Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Coup d’Etat to Trade Seen in Billionaire Toxic Lead Fight

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Coup d’Etat to Trade Seen in Billionaire Toxic Lead Fight

Click here to access article by Andrew Martin from Bloomberg News.

Here we see the early signs of the brave new world of neoliberalism that capitalist ruling classes are preparing for us. It's surprising that this prime capitalist media corporation allows such a headline, which accurately recognizes the likely outcome of a legal dispute in Peru, as a "coup d'etat".

“It’s like a quiet, slow-moving coup d’état,” said Lori Wallach, director of the Global Trade Watch division of Public Citizen, a nonprofit that opposes many aspects of trade pacts. Investors and corporations are “using this regime to have another front at trying to limit the governance authority of nation states.”