This is behind the unease many, particularly the young, have about where we are now. Cynical about media and marketing, and savvy about the diversity of the Internet, they sense the phoniness of a world run by conglomerates and spin doctors, just as they reject the banality of political ideology. The fanaticism of the free market, where the dominant value is greed, is an '80s anachronism. Marxism, which has no room for ethics, is devoid of aesthetics. He won't be with protesters outside the casino today, but not because he endorses the forum's objectives.
Globalisation is too vague a target.
For some it may encompass the impersonal, corrosive quality of a conforming, consumer culture, with its threat of exclusion. But it is no more than a symptom. The underlying problem is the addiction to the counterfeit experience inherent in the myth of common identity. This has to be faced by individuals and communities as well as, eventually, big corporations. As the recent US court decision to break up Microsoft shows, what is good for Bill Gates is not necessarily good for the rest of us.