The Death of Ramon Gonzalez and the 21st Century Dilemma

or a barrel of pesticides across borders than before, a human being in desperate need of a
job must face border crossings that are more difficult and risky. i
The strategy of the increasing economic integration of societies is not simply a
way of facilitating economic activities across borders—it always some very particular
way of negotiating, arranging, and fixing in place those arrangements that national
political authorities and business interests consider desirable. These arrangements cannot
be assumed to be fair, impartial, or benign to humans or nature.
In the first edition of The Death of Ramon Gonzalez, I wrote about “…the
modern agricultural dilemma that arises out of a tension found in almost all modern
nations. The highly localized adaptations needed for ecologically healthy agriculture and
healthy, stable rural communities are often in conflict with the apparent requirements of
rapidly industrializing nations and an expanding international economy.” Since that
writing, a greater disjuncture between what are understood by many to be important local
and regional needs, on one hand, and the opportunities and pressures of the international
market, on the other, has become perhaps the most widely discussed topic of cultural,
political, and economic life—namely, the problems of globalization. ii
Aside from changing technologies, the essential driving force of rapid
globalization has been the coupling of aggressive trade liberalization to policies of
government austerity, privatization, and de-regulation, which taken all together are
termed “neo-liberalism.” (The term, though coined by some of the program’s early
proponents, is commonly used by its critics in the U.S. But in the U.S., it is now seldom
used popularly nor in the media. In Latin America, the term is used nearly universally in
the media and in popular discussions. I will use it here.) Proponents of neo-liberal