Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 22:07:30 -0600
From: Mary Murphy&Salstrand <ericandmary-AT-earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: I'd rather be a Cyborg than a Goddess


hugh bone wrote:
 
> Agree with most of this analysis, but can't imagine how intentions based on even a hint of Marx, a name has negative meanings to the middle-aged and older, or intentions based on the ideas of Continental philosophers, known to only a handful of people in the U.S., could possibly become a "movement".

I don't think I meant "movements" in quite the way you mean in my
analysis - something closer perhaps to what you referred to in a later
post as philosophy.  

I certainly am rejecting any kind of deterministic interpretation of
Marx (or the far right for that matter) which sees history as externally
caused by economic laws of development.  For me, history is much more
fluid and chaotic than that.

What I am trying to do is develop a framework for analyzing trends and
events based upon developing tensions, knots and contradictions. In our
contemporary situation, I identify two tendencies.

One is the changing role of work in a job economy brought about by
automation, temporaries, down-sizing, the internet, intranets and the
need of business for a just-in-time work force. I think this will be a
very explosive issue in the near future, one which is very complex and
multifaceted.

The other is the growth of the internet and information economy and the
possibilities this offers for restructuring society and democracy in new
ways.  It is no accident that the looming recession is tied directly to
the failure of the internet companies to turn a adequate profit.  

Whether or not a movement emerges from these tensions certainly remains
to be seen and with a non-democratic ruler in America, a certain nadir
has been reached in progressive political life.

However, I don't believe the situation is hopeless or that unexpected
events will still emerge from out of the current wreckage.  

I also don't think that these, when and if they, occur will be
explicitly Marxian, poststructuralist or global in nature. They will
more likely be local and heterogeneous revolving around particular
issues, at least initially.

For me, the important thing here is to have a forum for discussing these
issues in a way that is philosophical as well as political.