This quote presents a dilemma for me. If the interpretation includes the issue of free trade and globalization of goods and services, i agree. In my opinion, too many people of the United States are out of work because their jobs have moved to other countries. And i have heard stories, about the way the workers and the land in those countries are exploited, that make me believe that the benefits of such policies are only reaped by the CEOs and shareholders.

However, when i think about all of the wonderful experiences i have had through the arts and ideas from around the globe, i don't agree with the statement.

"In the Time of Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire, and
"The Business of Fancydancing" by Sherman Alexi are just three of the books that have provided me with hours of pleasure and new ways of understanding the world i live in and the one beyond my circle of experiences.

Movies such as "Il Postino", "Whale Rider", and "Dam/Age" have stayed with me long after the lights went up in the theater.

Margo Kane's "Moonlodge", Jim Levin and Linda Eisenstein's "Discordia", and Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" are theatrical experiences that have taken my breath away.

Music is solace, inspiration, essential.  Anything by Bruce Cockburn, "Jerusalem" by Steve Earle,  anything from Putamaya World Music, Lauren Hill, The Beatles, B. B. King, Mozart, Beethoven, Puccini, well, i could go on for days.

There are works of art too numerous to mention (i.e., Picasso's "Guerinica" that hangs in the United Nations and was covered on Feb. 5, 2003 when Powell addressed the U. N. General Assembly).  I have seen the following quote (on a button) attributed to Bertolt Brecht, "Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it." Maybe these books, movies, plays, music and artwork could be considered a form of dissent?