>I have no problem taking this analysis beyond "liberal" blood-letting and
>postmodern slavery. In fact, this is what I mostly do, and in that vein,
>it is an important meaning of the word "radical" -- getting to the roots
>of something like say oppression. How about some radical analysis for a
>change? [in a nutshell]
>
>1) Socio-economic order under emerging capitalism
In this context, and early paper by the old-fashioned (1970s style) feminist social scientist Heidi Hartmann comes to mind. In this piece (whose title escapes me at the moment) Hartmann argues that emerging capitalism in England aided patriarchal oppression by dissolving traditional mechanisms of social control and allowing lower class men to oppress "their" women as a "compmensation" or "appeasement" of a sort for the consolidation of the economic and political power by the bourgeoisie. A clever argument indeed, but it leads to certain "politically incorrect" conclusions - namely that power is not absolute and those oppressed by some by be oppressors of others.
A similar argument can be used about slavery. It was not created by capitalism, let alone by Europeans (who abolished its form known as serfdom by the 13th century), but it was aided by capitalist demand for labor in the Americas. Eastern Europe in this context is a still different story because it had a form of slavery (serfdom) until 1862, when it was abolished by the tsar - about the same time as the Americans did. The issue was put to rest for some time - in part because of the Bolshevik Revolution, which posed a major challenge to the Anglo-Saxon hegemony, and Soviet attempts to rout the colonial powers by winning the support of the anti-colonial movement.
However,with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ascent of traditionalism and tribalism in the third world countries that used be the battle ground of the cold war, the traditional institutions of slavery and patriarchy crawled from under their rock - aided by the lavish financial support such luminaries as the Saudi Royal Family or Pakistani military intelligence.
I do not think, however, that Western powers aid the resurgence of slavery, even inadvertently. At worst, they are doing half-assed efforts to stop it. The root of the problem, IMHO, is the overpopulation in the third world - which makes humans a cheap commodity, coupled with the race to the bottom to reduce labor cost.
wojtek