Radicals/Radicalism
Radicalism In The Twenty-first Century
Since the 1990s, antiglobalization protestors have appeared throughout Europe and the United States. In June of 1999 demonstrators vandalized the city of Cologne, Germany, during the G8 Economic Summit and managed to disrupt business by staging a five-hour cyber attack upon computers. Financial districts were the target. Protestors repeated those tactics in November and December of 1999, at the meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, and again in April of 2000 in Washington when student activists joined forces with environmentalists, labor leaders, and human rights advocates to strike against the International Monetary Fund. Protesters accused large corporations such as Nike, Gap Inc., and Starbucks of union-busting and unfair labor practice, and they indicted McDonald's, Monsanto, and Shell Oil for paying low wages and minimal health benefits, using unsafe pesticides, creating ecological damage, and "colluding with repressive regimes" (CSIS, p. 3). "Underlying the antiglobalization theme," according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, "is criticism of the capitalist philosophy." The largest of these, a group called Third Position, a European organization with both conservative and liberal members, has achieved notoriety for violence and destruction of property. This group and others communicate via Internet and, according to intelligence reports, are funded partially by organizations such as Direct Action Network and Alliance for Global Justice (CSIS, p. 9).
Terror is the extreme form of radicalism. On 11 September 2001, Islamic fundamentalists, who dreamed of restoring a religious caliphate, flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing thousands of innocent civilians in pursuit of that aim. Meanwhile, in Spain, Basque separatists employed similar tactics in their fight for the creation of a single Basque nation. Both used terror to create and exploit a climate of fear—a means of advancing political goals. Whether conservative or extreme leftist, radicals of every generation have often been willing to employ unconventional methods to achieve political objectives.
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Valerae M. Hurley
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Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Quantum electronics to ReasoningRadicals/Radicalism - Radical Liberalism, Radical Nationalism, Radical Socialism, Marxism, Radical Feminism, Radicalism In The Twenty-first Century