[PEN-L:8296] Re: Peter Dorman's letter appeared in the NY Times today

[Arun Chandra <arunc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

it's a good letter, but the Times left out the last paragraph.

arun chandra


On Thu, 24 Jun 1999, Louis Proyect wrote:

> To the Editor:
>
> In your report on the Cologne G8 meeting, you refer in general terms to
> the "democratic and economic reforms" Balkan governments must agree to
> in order to receive economic assistance from the US and the European
> Union.  This aid is desperately needed to repair the damage caused by
> years of conflict in the region and months of NATO bombing.
>
> The full condition for this aid, however, went unmentioned.  At this
> meeting the G8 reaffirmed the June 10 G7 stipulation that Balkan
> governments adopt "market economies based on sound macro policies,
> markets open to greatly expanded foreign trade and private sector
> investment, effective and transparent customs and commercial/regulatory
> regimes, developing strong capital markets and diversified ownership,
> including privatisation..."  This doctrinaire formula would be
> presumptuous anywhere, but it is especially so in a region whose last 40
> years of economic development has been based on market socialism and an
> element of worker management.
>
> Apparently we have strayed so far from the view that a nation's economic
> institutions should be democratically chosen by its people that it is no
> longer news when this principle is overruled.
>
> Peter Dorman
>
> Louis Proyect
>
> (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)
>
>