[Marxism] Re: [historiansagainstwar] Usury & Islamic Law: anticapitalist?

[DLVinvest@xxxxxx]

only to the extent that feudal restrictions on interest were also
anti-capitalist in medieval Europe, as proscribed by the Catholic Church in the 
rump odf
the Holy Roman Empire.

The feudal aristocracies of the Gulf States have adapted to and been absorbed
into the imperial system as junior partners -- comprador bourgeoisie to use
the classical terminology -- based on their control over resources such as oil.
But they pretend they are different form those "bad" capitalists (especially
Jews who were merchant-capitalists and thus merchant-bankers in the
Mediterranean world in the Middle Ages) by virtue of their ban on usury, 
analagous to
the Christian feudal castigation of interest as "sin" and arising from the same
class and with the same political-economic functon. This is not surprising
since Muhammad (may peace be upon him) was a medieval merchant in the urban
interstices of the trade routes of the feudal mode of production that emerged 
after
the fall and contraction of the Roman empire. Allah loves merchant capital!
Once they had actually accumulated capital for investment, these
merchant-capitalists devised all sorts of casuistical excuses and evasions to 
get around
the ban on interest, as did the banjkers who financed European wars of
expansion.

Now, instead of charging interest, "Islamic" banks charge fees for services
(sound familiar?) to depositors -- often in amounts that exceed the most
"usurious" rates of interest; in return for the money they loan, they take a 
direct
participation in the capitalist enterprises in which they invest, and
therefore a share of the profits. The laws of every state in the US ban usury, 
too,
but find ways of defining what is legal and sinful from what is "reasonable" for
the capitalist to charge in the "market." Keep in mind that this "market" is
a matrix of all the relationships of exchange determined by the attraction of
capital to differential rates of profit that depend on forcing large numbers
of people to work for very little, often at the point of a gun. "Islamic"
banking is still finance capital. Those who want to understand it without
theological mystification should read Capital or at least check out the essay 
"Wage,
Price & Profit" by Karl Marx.

Douglas L. Vaughan, Jr.
Investigations
for Print, Film & Electronic Media
3140 W. 32nd Ave.
Denver CO 80211
303-455-9429
_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism