Re: Asian economic crisis & the proletariat
"One of the hangovers from Southeast Asia's boom turned bust is what to do about the millions of foreign workers who helped make the economic miracle happen--but who now find themselves political dead weight. Thailand and Malaysia, once the region's favorite destinations for Indonesians, Bangladeshis, Burmese, and other job seekers are planning to expel hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of foreigners. The exodus will cause ripples across the region in coming months...'The presence of foreign workers makes our products competitive,' says Ms. Azizah [official of a Malaysian watch and computer manufacturer].'If you look at that way, it's easy to understand why we can't come up with a clear policy on whether to keep them [Indonesian proletarian women] or throw them out.'" *Asian Woes Fall Hard on Foreign Workers* WSJ, 1/9/98, p. 11 rb
Re: Final Comment
> In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, James Michael Craven > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes > >But just as these privileged few don't speak for > >me (also one of the "privileged few" in relative terms) and certainly > >do not speak for the part-time teachers or the grounds keepers, so no > >hooker from Canberra can speak for all "sex workers"--like a teenage > >Blackfeet girl in Great Falls or a sex slave in Patpong--just because > >she is doing tricks and is a self-proclaimed "activist" for sex > >workers. > > Surely nobody disagrees with the idea that sex-slavery or underage > prostitution is wrong. The sex-workers comments were not aimed at > coerced or non-consensual prostitution, but at prostitutes who bject to > being criminalised in the name of saving their honour. > > Fraternally > -- > James Heartfield We have seen the neoclassicals continually retreat as aspects of the real world pop their little theoretical bubble: from perfect to bounded rationality; from perfect to asymmetric information; from perfect to asymmetric factor mobility; from maximization to satisficing; and from free to constrained choice. It goes deeper than some objecting to criminalization in the name of saving their honor. Years ago, Milton Friedman treated the world to turning his bullshit polemic "Free to Choose" into a TV Series. One of his episodes was about the "miracle" of Hong Kong and how less government, less regulation, less tariffs and quotas, low business taxes produced these supposedly high rates of productivity etc. At the time of filming he was staying at the Harbor Holiday Inn (Penthouse) and while walking around with an open shirt and no tie (the just folks look) he was visiting one sweat shop with clearly ugly, crowded and unsafe conditions. He pointed out that in the U.S. all these laws would mean that this sweatshop couldn't exist (New York and other places is full of them which showed how real-world and "just folks" he is) but that in Hong Kong these workers "choose" to wrk under these conditions and if these well-meaning types who want more regulation had their way in Hong Kong, Mr. so-and-so wouldn't be "free to choose" to work or not to work. Capitalism produces a whole host of slick facades to "show" that choices are indeed free choices or if they are even "constrained choices", we are all constrained and they are choices nontheless. But the reality is that what appears to be "consensual" is the "consent" given when the alternative is not simply less money but rather no money; the "consent" given when the alternative is not simply less comfortable shelter but rather no shelter; the "consent" given when the alternative is a slow and horrible death. Poor countries like India are seeing incidences of AIDS rising dramatically and there is absolutely no doubt that contacts through prostitution are the main pathway of transmission. They simply do not have the resources to create "safe" brothels etc and the vast majority of prostitutes are operating under conditions of forced choice, risks and danger bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the conditions enjoyed by a few entrepreneural/self-designated hooker activists in Canberra. For these countries, it is literally a matter of life and death and how to deal with strategically threatening incidences of AIDS and other diseases with meagre resources and not some parlor debate to be toyed with by house Marxists, self- absorbed "Anarcho-Marxists" left business observers/business observers of the left or whatever. At Browning, the Blackfeet Clinic, operating on meagre resources is stretched to the limit from dramatically rising incidences of AIDS, leaving lost productivity for the Tribe and critically-needed resources being diverted from other pressing epidemiological crises (TB, malnutrition, low-birth-weight infants etc.) The primary sources of the incidences of AIDS are young Indians (male and female) returning to the reservation from prostitution in the cities and males and their significant others being infected. This isn't some nice theoretical debate; it is in-your-face reality. Surely criminalization of prostitution will not solve anything and surely criminalization leads to more underground activity and makes it more difficult to control the disease trends. But the sanitized brothels of Nevada and Canberra are light years away from the brothels of Patpong, the conditions of young Indian prostitutes in Great Falls or the conditions of a highway prostitute servicing long- distance truck dirvers in India. And those, especially on the left and even call themselves leftists, and then talk about "free choice", or "free consent" or "consenual prostitution" under capitalism and based on the isolated and perhaps self-serving or perhaps even self-rationalizing rantings of a few white middle-class "high-class" hookers in Canberra, well there is a party available for your political action--the RIGHT-WING
Re: Asian economic crisis & the US
Tom thanks for forwarding this informative summary on the intensifying economic meltdown in East Asia. You wouldn't know that things were getting worse and worse if you relied on pen-l postings alone the last few days. John Gulick Ph. D. Candidate Sociology Graduate Program University of California-Santa Cruz (415) 643-8568 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Uranium mining versus aboriginal rights in Australia
Yes to land rights! No to uranium mining! Radical documentary film maker DAVID BRADBURY has produced and directed an illuminating new film called Jabiluka. Renowned for Frontline, Nicaragua: No Pasaran and Chile: Hasta Cuando, Bradbury in his latest film exposes the devastating impact uranium mining at Jabiluka will have on the environment and the lives of the traditional owners, the Mirrar people. The Mirrar have already experienced Energy Resources Australia's (ERA) uranium mine at Ranger, and they are determined to stop Jabiluka. Green Left Weeklys JON LAND spoke to Bradbury. "Jabiluka is a symbol for many things confronting Australia: our identity and how we see ourselves at this crucial time in our history. Jabiluka involves the issues of native title and Wik, and whether we are prepared to respect Aboriginal peoples' rights to control their land", Bradbury said. "The people at Kakadu have never formally signed over rights to the land; the Northern Land Council did so on their behalf. The traditional owners have never agreed to Jabiluka going ahead. Yet, they are obliged now to bow to the wishes of a mining company and the government." The film explains that the Mirrar people were coerced into signing the lease for Ranger uranium mine in 1979. The World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park was also established that year in recognition of the unique wet lands and culture of the Aboriginal peoples of the region. The Northern Land Council (NLC) negotiated the Ranger agreement on behalf of the traditional owners. They were advised that if consent was not given, the Land Rights Act would be dismantled. (The NT land rights law, the first in the country, was passed by the Fraser government in 1976.) NLC chairperson Galarrwuy Yunupingu told a special meeting of traditional owners, prior to the conclusion of the Ranger agreement, "When you make the decision, keep in mind that we are entitled to be pushed around by any government. We are being pushed around today and we will be pushed around tomorrow. We will be pushed around forever, and that is a fact of life." Almost immediately after the Ranger deal had been "approved", the Mirrar came under pressure to consent to Pancontinental (the leaseholder before ERA) beginning mining at Jabiluka. Despite opposition from the traditional owners, the NLC signed an agreement with Pancontinental in 1982. Despite promises of benefits, Ranger and uranium mining have had an adverse impact on Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Jacqui Katona, who heads the Mirrar's Gundjehmi Aboriginal Corporation, stated in July, "We have no graduates of secondary education, housing is substandard, the vast majority of community is unemployed [and] health services are minimal". Each wet season, the Ranger mine releases contaminated water from the tailings dam, polluting the Mirrar people's land and sacred sites and no amount of money can repair the damage. The Mirrar people do not want Jabiluka to go ahead. They do not want a share, or any part of the royalties, from the $4.5 billion project. Mining companies and their peak body, the Australian Mining Industry Council, lobbied the Hawke government during the 1980s to drop the Labor Party's three-mines policy, which it adopted in 1984. Widespread opposition to uranium mining, made public by the huge anti-nuclear demonstrations and popular support for the Nuclear Disarmament Party in the 1980s, made Labor wary of allowing more mines to be opened. Also, uranium was in oversupply on the world market. The Coalition's election in March 1996 opened the way for Jabiluka and other sites to be developed. By the end of 1996, Australian uranium production levels were the highest they had been for a decade (spot prices for uranium had jumped 80% over 1995-96). In October of that year, federal resources and energy minister Warwick Parer returned from a trip to South Korea and Japan talking up the opportunities for Australian uranium producers. If Jabiluka goes ahead, it will add 20 million tonnes of radioactive tailings to the waste already produced at Ranger, which is unsafely stored. It will also lay the basis for more uranium mines to be opened elsewhere in Australia. "Uranium is too dangerous a mineral to be unleashed from its natural state. We have a moral obligation to stop the mining of uranium. "The Howard government has 25 uranium mines after Jabiluka waiting for approval", Bradbury said. "If we cannot knock Jabiluka on the head, then I do not hold much hope for our future. "Once we let the uranium genie out of the bottle -- which I believe was done with the three-mines policy -- there is little hope of putting it back in." During the 1980s, Bradbury was active in the anti-uranium movement, which could mobilise hundreds of thousands of people in protest. "In researching and interviewing people for the film, I have become that much more aware of the dangers of uranium. The information on how it aff
Engels on speedy Kaffirs
The Zulus a few years ago and the Nubians a few months ago -- both of them tribes in which gentile institutions have not yet died out -- did what no European army can do. Armed only with lances and spears, without firearms, under a hail of bullets from the breech-loaders of the English infantry-acknowledged the best in the world at fighting in close order -- they advanced right up to the bayonets and more than once threw the lines into disorder and even broke them, in spite of the enormous inequality of weapons and in spite of the fact that they have no military service and know nothing of drill. Their powers of endurance and performance are shown by the complaint of the English that a Kaffir travels farther and faster in twenty-four hours than a horse. His smallest muscle stands out hard and firm like whipcord, says an English painter. That is what men and society were before the division into classes. And when we compare their position with that of the overwhelming majority of civilized men today, an enormous gulf separates the present-day proletarian and small peasant from the free member of the old gentile society. That is the one side. But we must not forget that this organization was doomed. It did not go beyond the tribe... (From Chap. 3 of "Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State" OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY: Kaffir Kaffir (kæf(r)); prop. Kafir Kafir (kfr), sb. and a. Also kaffer, kaffir, kafir, kaffre; and see caffre. [a. Arab. kafir infidel: see caffre.] A. sb. 1. = caffre 1, `infidel', Giaour. 1790 J. Bruce Trav. IV. viii. ix. 497 Why did not you tell those black Kafrs..to stay a little longer. 1814 Southey Roderick v. 198 A Moor came by, and seeing him [the Goth], exclaimed Ah, Kaffer! worshipper of wood and stone. 1865 Daily Tel. 23 Oct. 5/1 Mecca..if the Moslems would permit..a `kaffir' to come there. 2. a. = caffre 2; one of a South African race belonging to the Bântu family. Also attrib., and as the name of their language. Also, usu. disparagingly, with reference to any Black African; transf., as a term of opprobrium, a white man who associates with or is thought to favour Black Africans. 1792 E. Riou tr. J. van Reenen's Jrnl. Journey from Cape Good Hope 22 We saw several Kaffers. 1801 Monthly Rev. XXXV. 346 The incursions of the tribe of people called Kaffers. 1834 Boyce (title) Grammar of the Kaffir Language. 1852 Godlonton & Irving Narr. Kaffir War iii. xv. 180 The other teachers..who could speak Kaffir. 1857 Chambers's Inform. People II. 294/2 The Kafirs, a race strikingly different both from Hottentots and negroes. The Kafir nation consists of numerous sections. 1890 Pall Mall G. 15 May 3/1, I asked questions about the Kafir voter. 1926 S. G. Millin S. Africans 209 In the old days..men, thrusting their ancestry, their traditions.completely behind them, became what people sometimes call in South Africa `white Kafirs'. They merged themselves with the natives, stayed for ever with the wives they had bought and with their African children. 1949 [see Hotnot]. 1949 Cape Argus 9 July 3/5 `Did you think he was a perfectly reliable person to give information to?'-`I would have given the statement to a Kaffir if someone had sent a Kaffir along.' 1959 New Statesman 2 May 62/3 How, for instance, does one describe negroid South Africans? The early missionary word `kaffir', meaning heathen, has become a term of abuse. 1960 Cape Times 6 Sept. 7 A mob which swore at the police, called them `white Kafirs', and hurled bottles at them. 1961 L. van der Post Heart of Hunter i. iii. 62 Kaffir is the term used by Europeans to describe all black people in Africa irrespective of their race and origin. 1967 [see coolie, cooly 2 b]. 1973 Deb. Senate S. Afr. 17 May 2777 When we.were young people the word `kaffir' meant nothing more than to indicate a Black man... It has deteriorated to such an extent that it offends people with a dark coloured skin and..we try to avoid it. 1973 Deb. Senate S. Afr. 2798, I have heard people when I visit a farm call out `Kaffir' and a wife appears, and he says `my kaffir, prepare food for us'..; but, if I called my friend the hon. Senator.., `You are a kaffir', then it has another meaning. b. pl. The Stock Exchange term for South African mine shares. Also attrib. 1889 Rialto 23 Mar. (Farmer), Tintos climbed to 121/4, and even Kaffirs raised their sickly heads. 1895 Daily News 2 Apr. 2/2 Dealers in the Kaffir market. 1895 Nation (N.Y.) 19 Dec. 451/2 The mines floated on the London Stock Exchange which are classed under the general head of `Kaffirs'. 1899 H. Frederic Market Place 32 It was one of the men I've been talking about-one of those Kaffir scoundrels. B. adj. S. Afr. slang. Bad, unreliable. 1934 'N. Giles' Ridge of White Waters ii. vii. 266 `Another kaffir bargain!' said Sir Alfred wearily. 1961 Spectator 14 July 53 `That was a real Kaffir shot.'..This..was the first time I had come across Kaffir, a
Book Reviews for RRPE
Below is a list of books to be reviewed for the Review of Radical Political Economics (RRPE). IMPORTANT ***Contact Chris Gunn at [EMAIL PROTECTED] (and NOT pen-l and not me) if you are interested in reviewing any of the books.*** These books are also listed at http://economics/csusb/edu/orgs/URPE/rrpehome.html BOOKS: Barzel, Yoram, Economic Analysis of Property Rights, 2d ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Blau, Francine D. et al., The Economics of Women, Men, and Work, 3d ed. (Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1998). Blomqvist, Hans C., Economic Interdependence and Development in East Asia. (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997). Bordo, Susan, Twilight Zones: The Hidden Life of Cultural Images From Plato to O.J. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). Brown, Clair et al., Work and Pay in the United States and Japan. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997). Calavita, Kitty et al., Big Money Crime: Fraud and Politics in the Savings and Loan Crisis. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). Chossudovsky, Michel, The Globalization of Poverty: Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms. (London: Zed Books, 1997). Colby, Gerard with Charlotte Dennett, Thy Will be Done. The Conquest of the Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil. (New York: HarperCollins, 1995). Conteh-Morgan, Earl, Democratization in Africa: The Theory and Dynamics of Political Transitions. (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997.) Dangerous Bedfellows, eds., Policing Public Sex. (Boston: South End Press, 1996). Date-Bah, Eugenia, ed., Promoting Gender Equality at Work: Turning Vision into Reality. (London: Zed Books, 1997). Davis, James Kirkpatrick, Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement. (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997). Davis, Jim et al., eds., Cutting Edge: Technology, Information Capitalism and Social Revolution. (New York: Verso, 1997). Domanski, Boleslaw, Industrial Control over the Socialist Town: Benevolence or Exploitation?, (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997). Dore, Elizabeth, ed., Gender Politics in Latin America: Debates in Theory and Practice. (New York: Monthly Review, 1997). Dowd, Douglas, Against the Conventional Wisdom: A Primer for Current Economic Controversies and Proposals. (Boulder, Col.: Westview, 1997). Faiman-Silva, Sandra, Choctaws at the Crossroads: The Political Economy of Class and Culture in the Oklahoma Timber Region. (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 1997). Figart, Deborah M. And Peggy Kahn. Contesting the Market: Pay Equity and the Politics of Economic Restructuring. (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1997). Fuentes, Carlos. A New Time for Mexico. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997). Galtung, Jonah and Sohail Inayatullah, eds., Macrohistory and Macrohistorians: Perspectives on Individual, Social, and Civilizational Change. (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997). Gill, Stephen, ed., Globalization, Democratization, and Multilateralism. (New York: St. Martin's, 1997). _ and James H. Mittelman, eds., Innovation and Transformation in International Studies. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Glickman, Lawrence B., A Living Wage: American Workers and the Making of Consumer Society. (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997). Gluckman, Amy and Betsy Reed, eds., Homo Economics: Capitalism, Community, and Lesbian and Gay Life. (New York: Routledge, 1997). Goldfield, Michael, The Color of Politics: Race, Class, and the Mainsprings of American Politics. (New York: New Press, 1997). Gregory, C.A., Savage Money: The Anthropology and Politics of Commodity Exchange. (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic, 1997). Gupta, Satya Dev, ed., The Political Economy of Globalization. (Norwell, Mass.: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997). Hobson, John M., The Wealth of States: A Comparative Sociology of International Economic and Political Change. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.) Hollingsworth, J. Rogers and Robert Boyer, eds., Contemporary Capitalism: The Embeddedness of Institutions. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997). Ikeda, Sanford, Dynamics of the Mixed Economy: Toward a Theory of Interventionism. (New York: Routledge, 1997). Jacobsen, John Kurt, Dead Reckonings: Ideas, Interests, and Politics in the "Information Age." (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1997). Jennings, James, ed., Race and Politics: New Challenges and Responses for Black Activism. (New York: Verso, 1997). Jorge, Antonio and Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, eds., Price Policies and Economic Growth. (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1997). Jovanovic, Miroslav N., European Economic Integration: Limits and Prospects. (New York: Routledge, 1997). Kadi, Joanna. Thinking Class: Sketches from a Cultural Worker. (Boston: South End, 1996). Kaye, Harvey J., "Why Do Ruling Classes Fear History?" and Other Questions. (New York: St. Martin's, 1996). Kotz, David and Fred Weir, Revolu
Re: The IMF and deflation
Michael Perelman wrote: >Does anybody have any thoughts on the critique of the IMF by Stiglitz >and Sachs -- that the IMF is creating a deflationary economy to save the >banks? This is speculation based on no solid information, but the World Bank funds lots of infrastructure projects that provide contracts for lots of First World companies, and the loss of the Asian market must be pretty painful for the likes of Bechtel and GE. The IMF's mandate is purely financial. It may be that this is one of those moments where the interests of finance and industry diverge, and the WB-IMF tiff reflects that. Doug
Re: The IMF and deflation
Michael Perelman wrote:>>Does anybody have any thoughts on the critique of the IMF by Stiglitz and Sachs -- that the IMF is creating a deflationary economy to save the banks?<< Rakesh asks: >There is still faith in the Keynesian panacea?< Though I don't know the content of the S&S critique, my guess is that they hope that the IMF could become the world's central bank, to apply Keynesian-style monetary policy for the world as a whole, overcoming the barriers that internationalization put in the way of purely national monetary policies. If so, that's pretty utopian to say the least. The IMF has been a collection agency/enforcer for the banks and an international proselytizer for the free-market gospel for so long that it's hard to imagine it switching gears and becoming a world balance-wheel until after a world debt-deflation depression and political crisis hits. (Sorry about the mixed metaphors.) The US Fed didn't see itself as stabilizing the domestic economy until after 1933 or so and even then its commitment was pretty superficial. It's hard to see the IMF combining its current role with a central bank role. As Minsky points out, it often happens that the Fed finds itself where its "function" as the "lender of the last resort" (a central aspect of its role as organizer and leader of the banking cartel) conflicts with its role as monetary stabilizer of the economy (a result of its political charter). This conflict even applies when the Fed sees its entire macrostabilization job as that of avoiding accelerating inflation. One thing the Fed has that gives it a little backbone to lean toward macrostabilization rather than being simply a shill for the banks is the existence of a US state (and government), which can pressure it. Lacking a world state, it's hard to see where the IMF's backbone would come from. Is the IMF to be an agency of the US government? the OECD? the UN? what? In addition, I should mention that monetary policy isn't as strong as in the textbooks, but you knew that. Coming back from seeing a large number of young economists tarting themselves up in business suits in an effort to sell their asses to employers (at the ASSA/AEA convention in Chicago), I see that pen-l is discussing prostitution at extreme length and with much heat. I agree with Michael that the topic has been mined, except for the gender dimension (i.e., why it is usually women rather than men who are prostitutes). Is it possible for someone to summarize the points of agreement and disagreement? I know I couldn't do it. Good luck. in pen-l solidarity, Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://clawww.lmu.edu/1997F/ECON/jdevine.html "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- K. Marx, paraphrasing Dante A.
Re: prostitution
At 05:03 PM 1/8/98 +, Jim Craven wrote: >Response: No Bill, you just don't understand, the theoreticians, >backed up with data/theory mining and anecdotes from some of the >"high class" and "educated" sex workers (proletarians) have it all >figured out. etc. There is no reason for getting cynical, Jim. There is plenty of room for disagreement without getting personal. Besides, why should I accept your definition of prostitution as universally valid and disregard all other views presented on this list, including those who engage in the trade themselves? wojtek sokolowski institute for policy studies johns hopkins university baltimore, md 21218 [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (410) 516-4056 fax: (410) 516-8233
No Subject
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 15:34:05 +1100 From: WISE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Tracy Quan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: In a NUTshell Dear Tracy, Please forward my comments on to the appropriate list. Jim Craven wrote: > >So of course a few hookers who attempt to sanitize it all with the > >title sex worker as part of the entertainment "industry" can work > >under conditions and with protections that few if any prostitutes and > >sexual slaves will ever know; it is they who are the truly insulated > >and even arrogant ones. To the extent to which they attempt to > >generalize and rationalize from their very limited and privileged > >market niches, conditions and sentiments simply not found among the > >many involved in prostitution, they play the same role as the rich > >Jews who purported to extrapolate and rationalize from their > >insulated and privileged positions what the vast majority of Jews > >would likely face when dealing with Nazis as they purport to speak to > >the issue of what the vast majority of prostitutes will face and > >endure under the normal conditions and with the usual clientele and > >extreme risks with which they have to deal. I find Craven's self-proclaimed knowledge of the sex industry laughable! It could have come straight from the pages of a moral majority propaganda tract. Likening whore activists to Nazi jews is not only extremely insulting and offensive, but so totally incorrect that I wonder what his real agenda is here. I am a whore. I am a whore activist. I live in Canberra, Australia, where we have a decriminalised sex industry. Brothels, outcalls to clients homes/hotels, and working as a prostitute from your home are all legal. Street soliciting is not legal, but Canberra has never had a street scene (for many reasons, but largely because we don't NEED it - so many other forms of viable prostitution - street working is not a favoured option for Canberra whores). In our legal industry, only 10% of the workers use illegal drugs. Notice I said, "use" illegal drugs (not abuse - I have no figures as to which of the 10% actually find their drug use problematic). Sex workers in Canberra come from every background - many are students working their way through tertiary education, many are parents whose partners are absent or unemployed. Some are working as whores because they do not think they have any other choice - but not anywhere near the majority. Most work as whores because they enjoy the financial freedom, flexible work hours, client contact, improving communication skills, sex, dressing up, being desirable and a host of other reasons. To cast the majority of us as poor exploited creatures may fit into Craven's masturbatory fantasies, but it is far from the truth. As a whore activist who works for a sex worker rights organisation, I access every single brothel in Canberra on a weekly basis, providing condoms, lubricant and other tools of the trade, as well as offering education and information on STDs, laws in Canberra and other states, industrial issues etc. If ANYONE is in a position to provide accurate information about the reality of the sex industry, it is me. The members of Workers In Sex Employment in the ACT (WISE), my employers are sick and tired of justifying their decisions to work where they choose. How dare someone who has never turned a trick in his life come and tell us how sad, sick and sorry we are? The real victims of prostitution - and there are victims - are there because of the outdated laws that fail to protect us while lining the pockets of the lawyers, police and other anti-prostitution folk. Here are some facts: In Canberra, a city where prostitution is decriminalised but has no rigid regulations about where, who, and how whores ply their trade (ie. it is an offence to coerce someone to work as a prostitute, or to employ a minor, or to knowingly infect - either as client or whore - someone with an STD), we have rare incidences of violence towards sex workers, not one single case of a sex worker infecting a client with HIV or vice versa, discrimination legislation that makes it offence to discriminate against someone because of their "trade, occupation or calling", and by far and away the large majority of whores happily and gainfully employed. Canberra is not unique. The main reason that whores are unhappy, IN ANY CITY, is anti-prostitution laws and self appointed moral guardians who make it their business to put us down. What offends me most about Cravens's blithe assertions is the notion that we are selling out our sister whores by forming sex worker rights organisations, providing peer education, information, advocacy and support. I will not be told I am a pseudo nazi for sticking up for the basic civil rights of my sister whores! WE ARE THE SEX EDUCATORS OF THE WORLD- and we demand and deserve your respect! Sera Pinwill WISE Whore [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Prostitution, marriage & rat-choice
At 04:05 PM 1/8/98 -0800, Bill Burgess wrote: >This is not only too much faith in the equality of buyer and seller in the >market, it is too bleak a view of most (physical and emotional) relations >between men and women to be taken seriously. It is not the matter of faith in the market, but of the fundamental difference in cost/benefit calculation between transaction in the market vs. one in the so-called traditional social institutions. Assuming no relation between a sex worker and her client other than a "spot" transaction exchanging sex for money, there is little opportunity cost for a sex worker passing on a particular prospective client. However, the very nature of most social institutions is to increase the opportunity cost to motivate the actor to engage rather than not to engage in a particular sort of activity. In a marriage-type relationship that opportunity may vary form informal sanctions imposed by the husband who got a cold shoulder (ranging from displaying his dissatisfaction to getting physical) to ending the relationship. Thus, the opportunity cost of sex (emotional attachment, informal and formal sanctions) for a woman is considerably higher in marriage than in a "spot" sex-for-money transaction. Of course, that is not limited to marriage. By their very nature, social institutions impose opportunity cost on certain actions which does not exist from a rat-choice perspective (assuming no relationship among actors other than how they value the exchanged objects) - and that explains why people do what they should not be doing from a rat-choice point of view. Thus, most women have little to gain from marriage, both emotionally and financially -- and if they calculated the cost/benefit from a purely rat-choice perspective, few of them would marry. That, however, is not what happens, for there is a considerable opportunity cost attached to the institution of marriage in the form of a host of informal sanctions (ostracism, loss of status, ridicule, etc.) which alter the cost/benefit marriage for the woman and push her into a relationship in which she may have little to gain personally. >There is a very good reason for the 'socialist moralism' regarding >prostitution - it reflects the plebian horror of falling into poverty, >privation, dependency, lumpenization, etc. Perhaps, but that may or may not be an important factor. I think that the fear of falling down the social ladder is much greater in the middle class than in the working class - for two reasons: working class has much less to loose than the "middle" class, and working class has social mechanism to cope with life contingencies that the "middle" class is lacking. That mechanism is social solidarity or the obligation to aid another member of the community in need. The "middle" class, by contrast, tends to rely on accumulated wealth and formal agreements (insurance, retirement accounts) rather than informal social solidarity ties. That explains, for example, why working class is less attached to their material possessions and is more willing to share them (cf. on average working class contributes a higher share of their disposable income to public causes than the middle class). IMO, the main reason behind 'working class moralism' is that not playing expected social roles jeopardizes social solidarity ties - the main mechanism of coping with contingencies. Thus, prostitution threatens the unity of the household, just as homosexulaity and any other non-conventional gender role does. In the same vein, flag burning threatens the unity of the nation. Hence the staunch oppostion of the working class to non-traditional gender roles, falg burining, and other forms of individualism that intellectuals falsely interpret as "conservatism." Regards, wojtek sokolowski institute for policy studies johns hopkins university baltimore, md 21218 [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (410) 516-4056 fax: (410) 516-8233
The End of Prostitution?
--- Forwarded Message Follows --- Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 8 Jan 98 19:42:35 +800 Thu, 8 Jan 1998 19:41:55 -0800 (PST) for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Thu, 8 Jan 1998 19:40:37 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 19:48:17 -0800 Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The End of Prostitution? I don't know about the rest of you, but the arguments seem to be recycling. Susan's belated mention of gender was the only new thread. Should we put this one to bed? -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] OK, I'll write no more on the topic--for now. I just wish that the pain and fear and terror that I have seen in the eyes of all the "sex slaves", "sex peons/serfs" and "sex workers" I have met and been touched by could be as summarily wiped out as the discussion on the issues. Jim Craven *---* * "Who controls the past, * * James Craven controls the future. * * Dept of Economics Who controls the present,* * Clark College controls the past." (George Orwell)* * 1800 E. Mc Loughlin Blvd.* * Vancouver, Wa. 98663 (360) 992-2283 FAX: (360)992-2863* * [EMAIL PROTECTED]* * MY EMPLOYER HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH MY PRIVATE/PROTECTED OPINION *
Re: The End of Prostitution?
At 05:39 AM 1/9/98 -0600, valis wrote: >Coming back to a lot of wheel-spinning after ~10 hours offline, I ought to >agree, but it seems that everyone has talked around the core issue of sex- >as-commodity, holding to different points with varying degrees of fervor. >Suppose we retire this volatile subject with a simple vote on the question >"Should a formal commerce in sexual favors be permitted under socialism?"? >No electioneering; there have been Ks and Ks of it already. My answer is: exchaning sexual favors, as any other form of exchange (sexual or otherwise), should be permitted under socialism. Socialism is not to limit exchange (which is the nature oif human relationship) but to prevent the concentration of wealth resulting from those exchanges in private hands, and allow equitable distribution of that wealth among those who produce it. wojtek sokolowski institute for policy studies johns hopkins university baltimore, md 21218 [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (410) 516-4056 fax: (410) 516-8233
Re: prostitution
> Received: from MAILQUEUE by OOI (Mercury 1.21); 9 Jan 98 08:48:25 +800 > Return-path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 9 Jan 98 08:48:19 +800 > Received: from host (localhost [127.0.0.1]) > Fri, 9 Jan 1998 08:47:54 -0800 (PST) > Received: from jhuml1.hcf.jhu.edu (jhuml1.hcf.jhu.edu [128.220.2.86]) > for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Fri, 9 Jan 1998 08:41:28 -0800 (PST) > Received: from sokol.wpmc.jhu.edu (wsokolow.wpmc.jhu.edu) > [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Fri, 9 Jan 1998 11:39:54 EDT > Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri, 09 Jan 1998 11:30:04 -0500 > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > From: Wojtek Sokolowski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: prostitution > In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > MIME-version: 1.0 > Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN > X-PMFLAGS: 34078848 > > At 05:03 PM 1/8/98 +, Jim Craven wrote: > > >Response: No Bill, you just don't understand, the theoreticians, > >backed up with data/theory mining and anecdotes from some of the > >"high class" and "educated" sex workers (proletarians) have it all > >figured out. > > etc. > > There is no reason for getting cynical, Jim. There is plenty of room for > disagreement without getting personal. Besides, why should I accept your > definition of prostitution as universally valid and disregard all other > views presented on this list, including those who engage in the trade > themselves? > > > wojtek sokolowski > institute for policy studies > johns hopkins university > baltimore, md 21218 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > voice: (410) 516-4056 > fax: (410) 516-8233 > Response: Generally a fair comment. I did not purport to give a universally valid definition because the "universe" of "sex workers" like the "universes" of all types of workers is stratified. I have to run to teach but I'll write one more piece on where my experiences and observations come from. Suffice to say, none of my contacts with "sex workers" have ever given me any masturbatory fantasies (many nightmares however). Since "sex work" supposedly involves production of a commodified service and a commodity not really different than any other commodity, applying that logic, I have indeed "turned many tricks" in my life and continue to do so to survive. But applying the logic that I have not "turned a trick" and therefore cannot comment on the conditions, attitudes, costs, benefits etc of "sex work", then has Tracy ever turned a trick in Patpong in Bangkok, has she ever been sold at 13 years old to a brothel? Has she ever turned a trick as a young Indian girl or boy in Great Falls Montana? Or, those who support "sex work"--the theoretical males__presumably Doug Henwoood has never "turned a trick", so appying the same logic, on what basis is his support for "sex work" ratified by some activist hookers more valid than my opinion ratified also by many "sex workers" with whom I have had extensive contacts and who I genuinely regard as friends and comrades and with whom I keep in regular contact. Neither Doug Henwood nor I presumably have turned a trick so it is a wash on the theoretical male side. Jim Craven *---* * "Who controls the past, * * James Craven controls the future. * * Dept of Economics Who controls the present,* * Clark College controls the past." (George Orwell)* * 1800 E. Mc Loughlin Blvd.* * Vancouver, Wa. 98663 (360) 992-2283 FAX: (360)992-2863* * [EMAIL PROTECTED]* * MY EMPLOYER HAS NO ASSOCIATION WITH MY PRIVATE/PROTECTED OPINION *
Re: Final Comment
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, James Michael Craven <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >But just as these privileged few don't speak for >me (also one of the "privileged few" in relative terms) and certainly >do not speak for the part-time teachers or the grounds keepers, so no >hooker from Canberra can speak for all "sex workers"--like a teenage >Blackfeet girl in Great Falls or a sex slave in Patpong--just because >she is doing tricks and is a self-proclaimed "activist" for sex >workers. Surely nobody disagrees with the idea that sex-slavery or underage prostitution is wrong. The sex-workers comments were not aimed at coerced or non-consensual prostitution, but at prostitutes who bject to being criminalised in the name of saving their honour. Fraternally -- James Heartfield
Re: Asian economic crisis & the US
Quoth john gulick: > Tom thanks for forwarding this informative summary on the intensifying economic > meltdown in East Asia. You wouldn't know that things were getting worse and > worse if you relied on pen-l postings alone the last few days. Amen, John, and you could include the American media in that rebuke. Fortunately Milwaukee gets a 6-hour real-time feed from the BBC every night, so I am properly scared and miserable ahead of the masses. What a privilege! valis
Asia Pacific Conference :UPDATE (fwd)
> Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 00:19:05 + > Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > From: Dave Riley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Asia Pacific Conference :UPDATE > > Discount registration for the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference to end > soon. > Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Precedence: bulk > > The special discount of $60 waged and $30 unwaged for the Asia Pacific > Solidarity Conference will end on January 30. 1998. All persons wishing to > avail themselves of this special offer should send a cheque or money order > to the adress below as soon as possible. Cheques should be made out to the > ASIA PACIFIC INSTITUTE. > > We attach below the latest update of organisations sending representatives > who will speak at the conference. Please note the new additions from > Pakistan and Turkey. > > A full agenda, including non-organisation and specialist speakers will be > published in February. It is expected there will be at least 60 workshops to > choose from during the course of the conference wit the majority of speakers > being international guest speakers. > > * > ASIA PACIFIC SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE > Glebe High School, Sydney > Opening public meeting, Glebe High School, 7.00pm Thursday, April 9 > Conference sessions April 10-13. > > All welcome > Register now by sending a cheque for $60 ($30 conc) and save $20 and $10 > respectively. > Send/make cheques to: > Asia Pacific Institute, P.O. Box 515, Broadway 2007, Australia. > > The conference will take the form of a series of feature talks, panels, > question and answer seminars and workshops. > All sessions are open to registered participants. > Speakers will include over 30 leaders and activists from around the Asia > Pacific as well as Australian based solidarity activists and academic > researchers. The current list of participating organisations has been sent > as a separate email message at the same time as this message. > Feature panels and campaign workshops by international and local activists > include: > * Australia and the Asia Pacific: for profit or for people? > * International Free East Timor campaigning > * "Overthrow Suharto with Peoples Power": Solidarity with the PRD and the > Indonesian democratic movement > * The struggle for liberty in Burma > * APEC and counter-APEC: strategies for the peoples movements > * The crisis with Asian Tigers and NICs _ who's benefiting, who's battling > * Indigenous people's struggles and land rights in Australia and New Zealand > * The international campaign against Nike and other MNCs > * BHP and CRA in Papua New Guinea and Bougainville > * Campaigning for a nuclear free and independent Pacific > * The campaign for environmental justice in the region > * Women's place is in the struggle > * Global capital's economic police - the World Bank, the International > Monetary Fund and the World Trade > * Regional trade union solidarity > * The Asia Pacific student movement > * Building Asia Pacific wide political networks > * Socialism in Asia: viewpoints from the region > * Building revolutionary parties: India, the Philippines, Indonesia > * > PLUS reports and Q & A sessions on current struggles in each of the 25 > participating countries > ** > Night of political solidarity, Saturday April 11 > Celebrate this unique gathering of organisations and activists around the > region. > A Southeast Asian banquet; greetings and speakers from around the region; > music and entertainment. A chance to mix and mingle in an atmosphere of > solidarity and friendship. > * > Cabaret and cultural evening, Sunday April 12 > Music and performances from around the region and Australia. Songs of > struggle' manifestos of sovereignty. > *** > > Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference > Sydney, Australia > April 9-13, 1998 > organised by Asia Pacific Institute for Democratisation and Development, > c/- P.O. Box 515, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. > Fax: 61-(0)2-96901381 > Tel: 61-(0)2-96901230 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ASIA PACIFIC SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE > PARTICIPANTS UPDATE, January 9, 1998. (organisations) > > ASIA. > BURMA > * National Coalition Government Union of Burma (NCGUB), UN representative, > Dr Thuang Htun > * All Burma Student Democratic Front > * All Burma Student League (India and Thailand) > INDIA > * Dr Jayanta Rongpi, MP, elected to Indian national parliament, representing > the Autonomous State Demand movement, Assam, India and part of a broad, > militant mass movement for social change > INDONESIA > * Peoples' Democratic Party (PRD), including Sarasvati, central woman > leader, > * Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) of Indonesia. > * National Democracy St
Re: Asia economic crisis
Don't worry. 1998 is just 1989 with the last two digits reversed. >X-From_: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Jan 09 23:22:45 1998 >Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 22:12:16 -0600 >Reply-To: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sender: Forum on Labor in the Global Economy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: Kim Scipes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Asia economic crisis >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >January 9, 1997 > >For those of you who have seen my recent post, this is a follow-up to that. > >In today's New York Times (NYT), on the front page, there was an article >about the fear of economic collapse and economic turmoil in Indonesia. >Indonesians are scared the IMF will cut off the money it had promised >(approximately $40 billion) because the government is not taking measures >the IMF feels is appropriate. The IMF is sending two of its top officers >out to see Suharto and explain to him that he has to get his act together. >Interestingly, the article states, "At this point, however, it is unclear >what the IMF can do. Many investors are steering clear of Indonesia. >'This isn't like South Korea', a senior official of an international >organization in Washington said tonight. 'There is no emergency package up >anyone's sleeve'." > >The Indonesia Rupiah has fallen drastically the past few days. On Wed, it >was R 8375 to one dollar; on Thursday, it was R 9400 to the dollar, and >"The nation's currency , the rupiah, fell sharply today, to a record low of >10,550 to the dollar. The rupiah has lost roughly half its value SINCE >1998 BEGAN (emphasis added) and fallen 75 percent sinceJuly." > >"Without an unforseen recovery, the weak currency could demolish the >economic assumptions that underlie the IMF rescue package, undermining hope >that the country's slide could be halted. [para] The rupiah's drop in >value steeply increases the cost of repaying Indonesia's huge commercial >and Government debts. More than half of those are due this year." Seth >Mydays, "Markets Tumble and Rumors Sweep Indoniesia Capital: Panic Buying >in Shops--Fears of IMF Aid Cutoff Stir Talk of Political Instability and >Suharto Succession", NYT, Jan 9, 1998: A-1, C-2. > >This panic has spread across SE Asia. Stocks were hit in Singapore >(-7.74%), the Philippines (-6.8%),Indonesia (-11.95%), Malaysia >(-2.4%--after a 2.7% drop on Thursday), Thailand (-2.7%), and Hong Kong >(-4.18%, after -8.7% the preceeding two days). Data from Edward A. Gargan, >"Southeast Asian Markets Dive in Wild Seeling Bouts: Deepening Crisis in >Indonesia Spurs Selloffs," NYT, Jan 9, 1998: C-2. > >And from this week's "Business Week" (BW). They present an interesting >chart, which they title "Submerging Markets", which lists the percentage >change in currency value (against US dollar) and the percentage change in >dollar value of stocks since Dec 31 (although they do not list the cutoff >date--my guess would be around Jan 6). Note that these changes are only >since Dec 31, and NOT July, when the crisis first began. In any case, I >give change in currency first, and then change in stock value after for >listed countries: > >Indonesia -36.1, -36.7 >Malaysia -14.3, -25.1 >Philippines -13.5, -18.8 >Thailand -13.2, -13.7 >South Korea -8.3, 0.7 >Singapore -3.5, -13.9 >Japan -0.9, -1.8 >China 0.0, -16.7 >Hong Kong 0.0, -10.9 > >The managing director and head of regional research at Merrill Lynch (Asia >Pacific) Ltd., Michael Unsworth, says, "'There is nothing holding these >currencies up'." > >I quote further from the article: > >"Washington officials concede that they were surprised by the speed of the >latest Asian financial collapse. If the hysteria runs much longer, Asia >could be sucked into recession or even depression. That could face the >international financial system with its biggest test since the oil shocks >of the 1970s. [para] But even if markets calm quickly, Asia faces a >large-scale rescheduling of debts and a sharp downturn in demand in what >had until recently been th world's fastest-growing region. 'The biggest >risk is that Asian instability will trigger a world crisis, as opposed to >just a financial market problem,' says David A. Wyss, chief economist for >Standard & Poor's DRI in Lexington, MA. [para] The two biggest wories are >Korea and Indonesia. Although Korea won a respite by getting foreign banks >to roll over $10 billion to $15 billion in loans, it's still scrambling to >put together a multibillion-dollar, long-term funding package. *** 'Korea >is not out of the woods by a long shot,' warns Peter Churchouse, a managing >director at Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong. [para] Indonesia is >even more explosive because of a volatile political and racial mix on top >of a dire economic situation. It has more than $100 bilion in foreign >debt, about $35 billion of which is due by June, and the country's >corporate sector is effectively bankrupt. *** [para] As everyone from >hedge funds to local cons
Final Comment
I lived in Puerto Rico 1983-86 and worked as a Senior Planner for the Planning Board of the Office of the Governor of P.R. My original assignment was to work as a project leader restructuring and examining the input-output system used for planning and forecasting estimates. After some time I was asked to design and carry out an "inductive" (adductive) study of the linkages, leakages and dimensions of aspects of the underground economy of P.R. (Drugs, Prostitution, Bolitos (numbers rackets) with reference to the probable effects on leakages from final demand (and the interactive effects through cells of the input-output matrices). Because P.R. is relatively small in area and because the induced investment/profit imperative mechanisms of capitalism lead to spatial agglomerations of investment, jobs, incomes and also those involved in underground activities, and because the hypothetico-deductivist scenarios for estimating dimensions, linkages, leakages of underground activities yielded nothing but indeterminate scenarios (scenarios built upon/derived from other scenarios...), it was thought that some filed study (bottom-up) was needed. At the time almost 2/3 of the population of P.R. was on pagos transferencias (some form of transfer payments), there were emerging incidences of AIDS in San Juan and other factors lead to this work being commissioned. I was tasked with working with D.E.A., PR Police (Control de Vicio), FBI, Treasury, IRS and anyone else from which I could obtain informant reports, locations/agglomerations of underground activities. Before I accepted the assignment, I demanded and got assurance that I could work in the field without any police or police informants working with me and that I would not under any circumstances identify or assist in the identification/apprehension of any sources. I worked almost exclusively in Spanish language and was turned loose. Through some political contacts (I was a supporter of the Independentistas and curiously the government knew it) I progressively made more and more contacts with prostitutes (in brothels like the Black Angus--not Stewart Anderson's--in San Juan, and others in Ponce, Mayaguez, Arecibo, Aguadilla etc as well as with street prostitutes etc.) I took special care to make sure I was not followed or observed by any police informants. I was interested in such factors as national origin, length of time in P.R., plans to leave P.R., average income, rental and other expenses, living arrangements, percentage of income sent to relatives outside P.R., arrangements with pimps, buying habits, drug habits, reasons for entering prostitution, any plans to leave it, other illegal activities involved with etc. I offered to pay for time spent and on off time so that the people would not suffer loss of income; interestingly very few wanted money for interview time and more and more would come after fellow sex workers would tell them that I could be trusted, wasn't interested in laying any kind of morality trip on anyone; for many they expressed that it was a kind of catharsis talking about their lives, dreams, conditions of work etc. Some with whom I talked were indeed schooled and some were students at U.P.R. or Interamerican. I also talked with male prostitutes some of whom were 14 and 15 years old. The vast majority of sex workers with whom I dealt were poor Dominicanas, Haitians, Columbianas, Cubans (only about 20% of the prostututes in P.R. were Puerto Rican). And yes I found many who wanted it legalized but when I asked if prostitution were legalized, and if social attitudes changed such that prostitution were seen as just another kind of work, would they have any objection to their sons or daughters going into the business, not one said they would have no objection--every single one with children or plans to have children said they were working so that their children would not have to do what they were doing. I did ask if the work was seen to be degrading because of social attitudes and if producing sex services could be seen as no different than producing any other kind of service if only society's--and the individual prostitute's--attitudes toward sex and morality would change and in virtually every case, or almost every case the response was "you just don't know what it is like to have some stranger huffing and puffing over you, playing domination games, asking if you have a young daugter under 14 and offering an extra bonus to fuck her, doing you with no regard or care as to how you feel about the act itself." (Some of the types of comments I used to get). I would hear stories about being set up for gang rape, about being beat out of the meagre money and about John's who would offer extra NOT to use a condom. And this debate is not new to me. I have known about COYOTE and other such groups for a long time; I read some of their stuff. So I would ask: If prostitution were lega
schmoozing -Reply
As a planner for the City of Berkeley I can attest to the usefulness of "schmoozing", almost however it is defined. It's about anything from gossip and meaningful information shared (i.e., facilitating the integrative coordination of divided labor), to ladder climbing. But then it's also really hard to quantify this kind of thing as well. It's just an article of faith among the most productive (again, variously defined) bureaucrats that to get the information you need to do your job well (again, variously), you have to cultivate a variety of sources.
Re: The End of Prostitution?
Quoth Michael Perelman without the merest thought of punning: > I don't know about the rest of you, but the arguments seem to be > recycling. Susan's belated mention of gender was the only new thread. > > Should we put this one to bed? Coming back to a lot of wheel-spinning after ~10 hours offline, I ought to agree, but it seems that everyone has talked around the core issue of sex- as-commodity, holding to different points with varying degrees of fervor. Suppose we retire this volatile subject with a simple vote on the question "Should a formal commerce in sexual favors be permitted under socialism?"? No electioneering; there have been Ks and Ks of it already. valis
