[lbo-talk] Bello article

MICHAEL YATES mikedjyates at msn.com
Sun Sep 30 12:15:57 PDT 2007


I think Bellow goes off the rails a bit when he says:

"Secondly, it is likewise questionable that, even if one could conceive of a globalization that takes place in a socially equitable framework, this would, in fact, be desirable. Do people really want to be part of a functionally integrated global economy where the barriers between the national and the international have disappeared? Would they not in fact prefer to be part of economies that are susceptible to local control and are buffered from the vagaries of the international economy? Indeed, the backlash against globalization stems not only from the inequalities and poverty it has created but also the sense of people that they have lost all semblance of control over the economy to impersonal international forces. One of the more resonant themes in the anti-globalization movement is its demand for an end to export-oriented growth and the creation of inwardly-oriented development strategies that are guided by the logic of subsidiarity, where the production of commodities takes place at the local and national level whenever that is possible, thus making the process susceptible to democratic regulation."

When did working people in the US have much control over what the national state did, or even more local arenas? Of course, we should fight for whatever control we can get at all levels. And there is nothing wrong with more local food supplies (as long as the food is of high quality), etc. But I don't see capital becoming anti-global. Since when? To capital the world is its oyster, and it will be so into the indefinite future. Some capitalists will want protection even as they continue to pillage the planet. What else is new? So I think working people have no choice but to try to form global resistance organizations and aim for control globally too. And this is a good thing. Why would it be bad to break down the national/international distinction? Does Bello fear some sort of mongrelization? Why shouldn't it be a good thing for cultures to mingle and mesh and form new cultures? And let's remember that Marx said "Workers of the WORLD unite." Still a good and worthy slogan. We have to be careful not to encourage nationalism very much (in some poor nations, nationalism might still have radical content), since the powers that be are happy when we hate the rest of the world.

Michael Yates



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