Re: [Marxism] Pope goes pink?: Adopts "development of underdevelopment" line

["Eli Stephens" <elishastephens@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

My thoughts on the subject, from here:
http://lefti.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_lefti_archive.html#117580682206808004

Capitalism impoverishes

   Pope Benedict appeared to reach out to the anti-globalisation
   movement yesterday, attacking rich nations for having "plundered
   and sacked" Africa and other poor regions of the world.

   An extract published from his first book since being elected pope
   highlighted the passionately anti-materialistic and anti-capitalist 
aspects
   of his thinking. Unexpectedly, the Pope also approvingly cited Karl Marx
   and his analysis of contemporary man as a victim of alienation.

   "Our style of life [and] the history in which we are involved has 
stripped
   them and continues to strip them."

That "continues to strip them" is important; the opening paragraph of the 
article gives the impression it's all in the past. It most definitely is 
not.

In the quotes provided, the Pope focuses on Africa, although the indirect 
quote refers to "other poor regions of the world." Which is most certainly 
the case; capitalism's plunder is hardly limited to Africa. Nor is it 
limited to the developing world:

   Pope Benedict went on to say that the poor of the developing
   world were not the only people who could be regarded as victims
   in need of help from a Good Samaritan. He said narcotics,
   people-trafficking and sex tourism had "stripped and tormented"
   many, leaving them "empty even in [a world of] material abundance".

This is the usual "morality" nonsense one expects from the church. It might 
come as news to the Pope, but poverty in the developed world is a lot bigger 
problem than narcotics and sex tourism.

It's fine that the Pope is reading and quoting Marx; I'd suggest he also 
read some Fidel to understand the problems the third-world faces today, and 
what the solution to those problems might be. "Plundering and sacking" has 
become a lot more sophisticated in the 21st century, but eternal cycles of 
debt, privatization of water, and the destruction of indigenous 
self-supporting agriculture are just as deadly as plain old "plundering and 
sacking" ever were. Not that there isn't plenty of that "sacking" still 
going on in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eli Stephens
 Left I on the News
 http://lefti.blogspot.com

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