Dear Clifford,
Imagine there's not countries ... overwhelmingly voted all time best song by
the brits recently. But will the world sans borders be a big BwO or a big
state? The history of the way the internationalalization of law firt
followed the interests of the Versailles victors and later followed the
demand set by international finance says it all. We all know Hitler
denounced Versaille. What is less well known is that the origin of the sort
of international debt that keeps the third world in line was that some
bright sparks (led by Robert McNamara) figured out that you could stablize
the US economy by making the third wiorld pay the interest plus. In
corporate terms this is called refinancing one's debts. What does the World
Bank demand when it gets tough? No more despotic corruption or no more cash
up front. In short, do it the bourgeois meriticratic way and not the feudal
way. That's humanism, that humanitarianism, on a global scale. Read all
about it, and the international arms trade, in John Ralston Saul *Voltaire's
Bastards* (a damn good book, even if you don't agree with all of it).
>My country and Not Yours --
>this is the name of Nation. Nation which poets have struggled with since
>Blake and the nightmare of Locke's reason.
The nightmare of Locke's reason. Exactly what John Ralston Saul begins with.
What is this thing we call "reason", what sort of behaviors, laws, practices
have turned out to bear the name "rational"?
But what if the whole world were ONE BIG STATE? Would that be any worse than
"now" where it is almost already ONE BIG MARKET (you can still hide out from
internationalism in mountains of Afghanistan or in any small and restricted
market you care to invent as a machine with which to oppose the
state/capitalist establishment). One big market sounds more like a BwO to
me, but also way more scary. More important seems the question of what sort
of state the UNITED EARTH should be. What will be its full body? How will it
make equity? What services will it provide and how will it provide them? How
will it regulate the global economy and with what ends in mind? How will it
be structured to that there are watchers watching the watchmen? Of course,
the status of international law will no longer be a mystery once we have a
sovereignty above the sovereignty of nations. But, even if we can concieve
of a way of creating such a sovereignty (the Europeans lead the way as they
create a Standing Army for their Economic Community) the mechanics of this
sovereign power are likely to be almost inconceivably complex. Will it be
democratic? Who will vote? What will prevent democrtacy becoming a "Chinese"
tyranny? or will "China" and "Chinese" suddenly have no meaning. How will
internal borders be aligned? Will there be any? Will it be a Federation of
States? Will all the states in the Federation have to be "free" states?
Re-reading Locke might just be able to help us out here a bit? What do you
reckon?
:) Chris
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download :
http://explorer.msn.com
