Subject: Re: request from Liam Connell
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 18:27:28 +0100
From: Liam Connell <L.Connell-AT-herts.ac.uk>



K 

I must say that I do share some of your frustrations if perhaps for 
slightly different reasons.  I did try to define imperialism quite 
closely which wasn't intended to posit a difference between Western 
oppression and local non-Western oppression.  The point is that it is a 
system within which someone like Dubya is no less complicit than Saddam 
Hussein, although he does perhaps benefit more given the international 
status of the US within that system.  Incidentally you may be 
interested in reading C. L. R. James on the Soviet Union who defined 
Stalinist USSR as State-Capitalism.  Admittedly this is within the 
context of infighting and schism within left-wing politics but he does 
try to relate the role of the USSR into an account of World 
capitalism.  Ahmad's _In Theory_ is, I think, also sensible, if a 
little idealistic, on the relationships between post-colonial 
explanations (a term which he abhors) and politics of the Cold War.

I have to say also that I never actually advocated Communism, I know 
everybody thinks I did.  My point has only been that capitalism's 
international hegemony results in a system whereby a few wealthy 
nations determine the structures of economic activity in the rest of 
the world.  This is a system which I believe to be indefensible and am 
keen to engage in a critique of that system in order to try and 
understand what a workable alternative would look like.  I think the 
various Fairtrade systems currently operating are interest and 
certainly not a springboard for Communism - although of course there is 
always a question about what fair means and who gets to decide.  These 
is a question which must in some way precede political action - 
although they don't preclude political action.  It is a truism but 
without a debate about what we (you or I or anybody) are attempting to 
achieve we can never achieve it.

Liam

Quoting K CORRELL <kmcor-AT-hotmail.com>:

> Liam,
>
> Sorry it has taken me a bit to get back with you on this.  In earlier
> posts
> you had asked "Surely the one thing we can agree about on this list
> is a
> hostility towards Imperialism?"  And "Why do people belong to this
> list?"
>
>
> Yes, I share this hostility towards imperialism (and condemn the
> attendant
> horrors, colonialism, slavery, racism).   But I'm feeling frustrated
> with
> postcolonial theory as a means of apprehending exploitation and abuse
> in
> general (larger issues than colonialism and imperialism) or, for that
>
> matter, the world at large.
>
> The postcolonial approach seems too narrowly schematic: it
> conceptualizes
> empire in terms of western (euro-american) imperialism rather than
> acknowledging imperialism as a recurrent global phenomenon, and it
> doesnt
> seem to consider western imperialism in tandem with other empires
> (such as
> the Soviet Union, when it existed).  It tends to ignore locales where
>
> western imperialism has not taken hold and sometimes reductively
> analyzes
> locales that come under its gaze only in western imperialist terms
> (capitalism, multinational corporatism, western cultural dominance,
> etc).
> It sometimes posits a useless competition between abusers on the
> world stage
> (ie, has Saddam Hussein or the U.S damaged Iraq more?  Arent both to
>
> blame?) ignores home-grown despots if they cant be shown to be
> puppets of
> the west (Sudan), and shows little interest in conflicts generated
> outside
> the western imperialist schema (the current civil war in Burundi, for
>
> instance).  This approach, as Terry Eagleton suggested in his review
> of
> Spivak ("In the Gaudy Supermarket"someone posted it the other day) is
> as
> west-centric and parochial as western imperialism itself.
>
> I do think that communism is over as a world force.  However "pure"
> it is in
> theory is irrelevant, since as an economic system it doesnt work, and
> as a
> political system it has shown an uncanny tendency to coalesce into
> brutal
> totalitarianism.  But the best ideals suggested by communismworker
> rights
> (in fact, the idea that workers do have rights), worker empowerment,
>
> economic equalityhave infiltrated and positively informed capitalism
> (and
> world political systems) for decades (unionization, workplace
> regulations,
> etc.).  And the political reverberations of the former Soviet Union
> continue
> to be profound (ie, Afghanistan).
>
> The challenge now, as I see it (and as others on the list have
> already
> discussedpaul brians, salil) is in bringing these left-inspired
> reforms to
> places where capitalism is burgeoning and where abuses and excesses
> may be
> largely unchecked (ironically, in communist/formerly communist or
> quasi-communist countries amongst the most pressing).  And to
> continue to
> vigilantly work toward reform and regulation in places where
> capitalism has
> long had root (the west, but parts of Asia too).  And everywhere
> else!
> Postcolonial theory can be part of that effort, but since (as weve
> seen) it
> isnt comprehensive enough to address all the factors in abuse and
> exploitation (for instance, cultural discrimination of the caste
> system in
> India, as Salil has suggesteda system that predates western
> imperialist
> expansion there) then it can only be part of a larger effort. Maybe
> it's
> time for post post-colonial theory?
>
> I like checking in with the list--like laohu-AT-home (aka jack) I think
> the
> postings are interesting, even if I dont always agree with them, and
>
> theyre sometimes relevant to my research.  I think anything that
> ignites
> debate is worthwhile (short of name-calling, insults, and
> chastisments, all
> of which arein a word, and not to put too fine a point on itdumb).
> The
> last thing postcolonialists should be engaged in is a struggle to
> quash
> dissent/debate.
>
>
>
> >      --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at
> http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
>
>
>
>      --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
> 




__________________

Dr Liam Connell
Department of Humanities,
University of Hertfordshire,
Watford Campus, Wall Hall,
Aldenham, Watford.
WD2  8AT



     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---