Only a collective struggle towards The Global Community via a rejection of current models of the hegemony and imperialism can set the stage for a broader move towards economic and social liberation that secures the Exodus from the Empire.

In January 2001, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 20,000 activists, students, and filmmakers assembled together in order to exchange ideas about confronting the US Global Empire. That was the birth of the now historic World Social Forum.37 At the center of most of the discussions held at that time was the fact that the IMF and World Bank bear the greatest responsibility for the plunder of entire communities. That is also the reason why, throughout this book, I have gone to great lengths to make a connection between the Washington/Wall-Street Alliance of the US Global Empire and its primary financial institutions—the IMF and World Bank. In opposing the empire, an incipient national and international counterhegemonic alliance must find alternatives to these forces. With the articulation of alternatives a global discourse can be accelerated that should lead to projects of emancipation and liberation—an exodus from empire. At Porto Alegre, a general agreement was reached on the need for an alternative system of global governance. Some participants invoked the term deglobalization to describe this alternative. Walden Bello clarified the meaning of the term by noting that: “We are not talking about withdrawing from the international economy. We are speaking about reorienting our economies away from the emphasis on production for export and towards production for the local market.”38 At the top of his list, he suggested: “Drawing most of our financial resources for development from within rather than becoming dependent on foreign investment and foreign financial markets.”39 Following that fundamental principle, he added that it would be necessary to carry out long-postponed measures of income redistribution and land redistribution in order to create a vibrant internal market. Such a path would allow nations throughout the Global Community to de-emphasize growth and work instead toward maximizing equity in order to radically reduce environmental disequilibrium. Another benefit of taking this path would be strategic economic decisions would not be left to the market but make them subject to democratic choice. In furtherance of democratizing nations, the private sector and the state should be subjected to constant monitoring by civil society. Yet, for all this to take place and succeed, it will only be possible if it takes place within an alternative system of global governance. That alternative system is what I am calling Global Community. In the four years since the first World Social Forum, the state of struggle against the US Global Empire has spanned the globe and encompassed the energies of millions of people. Social movements against neoliberal capitalist intrusion have sprung up throughout the Arab world, South Africa, East Africa, Australia, Central Asia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, East and Southeast Asia, rural China, and throughout Latin America.40 Social movements are a central part of a worldwide struggle, helping to accelerate the global process of creating an alternative system. When viewed in combination, these struggles are all part of a dynamic convergence between nations, cultures, and ideas (see: Chapter 4). The World Social Forum served as an important platform for opening the door to the creation of a counter-hegemonic globalization. Other examples of convergence may be cited in the form of a global anti-war movement, the trade union movement, and the struggles of over three billion peasants for a decent life. A global mobilization against neoliberal hegemony has taken many forms, but it has a common objective—the defeat of Global Empire and the establishment of a viable Global Community.41 The extent of this mobilization and the diversity of these struggles have just begun to be documented. Yet, it is undeniable that millions of people have become active in rejecting corporate globalization, the intrusions of Global Empire, and the IMF and World Bank. In all of these efforts, millions of people around the globe are developing alternatives to the current system.42 They are actively engaged in a process that will lay the groundwork for an exodus from empire.