There is a three-sided battle over the internet, between control by capitalist forces, anarchists, and by genuinely democratic forces. Generally we should side with the anarchists against the capitalists. But while I agree with much of what Karl is saying, when you hear that 250,000 people subscribed to a child pornography website, whose ringleaders were recently arrested in the USA, it is hard to resist the idea of some sort of coercive state or global power, even though this story may have been hyped up for exactly the motives that Karl describes. About tolerance and lack of state controls, whether on the internet or not, I agree the thrust of many of the arguments against censorship and drug controls. We need to put more emphasis on people being helped to take control of managing the spectrum of risky drugs of recreation and dependence, from caffeine up. We also need people to take responsibility for themselves and others about the risks and rewards of sexual intimacy. But the assumptions should not be that of atomised civil society composed of just a mass of inviduals with their own bourgeois right, but of participation in interdependent human communities. And I strongly suggest there should be a distinction between the control of actions that are exploratory and without financial motive, and those that are linked or potentially linked to capitalist exploitation. Chris Burford London At 08/08/01 16:16 +0100, you wrote: >The constant attack on the circulation of commodities in the form of >pornography >on the internet is a device to build up a climate conducive to controlling and >regulating the internet in the interests of capital. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
