Re: Re: Re: Tobin tax - for safe water

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 20/08/01 01:29 -0400, you wrote:
> Chris wrote:
>
> >  Otherwise the best of leftists seem to get bogged down in a muddle of
> >  doubts and hesitations, a) its reformist b) its impossible c) it is
> >  probably not marxist, d) it's irrelevant because capitalism is going to
> >  collapse within 18 months.
>
> Dear Chris,
>
> How do you expect the dog remain calm if you keep biting away at it?
>
> By the way, I personally support the Tobin Tax. Had we had the Tobin Tax or
> some other brake in place, TL wouldn't have depreciated more than 50% since
> February and there wouldn't be such a collective madness in the streets of
> Turkey today. What is going on there is nothing but economic genocide.
>
> I don't see any reason to be against a pain killer if there is no immediate
> cure to the disease.
>
> Best,
> Sabri


Dear Sabri

Well to the best of my experience the struggle to get any sort of serious
space for discussion of something like the Tobin tax has taken several
years. Now that the tide has turned for progressive global reformers, I
want to take advantage of it and open up the space further.

What you say is very reasonable, but when you think of the political and
economic horrors that Turkey has to go through, as a result of being close
to the orbit of a major centre of global finance capital, then your
comments are startlingly mild.

Countries like Turkey, Mexico, and Brazil, absolutely need radical reform
of the global capitalist economy urgently. There is no stategy for world
revolution separate from a strategy of vigorous reforms.


This is far too mild:

> I don't see any reason to be against a pain killer if there is no immediate
> cure to the disease.


The task is not not to be against a pain killer. The task is positively to
be actively for the most radical reforms that can be implemented globally,
fastest.

Global finance capital is at present virtually bankrupt of any ideas about
what to do about the appalling situation in the world.

We must start throwing it off balance with one cogent demand after another.

There is a world to win. And to save!

Chris Burford

London