The same journalists who write for the papers, talk on the radio and appear on our televisions are almost as part of the ruling class as the business elite themselves. In a capitalist society wealth has a tendency to dominate the politics, create the ideology and label the deviants. As McChesney states:
‘A specter now haunts the world: a global commercial media system dominated by a small number of super-powerful, mostly U.S. based transnational media corporations. It is a system that works to advance the cause of the global market and promote commercial values, while denigrating journalism and culture not conducive to the immediate bottom line or long-run corporate interests.’ (1997, p. 1)
The voices of the people involved with the environmental and anti-globalization movements may be distorted and the members may be depicted as unsavoury elements in our society but they are achieving something. Through their increasingly effective activism, although blemished by media’s negative portrayal, they are raising public awareness of the global environmental threats and a much larger audience has been reached, thanks to the media.
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