>>> gcf at panix.com 07/20/00 11:35AM >>>
Let us assume that big businesses -- Capital -- collectively control the government for most practical purposes. In that case, Affirmative Action could be used to further Capital's perceived interests. It might be worthwhile to give up some managerial freedom in order to obtain these benefits, whatever they might be (manipulating racial identity and tension, or beheading or infiltrating minority communities, for example).
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CB: I was thinking something similar. Once again in a new generation, in new ways, the bourgeoisie are cultivating a petit bourgeois strata among Black people and other people of color, women. This is very successful in , for example, the person of Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court or a current number of mayors like Dennis Archer of Detroit. Archer was directly an attorney for GM before becoming mayor. He has worked out very well for GM as far as their interests in Detroit.
This action, along with those in the Washington state where big corps opposed the anti-affirmative referendum and the other example mentioned on this thread , may show that affirmative action is being hijacked somewhat, by big biz.
Perhaps by this hijacking, the corps rob affirmative action of some of its status as a signal demand of anti-racist struggle ____________
In any case, the University of Michigan represents a different segment of the bourgeoisie from corporate leadership and, as Machiavelli observed, while it is seldom good to give away one's own stuff, giving away _someone_else's_ stuff is often quite advantageous.
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CB: If I follow you here, are you taking account of the fact that the University of Michigan is in court defending its affirmative action program, and GM has just come out "on the same side"as the U of Mich.