The Fight of My Life: Confessions of an Unrepentant Canadian

by Maude Barlow

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0002557614
• ISBN13: 9780002557610
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Fighting corporatism and so-called "free" trade.

The corporate propagandists who have been selling the world on "free" trade have done a good job of branding their agenda as having something to do with liberation. "Free" trade - who could be against that? - we're all for "freedom." But as Maude Barlow points out, "free" trade is actually about imposed markets foisted upon populations by transnational private tyrannies accountable to no one. These mega-corporations have been buying off legislators the world over, manipulating the hearts & minds of people, decimating local economies, destroying communities and ecosystems, and creating an ever-larger gap between the rich and poor. Among other issues, Barlow has been a leader on the issue of water privatization Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water. Water, once a free resource, is being claimed as another product through which stockholders can enrich themselves. The corporation Bechtel tried to privatize the water supply in Cochabamba, Bolivia - even going so far as to declare capturing rainwater a crime. The Bolivian people fiercely opposed this attempt at corporate colonization and drove Bechtel out of their country. It was a heroic struggle that is discussed in the film The Corporation. "The Corporation," incidentally, will answer the negative reviewers questions as to why corporate control of human society is not such a good idea. "Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini

Did we read the same book?

While other reviewers are certainly entitled to engage in ad hominem attacks, I think they are ridiculous and counterproductive.This book is very engaging and stimulating. Ms. Barlow expresses complex ideas with ease. She conveys her passions rather convincingly! No easy matter when most people don't have a clue about trade issues, or the collective relinquishment of national sovereignty to all-powerful WTO bureaucrats! Please read this book, and decide for yourself! Don't listen to reviewers with an ax to grind!