My suggestion.

Suerte.

I would keep Utopia

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Note added at 41 mins (2008-02-22 19:05:59 GMT)
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devour itself or self-destruct

a possibility

Otra opción

Spanish term (edited): la utopía se salía de sus goznes y la criatura estaba a punto de devorarse a si misma

Several good suggestions already, but I think you should retain "utopia", for the first part, and one can imagine a "utopia" on a pedestal more easily than it is tied to other images of peril. The original refers to two seperate entities: the utopia, and the beast. If they were supposed to mean the same thing, then that is a problem in the original, but they may not be intended to be the same (we would need fuller context to know): for example, the "utopia" could be the socialist system itself, while "the beast" could be the government in power, or specifically the security apparatus. Using a "beast" for this kind of metaphor is comon in English, and it is even common to speak metaphorically of them devouring themselves, but I favor "turning on" itself, in my position of ignorance about what "the beast" is, BUT IF the "utopia" and the beast are one in the same, you could even say: "the utopia was teetering on its pedestal, about to fall into its own jaws." But this only works if the reader has been previously prepared to see the state as both utopia and beast.
In any case -interesting problem. Thanks for sharing it.

También deberías decirles cómo deletrear "devorar". Una metáfota mezclada un poco tonta, no? (de una puerta y una bestia). Suerte!! ;.)

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Note added at 23 horas (2008-02-23 17:31:57 GMT)
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Sorry, ITSELF! Doh...