>BTW, I think that imperialism and globalization are essentially a good thing
>for the same reason Marx thought capitalism was essentially a good thing -
Yes, those chapters on primitive accumulation and colonization in the first volume of Capital make capitalism sound absolutely dreamy.
>it clears the field of petty nationalisms and their institutional appendages
>and separatist identities,
You mean the sort of nationalisms that see Europe(ans) as inherently civilized and progressive and America(ns) as inherently stupid, fat, lazy, and reactionary? I agree that we could use some rooting out of those. Let's start in the sociology departments of elite eastern universities.
>From the little information given on the website,
the RM conference looks pretty good, but I can
think of few things more painful than listening
to Laclau drone on about imperialism and
democracy. Egads. And I like both the idea of
"rethinking communism" and the people on the
panel, but based on the description of the
plenary, it seems to be more of a recasting than
a rethinking; that is, for whoever wrote the
description of it, communism is still to be
managed by the offices of the state and it
philosophers. Or, as my friend Nate delicately
put it: "Aspiring ultraleftist malcontent that I
am, it strikes me that several of the practical
examples included, most of them actually, are of
a rather Š administrative or bureaucratic tenor."
<http://whatinthehell.blogsome.com/2006/06/27/is-rethinking-communism>