ABSTRACT
Two new phenomena have emerged within civil society during recent years. Both have important implications for development policy and practice. The first is the birth of cause-promoting groups whose organizational realm falls largely within internet space; we call these ‘dot causes’. The second is the growth of mass protest against global capitalism that is often characterized by disruptive and sometimes violent direct-action tactics. The emergence of dot causes and the anti-global capitalism movement (hereafter called the ‘Movement’) are distinct; they are not two sides of the same coin. However, they are concurrent, and there is a strong link between them that merits study in order to better understand the distinctive confidence, diversity and power of the Movement. This chapter explores how they inter-relate.
