[PEN-L:1900] Norway and Canada

[D Shniad <shniad@xxxxxx>]

I cannot comprehend the position taken by Penners who have
contempt and disdain for the "progressive nationalist"
position (the term was Tom Weiskopf's if I'm not mistaken)
that economic integration on terms dictated by capital is
something that can and should be resisted.

Doug Henwood's earlier comments to the effect that concerns
about national sovereignty being overblown was one of the
recent reiterations of this position.  (This argument is one
that is often made by Americans of the left,
centre and right. Folks from the States often seem
unable to conceive of the desire of people of other
countries to have some degree of control over their own
destinies and battling to prevent further US corporate
incursions into their existing -- albeit inadequate --
control over these destinies.)

In response to my comments about his original posting, Doug
then added insult to injury, saying "...I wonder what Norway
and Canada would be like if there were no MNCs and
imperialist monsters like the UK and US around, the
countries that created and maintain the modern global
division of spoils.  I sometimes think that people in
these countries want it both ways -- First World
incomes, but without the moral stigma that comes
with being a global bully."

Doug made this last comment presumably in response to
the positions that Trond (a Norwegian) and I (a
naturalised Canadian) have been saying in the context of
the PI-PN debate.  I haven't heard logic [sic] comparable to
this since I resisted the Vietnam war in the 1960s; at
that time, pro-war folks insisted that I had no right to
oppose the war unless I was willing to serve in the US
military.

Doug, we _all_ occupy our respective positions (national,
gender, racial, class and others) in a world whose division
of spoils has been created and maintained by MNCs and
imperialist monsters.  What follows from your comment
about Norwegians and Canadians?  That no one
but a) leftist residents of the most powerful imperialist
countries, and b) foreigners who agree with their analysis
of what's happening in the world and how to respond to it,
have a right to participate in the debate about
international economic integration?

Sid Shniad