Cheers
> Goerge,
>
> You attribute the cause to the end of the cold war which I don't disagree
> with, but if the cold war and the beliefs it represented world wide are
> today seen as problematic what do we see as its solution. Neoliberalism
> worldwide seems to have a selective memory of an earlier time. We decenter
> the state giving the appearance of local control while as you pointed out
> the global arena (IMF) dictates many of these policies. While I am not an
> expert on foreign policy they do remind me of some of the dealings of the
> U.S. with Latin America at the beginning of the century. While there are
> characteristics of neoliberalism that are new they seem to hold on to a
> discourse of selected memory from an earlier time. We talk of
> decentralization, we must be "de" ing from something or toward something.
> However; I do agree the "de"ing is more discursive than material. My Y2K
> comment is probably best seen as in response to the neoliberalism discourse
> not its materiality.
>
> Nate
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: George McKinlay <mckinlay who-is-at unr.edu>
> To: <xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, May 13, 1999 10:47 AM
> Subject: Re: rush to the middle
>
> >
> >
> > > Maybe its the Y2K thing, but it seems the clocks are being turned
> > > back a hundred years or so.
> >
> > nate wrote:
> >
> > I'd look less at a ticking clock for cause and instead posit the winding
> > down of the Cold War. The neo-liberal agenda not only dismantles the
> > ameliorative aspects of "social welfare" but also serves to remove the
> > government (and thus public impact on the economic sphere if we still
> > believe in "a government of the people by the people") from any real
> > impact on the economic sphere. Michael Apple I think refers to this as
> > the privatizing of profit while making costs public.
> >
> > We don't see much mentioned in the media here, but the educator-student
> > strike at one of the largest universities in the world UNAM* (+250,000
> > students I think) is as much a product of the IMF-World Bank dictates as
> > local issues. The same goes for the educator strikes in Argentina where
> > the government has effectively abdicated its social responsibility
> > through selling off state owned utilities... Now the Argentine
> > government claims it can no longer afford to rub two cents together for
> > social needs--talk about self fulfilling prophecies...
> >
> > Look to the less powerful nations to see what is coming to the US. GM or
> > Ford have no more of an allegiance to the US as they did to the
> > residents of Flint Michigan.
> >
> > At the Mexico-US border goods have greater freedom of movement than
> > people--it really sums up the sorts of "freedom" that neo-liberalism
> > champions...
> >
> > 'nuf said....
> >
> > *National Autonomous University of Mexico
> >
> >
> > > Nate Schmolze
> > > http://www.geocities.com/~nschmolze/
> > > schmolze who-is-at students.wisc.edu People with great passions, people who
> > > accomplish great deeds,
> > > People who possess strong feelings even people with great minds
> > > and a strong personality, rarely come out of good little boys and
> > > girls
> > > L.S. Vygotsky
> >
--
George McKinlay
Research and Educational Planning Center University of Nevada, Reno Reno NV 89557
Tel: (702) 784-4921 ext 2362 Fax: (702) 784-4997