Blasphemy and power

Publication date: Tuesday 14 February 2006

In this essay in OpenDemocracy, Fred Halliday argues that
"global civil society" is no guarantee of progress, freedom or the defence of rights: as much as any specific domestic society, it may be the site of conflict over values, power, lies and manipulation, even as the illiberal take advantage of their freedom to access the news media and the internet.

The emphasis of much of the literature on "global civil society" that has emerged in the last decade is infused with a kind of liberal optimism that heralds the decline of barriers between peoples, the enhanced interaction of communities and non-governmental groups across the world, and a retreat in the power of states to invade the spaces of civil society.

All this may have considerable evidence to draw on, but the spread of liberal ideas and NGOs – in relation to (for example) the environment, women's rights, or migration – is offset by the worldwide spread of illiberal ideas and bodies, aided often by the involvement of organisations in diaspora communities: conservative religious groups (Opus Dei, chauvinist Hindus and Orthodox Jews, conservative Islamists), anti-feminist activists, or bodies tied to militaristic nationalist currents.

The full text is available at the link noted below.

Related links:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization/blasphemy_3262.jsp