Fw: Re-orienting the discussion

Note: this is the third time I sent this out. For some reason, it seems that
neither of the other two postings were posted. If they were posted and you
received this before, please accept my most sincere apologies, since a
multiple posting by me would go against the entire spirit of the very point
I'm trying to make. I'm also reposting as a TEST to see if it was just a
short term mechanical problem problem yesterday, or if there is some other
more complex thing going on. So if this shows up on wsn, then I'll know that
it's working again. I'm reposting the original. Again, if you did get it
more than once, please accept my apologies for the glitch in my computer
e-mail system.-----Alan Spector

==============.


--- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Spector" <spectors@netnitco.net>
To: "WORLD SYSTEMS NETWORK" <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 8:03 PM
Subject: Re-orienting the discussion


> I hope gunder frank does not subscribe from the list. Those of us with
> experience in movement activism know that one form of sabotage of movement
> activities is to simply create disruptions that "wear out" the serious
> people.  Sometimes others, who are well-meaning,  understandably "take the
> bait" and respond to personal attacks when they are attacked. But it can
> have a wearing effect on the majority of readers.
>
> Gunder Frank is one of the bright lights of this list; even when I don't
> agree with him, I learn something from him. And even when he loses his
> temper, he always explains the SUBSTANTIVE reason why, and we usually
learn
> from that also. Before giving up on a list that seems to be spinning its
> wheels and not getting anywhere, it is worth trying to "reorient" the
> discussion. More concrete analysis is what is most helpful--unfortunately,
I
> don't do much basic research into international political economy and
don't
> have much to offer on that dimension although on the political dimension
of
> analysis we all have access to information. With the world is such a state
> of flux---both disintegration of old orders and agglomeration of new
> alliances---there is plenty to analyze and debate,  from coffee and
military
> hardware in the Horn of Africa to cocaine in the Andes to oil pipelines in
> West Asia, potential ethnic strife in China, possible alliances/conflict
> between China/Russia/India, South Africa's developing neutrality, and so
on
> and on. Hopefully, as the "academic winter vacation" comes to an end,
there
> will be broader participation to redirect the discussion.
>
> Alan Spector
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <franka@fiu.edu>
> To: "Daniel Pinéu" <danielfrp@hotmail.com>
> Cc: <wsn@csf.colorado.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 11:59 AM
> Subject: Re: your mail
>
>
> > I definitely do share all of Daniel Pineu's observation and
> > reservations about current wsn 'offerigns', and rely almost entirely on
> > the delete button, and am very tempted in a hurry to do the same as DP
> > and to use the un-sub me one
> > sincerely and truly yours
> >
> > gunder frank
> >
> > On Thu, 18 Jan 2001, Daniel Pinéu wrote:
> >
> > > Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 16:15:44 -0000
> > > From: Daniel Pinéu <danielfrp@hotmail.com>
> > > To: wsn@csf.colorado.edu
> > >
> > > Dear fellow members,
> > > Dear moderators,
> > >
> > > When i joined the WSN list some almost a year ago, i was hoping to
find
> > > living, intellectually stimulating, fresh debate about World-Systems
> Theory.
> > >
> > > Fresh after making my acquaintance with the seminal works of
> Wallerstein, AG
> > > Frank, Chase Dunn and other "classics", I was looking for a place of
> open
> > > theoretical debate to explore the enormous potential of World Systems
> > > theorizing within Social Sciences, and especially my own field of
> studies:
> > > International Relations.
> > >
> > > Apparently i was mislead to believe that the WSN mailing list was such
a
> > > place.
> > >
> > > Lately i was surprised to discover that the main objective of the
list,
> so
> > > it seems, is rather to
> > >
> > > a)Relentlessly dissect and (re)elaborate on Marxist theory, despite
the
> fact
> > > that there are specialized mailing lists for that purpose
> > >
> > > b)Engage in personal (and sometimes blatantly non-academical) attacks
on
> > > fellow members
> > >
> > > c)Share with the list a wide variety of info about left wing activism,
> > > conspiracy theories, human rights violations, and other personal and
> public
> > > concerns.
> > >
> > > I don`t know whether any more fellow members share this view, but i
hope
> the
> > > number is significant enough for the moderators to do something about
> it. At
> > > this moment of my intellectual life, however, i have no more time to
> waste
> > > on vast amounts of virtually useless emails which keep circulating
> through
> > > the list.
> > >
> > > So, i am sorry to do this, but i am unsubscribing from the list. I
would
> > > like to say it has been an interesting experience, but the
> aforementioned
> > > reasons speak for themselves in showing that it wasn't.
> > >
> _________________________________________________________________________
> > > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
> http://www.hotmail.com.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >                  ANDRE  GUNDER  FRANK
> >
> >          1601 SW  83rd Avenue, Miami, FL.  33155 USA
> >       Tel: 1-305-266  0311   Fax:  1-305  266 0799
> >              E-Mail :  franka@fiu.edu
> >    Web/Home Page:  http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank
> >
> >
> >
> >
>