>Is David Harvey a "brown Marxist"? I understand that he has been involved
>in and thinks highly of environmental justice movements. What Harvey is
>trying to do, I think, is first of all to point out the fact that there are
>Greens and there are Greens, and secondly to remind us that some--but not
>all--environmentalist rhetoric derives from and reinforces reactionary
>ideologies, which can lead some--but not all--Greens to embrace reactionary
>political positions. I think that the sort of ideological critique that
>Harvey brings to environmentalism is highly necessary.
Harvey does point out that the real issue is over limits, both 'natural' and human. By arguing that the finitude of resources is unresolvable by human inventiveness and application, Greens inevitably adopt a policy of Control, hence the authoritarian strand at the centre of almost (indeed all?) Green politics. This is the division between James and Mark. Mark points to the depletion of resources and the effect of their usage on the environment, such as oil running out and the earth warming up. James points out that such arguments fetishises the resources and is sceptical of the warming arguments. James wishes to unleash the Promethean potential of humanity, by removing the fetters of capitalist social relations, thus enabling human creativity to re-mould our environment to our own liking. Seeing envirnomental disaster pending for us all, Mark's solution is to bring back Uncle Joe.
(As Mark and Louis know, I'm on James' side, and I'm enjoying this well mannered debate... So, apologies Mark if I've calumnied your position, I'm sure you can correct any misrepresentations! And James, I understand that you may well have read Rakesh's fave, Postone, any views that 'productivist Marxism' is a Ricardian misreading of the old boy?)
Russ
And BTW Mark (apart from his poorly liver), what's wrong with Prometheus?