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11/06/2005:

"Naomi Klein: The Threat of Hope in Latin America"

Across Latin America a similarly explosive multiplier effect is under way, with indigenous movements redrawing the continent’s political map, demanding not just “rights” but a reinvention of the state along deeply democratic lines. In Bolivia and Ecuador, indigenous groups have shown they have the power to topple governments. In Argentina, when mass protests ousted five presidents in 2001 and 2002, the words of Mexico’s Zapatistas were shouted on the streets of Buenos Aires.

Facing mass protests in Argentina yesterday during the Summit of the Americas, George W. Bush saw first hand that the spirit of that revolt is alive and well. And although President Bush didn’t take Hugo Chavez up on his offer to hold an open debate on the merits of “free trade,” the truth is that the debate has already happened on the continent’s streets and at its ballot boxes and Bush has lost. Consider this: the last time the 34 heads of these states got together it was April 2001 in Quebec City; it was Bush’s first Summit after his election and he announced with great confidence that the Free Trade Area of the Americas would be law by 2005. Now, four years later, many of the faces of his colleagues have changed and Bush can’t even get the FTAA on the meeting’s agenda, let alone get it signed.
zmag.org

Bush rebuked by the hand of God

...As domestic polls informed him that he was increasingly mistrusted by his fellow Americans, Mr Bush was clearly mortified to be called "human trash" by Latin America's equivalent of Michael Jordan - the Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona.

...Anyone who has spent time in Latin America recently knows Mr Bush is the least popular US president among Latin Americans in history. Five Latin American countries have voted in left-of-centre governments since he took office. From the indigenous people through to the middle classes and even among the elite, Latin Americans increasingly seek not the American dream, but the Latin American dream. They are disillusioned with what Maradona yesterday called "the American Empire".

Rioters shatter Bush's hopes of forging free trade coup

...Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said yesterday FTAA discussions should wait until at least after crucial World Trade Organisation talks in December on stripping global trade barriers and boosting the world's economy. Venezuela's firebrand president Hugo Chavez was more strident. On Friday night he told a crowd of more than 20,000 protesters that the policy was a branch of American imperialism. 'Only united can we defeat imperialism and bring our people a better life,' he said, adding: 'Here, in Mar del Plata, FTAA will be buried!'

...The scenes of violence and protest, which have become common at most meetings of world leaders, prompted Bush to ruefully acknowledge his unpopularity in much of the world outside his own borders. 'It's not easy to host all these countries, particularly not easy to host, perhaps, me,' Bush told his Argentine hosts 'But thank you for doing it.'