>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Democracy Now 5/26
>Date: Sun, 30 May 2004 21:15:59 -0400
>
>Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>>What makes me sad is that conspiracy theories such as Joseph Wanzala's
>>_lead away_ from awareness of the centers of power. They delude people
>>into thinking that evil exists solely in the machinations of particular
>>people rather than in the capitalist system. Joseph's arguments, that
>>is, add up to an apology for capitalism and for u.s. imperialism. His
>>theories also support racism, for the major form racist ideology takes
>>today is the view that racist institutions are caused by the actions of
>>racist individuals, making it more difficult to combat its structural
>>sources.
>
>I agree up to a point, but your language ("system," "structural sources")
>makes it difficult to locate human agency. It makes us all look like pawns,
>puppets on strings operated by no one identifiable. THe trick is to analyze
>the institutions of class power - the state, Wall Street, the Council on
>Foreign Relations - in all their complexity and imperfections, identifying
>interests and actors without descending to the twelve guys in a room
>version of conspiracism.
>
>Doug
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