Abstract
Despite the neo-liberal consensus many voices have expressed concern
over the impact of the northern neo-liberal economy on the fragile
economies of the south and particularly on the low income populations
in the large urban centers which make up a large percentage of the
urban population. There is a large body of serious criticism of
the policies of structural adjustment of the World Bank and the
FMI, of privatization, deregulation, international investment and
the third world debt and other aspects of neo-liberal economics
because of their impact on the urban poor. The work on global cities
of Saskia Sassen discusses the impact of the neo-liberal economy
on the major cities of the world. She demonstrates the economic
polarization, the increase of precarious or casual jobs, of under-employment,
of part time work and the development of the informal economy, in
the major cities of the north. It is clear that the same growth
of inequality affects most of the larger cities of the south. It
is important to research more specific data and its relation to
the living conditions of the urban poor. The hypothesis here is
that the negative impact of neo-liberal policies on the urban population
of the southern cities is much greater because of the much larger
and economically weaker low income strata. The dimension of poverty
creates a qualitative difference in the impact of these policies.
What is needed are methods of resistance that comes from the roots
and research on how to support and expand experiences and practices
of bottom up urban management. Those actions rooted in the neighborhoods
which succeed in spite of the neo-liberal consensus are the most
relevant. By supporting them European researchers will make a greater
contribution than imposing European practices. My paper will discuss
several examples of community based resistance with suggestions
of how to develop this type of action.
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