At around 17/5/06 8:51 pm, C Ruiz wrote:
> In a message dated 5/17/2006 7:51:59 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> He is
> mainly interested in cell phone usage rather than infant mortality, etc.
> <><><><><><>><><><><><><><><><><><><><>><><><><><><>>><><>><><
> Correct, this is typical of the apologists of neo-lib policies in the third
> world: to focus in "big achievements" such as Internet usage, video and
> computer games, i pods, cell phones, financial innovations,strong stock
> markets,
> etc.Never mind they affect less than one third of the population usually,
> while the rest remains mired in hunger, illness and illiteracy. Cuba has
> gotten rid of these inhumanities long time ago.
> Today for instance the NYT reports via Reuters, but ignored by Ulhas, on how
> neo-lib India is still ridden with the shameful caste system.
>
Before you guys go crazy with the criticism, I have to point a few
things out: I am willing to wager not only that most of you have cell
phones and colour TVs, but would have a difficult time giving them up.
However righteous your stand, these material benefits are important and
desired, and their spread is an interesting metric. People (such as
myself) from "third-world" countries, I think, have a legitimate
wariness of the Western Left both because of the righteousness and a
sort of need to fight their (the Western Left's) battles through these
nations and peoples. I can still remember the time when Indians finally
rid themselves of Indira Gandhi's draconian Emergency and voted in, by a
large margin, a populist and left-leaning Janata (People's) Party, a
movement which drew its motivation and strength from such men as old JP
(Jayaprakash Narayan), only to find a frivolous accusation by Seymour
Hersh (a darling of the left, I learnt much later) that Morarji Desai
(the leader of the party) was a CIA agent!
I think the issue is complex. While the current neo-liberal
"renaissance" draws heavily from the structural and other achievements
of India's socialist past, it can also be arguably (but credibly)
claimed that it has brought benefits to most Indians at a faster rate
than past systems. I wish we could discuss that point more seriously
than get bogged down in this sort of thing.
--ravi
--
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