ATTAC - Definition and Overview

Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC - Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour l'Aide aux Citoyens) is an activist organization for the establishment of a tax on exchange transactions.

an ATTAC poster in the French countryside

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 for sale", denouncing the "merchandization" of society.

Organizational History and Background

In December 1997, Ignacio Ramonet wrote in Le Monde diplomatique 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 France. While it was founded in France it now exists in over forty countries around the world. In France, politicians from the left are members of the association.

ATTAC functions on a principle of decentralization: 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 reactionary 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 protectionism.

The main issues covered by ATTAC today are:

• Democratic control of financial markets (e.g. Tobin tax)
• "Fair" instead of "free" trade (WTO, IMF, Worldbank, EU, NAFTA, FTAA, G8)
• Social security systems (it is against privatization of pensions and of the health system)
• Against tax evasion (tax havens, transnational corporations)
• Sustainable globalisation

In France, ATTAC associates with many other left-wing causes.

ATTAC supports José Bové.

See Also

• Anti-globalization movement

External links

• ATTAC homepage (http://www.attac.org/)
• Disarming the markets (http://www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr/1997/12/leader.html), editorial by Ignacio Ramonet
• ATTAC Germany (http://attac.de) (Group on Information Society (http://attac.de/wissensallmende))