Cross-Border, Cross-Movement Alliances in the Late 1990s

Abstract

In the middle and late 1990s, a trend toward ‘cross-border, cross-movement’ organizing, in many parts of the world, has become visible. Though what are arguably the strongest movements presently active around the globe — those of a religious or ’ethnic’ nature — do not participate in these developments, these initiatives represent a new type of political action that has important implications. They are beginning to negotiate the limits created by national frontiers and the boundaries between social movements that have historically constrained their actions. More importantly, because many of the groups which participate in these initiatives do not share the epistemological bases of modernity, the existence of different worldviews must (or at least should) be confronted. In these situations, the dominance, or hegemony, of the modern epistemology can be brought into question.

This chapter formed part of the author’s Master’s Thesis entitled ‘Toward “A World in Which Many Worlds Fit”: The importance of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation for international organising’ presented at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague in December 1998.