Rating: 3/5 ***
Here are some quotes from the book:
- '...it is possible to challenge imperialism while embracing plurality, progress and deep democracy...to expose all the invisble worlds between the economic fundamentalism of mcworld and the religious fundamentalism of jihad. The strength of the movement of movements has ben that it offers a real alternative to the homogenization & centralization represented by globalization. No one sector or country can claim it, no one intellectual elite can control it and that is its secret weapon.'
- 'In this new kind of war terrorists are finding their weapons in our tattered public infrastructures. This is true not only in rich countries such as the US but also in poor countries, where fundamentalism has been spreading rapidly. Where debt and war have ravaged infrastructure, fanatical sugar daddies like bin laden are able to swoop in and start providing basic services that should be the job of government: road, schools, health clinics, even basic sanitation. In Sudan, it was bin laden who built the road that enabled the construction of the talisman oil pipeline pumping resoiurces to the fovernment for its brutal ethnic war. The extreme islamic seminaries in Pakistan that indoctrinated so many taliban leaders thrive precisely because they fill a huge social welfare gap. In a country that spends 90% of its budget on its military & debt and a pittance on its education, the madrassas offer not only free classrooms but also food and shelter for poor children.'
- 'What do we hold on to when so much that is powerful is virtual - currency trades, stock prices, intellectual property and arcane trade agreements?'
- 'Marcos in gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a gypsy n Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the Metro @ 10pm, a peasant without land, a gang member in the slims, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student and of course a Zapatista in the mountains.'
- '...NGOs that might otherwise collaborate often compete with one another for publicity and funding.'
- 'If they are angry, as millions clearly are, its because they have seen the promises betrayed by the US policy. Despite president bushs insistence that Americas enemies resent its liberties, most critics of the US dont actually object to Americas stated values. Instead, they point to US unilateralism in the face of international laws, widening welath disparities, crackdowns on immigrants and human rights violators - most recently in the prison camps of Guantanamo Bay. The anger comes not only from the facts of each case but also from a clear perception of false advertising. In other words, Americas problem is not with its brand - which could scarcely be stronger - but with its product.'
- '...first create a climate of fear and tension, then suspend constitutional rights in the interest of protecting public order.'
- 'Napster defenders argue that they dont pirate CDs but rather swap mix tapes. They get to know and trust one anothers taste and they argue they end up buying more music becayse they are exposed to more of it. They also say they have been driven to create this alternative by inflated CD prices & the hideously homogenous rotation of pop on video stations & commerical radio.'
- 'It increasingly seems that what is on trial in Europe is the tyranny of economies of scale that governs every aspect of food production, distribution and consimption.'
- 'When we debate this model, we are not discussing the merits of trading goods and services across borders but the effects of profound corporatization aroudn the world; the ways in which the commons is being transformed and rearranged - cut back, privatized, deregulated - all in t he name of participating and competing in the global trading system. What is being designed at the WTO is not rules for trade but a template for one-size-fits-all-government, a kind of 'McRule'. And its this template that is under dispute.'
- '...their direct experience with communism & capitalism has taught them tha the two sustems have something in common : they both centralize power in the hands of a few, and they both treat people as if they are less than fully humans. Where communism saw them only as potential producers, capitalism sees them only as potential consumers; where communism starved their beautiful capital, capitalism has overfed it, turning Prague into a Velvet Revolution theme park.'
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