Sunday, October 19, 2003

Bush and invisibility Posted here Sunday, October 19, 2003 at 7:04:41 PM     One of the things that fascinates and provokes me is that we knew so much about Clinton and his doings during the presidency. We know so Little about Bush, as if he were a remote person, removed from living a life and being part of the flow. More of a person with very few levers at his disposal, a one button mouse, a flute with one hole... If I ask myself, what is going on, the lack of evidence is disturbing. ********

Iraq and the ME, a deeper problem Posted here Sunday, October 19, 2003 at 11:44:06 AM     From Friedman in the NYT, which eh entitles "Courageous Arab Thinkers" But there is another tremor shaking the Arab world. This one is being set off by a group of courageous Arab social scientists, who decided, with the help of the United Nations, to begin fighting the war of ideas for the Arab future by detailing just how far the Arab world has fallen behind and by laying out a progressive pathway forward. Their first publication, the Arab Human Development Report 2002, explained how the deficits of freedom, education and women's empowerment in the Arab world have left the region so behind that the combined G.D.P. of the 22 Arab states was less than that of a single country — Spain. Even with limited Internet access in the Arab world, one million copies of this report were downloaded, sparking internal debates. Comment: the problem is, he holds up GDP as the measure, but we know that GDP can increase while class differentiation and marginalization can also increase. Part of the Arab reaction is to this dynamic and its deep unfairness nd clture destroying path. The logic, as I see it, is, if we can get the Arab countries to increase GDP, globalization is saved. The question then is, what is the dynamic of globalization?  If it is increased concentration of wealth and power through mega-corporations, smaller and richer elites, broken middle class incomes, genetically modified crops irresponsibly deployed, then the GDP scenario is deeply self defeating, and an illusion. If a better path is to balance GDP with some sense of social democracy - sharing the benefits and providing for quality of life along with market fores - then we are looking for an alternative we do not know how to reach. ********