An excerpt:
>Do you see the US Empire absorbing this energy by trying to propose
>a softer version of neoliberalism?
>
>I don't think they are, at the moment, prepared to do that. They
>will only do that if they feel threatened. And they don't feel
>threatened at the moment. And one reason-I have to be very blunt
>here-they don't feel threatened is because there is an idealistic
>slogan within the social movements, which goes like this: 'We can
>change the world without taking power.' This slogan doesn't threaten
>anyone; it's a moral slogan. The Zapatistas-who I admire-you know,
>when they marched from Chiapas to Mexico City, what did they think
>was going to happen? Nothing happened. It was a moral symbol, it was
>not even a moral victory because nothing happened. So I think that
>phase was understandable in Latin American politics, people were
>very burnt by recent experiences: the defeat of the Sandinistas, the
>defeat of the armed struggle movements, the victory of the military,
>etc., so people where nervous. But I think, from that point of view,
>the Venezuelan example is the most interesting one. It says: 'in
>order to change the world you have to take power, and you have to
>begin to implement change-in small doses if necessary-but you have
>to do it. Without it nothing will change.' So, it's an interesting
>situation and I think at Porto Alegre next year all these things
>will be debated and discussed-I hope.