[DEBATE] : Re: Forcing Africans to 'adapt' to poverty

[grinker]

I hate to say that I'm now starting to agree with Dominic about this debate.
Our notions of what's progressive are clearly totally different. The highest
achievement now seems to be consignment to perpetual drudgery at the lowest
level of technology. You're welcome to it.


>If I don't appreciate your arguments it's probably because I have enough
sense to know they're not practical.

My arguments not practical? So already starving Africa facing a perpetual
slow/no growth regime is? 


>For the record:

The following three statements appear inconsistent:

 "market-driven agriculture . . . it's where most innovation happens."

And;

"Capital is moribund and risk averse"

And;

"Western notions of reduced consumption"

Given that there's virtually no other form of agricultural production where
does innovation of any significance occur? Are you denying all the
historical benefits of capitalist development? Are you happy to do without
plentiful healthy food, penicillin, cars of any kind, telephones, just about
everything we consume in fact? None of this was produced under any other
system. This is despite the fact that the capitalist system is clearly
dysfunctional in many ways, uneven, and repressive in many places. 



>Certainly communist China with a planned economy (not sure how rational)
did
equate high levels of population growth to unsustainability.

This is certainly because their so-called communism was a failure. No
planning without democracy for starters.

Russell