"The Take": Phoenixes rise from wrecked economy's ashes

Call me Chicken Little. I believe American life as we know it will undergo an Extreme Makeover some time in the next twenty years. I am an avid reader of the economics threads by bonddad and Jerome a Paris. I gobble up anything about the evils of Wal-Mart. Like Robert Kennedy, Jr., I've been saying for years that free markets are beautiful things--too bad we don't have one. The game is rigged from top to bottom. From Paul Wolfowitz's lofty new perch at the World Bank, right on down.

But I am an optimist, too. Life will, most likely, go on. And I am interested in the shape life might take. Right now, during this run-up to disaster, I try to live simply and find my own small ways to thwart the wily marketers' never-ending quest to get me to buy more new stuff. If you missed it, read mrsdbrown1's diary Every Thing I Own, Owns Me. There are thousands of things individuals can do to resist consumption culture. Yummy food for another thread.

But, let's say our economy collapses. China pulls the plug on its investments. The auto companies collapse under their own weight. What might our changed world look like? How will we cope?

The Take, a documentary by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, takes a giant step in answering these questions. Many of you are already familiar with Klein's reporting on the dark side of globalization. She wrote Baghdad Year Zero, the astonishing article for Harper's about how Paul Bremer's rush to privatize the Iraqi economy took precedence over physically rebuilding the country. The Take unfolds in the aftermath of Argentina's economic collapse brought on by a decade of rampant privatization. Basically the Menem government gave the corporations everything they ever wanted. With whipped cream and a cherry on top. Sound familiar?

But, surprise!, some workers begin to reclaim the shuttered companies that once employed them. They run them as worker cooperatives where everyone has a say and people are typically paid the same amount, no matter what functions they perform. They network with other cooperatives for business and advice. A sense that they are creating a viable new model starts to take hold.

The movie paints a very ugly picture of the rich and powerful--the IMF, the corporate owners, the corrupt politicians. Former president Carlos Menem even looks like the evil guy in Rosemary's Baby. A pet tactic of these people is to use the might of the government to protect "private property." Police constantly try to seize the companies from the workers. Legal battles abound,

See The Take. Organize a screening in your community. Start opening your mind to alternate ways of life. Then, when things turn upside-down on our own soil, you won't need to spend several stunned years crying into your beer over all that has been lost. Out of chaos comes opportunity--prepare your mind to make the most of it.