The Dearing Dialogue

There is a curious relationship between democracy and market-capitalism.  On the one hand, they appear to support each other, whereas on the other hand, they appear to alter and confine each other.  This essay will examine that relationship under the assumption that these two concepts are inherently opposed to each other when examined under constraints of human necessity.  However, the ability for a society to find a balance between these concepts is dependent upon that society’s level of political culture.

Man is ultimately a biological creature with biological needs.  The need for food, shelter, and procreation brings man into a relationship with other men and women in order to provide the necessary resources for survival.  As Hannah Arendt aptly describes, man is not born free, nor equal, but is subject to the constraints of the human condition[i]. In the state of nature, this consists of a daily struggle in which only the strong survive.  To escape this predicament, man enters into a relationship; a society to ensure the survival of all members, strong or weak. 

Market-capitalism is premised on the promotion of self interest.  Democracy is based on the promotion of majority interests in society.  Karl Polyani suggests that market capitalism is “entirely unnatural” in a society; that economics were traditionally embedded within the social construct of society so as to justify one’s position within that social hierarchy[ii].  Throughout most of history, man’s needs were met through “reciprocity and redistribution”, which ensured society’s continuation and prevented winner-take-all transactions that could alter the existing social structure[iii].  Under conditions of economic distress, members of a community could look towards the existing political culture to reestablish equilibrium in society.  In such tribal societies, a balance of democracy and economics existed.  Economics were based on redistribution of goods, not an individualized capitalist system that prevented redistribution in order to justify profits.

Without equilibrium, market-capitalism will run contrary to democratic ideals.  A market-capitalist system must be balanced by a democratic form of government to ensure the reigns of capitalism are controlled by society.  Market-capitalism, as described by Marx, transforms traditionally social transactions (labor, money, materials) into commodities that lose their value over time[iv].  That labor provides nothing more to the worker but wages.  Under a pure market system, society would be as Marx describes, squeezing greater quantities of labor out of fewer workers until the costs are as minimal as possible.[v]  Looking at the historical Greek polis, slave labor was justified and used as a commodity, while the slaves were separated from the framework of the polis.  But, balanced with an all-encompassing democracy, market-capitalism is controlled and compelled to consider the interests of all in society.

Like the Greek polis, the birth of the United States forced difficult questions upon the founders of our republic.  Preaching equality of all people in their Declaration of Independence, the founders overlooked the dilemma of slavery, gave in to market forces, and ultimately wrote slavery into our Constitution.  By doing so, the slave class took on the burdens of necessity for male, white, propertied elites. Slaves were property, and property was a market force held outside the reigns of the limited “democratic” government.  By creating a structure where half of society was overlooked, market capitalism ran its course without the constraints of an impoverished class demanding representation or justice.  Thus democracy for all was set aside for the interests of a market-capitalist system.  It would ultimately require progress in the political culture of the United States for it to find equilibrium between market-capitalism and democracy.  As Larry Diamond alludes, the level of a political culture often determines the “status, strength, or stability” of a democracy.[vi]

The equilibrium we enjoy in the United States is constantly in jeopardy.  Markets are controlled by large corporations which are not reigned in by democratic governance.  Corporations are generally run as authoritarian regimes.  Equally dangerous is the role corporations play in public demands like a free press, electoral equality, and the environment.  Corporations are willing to buy legislation from candidates willing to sell it while the public often remains unaware or apathetic due to corporate control of the media and overall cynicism.  The level of political culture will ultimately decide whether democracy or markets will find their balance.

I’m in grad school now and with that is the responsibility of organizing my readings in a coherent and concise fashion for easy access and a quick grasp of the author’s main ideas and arguments.  So each of the books I read (about 5-10) a week will require a short synopsis which I can refer back to towards the final exam.  As well, this will help when research for my thesis starts.  I’ve also created a database to catalogue the books I read and have added hyperlinks to their respective synopsis.  So, here is my first, and many more to follow… 

The Human Condition is an analysis of society through the organizing principle of labor and society’s evolving concept of work as technology freed man from the burdens of necessity.  Arendt opens with the Greek idea of the polis, in which free citizens were liberated from the burden of necessity (labor) and thus permitted to freely operate in a political system of equals.  Arendt further analyzes the condition of slaves, comparing their treatment to animals.  She concludes that the state of slavery is a biological desire by men with power to free themselves from the “burden of biological life”, to create a cycle of consumption that takes the place of the production process[1].  The effect of such a program is to place the burdens of life onto another segment of society.  In the end, mankind is faced with the evolving desire to create ever greater technology that will lift the load of life away, but this ultimately threatens the polis with the creation of dangerous technology (nuclear weapons).

Arendt’s arguments are carefully referenced and analyzed with historical examples. She examines the Greek polis as a relationship between free and non-free (slaves and non-citizens) individuals, that was also a “spatial construct”[2], void of justice and run by oligarchs with an interest in keeping the state of affairs fixed.  She adds that societies are often guided by path dependence, often setting processes in motion without knowing the consequences that lie ahead.  This dependence can be seen in the institution of slavery in the Greek polis, as in societies prior to and following.  As Arendt explains, not only are slaves deprived of their liberty, likewise, the oligarchs and “intellectuals” are bounded to the demands of the polis – providing resources, defending in battle, and holding a monopoly on violence. 

“Malawi cannot feed its present population of 13 million - and every year its soils become more degraded and yields steadily fewer crops.

By 2050, the UN forecasts that it will have almost 32 million people - more than twice as many as today. Population growth on this scale will almost certainly leave Malawi permanently dependent on international food aid to keep millions of its people alive. (Telegraph online)”

These are harrowing statistics.  While urbanization is an important factor towards economic development, it is also dependent upon an industrial economy - in the demographic sense, an asset Malawi lacks.  Malawi’s chief exports are tobacco and maize, not cars and computers.  Farming exports typically grow GdP at a slower rate since the price of these products, especially tobacco, are typically weak in a marketplace dominated by international buyers with greater influence and options then the weak and powerless growers. 

Malawi’s cities are lacking in development focused on future population growth.  What is growing are the amount of slums in Malawi.  Currently 1.8 out of a 13 million Malawian population live in slums.  Trash is typically burnt on the city streets, power cuts are a daily occurrance, water is rationed for a few hours a day.  Transportation is painfully lacking.  Mini-buses clog the crowded streets, their exhaust spewing black fog on every corner.  Foot-traffic blocks the roadway and the news of a pedestrian being hit by a car or bus is a daily occurance.  Most city streets remain in the dark as pedestrians come within inches of passing cars as sidewalks are either lacking or blocked by makeshift vendors. 

Unemployment is rampant as more people arrive from the villages in hopes of capturing some of the riches they hear of from outside the tribal community.  The reality is that rural areas are increasingly unable to support the amount of people living there (UN Habitat).  Environmental disasters such as drought and the degradation of land from farming and deforestation has made life less habitable.  While the small amount of money they may earn as servants, vendors, or day-laborers help the home village, it also creates a reliance upon outside income, bringing more people from the rural areas to the city. 

The condition of Malawian health is at risk as well.  With a growth in urban slums, the opportunity for diseases like HIV  spreading is increased.  According to the UN, malnutrition, hunger, and disease are increasing in the urban slums such as Ndirande township in Blantyre, or Area 19 in Lilongwe.  With such growth in urban population, Malawi and development institutions will face difficult obstacles and critical decisions as economic and social problems persist. 

See State of World Population 2007

Jon Lee Anderson writes a brilliant piece in the New Yorker on opium farming in Afghanistan.  Anderson travels to Oruzgan Province (red area on map) with the Afghan Eradication Force (AEF) and US DEA counternarcotics agent Douglas Wankel, who is overseeing the eradication process. 

Opium has now become a major counter-insurgency operation in Afghanistan.  Since last year, the production of opium has increased in Afghanistan by 60%.   The Taliban, who once considered opium harvesting unholy, now uses it as a means to control the population in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan - areas of greatest Taliban influence.  The coalition is at odds in how to deal with a product that is both sustaining the power of the Taliban and the livelihood of local residents.  Dutch forces are using a stand-off approach focused on making the Taliban an irrelevant presence and an unpopular choice for residents by promoting alternative crops.  DEA agent, Wankel is apprehensive:

“Most or all Europeans are opposed to eradication—they’re into winning hearts and minds,” he said. “But it’s our view that it isn’t going to work. There has to be a measured, balanced use of force along with hearts and minds.” He conceded, however, that the Uruzgan operation fell squarely on the use-of-force side of the scale. Later, he told me, aid, seed, and fertilizer would be offered to the farmers around Tirin Kot, but not yet. Other Americans were frankly contemptuous of the Dutch policy, which they regarded as softheaded.”

Of course, when alternatives don’t exist, the farmers will fall back on what they know best and what has supported them in the past.  Opium will give them over $500 an acre of harvest, while wheat may net $50 an acre.  At the same time, development from the Kabul is unequal and often corrupt.  It is based on tribal loyalties according to one local Afghan in Anderson’s article:

“The Karzai government doesn’t give the money to poor farmers growing poppy. It gives it only to its friends who grow it”—corrupt officials and landowners with political influence. (Many of the farmers were sharecroppers.) “We would be happy to stop growing opium if they would give us some help, and stop giving the money meant for us to thieves.” Instead of receiving aid from government officials, Ahmad said, “if they tell us to break the poppies, we must pay them not to.”

At the same time, areas where the Taliban are strongest tend to go untouched in the eradication process.  Whereas, areas with the greatest influence from the central government are hit hard and tend to alienate the local residents. 

It has also proven virtually impossible to conduct in districts where the Taliban are relatively strong, thereby inevitably penalizing farmers in pro-government districts.”

And corruption is enemic within the central government.  In a previous entry, I explained how one governor was arrested for holding tons of opium in his provincial office.  In Anderson’s article, he finds the AEF police providing security are working with sticky hands:

I walked past one of the jeeps where some of Qassem’s policemen, dressed in robes and sparkly skullcaps, were laughing and talking with the opium growers. I caught a whiff of something burning as I passed. They were smoking hashish.

The opium harvest is a linchpin that must be addressed in the broader context of the Taliban insurgency.  We must focus on alternatives for local farmers and provide those as incentives to steer residents away from Taliban influence.  Understanding the human terrain of Oruzgan and other provinces is the only way to ensure we quell insurgent complicity, but to prevent it from perpetuating itself.

A video report by Jeffrey Gettleman on the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in eastern portion of Ethiopia.  The Ogaden people are ethnic Somalis.  The ONLF are fighting a political battle for independence from Ethiopia.  Their mission statement states they are “a grassroots social and political movement (…) as both an advocate for and defender of the people is dedicated to restoring the rights of Somalis in Ogaden to self-determination, peace, development, and democracy”.

Understanding this organization is paramount in attempting to stabilize Somalia. 

ONLF website

After watching Greg Palast’s documentary on New Orleans, one year later: Big Easy, Big Empty, I realized a few things that perplexed me while visiting.  The Housing projects outside the downtown area were not damaged by the floods, however residents of this huge housing project were locked out of their apartments.  The reason?  Years of wanting to get rid of the poor in this district to free up the property for expensive rental units.   His report brings out many frustrations I felt in New Orleans.

James Risen’s article in the NY Times (Poppy Fields Are Now a Front Line in Afghanistan War) has given a greater perspective on the urgent need to confront the drug trade in Afghanistan.  The drug trade inevitably fuels the insurgency as Taliban commanders profit off of the trade of poppy for international arms.  More so, as Risen points out, many in the Afghan government leadership also profit off of the drug trade (one regional governor being caught with a stash of 9 tons in his office).  The US leadership is slow to react to the poppy economy, which fuels roughly 50% of Afghan exports.  The current operation is slow and disoriented.  Their is no plan to transition farmers from poppy to another profitable crop.  The US can not use another Columbian effort that has yet to curb the flow of cocaine from Columbia after 20 years. 

The current export revenue of poppy in Afghanistan is 3 billion a year.  We could easily purchase the entirety of poppy, use it for morphine production in the US, and offer incentives for the growth of new crops (how about corn?).  Instead, the DEA is thinking of flying crop dusters over Afghan farms.  Imagine the cultural implications. 

In the meantime, Afghans are picking and choosing farms to destroy based on tribal loyalties.  They send out a hundred or so men to destroy poppy plants by hand while US contractors provide security from Taliban reprisals.  However, the growth of poppy production is scheduled to grow.  It is currently producing at levels above global demand.  A new, logical alternative is needed for farmers and for the Afgan government.

A Dutch and Afghan military patrol in Oruzgan Province of Afghanistan rolled into a police station and found:

The police officers there were cultivating poppy within the compound’s walls, openly participating in the heroin trade. The Afghan Army squad that visited them, itself only partly equipped, did nothing.  (NY Times)

Poppy production is the #1 export for the new Afghan economy.  Eradicating the problem will take more than simply burning fields or preventing the harvest of crops.  Professor Thomas Johnson at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey suggests the US buys all existing poppy and use it for medicinal purposes in the States, such as production of morphine.  Then we provide the Afghan farmers with the knowledge and means toward producing new, sustainable crops that have both domestic and export value.  The Bush Administration does not support such a plan however.  Could Afghanistan become another Columbia solution?

From Bill Moyers, interviewed by The Christian Century, on the freedom of press today.

So we can’t make the case today that the dominant institutions of the press are guardians of democracy. They actually work to keep reality from us, whether it’s the truth of money in politics, the social costs of “free trade,” growing inequality, the resegregation of our public schools, or the devastating onward march of environmental deregulation. It’s as if we are living on a huge plantation in a story told by the boss man.

What encourages me is the Internet. Freedom begins the moment you realize someone else has been writing your story and it’s time you took the pen from his hand and started writing it yourself.

Moyers has a new show called Bill Moyer’s Journal on PBS.  What is ironic is that the institution most critical of the status quo is typically PBS, a government and publicly funded network.  It goes to show that Milton Friedman was not right about the infallibility of the free market.  It does not create the institutions society needs most.

Open up this week’s New York Times Magazine and you find an interesting article on the 200 million migrants worldwide that send billions of dollars home every year.  The article features Phillipino workers in the Middle East that make around $200 a month sweeping the floors of Saudi princes.  They send the money home to unemployed family members.  The Phillipine government supports and encourages the practice, namely because it protects against an othewise impoverished underclass revolting against an entrenched bourgeois elite.  What struck me was not the excellent article, but the flair surrounding it.  The magazine is written for an educated, urban elite.  The magazine is filled with real estate adverstisments for the upper class.  Homes, condos, resorts that start at 1 million dollars.  I suspect that a great majority of readers flip through more for perusing the elegant lifestyle, then for the fine articles.  It is somewhat ironic that the magazine covers the life of impoverished migrant workers confined around the castles of elites.  Is it a conveniant propaganda scheme by ideologues of the free market, or simply the nature of the beast?  I don’t know.  But this form of servitude that has been a fundamental element of market capitalism, where a worker owns only their labor, is growing exponentially around the world.  Displaying the process in a sympathetic manner around the advertisments of glamorous homes, which those migrants will undoubtably be employed, is somewhat unsettling.