>(The same applies to an argument that has in the past generated rather
>bad feelings on several lists: Are Mexicans from small villages better
>off in the village or in a Maquiladora? Who cares? Either side of the
>argument resembles an argument over whether trees would be prettier or
>uglier if their leaves were blue instead of green.)
Not exactly, since the argument is also about "development." For a lot of people, even some self-identified Marxists, capitalism has lost its "progressive" aspects, and there's nothing good to be gained from industrialization and great efforts should be made to preserve rural ways of life; to others, capitalist development is more contradictory, mixing new forms of exploitation with new possibilities of liberation. As far as I know, leaf color has no political content, except maybe the Green Party would have to rename itself.
Doug