>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Subject: Re: cultural imperialism
>Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:24:30 -0500
>
>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>>On one hand, it's a funny anecdote; on the other hand, the
>>popularity of Coke, Pepsi, etc. in poor nations is often a sad index
>>of the absence of potable tap water.
>
>Yes it is.
I can't seem to find it online, but a Nation cover story suggested it was more than just "absence", that Coca Cola was buying up water to use in their drinks, making water more scarce and their drinks more available.
But people also like the stuff, something which causes
>anguish among high-toned Europeans and American leftists.
Is it just me or is there a tone of relish in this remark? And the "Cultural purists must be alarmed!" bit. As if the only relevant categories were "cultural imperialism" and "cultural purists"! As if, ObL's soda-drinking was in some way the index of cultural purity, any more than his use of American arms (pace B Ehrenreich).
But anyway, what does it cause among high-toned non-Europeans and non-American leftists? For example, the high-toned leftists of Colombia? Or someone like Sainath, who has written about the ways in which the GOI has privileged Coke over Indian soda companies? Or Madhu Kishwar, on Coke v nimbupani, since cultural imperialism aside, there are good health reasons to disapprove.
>I was on a panel the other night with Hamid Dabashi, author of a new
>book on Iranian film. On the subway afterwards, he said that Titanic
>was enormously popular in Iran. It was a taste of freedom, and a fuck
>you to the ruling clergy.
Sure. But that people express their frustrations through the consumption of Hollywood movies or cheap drinks doesn't strike me as something for leftists to be thrilled about.
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