Re: population: real problem, or capitalist plot? (fwd)

On Thu, 1 Jun 2000 md7148@cnsvax.albany.edu wrote:

> 
> Richard,
> 
> It is very unfair to call Andy dogmatic here. What Andy is concerned as of
> so far (as much as I do and some others) are hidden political agendas
> behind population control strategies (pro and anti). We folks are not
> living in the ideal world; we are living in the real world where
> scientific knowledge is subject to all sorts of ideological manipulation. 
> I think we Marxists should all share some critical concern about why
> over-population problem is constantly presented as a problem of the third
> world in such a way to control people over there. This is not to suggest
> that over-population problem is a myth or has no real existence. On the
> contrary, we have been saying that it has a _real_ basis, and this basis
> has its roots in capitalist world system and the scientific enterprise
> built to reproduce this system. 

Mine-

The quite reasonable position you stake out was bombastically attacked by
Andy, who claims that there is no such thing as overpopulation, and
therefore, of course, no such thing as an overpopulation problem.  (You
shouldn't be so protective and quick to include him in your royal "we" on
the basis of the ideological buzz words he uses.)

I don't disagree with anything you've said, but that is utterly different
from the sort of nonsense our dogmatic comrade has been sharing with us.

His "logic" seems to be that if there are reactionaries who have used the
population issue, then there can be no other definition or perspective on
the issue other than the one "the reactionaries" have put forth,
therefore:  1) the problem is not a problem, and 2) anyone who says it's a
problem is a "reactionary." 

Reading Paul Ehrlich et al's latest, "The Stork and the Plow" will
demonstrate that the "population bombers" in Jim Blaut's terms, are not
evil reactionaries out to "thin the herds" (Andy's memorable phrase).
The central focus of the book is that improving women's lives is the best
way to reduce fertility levels.

Richard