Re: [Pen-l] Keynsianism now the official ideology - and on a worldscale

["Chris Burford" <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Patrick Bond -

| Let me be pessimistic if you allow.

Well, vigilant?

But I risk my view because of an impression about the important role of
charity in keeping social power structures relatively stable over the
centuries, and in fact millennia.  (Generally I consider there has been an
oversimplified linear model of historical materialism)


The richest actually stabilise their position by public gestures giving
their money away, and on a personal level, actually enjoy it. Their servants
meanwhile ensure that the ideological, administrative and financial
underpinnings of the social structure which generate this unequal
accumulation of wealth, remain fully in working order.

I know you and others have done much to help informed resilient democratic
campaigning for change in Africa, during the grimmest years when the
hegemonic consensus was, discretely, that Africa could drop off the map, as
far as the world economy was concerned.

The power relations of the world are going to get redrawn over the next few
months at meetings, in which representatives of India and China will behave
in a courteous and restrained fashion as befits members of ancient
civilisations with the most massive continuing relatively stable
concentrations of wealth in the broad picture of human history.

Nevertheless there will be an element of brutality and cynicism in how the
map is redrawn. It will be like Yalta: in an informal discussion among key
players, someone will draw a diagram on a piece of paper.

Roughly say, one trillion dollars of IMF credits will go to Africa.

The irony is that four trillion will need to go to the richest countries of
the world, because it would be too destabilising for everyone, especially
the Chinese, if the American consumers were reduced to absolute poverty for
a few years, and having to trade with one another in potatoes.

Sickening for Africa to get one trillion dollars "charity" after all these
bitter struggles, particularly since it is the cradle of the human race, but
power relations are power relations.

Sickening too that after all these years of struggle some of the terrain of
struggle will shift to obscure technical work, about how access to lines of
credit are administered, and which strata of society really benefit. It will
be more like class politics in Sweden, but with a different culture.


But Africa now has geopolitical significance, and the people peering over
this bit of paper will want their proper share of the diagram, especially
the Chinese.


Multiply the figures by 10 if you will.

The language, however,  in which this slightly psychopathic chat takes place
will be
important for shaping perceptions and agreeing a redivision of power
relations in the world.

And a bold gesture of charity will be important to keep the reality of power
structures relatively stable, during this awkward shift in their division.

(People in Africa should prepare to deal with condescending saviours, with
dignity, resilience and shrewdness, and strategic boldness - eg, when shown
the scrap of paper, they should ask for the trillions dollars in technical
equipment and infrastructure to provide essentially free electrical energy
from solar power for 10 years.)


- my hunch

but how will the Chinese adapt their post Marxist theories to dialogue with
western politicians hurriedly polishing the rust off Keynesianism? Unclear
to me.

Chris Burford

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Patrick Bond" <pbond@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Progressive Economics" <pen-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 12:46 AM
Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Keynsianism now the official ideology - and on a
worldscale


| Let me be pessimistic if you allow. Isn't the reality rather different:
| the official ideology of the Western power centres is to socialise
| losses via the bank bailouts, privatise profits, and prepare for deep
| austerity everywhere? Won't that entail more not less privatisation and
| commercialisation of state assets? Won't processes of commodification
| (e.g. carbon trading, the potentially very big one) continue relatively
| unhindered? Isn't that what the proposed Bush/Sarkozy meeting (plus
| compradors including the Chinese) will come to agreement upon?
|
| >  Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
| >
| >> ... The belt way has bust. The challenge is on to define a new
ideological
| >> hegemony on the global economy.
| >>
| >
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