Great activist, Betita is, I worked with her and members of
CofC, FRSO and ex-Line of March cadre on a conference at UC,Berkeley.
Betita for having worked in the deep South in SNCC, and in the
70's being a leading member of the M-L group, the democratic
Workers Party here in the 70's (remember Marlene Dixon?) never
noticed any Hitlerian tendencies in this "social fascist." Michael
Pugliese
>From: Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: 8/22/01 11:44:44 AM
>
>What is Neoliberalism?
>
>A Brief Definition for Activists
>
>By Elizabeth Martinez [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>and Arnoldo Garcia [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>March 22, 2001; CorpWatch
>
>"Neo-liberalism" is a set of economic policies that
>have become widespread during the last 25 years or
>so. Although the word is rarely heard in the United
>States, you can clearly see the effects of neo-
>liberalism here as the rich grow richer and the poor
>grow poorer.
>
>"Liberalism" can refer to political, economic, or
>even religious ideas. In the U.S. political
>liberalism has been a strategy to prevent social
>conflict. It is presented to poor and working people
>as progressive compared to conservative or
>Rightwing. Economic liberalism is different.
>Conservative politicians who say they hate
>"liberals" -- meaning the political type -- have no
>real problem with economic liberalism, including
>neoliberalism.
>
>"Neo" means we are talking about a new kind of
>liberalism. So what was the old kind? The liberal
>school of economics became famous in Europe when
>Adam Smith, an English economist, published a book
>in 1776 called THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. He and others
>advocated the abolition of government intervention
>in economic matters. No restrictions on
>manufacturing, no barriers to commerce, no tariffs,
>he said; free trade was the best way for a nation's
>economy to develop. Such ideas were "liberal" in the
>sense of no controls. This application of
>individualism encouraged "free" enterprise," "free"
>competition -- which came to mean, free for the
>capitalists to make huge profits as they wished.
>
>Economic liberalism prevailed in the United States
>through the 1800s and early 1900s. Then the Great
>Depression of the 1930s led an economist named John
>Maynard Keynes to a theory that challenged
>liberalism as the best policy for capitalists. He
>said, in essence, that full employment is necessary
>for capitalism to grow and it can be achieved only
>if governments and central banks intervene to
>increase employment. These ideas had much influence
>on President Roosevelt's New Deal -- which did
>improve life for many people. The belief that
>government should advance the common good became
>widely accepted.
>
>But the capitalist crisis over the last 25 years,
>with its shrinking profit rates, inspired the
>corporate elite to revive economic liberalism.
>That's what makes it "neo" or new. Now, with the
>rapid globalization of the capitalist economy, we
>are seeing neo-liberalism on a global scale.
>
>A memorable definition of this process came from
>Subcomandante Marcos at the Zapatista-sponsored
>Encuentro Intercontinental por la Humanidad y contra
>el Neo-liberalismo (Inter-continental Encounter for
>Humanity and Against Neo-liberalism) of August 1996
>in Chiapas when he said: "what the Right offers is
>to turn the world into one big mall where they can
>buy Indians here, women there ...." and he might
>have added, children, immigrants, workers or even a
>whole country like Mexico."
>
>The main points of neo-liberalism include:
>
>1) THE RULE OF THE MARKET. Liberating "free"
>enterprise or private enterprise from any bonds
>imposed by the government (the state) no matter how
>much social damage this causes. Greater openness to
>international trade and investment, as in NAFTA.
>Reduce wages by de-unionizing workers and
>eliminating workers' rights that had been won over
>many years of struggle. No more price controls. All
>in all, total freedom of movement for capital, goods
>and services. To convince us this is good for us,
>they say "an unregulated market is the best way to
>increase economic growth, which will ultimately
>benefit everyone." It's like Reagan's "supply-side"
>and "trickle-down" economics -- but somehow the
>wealth didn't trickle down very much.
>
>2) CUTTING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES
>like education and health care. REDUCING THE SAFETY-
>NET FOR THE POOR, and even maintenance of roads,
>bridges, water supply -- again in the name of
>reducing government's role. Of course, they don't
>oppose government subsidies and tax benefits for
>business.
>
>3) DEREGULATION. Reduce government regulation of
>everything that could diminsh profits, including
>protecting the environmentand safety on the job.
>
>4) PRIVATIZATION. Sell state-owned enterprises,
>goods and services to private investors. This
>includes banks, key industries, railroads, toll
>highways, electricity, schools, hospitals and even
>fresh water. Although usually done in the name of
>greater efficiency, which is often needed,
>privatization has mainly had the effect of
>concentrating wealth even more in a few hands and
>making the public pay even more for its needs.
>
>5) ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF "THE PUBLIC GOOD" or
>"COMMUNITY" and replacing it with "individual
>responsibility." Pressuring the poorest people in a
>society to find solutions to their lack of health
>care, education and social security all by
>themselves -- then blaming them, if they fail, as
>"lazy."
>
>Around the world, neo-liberalism has been imposed by
>powerful financial institutions like the
>International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank
>and the Inter-American Development Bank. It is
>raging all over Latin America. The first clear
>example of neo-liberalism at work came in Chile
>(with thanks to University of Chicago economist
>Milton Friedman), after the CIA-supported coup
>against the popularly elected Allende regime in
>1973. Other countries followed, with some of the
>worst effects in Mexico where wages declined 40 to
>50% in the first year of NAFTA while the cost of
>living rose by 80%. Over 20,000 small and medium
>businesses have failed and more than 1,000 state-
>owned enterprises have been privatized in Mexico. As
>one scholar said, "Neoliberalism means the neo-
>colonization of Latin America."
>
>In the United States neo-liberalism is destroying
>welfare programs; attacking the rights of labor
>(including all immigrant workers); and cutbacking
>social programs. The Republican "Contract" on
>America is pure neo-liberalism. Its supporters are
>working hard to deny protection to children, youth,
>women, the planet itself -- and trying to trick us
>into acceptance by saying this will "get government
>off my back." The beneficiaries of neo-liberalism
>are a minority of the world's people. For the vast
>majority it brings even more suffering than before:
>suffering without the small, hard-won gains of the
>last 60 years, suffering without end.
>
>--
>
>Elizabeth Martinez is a longtime civil rights
>activist and author of several books, including "500
>Years of Chicano History in Photographs." Arnoldo
>Garcia is a member of the Oakland-based Comite
>Emiliano Zapata, affiliated to the National
>Commission for Democracy in Mexico. Both writers
>attended the Intercontinental Encounter for Humanity
>and against Neoliberalism, held July 27-August 3,
>1996, in La Realidad, Chiapas.
>
>Copyright (c) 2001 CorpWatch. All Rights Reserved.
>
>
