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1036 [lbo-talk] Bonobo you don't -- rank: 1000

Jerry Monaco writes: "this kind of rhetoric is simply unacceptable". Then, please, let me withdraw it. James Heartfield

Document Size:	4559
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue May 1 12:22:30 PDT 2007

1037 [lbo-talk] marx's critique of neo-classical economics -- rank: 1000

Sean "Marx's critique of neo-classical economics" Marx never did critique neo-classical economics, only what he called classical economics (Smith, Ricardo). He did write about what he called vulgar economics, the disintegration of the classical school, (MacCulloch, Mill) which might, at a stretch address the weaker side of neo-classical economics. But though he was, I believe, aware of Jevons, he never rated or even saw the neo-classical school hoving into view. The best critiques of n ...

Document Size:	5502
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Mar 31 15:46:27 PDT 2007

1038 [lbo-talk] upsides of global warming -- rank: 1000

Heard in the 1980s 'The one great thing about AIDS', said comedian Billy Connolly, 'it's really taken the heat off the herpes scare'.

Document Size:	4708
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Mar 31 15:30:11 PDT 2007

1039 [lbo-talk] Narmada Dam (was Arundhati Roy etc.) -- rank: 1000

Miles asks an excellent question: "But why is it good and necessary for the earth to have more than 4 million people on it? Sure, from the perspective of people in industrial societies, we think larger human populations are better, but that moral/ethical standard is a product of social life in an industrial society. Societies with large populations are not "better" than societies with small populations, unless you arbitrarily use the standards of industrial societies to decide w ...

Document Size:	6235
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Mar 31 14:57:08 PDT 2007

1040 [lbo-talk] Brits' shit fit over seized sailors misfires -- rank: 1000

Doug writes: >>> What the the hell business does the Royal Navy have fiddle-farting >>> around in Iranian/Iraqi waters? >> >> Either spying, or trying to provoke an incident, no? Jordan replies > Er, they are there under a UN mandate, UNSCR 1723. But the grounds for scepticism are historic. Commander Lionel "Buster" Crabb went missing during a dive off Portsmouth in April 1956, the year of Suez and the Hungarian uprising, amid claims that he had been sp ...

Document Size:	6024
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Mar 31 12:10:39 PDT 2007

1041 [lbo-talk] Narmada Dam (was Arundhati Roy etc.) -- rank: 1000

Miles writes of industrial society ""Proven to work"? Human beings have been around on this planet for many millenia; all the hunting and gathering societies that existed over the past 100,000 years "worked" just fine (otherwise we'd never be here!)." But whatever the quality of hunter-gathering life, it does not seem to have been capable of creating the surplus needed to expand the world population beyond 4 million. For the planet as a whole productive capacity ha ...

Document Size:	5655
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Sat Mar 31 01:02:12 PDT 2007

1042 [lbo-talk] Narmada Dam - a case of NGO imperialism -- rank: 1000

Doug "It's not up to me, you, or the World Bank, is it? Shouldn't the people themselves be consulted?" Well, yes. In the case of the Narmada Dam protests, the point was that the campaign up to 1988 had been for favourable resettlement and rehabilitation packages, on the assumption that the dam was going ahead. That was the demand that reconciled the interests of the so-called 'tribals' of the Narmada Valley and the broader population that wanted the development. But when that was agree ...

Document Size:	6658
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Fri Mar 30 12:39:12 PDT 2007

1043 [lbo-talk] Narmada Dam (was Arundhati Roy etc.) -- rank: 1000

Bond: "What is evident to anyone without a stilted agenda is that Medha and the NBA, along with the National People's Alliance, are the World Bank's most serious enemies in India - and that they *forced* the WB out of Narmada" It seems a bit unlikely that the NBA had such leverage that they could *force* that pointedly undemocratic, US-dominated organisation, the World Bank out of Narmada, but could not persuade the people of Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh to support them. More likely is th ...

Document Size:	5514
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Fri Mar 30 04:50:10 PDT 2007

1044 [lbo-talk] Narmada Dam (was Arundhati Roy: An Activist Returns To The Novel) -- rank: 1000

Sean Andrews writes of me, apropos the Narmada Dam: "His position reminds me very much of Hayek's " Which is a bit daft, because Hayek's position is that the rights of private property take precedence over government action, which would favour the subsistence farmers over the relocation programme. All in all I think Sean uses words differently from me. He calls me reactionary, when he sides with the World Bank and some US-based missionaries against an Indian government-backed developme ...

Document Size:	6412
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Fri Mar 30 02:01:50 PDT 2007

1045 [lbo-talk] Narmada Dam (was Arundhati Roy: An Activist Returns To The Novel) -- rank: 1000

Patrick writes: "having seen so much excellent struggle on that river since the 1980s, how can you deny that this is a mass, indigenous struggle?" (and some harsher things) To which I say, struggle does not mean you should suspend judgement. Before the NBA was involved in the campaign, local activists, like Anil Patel's ARCH-Vahini had already negotiated good resettlement deals from the authorities for those who were displaed by the dam. NBA's outright opposition to the dam was a rheto ...

Document Size:	7139
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Thu Mar 29 02:11:26 PDT 2007

1046 [lbo-talk] Arundhati Roy: an activist returns to the novel -- rank: 1000

Siddartha Shome writes on the advantages of the Narmada Dam: "Irrigation to be provided to 1,792,000 hectares of land spread over 12 districts, 62 talukas and 3,393 villages (75% in drought-prone areas) in Gujarat and 73,000 hectares in the arid areas of Barmer and Jalore districts of Rajasthan2, benefiting more than 5 million people3. Drinking Water facilities to 8,215 villages and 135 urban centers in Gujarat2, benefiting 25-30 million people3. Peak power generation of 1450 MW2." htt ...

Document Size:	5992
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Mar 28 09:09:51 PDT 2007

1047 [lbo-talk] Arundhati Roy: an activist returns to the novel -- rank: 1000

Sean Andrews "BTW, how are the rights of Indian citizens somehow distinct or less important than the rights of the Indian State? And why, in this case, should we side with the state instead of of subsistence farmers? " Well, the policy might be wrong, but insofar as Madhya Pradesh and India is a democracy, they have a right to override the rights of individual property owners, just as the American government does when it obliges people to observe the speed limits. Should we side with ...

Document Size:	5510
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Wed Mar 28 08:38:50 PDT 2007

1048 [lbo-talk] Arundhati Roy: an activist returns to the novel -- rank: 1000

I remember having my doubts about the Narmada Dam campaign that Roy got involved in - though I don't guess that many on this list would have shared them. There seemed to me to be some evidence that the anti-Dam campaigners were being sponsored by western environmental groups. Also, I was not sure why the World Bank (which pulled out of the project) should value their rights over those of the Indian state to generate electricity.

Document Size:	5115
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Mar 27 12:37:56 PDT 2007

1049 [lbo-talk] Those Evil Irish -- rank: 1000

Wojtek wrote: "Are you suggesting... that the Brits are keen at maintaining the residual of their once great empire ...by keeping their grimy paws on the North? I do not find that very convincing, because the North looks more like a liability than an asset" The relationship between economic motive and British policy in Ireland was rarely direct after partition. Those who did try to develop a Marxoid analysis of the Six Counties that explained British policy as a direct reflection of a ...

Document Size:	6988
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Mar 27 11:29:26 PDT 2007

1050 [lbo-talk] home ownership again -- rank: 1000

Doug says that low incomes are associated with higher home ownership (and quotes a reader backing him up). But association is not cause, any more than the wind blows because the leaves on the trees are shaking. Surely, house prices are typically lower in rural areas and less developed nations, meaning they are more affordable. In cities, where there is a premium on being close to the centre, house prices are high, making it harder for people to raise the capital for an outright purchase, so they ...

Document Size:	6072
Author:	James Heartfield
Date:	Tue Mar 27 10:32:51 PDT 2007