Death/ and the Commitment of an Intellectual
There are some people who seem to remain in the corner of our concerns, yet we know are important to our lives. Auntie Auring was one of those silent figures that speak out loud in my memories for the day. She was always there in Lacub, taken out of Bukidnon because of her marriage to Uncle Ingkin. I would always unearth fond memories of going to the house next door in Lacub, and her presence and smile and stories will always be sought. In a sudden tumult of until now muted memories, I will dearly miss her. Here is to our Aunt Auring.
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A committed intellectual who recently died is Paul Sweezy, who has contributed greatly to the world's understanding of capitalism and political economy.
Some of his works clarified how stagnation being capitalism's normal mode (for complex reasons I have no time to spread out here), some of the factors that keep it growing include: the aggressive marketing and waste on created wants, the role of the state and its military spending to boost the economy (contrary to the 'free-market' hypothesis useful in abstract models of the world economic system), and the ever-growing power of financial institutions that impose policies especially in the so-called Third World.
Sweezy also concentrated his thoughts on the struggles against the dominant system. Somewhere he concluded that whereas in the rich countries, the degradation of work has not been homogeneous, creating differentials in ranks among the workers, not to mention the momentary effects of trade unions themselves, even if they're committed to workers' welfare, only contributes to reformism. Thus the focus was on the weakest links of the world system and the struggles, armed as they might, of the most oppressed and trodden in that link --- in the Third World, be it national liberation or struggles for socialism.
Nevertheless, Sweezy also found himself not losing hope in workers' struggles in the First World, especially the US, after a work by one of his colleagues that questioned the wholesale usurpation of the working class in those countries. It turns out that even in the developed countries (loaded term), work is also increasingly being degraded, which is also becoming obvious to people who previously didn't have access to such realities.
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The task I guess is to develop more committed intellectuals who have the courage to involve themselves in the struggle of people all over the world.
*
A committed intellectual who recently died is Paul Sweezy, who has contributed greatly to the world's understanding of capitalism and political economy.
Some of his works clarified how stagnation being capitalism's normal mode (for complex reasons I have no time to spread out here), some of the factors that keep it growing include: the aggressive marketing and waste on created wants, the role of the state and its military spending to boost the economy (contrary to the 'free-market' hypothesis useful in abstract models of the world economic system), and the ever-growing power of financial institutions that impose policies especially in the so-called Third World.
Sweezy also concentrated his thoughts on the struggles against the dominant system. Somewhere he concluded that whereas in the rich countries, the degradation of work has not been homogeneous, creating differentials in ranks among the workers, not to mention the momentary effects of trade unions themselves, even if they're committed to workers' welfare, only contributes to reformism. Thus the focus was on the weakest links of the world system and the struggles, armed as they might, of the most oppressed and trodden in that link --- in the Third World, be it national liberation or struggles for socialism.
Nevertheless, Sweezy also found himself not losing hope in workers' struggles in the First World, especially the US, after a work by one of his colleagues that questioned the wholesale usurpation of the working class in those countries. It turns out that even in the developed countries (loaded term), work is also increasingly being degraded, which is also becoming obvious to people who previously didn't have access to such realities.
*
The task I guess is to develop more committed intellectuals who have the courage to involve themselves in the struggle of people all over the world.
posted by www.newfreemedia.com @ 5:07 AM
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