[lbo-talk] "modernization" of rural 3rd world, was: The Cancun Delusion

Tom Roche Tom_Roche at pobox.com
Mon Sep 15 10:40:07 PDT 2003


On Fri, 12 Sep 2003, boddhisatva wrote:

>>> The challenge is to modernize agriculture in the best way

>>> feasible.

Michael Pollak wrote:

>> I don't think anyone by a straw man would argue with that.

Doug Henwood Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:45:37 -0400

> Not necessarily. Walden Bello told me that the consensus at Porto

> Alegre was against industrialization and in favor of the

> preservation of the rural third world. (Others disagree that that

> was the consensus.) That rules out "modernization,"

Really? I thought modernization meant, among other things, scaling communication and organization. Suppose rural farm<|work>ers acquired increased access to, e.g., phones, radio, internet, e.g. for learning about market prices (cutting out "traditional" middleman exploitation), organizing co-operatives, etc. Could that not both modernize them and "[preserve the economic viability] of the rural third world"?

Or is the consensus just to preserve tradition, period? If so, does this include, e.g., traditional endemic diseases? traditional patriarchy? traditional illiteracy?



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