Fences and Windows - Naomi Klein (what today's march means)

[Jigarotta]

(2002)
Higher Fences at the Border
Migrant workers know that as barriers to trade come down, barriers to people go up.

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snips

The truth is that mass migration is not a form of homeland shopping: it is the flip side of free trade policies our government so actively pursues. People don't mortgage their futures to get on rusty boats because they are in the market for something a little more upscale. They do it because changes at home have left them without a job, without land, without choices.

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In an Orwellian twist, corporatiions have seamlessly adopted the language of human rights: Wal-Mart and Exxon, trading cargo across borders, demand 'fair and equal treatment' and 'non-discrimination clauses.' Meanwhile, humans are increasingly treated like cargo, with no rights at all.

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Part of the confusion of what we mean when we use the term 'globalization' stems from the fact that this particular economic model has a tendency to treat trade not as one part of internationalism but the overarching infrastructure of it. It gradually swallows everything else - culture, human rights, the environment, democracy itself - inside the perimeters of trade.

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I post this in support of today's march.

The Other Superpower, the people, are waking from their slumber.

[Jigarotta]

1. kick n/t