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Originally a single-issue movement demanding the introduction of the so-called Tobin tax on currency- speculation, ATTAC now devotes itself to a wide range of issues related to globalization, monitoring the decisions of the World Trade Organization ( WTO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ( OECD) and the International Monetary Fund ( IMF). ATTAC attends the meetings of the G8 with the goal of influencing policymakers' decisions.
Though ATTAC criticizes the neoliberal ideology dominating economic globalization, it is not "anti-globalization". It supports globalization policies that they characterize as sustainable and socially just. One of ATTAC's slogans is "The World is not merchandise", denouncing the " merchandization" of society.
In December 1997, Ignacio Ramonet wrote in Le Monde diplomatiqueThe monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique (nicknamed "Le Diplo" by its French readers) offers well-documented analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. In particular, it takes a critical view on the effects of Neoliberalism on th an editorial in which he advocated the establishment of the Tobin tax and the creation of an organization to pressure governments around the world to introduce the tax. ATTAC was created on June 3, 1998, during a constitutive assembly in FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents.. While it was founded in France it now exists in over forty countries around the world. In France, politicians from the left and the right are members of the association.
ATTAC functions on a principle of decentralizationDecentralisation (or decentralization is any of various means of more widely distributing decision-making to bring it closer to the point of service or action. It occurs in a great many contexts in engineering, management science, political science, polit: local associations organize meetings, conferences, and compose documents that become counter-arguments to the neoliberal discourse. ATTAC aims to formalize the possibility of an alternative to the neoliberal society that is currently required of globalization. ATTAC aspires to be a movement of popular education.
Critics say that ATTAC constitutes an identity-based reactionaryA reactionary (sometimes: reactionist is someone who seeks to restore conditions to those of a previous era. The political attitude of a reactionary is reaction reactionism (sometimes: reactionaryism . Reaction is always presented against something that i group and that, contrary to that which ATTAC affirms, it does not speak in the name of the poorest. Another criticism is that ATTAC promotes policies that are in reality plain protectionismProtectionism is the economic policy of promoting favored domestic industries through the use of high tariffs and other regulations to discourage imports. Historical variants of this policy have included mercantilism, a trade policy aimed at maximizing cu.
The main issues covered by ATTAC today are:
In France, ATTAC associates with many other left-wing causes.
ATTAC supports José Bové.