People’s Lawyers, People’s Justice and Neoliberal Globalization

This paper examines the growth of legal and non-legal activism in the struggle for social justice in the era of globalization. There are a number of different approaches described, including the use of formal law supported by mass action on the streets, the establishment of alternative justice systems outside the legal systems of the state, and People’s Tribunals which are an increasingly important part of the resistance to the negative impacts of globalization on contemporary societies. People’s struggles in Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines and Turkish Kurdistan are discussed.