Reply #18: Does anyone else see any irony in this?

[Cal Carpenter]

Wealth disparity in Poland is INCREASING due to capitalism because that is what capitalism does.

This guy is a hard-core pro-capitalist. Why romanticize him?

Some context:

www.naomiklein.org/files/resources/pdfs/Wielgosz.pdf (sorry, it's a pdf, the only source I can find for it)

"The restoration of capitalism in Poland has created a social wasteland. The current ‘alterglobalisation’ phenomenon is more of a social scene (activist scene). than a social movement. Workers protests are truly dramatic and often end in riots (last July saw rioting in the streets of Warsaw during a Miners demonstration), but they lack co- ordination and a political tendency. Even when a wave of strikes and protests rises, as happened in 2002-2003, forcing changes in the budget policies of the ‘leftwing’ government of the SLD (The Democratic Left Alliance), they do not leave behind any lasting structures or representation.

In Poland today, Solidarity means almost nothing. In the eyes of ordinary citizens it is seen as compromised, corrupt and treacherous. It has become less and less of a point of reference for workers struggling to defend their liquidated workplaces. For them, more important It is the solidarity with a small ‘s’ that means more to them. "