>Rakesh grew up in California. His father made a fair amount of money
>in the Silicon Valley. Does that make him "Third World"?
I'm an American, by birth and citzenship. My Hindi sucks, my English is indeed tinged with a California Valley Boy accent. I haven't done extensive field work like my brother in South Asia. I don't consider the other American minorities with whom I have had association any more "third world" than I consider myself. I have had a close older friend from the Congo who is now one of the leading rebels there, though I haven't been in touch with him for about 4 years. I tend to skim cursorily through NACLA, Economic and Political Weekly (Bombay), Review of African Political Economy, Economic and Cultural Development, Third World Quarterly, and some other journals in the library here just to keep abreast of things.
As if this is relevant at all to the discussion we have been having over social protectionism and the AFL CIO's new internationalism: After my father finally fully settled in 1995 a case dealing with BiCMOS technology--my politics were formed long before that and they are scorned by my parents--he has made much more than a fair amount, though I have little idea how much. Presently my parents generously float me very little per month, $80 of which (that's about 1/7th of it) I used to pick up the tab in full when I recently had dinner with Doug and Donna (who otherwise supports me). I didn't mind as this apparently enjoyable evening just meant I had to borrow books from the library instead of buy them.
I am more than a little bit shocked that Doug is now referring to me in the third person.
When I feel like it, I'll respond to Max's and Nathan's further replies, though there seems no pressing need as I have done no research, and have nothing new to say on the topic.
I've got books to read and writing to do. Talk to you all later.
Yours, Rakesh