[lbo-talk] Re: Nationalism & Internationalism Re: Benny Morris responds

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Wed Jan 28 08:34:36 PST 2004


Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> Grant Lee grantlee at iinet.net.au, Tue Jan 27 20:53:46 PST 2004:


> >I disagree here as well. National capital begat global capital, historically.
>
> I didn't say that global capitalism begat national capital; I said
> that global capitalism begets nationalism. Nationalism and national
> capital are not the same thing.

Probably "global capital" was a misleading word choice. It's shorthand, I presume, for "the (often) global reach of national capitals, particularly national capitals in the imperialist core." While the latter (or even some shortened & snappier version of it) would not have the snap, crackle and pop that many on this list seem to make the litmus test for left prose, it would have the advantage of clarifying the exchange betweeen Grant & Yoshie, who probably aren't very far apart in their perspectives.

I've mentioned before that "anti-globalism" was an unfortunate choice of slogans for the Seattle Demos but that we had to stick with it because it was established in the consciousness of many new leftists. But in exchanges among ourselves, I think a more precise jargon should be kept -- and perhaps all forms or compounds of "global" avoided.

Carrol



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