Re: Do you suppose José Bové is a paid provocateur?
No, I believe José Bové is a folk hero in earnest... Of course, after the 911 watershed, his lucky stars have somewhat dimmed. But prior to 911, the guy was the guest star every big shot wanted to get photographed with --from Prez J. Chirac to PM Jospin to media mogul JM Messier to...
Y'know, I've been mulling over that whole anti-globaloney thing... and suddenly it struck me that besides Europe and a couple of South American banana republics, there's just no one else! So far, I haven't noticed Chinese protesters, Indian demonstrators, Vietnamese folks, African troublemakers, Russian and Arab Yank-bashers... How come? Well, let me clue you in: most of Asia and Africa --and even Arab countries-- want MORE globalization, not less! Why? because they just got the knack of it! Corporate China knows that free trade plus US technology/management is the shortest way to the first world, and the rest of Asia is merely waiting to slipstream the Chinese juggernaut...
Africa's case somehow makes the point the other way round: as a vast wasteland that's not even on the globalization's radar screen, it shows us that there's a predicament even worse than the throes of wild capitalism: to wind up stranded in the globalization's blind spot.
The current economic maelstrom is like a gigantic shell game open to just every gambler and, as in every game, there're bad losers.... Europe's old corporate fabric and South America's colonial societies are the most ill-suited to face the music --hence their huddling together in Porto Alegre, Brasil.
Yet, it's worrisome to see that Europe's ruling elites find it more fashionable to go to Brazil than to the US. What's wrong with the US, after all? Unlike Brazil, the US is a multicultural beehive that has eventually co-opted all its unruly minorities in every trade and activity (*)... whereas Brazil still clings to its colonial legacy of racial discrimination (Soccer star Pele once said that he was ashamed of being Brazilian...) Yet, the European glitterati find Brazil more appealing than the US.
(*) msnbc.com
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