As I told you (on the Free Trade is Squeezing You thread).... Straight from the horse's mouth:
FEATURE STORY | March 11, 2002
From Protest To Politics
by MARC COOPER
Porto Alegre, Brazil
thenation.com
Excerpt (from page 4):
Overall, the Americans kept a low profile in the [Porto Alegre] forum, deferring to the Europeans and Latin Americans, who were recognized as being vastly more experienced in building oppositional social and political movements. But they were treated with respect: Superstar attention was lavished on Chomsky, and Americans Lori Wallach from Public Citizen and Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies were on headliner panels.
[...]
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Indeed, this "anti-globalization" circus is basically a Euro-South-American sting.... think of it as a makeshift syndicate of losers --the global economy's losers, that is. Both Latin America and Europe share the same Eurocentric, colonialist worldview, and both despise the US indiscriminate free-for-all model, a meritocratic model that allows a relentless shakeup of the American fabric and, eventually, the successful co-optation of all minorities.
Of course, that's not the way our Porto-Alegrean Evangelists are gonna brand it: instead, they'll lament about the hopeless Africans, Indian children in the toils of unscrupulous corporations, etc, etc. Or they'll freak you out with Frankenfood and genetically modified crops --but hey, don't ask them why the Chinese and most of Asia are nuts about it (they have about 3 billion people to feed).
Moreover, Europe still clings to its enduring colonial consuetudes.... Although Europe's former colonial powers can no longer enforce it abroad --since their withdrawal from Africa, Indochina, the Middle East,... after WWII-- they're somehow implementing it at home! As more and more immigrants pour into Europe, the colonial model gets a new life....
Gus |
