The Vulnerable Planet (was Re: suburbia)

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Please, Stephen, cool it.  I am trying to stop the nastiness.

On Thu, Jun 28, 2001 at 06:44:47PM -1000, Stephen E Philion wrote:
> Mark also tells us about Doug's love of capitalism:
>
> >>(Doug writes)My point was this: life on the capitalist periphery is not
> some
> simple narrative of relentless decline. There has been real progress
> in a lot of places and in a lot of ways. << [pen-l 02 May 2001 18:18 UTC ]
>
> Mark:
> Doug even thinks that altho neoliberalism is 'a crime against humanity',
> it too can be a good thing:
>
> >>I cite this stuff not to say that neoliberalism is wonderful or that
> Argentina is paradise. Neoliberalism is a crime against humanity, and
> Argentina could do a lot better under a more humane regime. But it's
> just wrong to say that it's all a story of going uninterrupedly
> downhill.<< [pen-l 01 May 2001 20:12 UTC ]
>
>
> --Isn't context something relevant here? Isn't Henwood engaed in a debate
> with romanticists, deep ecologists, 'small is beautiful' types when he
> makes these arguments, the types who eschew anything Marxist,not only
> because of Marxists' sinful embrace of modernity or capitalism as you
> would have it, but because they have no use for any analysis aside from
> small is beautiful and competitive capitalism is far more preferable to
> corporate capitalism. So where is Henwood endorsing capitalism as a
> leitmotif of his writings?
> And I also recommend you go to poor countries or countries like China and
> try to find an activist who is fighting the impact of capitalist markets
> on the rural and industrial working class. Try to use simplistic analyses
> like "Since opening to markets, there has been no improvement at all in
> certain areas, or no development" The problem is the uneven nature of
> development, not that no development has occurred, no mobility has
> occurred since capitalist investment...Every anti-capitalist activist I
> met in China would tell you this much.
>
> None of them, like Henwood for that matter, would then leap to the
> conclusion that capitalist development is the best option...
>
> Steve
>
>
> Stephen Philion
> Lecturer/PhD Candidate
> Department of Sociology
> 2424 Maile Way
> Social Sciences Bldg. # 247
> Honolulu, HI 96822
>
>

--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx