Re: non-capitalist development

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Louis Proyect wrote:

> Essentially, this is the same kind of argument being made by defenders of
> capitalism in this discussion. They say that things are getting better in
> the third world. Look at life expectancy figures. They are better than they
> were 100 years ago. Isn't that progress? Why disrupt this march forward
> with ill-advised attempts to alter the economic system, which might lead to
> Pol Pot or Stalin.

Who exactly has made this argument? Not even Brad De Long, really.

Someone was once described to me as having a "strategic view of the
truth." A very useful phrase, I'd say.

> But this does not
> take into account the mood of mothers who see their babies die of diahrrea
> because clean drinking water is not available in their village. Or what an
> 18 year old feels like who understands that unless he becomes an
> undocumented worker in the US, he just might starve to death. When these
> extreme conditions are generalized as they are through much of Central and
> Latin America, no wonder the cry is for Freedom Now!!! Or as Fidel Castro
> put it, "Patria Libre o Muerte!!!"

I hadn't realized the Latin American population was so politically
mobilized. I guess I've fallen out of touch.

Doug