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Thursday, 18 January 2007 |
Arindam Mandal Duncan Foley, Adam's Fallacy: A Guide to Economic Theology, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2006. Hardcover, 265+xviii pp. Amazon /HUP In the era of staunch support for neoclassical economic strategies or neoliberalism, it is heartening to see the publication  of a book like Adam's Fallacy. A 'postmodern' characteristic of this era is its announcements regarding many end-s - the end of history, the end of ideology, etc. Anything that cannot feed into the mainstream euphoria of global marketization is discounted altogether. This does not mean relative identities in the universal market are disallowed; rather they are celebrated as itemized competitive exotics. Everything exists for and in hucksterage. But, histories behind those commodities are no more. So what goes in the making of the items on sale does not count. Anything that exposes the universality/particularity of capitalist expropriation and exploitation behind relative commodities or commodified relativities, even if they differ only in labels and packaging, is forced out of fashion. That is why discussions on economic thought per se or its history do not constitute a concentration of the most saleable academic discipline of economics. These discussions would have exposed all pretensions of the newness of market fundamentalist ideas. Adam's Fallacy attempts to do exactly that, by exposing the essential "fallacy" that underlies the theory and practice of economics throughout its history.  Be first to comment this article |  Add as favourites (172) |  Quote this article on your site | Print | E-mail
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Sunday, 14 January 2007 |
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Saswat Pattanayak Here is a classic case of manufactured consent.
News is agog that India will have its Harvard University in next two years. Even Forbes Magazine testifies to that. The corporate media hails a proposed university in India to be the greatest hope of reified vision where huge mass of people will be educated for betterment of India’s economy; and, its poor state Orissa’s. It is being hailed as the institute that’s receiving the single largest donation ever worldwide: $1 billion, and yes its going to be the university with largest real estate holdings ever. So welcome to capitalism that apparently does good, through capitalists that claim to be philanthropists of great cause.
Are there any protests against the university? Hardly any. Who would protest establishment of a first world standard university in a third world standard country? Instead, there is huge celebration of this proposal, of a one billion dollar charity. It’s a poor peoples’ world, and free money counts. The donor, Anil Agarwal is being hailed as a messiah of sort whose generosity is redefining cannons of capitalism. ‘Let them eat cake’ is after all being replaced by ‘Let us serve them’!
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Tuesday, 09 January 2007 |
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The Bangladesh Experience
Anu Muhammad
Although national elections are taking place regularly since 1991, the democratic process in Bangladesh is still in a vulnerable state. This paper attempts to understand the nature of socio-economic development that has become dominant in the country and also to understand whether this has links with the fragility of the democratic process. It argues that the peripheral status of the country is very important to look at to find constraints to develop institutions that are essential to have a strong foundation of the democratic polity.
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Saturday, 06 January 2007 |
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CG
The Late Indira Gandhi started the venerable tradition in Indian politics of pointing to the external forces that were trying to destabilize India. The only way to remain coherent as India, it was claimed was to vote for the gai bachhda (the Cow and Calf election symbol) and leave the rest to Mrs Gandhi's wisdom. As the climax to the Singur controversy appears to be over, we can wait for the denouement, so we are beginning to hear voices now to wrap it all up. It appears that the CPIM is the only hope for the dalits and Muslims and anything that questions the manner in which the CPIM crafts its political and economic agendas and implements them is going to open the doors for the 'right' that is the BJP.Be first to comment this article | Add as favourites (124) | Quote this article on your site | Print | E-mail |
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Saturday, 06 January 2007 |
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Saswat Pattanayak
One year ago, on January 2, 2006, I was in Orissa covering the most barbaric and shameful epoch in the aftermath of Kalinga Nagar incidents. 12 tribals were murdered by the Orissa state police, because they were protesting against the illegal, and inhuman encroachment of their sweet little homes by a profit-mongering private industry giant. As many as 13 industrial plants had been declared to be set up in Kalinga Nagar itself, resulting in evacuation of thousands of indigenous people from their own lands, sans adequate compensations, relocation benefits, education or healthcare assurances, let alone alternative residences. Countless people were left in the lurch because one private company got greedier and bought the conscience of few dozens of political opportunists. And when the people were told that their villages were going to be leveled --meaning, their carefully worshiped houses were to be razed off the grounds without seeking any of their approvals, some tribals thought they should protest.
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