> >global capital. We claim that Empire is better in the same way that
> >Marx insists that capitalism is better than the forms of society and
> >modes of production that came before it. Marx's view is grounded on a
> >healthy and lucid disgust for the parochial and rigid hierarchies
> >that preceded capitalist society as well as on a recognition that the
> >potential for liberation is increased in the new situation"
> >- Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire, p. 43
(Groan). A little Baudrillard is a dangerous thing. As Fred Jameson put it, capitalism is the best thing to ever happen to the human race -- and also the worst. I have enormous respect for Hardt & Negri's personal commitment as rads, but it's a little much to go on about the world of global finance capital and say nothing about the EU or East Asia, which outproduce, outconsume, outfinance and simply outclass Bananamerica. On the other hand, I do like the millenial buzz in their prose -- Lefting the planet ought to be fun, an intergalactic carnival of star-systems, not grim, dreary toil.
-- Dennis