From Overthrowing the Profit System to Not for Profit
The rise of NGOs and the decline of mass movements
When: Saturday, January 8, 2011 3:00 PM
Where: Florida International University, room WUC 155
3000 N.E. 151st Street
North Miami FL 33181
The past forty years have seen an explosion in the growth of NGOs. The World Bank
estimates that nearly 15% of all overseas development aid is now channeled through
NGOs. At the same time, we have seen a precipitous decline in mass social movements.
One Stuggle South Florida is hosting a discussion on the rise of the NGO and the
fall of mass movements. Our hope is to foster an inter-organizational dialogue to
raise awareness of the NGO trap and how together we can rebuild mass movements for
justice, social change, and popular power.
Join us to help find a way forward.
I. Intro
A. Definition
B. Scope
II. NGOS as Agents of Capitalism
A. Enables capitalists to shield wealth from taxation
B. Gives capitalists another mechanism of control
C. Shifts goals from structural change to charity (part 1)
III. NGOs as Agents of the State
A. Anti-violence programs
B. Shifts social programs from state to NGOs
1. Workforce One
2. Faith Based Aid
IV. NGOs as Agents of Imperialism
A. Shifts goals from structural change to charity (part 2)
1. Haiti
2. Cultural programs
3. Micro-loans
4. Population control
B. Supports imperial agenda
1. Fundamentalist religious revivals
2. Save the women, i.e., brown women from brown men.
V. NGOs as Agents of Demobilization
A. Gives donors control of agenda
1. Civil Rights Movement
2. INCITE
3. Changes focus from movement building to social work.
B. Professionalization of movement work
1. Changes oppressed from subject to object
2. Requires everything to be packaged at successes to continue funding, rather
than dropping failed strategies
C. Shifts goals from structural change to charity (part 3)
1. Better Policing, not community control
2. Conservation, not environmentalism
3. Job training not unions
D. NGO Problems
1. Scams: How to “Save the World” and make a profit
2. Exploitation of workers
VI. Conclusion
A. What is to be done?
How did this go Stephanie? I’d love to hear about it. It sounds great.
KC, it went great!! It was a room full of smart people with a lot of diverse experiences, ideas and knowledge. It was a rich discussion. The basic conclusion I took from it was that it’s fine to have a job with an NGO that helps people with their basic needs, but don’t confuse that with political work. And a lot of the bigger corporate-funded NGOs are just evil; they exist to thwart social change.
Next step: a discussion about how to build an anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist mass movement.