From: Rakesh Bhandari (bhandari@BERKELEY.EDU)
Date: Thu Nov 23 2006 - 12:27:34 EST
> >>Primitive communism and slavery are modes of production, I think, which >>>are possible for other species. Feudalism and capitalism, I think, >>> aren't >>>... for a variety of reasons. >> This is just racism--so called primitives and slaves aren't really >> humans; serfs, dependant peasantries and formally free wage workers >> are. Such an idea is only possible on the basis of the invidious >> distinctions built up by racist Euro-American culture. > >This is just laughable. I'm not laughing. Nor do I hope are other people on this list. > The concrete, historical circumstances >having to do with why feudalism and capitalism can't be imagined >as existing in non-human species have to do with specific forms of >property relations, ownership, money, markets, etc. And so called primitive communism (what Marx thought at times still to be contained in the Indian village) is based on complex social relations of which non humans are incapable. To think otherwise is to be a racist. That you do not see this is not surprising to me. > There doesn't have to >be money or markets (including a slave market) for slavery to exist. It's simply a bad metaphor to describe non human animal forms of parasitism as slavery. The reasons have been given. That you see non monetary slave societies (e. g. Tupinamba) and so called primitives as closer to non human animal societies is in fact racist. In fact it is the definition of racism. But why not? This is after all a list in which its moderator is more concerned to get right the nature of elephant treatment than the character of New World slavery, a list member rallies to the defense of the white farmers of Zimbabwe, a list member refers to Negros and the different human races. The diversity of this list is not surprising--is it, Mr Moderator? Rakesh >Capitalism, however, _requires_ monetary exchange, etc. -- conditions >which are specific to a certain period in human history. > >In solidarity, Jerry
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