I refuse to accept that the only way forward is to join the pointless rat race that ends up with the entire society being enslaved to a handful of megacorporations and their shareholders.

I don't want to live in that world, and I don't think most people do either. Yes, if we don't join them, there's a possibility that we might end up being enslaved to foreign megacorporations rather than domestic ones, but at least we'll have a chance to create something less dystopian instead.