Antiglobalizm and new media

Agnieszka Dmowska

We witness new social movements coming into existence, mainly anti-globalistic, which on a wide scale use modern media and communication techniques, especially Internet, for transfer of information and social mobilization. It is on their initiative that independent mass media are being established - in opposition to the traditional ones recognized as corporate - acting as non-profit and on the basis of journalists' and volunteers' activity. One of them is the Independent Media Centre (IMC) established by a group of activists in November 1999 during the protests against WTO summit in Seattle, now having branches in more than 60 countries. The object of IMC activity is to enable access to independent information and to support local publishing and audiovisual projects. New media constitute more and more important forum for social and political discussion due to low costs of operation, supranational range and overcoming language barriers. Polish branch cooperates within this range with other anti-globalistic organizations.

KEYWORDS

anti-globalistic movements, Internet, Independent Media Centre