[Marxism] Atilio Borón: From infinite war to infinite crisis

[S. Artesian]

Not for nothing,  but isn't it a little remarkable that the author in this 
article begins by stating what the crisis is not and then in item 5, states 
what it is: "It's a simultaneous crisis of overproduction and 
under-consumption."  and then NEVER states another word, provides any 
investigation, a single example of either the overproduction or the 
under-consumption?

Instead we get the usual debt arguments-- after of course, the author has 
claimed this is not a financial or a banking crisis;  we get the 
speculation/financialization/deregulation arguments that the bourgeoisie 
themselves find so comfortable-- and don't forget to throw in the "deep 
crisis" in the use of fossil fuel.   Establishing a connection between 
overproduction and "under-consumption" and fossil fuel-- that is to say 
overproduction and underconsumption of fossil fuel as CAPITAL, is apparently 
beyond the scope of  the investigation.

In "opposing" capitalism and its ideology of political economy, this paper 
embraces that ideology, endorsing as a matter of fact political economy's 
own China syndrome-- hoping China will develop its internal market and 
sustain its commodity imports.  This is of course nothing other than the 
other side of the bourgeoisie's coin of China continuing to recycle hard 
currency transactions into US Treasury obligations, and/or purchases of 
capital equipment from  EU and US manufacturers.

Throw Russia and India into the mix-- what happened to Brazil? too much the 
commodity exporter?  already developed internal market? -- and there's what? 
hope?

IMO, it is exactly the author's inability to investigate, analyze, and 
comprehend overproduction-- which is nothing other than the overproduction 
of capital, an inability that makes itself explicit in his identification of 
overproduction with under-consumption, that makes the final part of his 
presentation-- the what is to be done? part-- so fuzzy, even ethereal, 
winding up with the appeal to regionalism, supranational integration, 
Petrosur, etc.

And this inability in turn is the product of, the limitation of 
"nationalism" that rejects class struggle as requiring the same implacable 
opposition to local, domestic, supranational regionally integrated 
capitalism as well as imperial capitalism-- as if the two ever have been, in 
their history, distinct and not intertwined.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Fuentes" <fred.fuentes at gmail.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 8:50 AM
Subject: [Marxism] Atilio Borón: From infinite war to infinite crisis


Both Fidel Castro and Higo Chavez has quoted from this speech given by
Boron at the Globalisation conference in Havana. Castro went as far as
to say "If anyone were to take this summary and carry it in his or her
pocket, read it over once in a while or learn it by heart like a small
Bible, he or she will be better informed about what is happening in
the world than 99% of the population, where citizens live under siege
from commercials and saturated with thousands of hours of news, and
real or false soap operas or fiction films."