Naomi Klein (Toronto Globe & Mail): Once strip-mined, twice shy

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Toronto Globe and Mail
Dated Monday September 29

Once strip-mined, twice shy
By Naomi Klein[br />
It used to be that if there was one thing you could count on in matters of international trade, it was the desperation of the poor. No matter how bad the deal, it was always better than nothing.
But all of a sudden, poor countries are busting up trade rounds, standing up to the International Monetary Fund, and turning down foreign investment.
What's going on? Is it possible that when you've lost enough, desperation turns into defiance?
Take the people of Esquel, a small city in southern Argentina. A year ago, the U.S.-Canadian mining company Meridian Gold Inc. purchased Britain's Bancote Holdings, which owned a gold deposit in Esquel estimated at $1-billion (U.S.). The time seemed to be right to build a huge open pit mine: Gold was selling high and Argentina, with its ravaged economy, was selling low.

Read more.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Hehehehe. There's another one the free marketers didn't anticipate.

*