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--- internationalism [2018/11/04 12:33]
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+++ internationalism [2018/11/04 12:38] (current)
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 ==== Then ====
-[Greeeman 2017 start - Nationalism And Capital]
+[Greeeman 2017 start - Nationalism And Capital] The paradox of the late capitalist era was that the globalization of capital coexisted with, indeed exacerbated, nationalism. One might even argue that the fragmentation of the world into ethnicly based, militarized, nation-states was the ultimate political form of the rule of international capital. Features like militarism, state-sponsored terrorism,  race- and religious-based repression and violence seemed to be necessary conditions to make areas of the world safe for investment. The liberalism of global "free markets" no longer implied traditional liberal values like the rule of law, freedom of the press, the right to assemble or (Heaven forbid!) to strike, and there was much less loose talk about "democracy" except for a privileged handful of long-established rich republics.
-The paradox of the late capitalist era was that the globalization of capital coexisted with, indeed exacerbated, nationalism. One might even argue that the fragmentation of the world into ethnicly based, militarized, nation-states was the ultimate political form of the rule of international capital. Features like militarism, state-sponsored terrorism,  race- and religious-based repression and violence seemed to be necessary conditions to make areas of the world safe for investment. The liberalism of global "free markets" no longer implied traditional liberal values like the rule of law, freedom of the press, the right to assemble or (Heaven forbid!) to strike, and there was much less loose talk about "democracy" except for a privileged handful of long-established rich republics.
 Thus the highest conceivable stage of capitalism, globalization based on cyberchip technology, entailed the revival of the worst features of pre-capitalist society in every variety of local particularism, warlordism and religious fundamentalism. The global village had been realized as a refugee camp.
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 ** Globalization / Nationalisms **
-By the year 2000, the terms "developed" and "underdevoloped", "advanced" and "backward" lands had less and less meaning after a decades in which the major global corporations had been systematically shutting down their industrial plant in the U.S. and Europe (de-industrializing). The United States was producing little or no steel,  TV's or appliances, and most "American cars" were assembled from Asian and Mexican parts. On the other hand, the most modern, technologically advanced productive plants were being built in the poor lands of the former "Third" and "Second" worlds to profit from unemployment so high and standards of living so low that workers have few rights and are forced compete to work 80-hour weeks for pennies. After the “Asian Tigers” China became the engine of world capitalist growth. What were known as ‘Third World’ working conditions became First world working conditions as capitalist globalization continued and  workers failed to unite internationally. The American or French worker who bought a Walt Disney or Toys-R-Us stuffed toy for her three-year-old child, may or may not have been aware that that the product was probably made by a seventeen-year-old Chinese worker earning 8 cents (US$0.08) an hour under a totalitarian regime supported by the U.S. and French governments. Or that unless workers organized internationally, that three-year-old French or American would be working under identical "Chinese" conditions in France or the U.S. by the time she was seventeen -- IF she could find a job.
+By the year 2000, the terms "developed" and "underdevoloped", "advanced" and "backward" lands had less and less meaning after a decades in which the major global corporations had been systematically shutting down their industrial plant in the U.S. and Europe (de-industrializing). The United States was producing little or no steel,  TV's or appliances, and most "American cars" were assembled from Asian and Mexican parts. On the other hand, the most modern, technologically advanced productive plants were being built in the poor lands of the former "Third" and "Second" worlds to profit from unemployment so high and standards of living so low that workers have few rights and are forced compete to work 80-hour weeks for pennies. After the “Asian Tigers” China became the engine of world capitalist growth. What were known as ‘Third World’ working conditions became First world working conditions as capitalist globalization continued and  workers failed to unite internationally. The American or French worker who bought a Walt Disney or Toys-R-Us stuffed toy for her three-year-old child, may or may not have been aware that that the product was probably made by a seventeen-year-old Chinese worker earning 8 cents (US$0.08) an hour under a totalitarian regime supported by the U.S. and French governments. Or that unless workers organized internationally, that three-year-old French or American would be working under identical "Chinese" conditions in France or the U.S. by the time she was seventeen -- IF she could find a job. [Greeman end]
 ==== How ====
 ==== Now ====

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