>Ismail Lagardien wrote:
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>>With regard to teaching in the US... One of the problems I have is, quite frankly, that I am intimidated by the Horowitz movement against academic freedom. There are times, for instance, when I want to teach, or refer to Marx's prescient remarks about globalization, and the generally destructive nature of capitalism. I get around it by citing Jeffrey Sachs, who explained that Marx was right about capitalism, and point to his (Sach's) reference to capitalism's "bloody triumph". The point I make is that if profit maximisation is important than the bloody destruction may mean very little - and vice versa.
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Sorry. One more anecdote. When I was teaching college in 1987, I was
teaching "Timon" and could not resist also teaching Marx's brief essay
on money (in which he quotes from "Timon"). The class went pretty well.
"Timon" is not a hard play and the essay on money is pretty clear/good.
At the end of class, one student remained seated, shaking his head woefully.
"What's the matter?" I said.
"Last semester I took a course on Marxism," he said, "But this is the first time I've ever read Marx.....It's not that hard. It's good."
Turns out they were using only secondary sources...I can't say why.
Joanna