[PEN-L:28194] Re: WSJ reviews Marx 101

["Ian Murray" <seamus2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ellen Frank" <frank@xxxxxxxxxxxx>


At the mention of this novelty, an argument erupted in the back of
the
room. Josh, a graduate student, said that the lives of the
protesters were
shot through with what Marx referred to as the fetishism of
commodities.
Their love of organic food, he implied, was greater than their love
of the
oppressed who grow it. Ms. Featherstone conceded the point. She
mentioned
that organic farming might actually be "more exploitative" than
large,
mechanized farms, "because it requires more stooping."
Several people nodded their heads approvingly, happy to learn
something
new. Finally, "Capital" had something fresh to teach! Another world
is
possible indeed.


==================

Trade off: if you we're a farm worker, would you 'prefer' being
poisoned with chemicals and have the fruits of your labor
deceptively called food; or would you prefer a marginal increase in
stooping to avoid being poisoned and have the fruits of your labor
called food?

Yes in the bright shining future those "choices" won't need to be
made at all because ecologies of scale and mechanization will over
take the current agricultural paradigm and make farm labor less
harmful to workers, but why don't we call organic food food and what
we currently call food, poisoned food?

The idea that the protestors don't give a shit about the oppressed
is just stupid holier than thou drivel.

Ian