A. Global City:
The expression Global City was created in 1991, in the works of the Dutch sociologist Saskia Sassen. The concept is applied to the metropolis, which are standards for the international capital in their regions, as cities which went or go through huge transformations to host international events. (The World Cup and the Olympic Games are examples). What are the impacts upon the population in these places and their surroundings; who benefit with those processes?
B. Social and environmental conflicts:
A series of changes is produced by the advance of the border in the exploitation of the nature. It affects how people occupy and use the space, which results in the destabilization of relatively autonomous production forms, responsible for the conservation of the biodiversity and environmental resources. Also in the cities, the environmental inequalities become deeper and are connected to the inequalities of class, gender, color and ethnicity. In each country, there have been multiple answers: indigenous population, communities of quilombolas, workers population, youth, small farmers, fishermen and gatherers reinforce and recreate their identities, give a new meaning to their territories and promote the debate on the production model and consumption.
C. Identities and Inequalities:
How does the globalization affect the cultural identities? In a globalized world the exchange of experience among several realities is intensified. Are the opportunities the same for all, despite the differences of origin, color, ethnicity, belief, religion, language, sexual orientation, and, of course, in spite of class? At the same time individuals find more references to build their own identities; purism, racism, intolerance and historical inequalities get stronger. Psychological and practical aspects of the daily life reflect all these things.
D. Big powers:
Multilateral agencies for International Cooperation, multinational companies, sort of traffic, Stock market, how has the capital been articulated throughout the world? Who has decided the destiny of our lives?
E. Alternative media:
Initiatives questioning the news coverage of the mainstream media, presenting an alternative point of view of popular struggles; reports of actions made invisible by the media; also the registration of media initiatives that are communitarian, popular, alternative, free and/or radical in the fight for the communication human right.
F. Art activism:
“The camera movement is a moral issue”, said Godard, the French filmmaker. The artistic languages are related to politics: they are specific ethic universes and are also dedicated to subjects, such as ideology and power. Beyond mere tools for propaganda, many engagement experiences become intense poetic forms. How does art contribute to the reflection on the whole process of economic, cultural, social, political integration due to the globalization?