>From a Marxist piont of view, Steven Rosenthal comrade responds to defenders of over-population thesis, one them being, I may include, _Bartlett._.. Mine ----- >I agree with most of what Andy and Mine have said during the debate about >population. The problems of the world today are due to capitalism, not >to >overpopulation. >During the past week, the New York Times ran several stories that >substantiate this point. First, U.S. president Clinton has been unable to get European government leaders to agree with any of the military or economic proposals he brought with him on his current trip. The Europeans want the U.S. to discontinue its $5 billion a year tax subsidy to exporting US corporations. The Europeans don't want the U.S. to break the anti-missile treaty by embarking on a missile shield for protection against "rogue states." The U.S. wants Europeans (especially Germany) to increase military spending but only within a NATO framework led by the U.S., while Europeans want to take steps toward building a more independent military force. >These developments illustrate the continued development of inter-imperialist rivalry. >Second, the World Bank released a report acknowledging the immense decline in living standards in sub-Saharan Africa during the last decades of the 20th century. They noted that, even if some progress is made in checking the AIDS epidemic in Africa, which accounts for some 70% of all AIDS cases worldwide, the epidemic will reduce life expectancy by 20 years. The World Bank acknowledged that its policies and those of the IMF have contributed to some extent to the worsening conditions. >Nothing more profoundly illustrates the devastating effect of racism in the world capitalist system. Imperialist exploitation of Africa, with the collusion of local capitalist elites in African countries, is destroying more lives in Africa today than during the height of the slave trade. >A note of clarification here: I'm not suggesting that the AIDS virus was created by imperialists to inflict genocide on Africans. It is possible that the AIDS virus crossed over into the human population during imperialist experimental programs in sub-Saharan Africa during the early or middle part of the 20th century. What is more important, however, is that the epidemic has been shaped by contemporary imperialism and capitalism in Africa. Migrant labor, prostitution and sex slavery, wars and the creation of large populations of refugees, the decline of already small health budgets at the insistence of IMF structural adjustment plans--these are factors that have concentrated the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. >Third, UNICEF reported in "Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls" that up to half of the female population of the world comes under attack at some point in their lives from men. The report estimated that there are more females than males infected with AIDS in Africa. >What connects these three developments? >First, global capitalism is the most racist and sexist system the world has ever known. Despite all the hype about the efforts capitalist countries have made during the past century to reduce racism and sexism and to end colonialism, capitalism is worse than ever today. This is proof that the system cannot be reformed, which means that its central problems cannot be ameliorated. >Second, as inter-imperialist rivalry sharpens--as illustrated by the first point--imperialists are driven to intensify racist and sexist super-exploitation of the working class. This deepening crisis demands the growth of revolutionary organization of the working class as the only solution. >Third, leading biological determinists--including many proponents of the overpopulation thesis--have promoted the ideological argument that male domination of women, racism, nationalism, and wars are naturally evolved genetic traits of human nature. This ideology represents an attempt to portray inter-imperialist conflict, racism, and sexism as natural, rather than as part of capitalism in crisis and decay. >Steve Rosenthal -- Mine Aysen Doyran PhD Student Department of Political Science SUNY at Albany Nelson A. Rockefeller College 135 Western Ave.; Milne 102 Albany, NY 12222
