Doug writes:
"Many poor countries are poor not because of foreign investment, but because they're largely outside the circuits of trade and capital. I can think of at least one person who gets very upset when I say that, but it's true."
You can say that, but I don't think it is right to take the next step and argue that these areas of the world are outside the capitalist system altogether. Rather the terms of their integration into that system are those of uneven development. All the conditions that bound their development are set by capitalism, insofar as it can be conceived as a system.
Amongst Indian and Latin America Marxists it was often argued that less developed parts of the economy were 'pre-capitalist' or feudal remnants. Jairus Banaji made short work of such theories thirty years ago. -- James Heartfield The 'Death of the Subject' Explained is available at GBP11.00, plus GBP1.00 p&p from Publications, audacity.org, 8 College Close, Hackney, London, E9 6ER. Make cheques payable to 'Audacity Ltd'