Capitalism globalized and people said that all opposition was now useless. Corporations, if not allowed to exploit Canadian markets would simply move South. We now know that globalization is a double-edged sword. Capitalism has globalized, but so has resistance. The two go hand-in-hand, of course. The current democracy movements of South America (Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile) would not have been possible without the IMF and the World Bank. "Structural Adjustment" policies that made American corporations hundreds of millions of dollars exposed the barbarism of capitalism to a new generation and inspired millions to resist. "User fees, cost sharing, privatization, deregulation," these words are pseudonymous for poverty, misery, unemployment, exploitation. Less than 30 years ago all of South America was shrouded in darkness, US puppet dictatorships dominated. Now these same countries have swept aside the old US imposed regimes and elected socialist leaders who are challenging US hegemony. This movement would not have been possible without the crimes of globalization. We are now witnessing a slow but steady South American Revolution away from capitalism and towards democracy. The WTO has taught the people of South America a valuable lesson about capitalism & democracy, one that they won't soon forget; you can have one or the other, but never both. There is every reason to be optimistic about the human race. We now know that you can fight globalization, and you can win. If the impoverished and disenfranchised people of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Haiti can resist the awesome power of American terrorism with scant resources, surely the resourceful Canadian working class can resist Stephen Harper.

MDP

"The worst enemy of humanity is capitalism. That is what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion against a system, against a neo-liberal model, which is the representation of a savage capitalism."
-Evo Morales, President of Bolivia (2006)