If you don't believe me, just ask any sweatshop worker in, say, Vietnam...
The perfidious colonizers I refer to, of course, are the insatiable transnational corporations setting up camp all across the Third World. Whether it be Nike, The Gap, Wal-Mart, or any other taxpayer-subsidized bloodsucker, these crafty illegal aliens can't be stopped by constructing a mere wall. They travel with impunity...on the wings of government subvention and cunning, relentless propaganda. Thanks to decades of conditioning, even the victims of these soulless migrants will voluntarily pay for the right to wear a shirt bearing their corporate logo.
One would not be engaging in hyperbole to characterize these illegal invaders as "terrorists." Forget color-coded alerts, staged arrests, and manufactured scares. Put aside those times you were forced to remove your shoes at the airport. As defined at Dictionary.com, "an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety" and/or an "intense, overpowering fear" characterize brand of the terror I speak of.
While the corporate media obscures the real terror and trains its focus on the latest battle between Dubya and Osama (or the current villain of the day), the primary conflict on the planet remains unchanged: globalization from above vs. globalization from below.
Globalization is not intrinsically a bad idea. Mutually beneficial global ties can be essential. As Michael Albert of Z Net has articulated, the goal should be to globalize equity not poverty, solidarity not anti-sociality, diversity not conformity, democracy not subordination, and ecological balance not suicidal rapaciousness. Novelist/activist Arundhati Roy adds: "In the present circumstances, I'd say that the only thing worth globalizing is dissent."
But perhaps Groucho said it best in Monkey Business: "There's my argument: restrict immigration."
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.
