A l'attac. Globalisation and Ideological Renewal on the French Left

The question of globalisation has become a focus of intense debate on the French Left with growing attempts to redefine the nature and forms of leftist opposition. More than any other grouping Attac, created in 1998, has been at the centre of a movement of opposition that contests the terms of neo-liberal globalisation and posits an alternative vision of social and political change. This article focuses on Attac's role in constructing a new discourse of opposition in relation to a global economic order. Whilst Attac seems to offer the possibility for ideological renewal on the Left, it has so far been unable to mobilise widespread support behind its political project. For some observers, Attac has failed to make explicit the connections between particular social problems and grievances in France and a universal context of change at international level. It tends to treat globalisation as an abstract ‘scientific’ problem, a distant and reified phenomenon rather than a social reality affecting millions of French citizens in their everyday lives.

Comment cela s'appelle-t-il, ce moment o[ugrave] un autre monde devient possible? Cela a un très beau nom, camarades. Cela s'appelle l'aurore.