A Perfect Illustration

As if on cue, Mark Engler, an analyst at Foreign Policy in Focus , (see link in my blogroll) writes exactly the kind of piece I critiqued in my last post. Thoughtful, well researched and written, it discusses "alternative visions" for many paragraphs without ONCE mentioning the word capitalism. Imbued with a sort of radioactivity, the word is euphimistically danced around with terminology such as "neoliberal corporate globalization", to which he counters a model termed "democratic globalization". This is ephemeral jargon, un-historical, non-locatable and spectacularly unresistable. C'mon folks, this is just a new battle in the same old war over labor and profit and the tip toeing is simply bowing to it's hegemony. Stephen Zunes, who writes for the same outfit, is more willing to call a spade a spade.

Where do these billions come from and where do they go? I'm referring to the continuing saga of economic meltdown, this time over at Lehman Brothers where the concept of "to big to fail" may have tested it's own logic. Their "competitors" (a not-so-funny joke in today's monopoly capitalism) are deciding this weekend whether to inject billions into the over-leveraged brokerage.( they always do this on weekends so overseas markets don't implode) At least in the Great Crash they had the elan to jump out of buildings when they lost so much of OTHER PEOPLES MONEY. By the end of the Bush administation the government will have nationalized more banks than Hugo Chavez! The difference being the people of Venezuela will own more wealth while Americans will simply own more debt. Good thing we are such HARD WORKERS, and there is NFL on now to divert us. Move the deck chairs, fiddle away, more bread and circuses. Listen to the candidates debate!

In the latest IW ,the monthly newsletter of the IWW, there is an editorial criticizing Chavez for his treatment of the striking workers in the oil sector in 2002-03. The editor states : "The crushing of the strike sent a message to the rest of the Venezuelan working class: be an ally of Chavez or face overwhelming repression."
If this sounds like something Sonia would write, believe me , I was just as surprised at the lack of historical perspective. We workers better realize something. Workers can be reactionary forces of regression. Oh yeah( I remember Vietnam War protests vividly) . Reflexively supporting every "worker" action can lead to this kind of poor , simplistic analysis. Policemen beating strikers are workers too. Just as true is the fact that Unions are not always our friend and the IWW should know that better than anyone. What do you think Wobblies?