This ain't really new - it's just a more aggressive upping of the tempo. Whilst in the past it was necessary to privatise common space, tangible resources and the like - now they are privatising intellectual 'property' or 'digital culture', DNA. Their attacks on any spaces of autonomy are a sign of just how much they succeeded in the last 20 odd years, and an indication of the controlling tendencies of capitalism: if it's not within the orbit of capitalist interests, then it is outside it and a threat (hence attacking free parties, festivals on the pretext of 'preventing illegal activites' - when you can quite easily buy drugs and the like in commercial venues).

Whilst the trade unions and social democratic parties of the past may well have served the interests of capitalism, they also created spaces that buffered us from the current privatising greed. Now we have the WTO, IMF, WB, EU and others, all desperate to sell off the last vestiges of the commons and destroy the last few threats to them (and resources available to us), and destroying one level of protection that we had (though very much an enemy of the people at the same time) - the state - though this level was not done in our interests, it was done in the interests of the ruling elites of various national states.

The question is, how do we effectively mount a movement against this? The socialist parties failed - though gathered a lot of support. Opting out generally fails - though provides interesting test-beds for others to look to. Summit protests can form part of a strategy but are on their own nothing but symbolic in nature and would be shot down if they were truly a threat (hence increasing repression - though limited so far). How do we maintain any momentum and mass organisation against neoliberalism? How can we reverse the tide and win?