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Shaking the Gates of Hell: Faith-led Resistance to Corporate Globalization

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SHAKING the GATES of HELL

Although I have reviewed a few books on Amazon, I must disclose that I am not a reviewer of books in the true sense. I only review books that I have been passionate over and believe they deserve far greater public exposure.

These are books that challenge the status quo of American culture and expose the systemic injustices of financial and industrial capitalism. In turn, these books are grounded in a spirituality that is often overlooked by other critics of capitalism. . To me, global corporate capitalism is a cancerous tumor that is the primary destroyer of the spiritual nature of humankind and the earth's natural environment. Corporate capitalism goes to the core of most of the major problems the world is now facing and few writers in America dare to say so. Sharon Delgado is one author who dares to do so.

"Shaking the Gates of Hell" is a severe critique of global capitalism that is based on scripture and Christian social thought that is rarely spoken about from the pulpit. It is a church conversation that is slowly but definitely emerging within progressive Catholicism and mainstream Protestantism. This is where I believe the church needs to be in the 21st Century, in solidarity with all of humankind to help bring about a more just, sustainable and compassionate world.

What I liked most about Sharon Delgado's book is that it was based upon tremendous research on the abuses and structural injustices of global capitalism that was first revealed to the American public in the 1999 WTO demonstrations in Seattle, Washington. The demonstrations have led to an international movement, primarily through the World Social Forum, that has stopped the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank in their tracks by clearly demonstrating there are more just and sustainable alternatives to global corporate capitalism.

What happened in Seattle was not merely a confrontation between demonstrators and the police but a confrontation between well informed demonstrators and T.V. commentators who were not sufficiently educated on the issues to give a fair critique of the situation. Thus the demonstrators were maligned without regard to the issues they were raising. The vast majority of the demonstrators were highly informed through their various professions (education, legal, social, religious, etc.) or through college studies and excellent "teach-ins" and publications provided by the International Forum on Globalization

To me, the most intriguing part of "Shaking the Gates of Hell" was the author's approach of the aurora of evil and dehumanization that can emanate from the nature of any institution that is solely focused on its' own perpetuation of growth,, power and profit rather than the wider needs of society and the environment.

If you are a reader, religious or not, who is becoming increasingly concerned with all that is happening in America and the world, I highly recommend this book. You will forever view the world differently.

This book is both challenging and enlightening. The personal stories helped me connect global issues like climate change, war, and world hunger to my own life and family. The book also helped me see how my faith can motivate me to work for change in the world.