[Reader-list] Politics of Imperialism and CounterStrategies

[Jeebesh Bagchi]

Dear Ravi,

What exactly do you mean by `imperialism`?
What is the social relation or relation of production that you 
specifically mark as `imperialism`?

Are you refreing to the processes of capital's expansion, it's social 
relation and it's terroritorial ambitions, as imperialism?

If, so why the need for this term?

best
Jeebesh

Ravi Kumar wrote:

> Friends,
>
> The Iraq War has been an instance of the new face of imperialism. 
> There is a deeper process which culminates into such obnoxious 
> manifestations. It emerges from the dynamics of capitalist 
> development, from its desire to sustain its hegemony and expand. The 
> two processes may appear as separate or as simultaneous. This 
> imperialism bases itself on ideological terrain of local as well as 
> global politics. Some might argue that the two are hardly any 
> different. After all, these wars, torture chambers (which are no 
> longer critiqued in the same manner as the Hitler’s pogrom despite 
> resemblances), and the new age, unprecedented media management, apart 
> from a process of subtle politics that keeps criticality of general 
> mass at bay, are meant for whom. Whose interest do they serve? Can 
> they be understood in the simple rhetoric of annual fiestas at Porto 
> Alegre or Mumbai? How can we trace the underlying logic and dynamic 
> process of the protests, repression and imperialism today? These are 
> some of the many questions that a recent anthology of articles 
> published by Aakar Books, Delhi tries to raise. It’s back cover reads:
>
> //
>
> /“The God’s Cowboy Warrior holds world to ransom. While, Green and 
> Saffron guards all play their part in this Grand Inquisition, 
> extending and intensifying it./
>
> The papers in this collection grounding themselves in diverse Marxist 
> traditions are united in their pursuit to understand the ongoing 
> political conflicts around the globe. Imperialism and all its 
> de-humanized representations are realizations of the systemic logic of 
> capitalism. If alternative has to be anti-capitalist, its evolving 
> forms/ contents have to be identified. One cannot simply go on 
> rhetoricising ad infinitum – “another world possible”. Even if we 
> refrain from identifying that ‘world’, the system will define it in 
> its own way. “Anti-capitalist indifference” leads to barbaric 
> conclusions, reflected in nationalist vandalism of RSS and Shiv Sena 
> in India, Al Qaeda in the Middle East, anti-immigrant racist 
> resurgence in the “advanced” societies – “anti-capitalist capitalism”. 
> There is always a danger of being trapped in the systemic dungeon of 
> mystifications reproducing the bourgeois society if the processes 
> leading towards it are not comprehended; and it needs courage to break 
> that trap. The Argentine, Venezuelan, Mexican and Bolivian upheavals 
> and the officialization of sections of the dissent require 
> explanation. Here, we have some representative Marxist modes of 
> understanding the politics in present day Capitalism, i.e., the 
> politics of Imperialism and forces against it.”
>
> *Title: The Politics of Imperialism and its Counterstrategies*
>
> *Editors:* Pratysuh Chandra, Anuradha Ghosh and Ravi Kumar
>
> *Contributors:* Samir Amin, Massimo De Angelis, Werner Bonefeld, 
> Ronald Chilcote. Ana Cecilia Dinerstein, John Bellamy Foster, John 
> Holloway, Nathalia E. Jaramillo, Doug Lorimer, Peter Mclaren, Prabhat 
> Patnaik, James Petras, William K. Tabb
>
> *Price:* Rs.200 (PB); Rs.675 (HB)
>
> *Publisher:* Aakar Books (aakarb at del2.vsnl.net.in)
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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