Media Things: Economics

Fugitive Writings

2005-08-05T16:30:34-08:00

These essays, which either have not been previously published or have been out of print, embrace Kropotkin's philosophy at a time when he first gave it expression. This collection contains selected essays by Peter Kropotkin who was, unquestionably, the most widely read and respected theorist of anarchism. It is intended to make some of his most representative writings more accessible. The material consists of essays which either have not been previously published or have been out of print since their original publication. While the entire scope of Kropotkin's political thinking cannot possibly be projected in a single volume, it is hoped that many of his most fundamental conceptions have been exemplified here, for these essays embrace Kropotkin's philosophy at a time when he was struggling to first give them expression. In this context, Kropotkin's very first political essay, Must We Occupy Ourselves With An Examination of the Ideal of a Future System, written in 1873, which foreshadows most of his later writings, is of particular value. Apart from a general introduction to the most significant aspects of Kropotkin's life and thought, George Woodcock has prepared a preface to each essay allowing the reader to enter into the spirit of the time.

Peter Kropotkin

The Fever

2005-01-07T01:16:59-08:00

This little play, Wallace Shawn's monologue of 112 pages, rocked me when I first encountered it at the Vancouver Fringe Festival sometime in the mid '90s. Perhaps I'll add some commentary later, but for now, try these links: A reading by the author, Wallace Shawn Analysis/Review Review: performance at the fritz theatre, san diego, CA, 19 April 99 which provides the most erudite observation of the meaning underlying this play: "Shawn's theater is not of didacticism, but of dialectic, of disturbing questions posited to provoke us rather than simple answers to soothe." Keep that in mind when reading the reviews by Library Journal and Publisher's Weekly on Amazon.com, which are in stark contrast to those by readers.

Wallace Shawn

The Ultimate O'Jays

2004-12-16T22:27:06-08:00

This is an album chock full of gems such as Backstabbers and Love Train, but what's got me posting it here is the use of For the Love of Money as theme for Donald Trump's television show, The Apprentice. America is not a country noted for its subtle sense of irony. Check out the lyrics... For the Love of Money Money money money money, money Some people got to have it Some people really need it Listen to me y'all, do things, do things, do bad things with it You wanna do things, do things, do things, good things with it Talk about cash money, money Talk about cash money- dollar bills, yall For the love of money People will steal from their mother For the love of money People will rob their own brother For the love of money People can't even walk the street Because they never know who in the world they're gonna beat For that lean, mean, mean green Almighty dollar, money For the love of money People will lie, Lord, they will cheat For the love of money People don't care who they hurt or beat For the love of money A woman will sell her precious body For a small piece of paper it carries a lot of weight Call it lean, mean, mean green Almighty dollar I know money is the root of all evil Do funny things to some people Give me a nickel, brother can you spare a dime Money can drive some people out of their minds Got to have it, I really need it How many things have I heard you say Some people really need it How many things have I heard you say Got to have it, I really need it How many things have I heard you say Lay down, lay down, a woman will lay down For the love of money All for the love of money Don't let, don't let, don't let money rule you For the love of money Money can change people sometimes Don't let, don't let, don't let money fool you Money can fool people sometimes People! Don't let money, dont let money change you, it will keep on changing, changing up your mind. Music and Lyrics by: The O'Jays

The O'Jays

Reading Capital Politically

2004-11-11T23:54:50-08:00

Recommended in my Critical Forums @ http://synaptic.bc.ca/Contact/viewtopic.php?p=1367#1367

cleaver

Development as Freedom

2004-10-14T04:24:16-08:00

According to reviews I've read, be prepared to question your understanding of "freedom." Consider which freedom is the most valuable: to speak freely or to feed your family. For example, in dealing with enemies (say, Pol Pot, or Maoist China), we properly attribute to them deaths caused by starvation, disease, overwork, etc., insofar as these result from institutional structures and political choices. That's quite independent of intention. Thus in the Black Book of Communism, compiled to demonstrate the evil of our enemies and very highly praised in the West (here too), they estimate 100 million deaths from 1917 to the end of the century, the largest component being the famine in China in the late 1950s, maybe 25 million. No one claims that it was intended or planned. The most serious studies do regard it as criminal, attributing it to the sociopolitical system that prevented information from reaching the center in time to do anything -- studies by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, notably. The very same studies, in the same books, conclude that democratic capitalist India alone was responsible for 100 million deaths that were avoided in China from independence in 1947 to 1979, attributing the difference to sociopolitical structures. That half of the studies is ignored in the West. -- Noam Chomsky Chomsky further observes that if a Black Book of Capitalism were compiled, "the death toll would be colossal." And here's a review from Publisher's Weekly: When Sen, an Indian-born Cambridge economist, won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economic Science, he was praised by the Nobel Committee for bringing an "ethical dimension" to a field recently dominated by technical specialists. Sen here argues that open dialogue, civil freedoms and political liberties are prerequisites for sustainable development. He tests his theory with examples ranging from the former Soviet bloc to Africa, but he puts special emphasis on China and India. How does one explain the recent gulf in economic progress between authoritarian yet fast-growing China and democratic, economically laggard India? For Sen, the answer is clear: India, with its massive neglect of public education, basic health care and literacy, was poorly prepared for a widely shared economic expansion; China, on the other hand, having made substantial advances in those areas, was able to capitalize on its market reforms. Yet Sen demolishes the notion that a specific set of "Asian values" exists that might provide a justification for authoritarian regimes. He observes that China's coercive system has contributed to massive famine and that Beijing's compulsory birth control policyAonly one child per familyAhas led to fatal neglect of female children. Though not always easy reading for the layperson, Sen's book is an admirable and persuasive effort to define development not in terms of GDP but in terms of "the real freedoms that people enjoy." Economic theory is something I need to understand more, particularly regarding the ethics which are typically implicit in the implementations of both governments and world bodies such as the WTO and agreements such as the GATT.

Amartya Sen

The Humbled Anthropologist: Tales from the Pacific

2004-09-21T16:08:36-08:00

I found the following in a ZNet newsgroup: This is an excellent book for anyone who would like to understand economics from the anthropological perspective, that is, that the market principle isn't operative in many cultures. In today's capitalist economy market principle dominates and governs the distribution of the means of production, where the buyer and seller strive to maximise to get their money's worth. In many other societies, the Western Australian aboriginal culture to be specific, reciprocity is the general rule, which is social exchange between kin or another close personal tie. There are three degrees of reciprocity: generalised, balanced, and negative. 1) How closely related are the parties to the exchange? 2) How quickly and unselfishly are gifts reciprocated. The Humbled Anthropologist goes into stories from Pacific islands where reciprocity is the main form of economic exchange. Polany also stimulated the comparative study of exchange and several anthropologists followed his lead. Marcia Hewitt

Philip R. Devita

Anarcho-Syndicalism

2004-05-31T01:04:58-08:00

Recall that Parecon (Participatory Economics) represents one option to Capitalism now that Communism is dead. Anarcho-Syndicalism is a second option. The full text of this book is available online, here.

Rudolf Rocker

The Ecology of Commerce

2004-05-30T00:07:55-08:00

This book features prominently in the documentary film, The Corporation, being the text which begins the redemption of CEO Ray Anderson from corporate ecological rapist to good corporate citizen. Quite a transformation and, as it turns out, a sustainable and profitable one, though the transition is taking years. So, now I'm just waiting for an opportunity to beg, borrow or steal it for a read.

Paul Hawken