[PEN-L:1686] Re: Re: Australian unions back protest

[Rob Schaap]

And now Joe Stiglitz is saying that 'it's the markets, stupid' was always a
gross simplification - that there were always bigger questions - the social
and the environmental.  And that these 'fundamental values' were not to be
subsumed.  Of course, commentary is all about how all we need is 'ethical'
corporate leadership (yadda yadda yawn), but the fact is that, in their
attempts to soften the popular opposition, the suits are lending much
mainstream credibility to political critiques that were cast as marginal
and looney only twelve hours ago.  This morning, protestors were saying and
shouting different things, and their views being reported in different
ways.  Thanks to the supplications of the surprised suits (much of it
honestly held, I don't doubt - at least in Joe's case), it's becoming
thematised very nicely.  It's becoming something very like a slogan anyone
could embrace now, I suspect.

Socially embedded markets or market-subordinated societies?  That is the
question.

Mebbe we'll stop treating all this as a gladiatorial pro- versus
anti-'globalisation' contest - and start working on what we might make of
'globalisation', and who might have a part to play.  That could be a
politically most interesting development, I reckon.

Yours unusually upbeat,
Rob.