At 06:45 PM 8/5/2000, F. Leon Wilson wrote:

> > When Chomsky talks about profits being seen as more important than people
> > (and this is self-evident in his and my societies) the "people" are
> > everyone who's harmed by the profits system.
>
>I find this comment interesting.
>
>While some people are being "harmed," others are dying in great numbers,
>yet all I read is the vague term "people."

I meant "harmed" to cover any form of damage from overwork to death,
inclusive.

>Who are these people?
>
>Can anyone name them?

Yes.  The majority of the populations of the third world - that's an
obvious one.  Low wage low standard of living high repression countries
like Indonesia, invaded countries like East Timor, and countries where
civil war and famine sweep the land, like Eritrea.

>When discussing capitalism and democracy what people are the majorities
>and what people are the minorities?

In terms of capitalism, the minorities are just about the whole of the
planet's population.  I'm not so naive as to suggest my life is anything as
bad as a peasant farmer in China, as I'll live longer, have more leisure
time, better health care and so on, but I've got more things in common with
a worker in China that an capitalist in Australia.  I like the line from
Bullworth - "White people have got more in common with black people than
they do with rich people."

The minorities are the owning/ruling class - we can point them out by name
(Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates, etc).  Boundaries may not be sharply defined,
as you could argue the manager on $100,000 is also one of "them" rather
than one of "us".  I'm not sure that it's necessary to define to this
level.  When all the wealth is owned by a tiny minority, something's
clearly wrong, and we'd be better off trying to fix the problem rather than
arguing who's part of it or not.

>"Capitalism is an antithesis democracy."

I assume by this that you mean capitalism by definition can not be
democratic?  I'd agree with that - it's largely self-evident.

Alister


"If anarchists are capable of authoritarian attitudes ... I should
no more hail one as a comrade, sight unseen, than I would a state
trooper or used-car dealer.  The label is not a warranty."
         -- My Anarchism Problem by Bob Black --