Carrol
Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> This started as a quick response, mostly in agreement with Doug's point,
> but developed into a somewhat wandering speculation on the explanatory
> limits of "imperialism," and the need to replace it
>
> Doug Henwood wrote:
> >
> > On Jun 1, 2010, at 4:29 PM, socialismorbarbarism wrote:
> >
> > > Sure, but again, Israel is just following the US lead--doesn't the
> > > occupation of Iraq fit this term to a 't'?
> >
> > Gaza's population is penned in and defenseless. The Iraqi population
> > has proved a tougher nut to crack, don't you think?
> >
>
> I would roughly agree -- but Gaza itself hasn't 'cracked' yet. It has a
> higher population density than Manhattan! How would Manhattan stand up
> to the pressure which has been on Gaza?
>
> My earlier posts on this were pretty clumsy, but I think the core idea
> should be taken s eriously: that Israel with tacit consent from the
> U.S. has been aiming for many decades at the "final solution" of the
> Palestinian 'problem' by the forced flight of the Palestinian
> population. What, really, is to stop this slow death of a people?
>
> I agree with Eric that "imperialism" has ceased to be a useful
> explanatory category. But if one takes that position, then there are a
> number of large global facts that require _some_ sort of theoretical
> explanation. Simple empirical description of those facts (such as events
> of the last few years in Haiti and Honduras) does not fulfill that need,
> and imperialism in some form _did_.
>
> And (contrary to DRR's daydreams) aggressively developing capitalism
> does _not_ seem to have done for huge masses of the people of China,
> India, & Brazil what it did for at least large sectors of the working
> class i n Europe, Japan, & the U.S. That difference (well-being of the
> "masses") seems still to hold (despite the recent "jobless" recoveries
> and the weakening of the labor movement). Ian has persuasively
> challenged the idea of a capitalist _center_, but it
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