Alt-Globalization

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On this episode, Kumars is joined by guest co-host Julia Damphouse, a Canadian organizer and student in Berlin. Julia is involved with the German Left Party's International Working Group and the Berlin Jacobin Reading Group. Kumars and Julia use the introduction to learn a little more about Julia's bio and to discuss their shared love of Germany and the eccentricities of German politics.

For the interview, Kumars and Julia welcome Julia's friend and comrade, Kathleen Brown. Kathleen is an American socialist living in Berlin, who, along with Julia, is an activist with The Coalition Berlin, one of the main groups involved in organizing the mobilization against the recent G20 summit in Hamburg. We start off by learning more about Kathleen and how she got involved with left organizing. We also talk about her organization, The Coalition Berlin, how it came about and what their mission is. We get some background on the G20 Summit and discuss why people protest it, this year and every year. We talk about the concept of alter- or alt-globalization, championed by left groups, which embraces international solidarity and cooperation as an answer to both failing neoliberal globalization and the anti-globalization, right-wing nationalist movements building around the world. We discuss what took place at the G20, both at the meeting itself and the protests outside. We discuss the ramifications of the Hamburg protests, including a looming crackdown on civil liberties by the German and possibly other EU governments. Finally, we share our thoughts on what activists in Europe should do moving forward and what activists worldwide should do in response to summits like these in the future, especially as their practical significance decreases each year.

You can keep up with what The Coalition Berlin is doing on Twitter at @TheCoalitionDE as well as on their Facebook page. You can also follow Julia at @remarksist and read her interview with Emily Lacquer about the G20 Summit and mobilization against it over at Jacobin.