Looking at the entire world and taking a long view of history, one can't deny that capitalism holds the murder record, the point that increasingly fewer leftists in the West appear to accept. For them, the social and economic development that people in rich nations enjoy has nothing to do with the underdevelopment of the rest of the world.
On 11/28/06, Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> wrote:
> [WS:] This seems circular, Yoshie. Wealth and development not necessarily
> lead to egalitarianism, secularism etc. Some eight hundred years ago the
> relationship between the Arab world and Europe was the opposite of today's
> situation - the Europeans were basically barbarian hordes invading a wealthy
> and learned Arab civilization. Yet it is Europe that eventually gave birth
> to secularism and egalitarianism, while Arab world succumbed to backward
> feudalism or petty autocracy.
The development of the first world -- the US, the UK, Europe, Japan, etc. -- is inseparable from the underdevelopment of the rest of the world. Look at the Middle East, much of which was once in the hands of Europe (mainly the UK and France), today: with a few exceptions like Iran and Syria, most nations in the region are government by the pro-American power elites, some of whom, like those in the Gulf states, won't survive without Washington's security guarantee. If West Asia suffers from backward feudalism (e.g., Afghanistan) or petty autocracy (e.g., Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf states, and so on), that is because the power elite of the West has made sure that either will defeat any political challenge. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>