There has long been a strand of thought on the left that the worse the crisis (of capitalism) gets, the better for the revolutionary cause. This is the anti-reformist, romantic tradition of radical politics. Naomi Klein's views on disaster capitalism , which does indeed benefit from crisis, are illuminating - partly because her analysis turns that argument on its head and demonstrates how capitalism turns even spasm into a business opportunity. Certainly, US companies that deal in construction, security and oil are reaping their profits from upheaval in Iraq as hugely and surely as if they planned the invasion themselves.But Naomi Klein's recent article on Mexico disturbs me - certainly in the headline, which claims that "war is again on Mexico's horizon", but also in the observations within about rising tension in Chiapas and the fear of possible future atrocities committed by thuggish "paramilitaries". Klein also quotes the Zapatista leader, Subcomand
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