Bloodstream!

Bloodstream!

Indian Holocaust My Fatehr`s Life and Time


Would the bloodstream from the valiants’ chests
Would the flow of tears from the mothers’ eyes
All get lost and turn useless in the dust beneath our feet?
- Tagore

The blood that has flown has apparently not gone all waste. Had it been so the tragedy would have turned even more tragic.

Nandigram is the destination of Indian Neoliberalism which has to be repeated again and again as the Global order has to capture natural resources of India evicting Rural India to sustain Developed Economies in Debt and Recession!

The Zionist corporate Imperialism has alligned with Anti Muslim, Anti Dalit, Anti Black, Anti Tribal Brahminical Hindutva and Globalisation well shaped as and in Post Modern Manusmriti!

Whenever Buddha Dev Bahattacharjee talks on Capitalist Development, he follws the leaders of all thirs world countries who croosing over ideologies and political colors are quietly engaged with Neoliberalism.Neoliberalism is the defining political economic paradigm of our time - it refers to the policies and processes whereby a relative handful of private interests are permitted to control as much as possible of social life in order to maximize their personal profit. Associated initially with Reagan and Thatcher, neoliberalism has for the past two decades been the dominant global political economic trend adopted by political parties of the center, much of the traditional left, and the right. These parties and the policies they enact represent the immediate interests of extremely wealthy investors and less than one thousand large corporations.
Globalization is hailed by the pundits as an irresistible natural force. It’s like gravity, they say. Just accept it and go on with your life. A contrary view says this international economic order is nothing more than old wine in a new bottle. Powerful transnational institutions like the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are the main instruments and implementors of globalization. Nations and communities trying to maintain sovereignty, protect human rights and preserve the environment are under attack as they confront the latest version of capitalism.

http://www.altnet.com/store/file/4232/Speech/Class_War_The_Attack_on_Working_People/The_Globalization_of_Production/Noam_Chomsky/index.aspx

Please read:
Noam Chomsky and the Struggle Against Neoliberalism
By Robert W McChesney
http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/econ/chmsky99.htm

On Globalization, Iraq, and Middle East Studies
Noam Chomsky interviewed by
Danilo Mandic
March 29, 2005
Princeton Progressive Review and Dollars & Sins
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=7548
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/0225249&mode=thread&tid=5

Buddha drops Nandigram, Mamata tells him to go and Noam Chomsky supports call for serious independent investigation on Nandigram.The UK has announced a freeze on all bilateral business with the Iranians until they release the 15 marines and sailors seized in the Gulf last week.

Chomsky attacks globalization, PR
Anita Davis
Issue date: 1/19/05 Section: News
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1
Media Credit: Dave Kauffman
Noam Chomsky talked about globalization on Tuesday.

Corporate globalization has widened the gap between the rich and the poor by reducing the amount of economic opportunities for poorer citizens, said Noam Chomsky, a liberal activist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Linguistics professor, during a speech attended by approximately 350 people at the First Parish Church in Cambridge.
http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2005/01/19/News/Chomsky.Attacks.Globalization.Pr-835457.shtml
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=1809
The bloodbath in Nandigram seems to have changed the Government�s mind on special economic zones, or SEZs. The Commerce Ministry is now pushing for a cap on the maximum area a private developer can acquire for SEZ, reports CNBC-TV18.

Shammeless SEZ Drive Goes On!

Though the Government isn’t looking at capping SEZs as such, it could cap their sizes. High level sources in the Commerce Ministry say that the Government is now toying with the idea of prescribing a maximum area for an SEZ. Currently, multi-product SEZs need to have a minimum land requirement of 1000 hectares without an upper limit. But that could change when the Empowered Group of Ministers meets next, when 10000 hectares could become the maximum land that a private developer can acquire to build an SEZ. Interestingly, the ceiling on the total land area would be only for the private sector.

Sources say that those SEZs that are set up as a joint venture with States would be exempt from the ceiling. And that is not all - offshore banking units and international financial service centres, or IFSCs might not be able to avail tax holidays in SEZs. That is, if the Finance Ministry has its way. While the RBI is in the process of formulating rules for these units, the Finance Ministry has indicated that exemptions might be limited.

33 of the zones to come up in Konkan region


A total of 38,800 hectares land will be required for the proposed 72 Special Economic Zones (SEZ) which are likely to come up in the state; Industries Minister Ashok Chavan informed this to Legislative Council. Thirty-three of these SEZs will come up in Konkan region of the state, the Minister added further.
Replying to the question asked by Sanjay Dutt and others, regarding the rehabilitation of those farmers whose land will be acquired for SEZs, he said, �45 SEZs were going to be developed by private entrepreneurs on their own lands, so rehabilitation was not an issue in those cases�.


Cong team to visit the SEZ-hit
Economic Times, India - 21 hours ago
We want to avoid a repeat of Nandigram,� Ms Rau said referring to the West Bengal village where violence erupted over a proposed SEZ, taking over a dozen …
Opposition to SEZ pays dividends for PWP, Sena in Raigad Hindu
all 2 news articles »

CNN-IBN Govt to rehabilitate SEZ policy
CNN-IBN, India - 10 hours ago
COMPENSATING FOR INDUSTRY: A formula is being worked out to prevent clashes like the one in Nandigram. New Delhi: The Government isn’t backing away from …

Industry seeks SEZ-like tax sops for steel
Financial Express, India - 20 hours ago
�Main EPC contractor for setting up steel plant should get benefits available to a developer as provided in the SEZ Act,� the industry body demanded …
CII seeks fiscal sops for steel Hindu
all 4 news articles �

Hindu Anti-SEZ stir will be intensified: Medha
Hindu, India - 22 hours ago
… loss of agricultural land for real estate speculation, unprecedented environmental destruction, usurpation of natural resources by SEZ projects, …

ADB slams India’s SEZ policy for tax concessions
Times of India, India - 21 hours ago
NEW DELHI: First it was IMF, now it’s Asian Development Bank that has criticised the government’s policy on special economic zones. …
ADB decries tax incentives for SEZs The Statesman
No tax sops for old machinery to SEZs Financial Express
ADB: tax sops for SEZs unnecessary Hindu
all 6 news articles �
Congress panel will check out Navi Mumbai SEZ
Daily News & Analysis, India - 21 hours ago
Sonia Gandhi has made it clear that a Nandigram-like situation should�t erupt in any of the Congress-ruled states. Getting the message loud and clear from …


CNN-IBN PM promises to find fair solution to SEZ conflict
Economic Times, India - 26 Mar 2007
NEW DELHI: In the wake of the increasing resistance of farmers to the land-acquisition drive for setting up special economic zones, the prime minister on …
Manmohan calls for agriculture to industry transition to cure … DailyIndia.com


Buddha speaks

Kolkata: In the wake of public outrage over the March 14, 2007 police firing and escalating unrest, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday announced the scrapping of a chemical hub in Nandigram and owned responsibility for the “lapses” of his government, prompting opposition Trinamool Congress to demand his resignation.

Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee owned up responsibility �on behalf of the state government� for the �lapses� in Nandigram, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee demanded his resignation for triggering the Nandigram bloodbath.

�If he has owned up responsibility for the Nandigram incident and has the minimum respect for democracy, he should resign,� Mamata said.

�If anyone indulges in killing and says sorry, can the person be excused? The Chief Minister had prepared the blueprint for the Nandigram operation with the police and CPI-M cadres. If he really owns up responsibility and has the minimum respect for democracy, he should step down,� she told a meeting in Kolkata shortly after Bhattacharjee made the announcement.

Speaking for the first time after the violence in Nandigram that claimed 14 lives, Bhattacharjee told a rally In Kolkata that his government had decided to relocate the chemical hub and was waiting for Centre’s communication before announcing its new location within seven days.

“I own up responsibility for the lapses in Nandigram on behalf of the state government. I don’t want any more deaths (irrespective of party affiliations of people),” he said.

Meanwhile, the state administration, which is under severe criticism for its handling of the situation in West Bengal’s Nandigram, has decided to rope in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to ascertain the ground reality. The West Bengal government’s decision to ask the IB to evaluate the situation comes in light of the opposition parties’ reluctance to attend recent meetings aimed at restoring peace in Nandigram.

Buddha makes overtures to win back intelligentsia

Express News Service

Kolkata, March 27: Stung by the intelligentsia�s criticism of his government after the police firing in Nandigram, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has begun a damage control exercise to win back the section.

The chief minister�s effort involves formation of a group of writers, artistes and intellectuals who are in favour of the need for rapid industrialisation in the state and are ready to voice their support for his policy.

Writer Sunil Gangopadhyay, singer Usha Utthup and director Raja Sen were among 50-odd artists and litt�rateurs who formed �Shanti O Sanghati Mancha� on Tuesday to drum up support for the chief minister�s industrial policy.
Pl Read In details:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=228815
http://sanhati.com/front-page/141/

Noam Chomsky supports call for serious independent investigation on Nandigram

Our letter:

We, members of Sanhati, an organisation of Indian students, researchers, and professionals living in North America and Europe, would deeply appreciate any attempts on your part to register protest against the massacre of peasants by the police in Nandigram, West Bengal, India on 14th March 2007.

While official sources are claiming that around 20 have been killed, un-official investigations by journalists and activists are revealing that the number of victims far exceeds the official statistics. The dead includes a large number of women and children, with accounts of gang-rape, mutilation, and mass disposal of bodies starting to emerge. Besides, many are �missing� from the villages, thus giving rise to comparisons with the incidences of �disappearnces� within many Latin American dictatorial regimes.
An all-India fact-finding team consisting of, among others, Medha Patkar, has come out with the following report : http://sanhati.com/front-page/76/

This savage massacre is the culmination of the neo-liberal onslaught by the state government of West Bengal against the lives and livelihoods of the poor peasants of the state. The government, which is surprisingly led by the largest left party in India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), has attempted to acquire land forcibly from the farmers of Nandigram for the setting up of a chemicals factory by the Salim group of Indonesia, which is otherwise known as a front of the Suharto family. This had been met by all round popular resentment and resistance. The attack by thousands of armed police was intended to break this resistance. In the name of industrialisation and �development, � the CPI-M-led government has embarked upon a policy of forcible acquisition of agricultural land, depriving thousands of farmers and landless labourers of their only means of livelihood. In such a context, the incident at Nandigram is not an isolated incident of bureacratic
mis-management, but is part of a process of terrorization of the peasantry by a government working on behalf of corporations.

The Nandigram incident also points out to the fact that in spite of their �leftist� rhetoric, the CPI(M) party and government in West Bengal is a willing partner in the process of impostion of neo-liberal policies that is taking place in India.

Thanking you,
Sanhati (Solidarity)
www.sanhati.com

Selected Responses :

Noam Chomsky
I�ve heard about it, but from this distance cannot presume to make any judgments with any confidence, though I would certainly support a call for a serious independent investigation.

Piya Chatterjee, Department of Women�s Studies, University of California at Riverside.
Ofcourse, please use my affiliation for any letters of protest that you send. The more the better. The MOST important thing is to ALLY directly with
community-based organizations in the area especially those working directly on questions of state violence.

Dipjyoti Majumdar, Department of Economics, Concordia University
As a fellow human being, I fully support your cause and strongly protest against the torture and killings that took place in Nandigram. The way government handled the situation on March 14th, 2007 at Nandigram is absolutely unacceptable in any civilized society. In my own meagre way, I am with Sanhati in this protest.

Suman Majumdar, Statistics, University of Connecticut
I am aware of what is going on Nandigram and deplore it no uncertain terms. May I suggest that along with approaching the Indian Press we should file a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking justice by writing to the Chief Justice of India. Given the political equations in the country, I don�t think anything else will have any measurable impact.

Maitreesh Ghatak, London School of Economics
I appreciate the efforts you and your colleagues. I plan to write on this in greater detail later, but right now just a few words that convey my immediate response to this.
Development - whatever is the model and the modalities - should not be at the expense of the weakest sections of society and certainly not at the expense of human lives. The kind of coercive and violent measures unleashed by the state that was witnessed in Nandigram should be condemned unconditionally and universally - no apologies, no excuses are enough. Development has to be decentralized and participatory.It should be responsive to local needs and demands. While debates and discussion about the nature of the development strategy are welcome. there should be not disagreement regarding these basic principles.
I for example believe that one has to be realistic about the need for industrialization - given the man-land ratio and limited opportunities for agricultural productivity improvements,industry and services are the logical sectors to which resources should flow to generate new employment opportunities and income growth. I also believe that the state cannot and should not micro-manage the economy. However, I also strongly believe, that a top priority should be to provide a social safety net to deal with whatever dislocation that it might involve. The cost of development should not be disproportionaly borne by those who are least equipped to do so. The only ray of light I see in all this is the role of the civil society and the media - one shudders to think what would have happened without their vigilance.

Swati Chattopdhyay, Art History, UC Santa Barbara
By early next week I plan to post an article on this on �Citations� � a link within the website www.ihc.ucsb.edu/subaltern.

West Bengal admits `erroneous` submission before Calcutta HC
Zee News, India - 27 Mar 2007
Kolkata, March 27: In a significant development, the West Bengal government on Tuesday admitted that its advocate general made an “erroneous submission” to …
Questions over Bengal shootings BBC News
Five out of 14 died of bomb explosion, says govt affidavit Kolkata Newsline
Hearing on Nandigram killings deferred CNN-IBN
Asking the State to grab land has to stop!
Rediff, India - 11 hours ago
Here, first, is what the chief minister of West Bengal had to say about the genesis of the problem in Nandigram. It was, he said bluntly, the handiwork of …
Buddha scraps Nandigram SEZ project CNN-IBN
Cong-CPI(M) ties hit a new low over Nandigram deaths Financial Express
Buddha speaks post Nandigram rampage Times Now.tv

Tagore�s idyll turned into IT hub
Gulf Times, Qatar - 26 Mar 2007
KOLKATA: Imagine an IT park with the best global brands keeping company with modern healthcare, a golf course, a cluster of non-polluting industries, …
Tagore’s idyll set to turn into IT hub India eNews.com

Workers clash in HM factory in West Bengal
Zee News, India - 1 hour ago
Kolkata, March 28: The labour unrest at the Hindustan Motors factory in West Bengal’s Hooghly district on Wednesday reached a head with rival union members …

Starvation deaths stalk West Bengal tea plantations
Reuters India, India - 8 hours ago
KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - At least 150 people have died of malnutrition in West Bengal in the past year after the closure of scores of tea plantations in …
Starvation stalks Indian tea plantations Globe and Mail
Tata Tea to save huge amount of tax via demerger route Financial Express

Noam Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. The author of numerous books, Chomsky’s most recent works include “The Common Good: Profit Over People” and “The New Military Humanism: Lessons from Kosovo.” Chomsky discussed his views on globalization and debt relief in the April 24, 2000 issue of The Nation.

Chomsky says: What is called “globalization” is a specific form of international integration, designed and instituted for particular purposes. There are many possible alternatives. This particular form happens to be geared to the interests of private power, manufacturing corporations and financial institutions, closely linked to powerful states. Effects on others are incidental. Sometimes they happen to be beneficial, often not.

Noam Chomsky: A corporation is a form of private tyranny. Its directors have a responsibility to increase profit and market share, not to do good works. If they fail that responsibility, they will be removed. They have some latitude for public relations purposes, and the talk about corporate responsibility falls within that territory. But it makes no sense to regard them as benevolent institutions, freed from their institutional role. It is a public responsibility to enforce decent behavior.
Wednesday, 28 March , 2007, 20:55
Noam Chomsky: More generally, poor people are underrepresented. Race-class correlations in the US are significant, a fact which partially accounts for the correct observation you make. In general, more privileged people have more opportunities. That includes opportunities to take part in public protest and resistance. The costs are, roughly, inversely proportional to privilege, just as opportunities correlate pretty well with privilege. These are large factors to keep in mind.

Noam Chomsky: Did the NYT, Gore, etc., say why the protestors are wrong? Or even what their positions are? For one thing, the issue is not simply “free trade.” What is called “free trade” has highly protectionist elements. What is at issue are investor rights agreements, not free trade. The protestors, including the AFL-CIO, have good reasons to oppose investor rights agreements that insist on very high protection for property rights (often resulting, in fact, from taxpayer subsidy), but little or no protection for the rights of flesh-and-blood people, including rights of working people — both in the US and in other countries. That’s not oppostion to “free trade.” It is worth remembering that the press has refused even to permit the official positions of the labor movement to appear. Thus during the NAFTA debate, the labor movement had a clearly developed position, not opposed to a NAFTA, but opposed to this particular version. Its analysis and proposals happened to be rather similar to those of Congress’s own research bureau, the Office of Technology Assessment. But while the labor movement was constantly berated on false grounds, its actual position was never reported. The observation generalizes.
Globalization and its Discontents
Noam Chomsky debates with Washington Post readers
Washington Post, May 16, 2000,
Lecturer and author Noam Chomsky will be online Tuesday, May 16 at 1 p.m. to discuss globalization, free trade and the vote to extend permanent normal trade relations to China. Chomsky is currently Institute Professor and Professor of Linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Chomsky has written and lectured widely on linguistics, philosophy, intellectual history, contemporary issues, international affairs and U.S. foreign policy. The author of numerous books, Chomsky’s most recent works include “The Common Good: Profit Over People” and “The New Military Humanism: Lessons from Kosovo.” Chomsky discussed his views on globalization and debt relief in the April 24, 2000 issue of The Nation. On Tuesday May 16, Noam Chomsky will answer washigntonpost.com users’s question on these and other issues.

Noam Chomsky was born on December 7, 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate degree and his PhD in linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania. Chomsky joined the staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1955 and in 1961 was appointed full professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (now the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy.) From 1966 to 1976 he held the Ferrari P. Ward Professorship of Modern Languages and Linguistics. In 1976 he was appointed Institute Professor.

Submit questions for Noam Chomsky.

Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China: 1. Do you believe that the type of statement made last week by Ford Motor Company regarding corporate social responsibility represents a step toward voluntary self-policing that is a realistic solution under global competition? If not, should efforts be made toward developing global regulations or toward localization efforts?

Tom Burgess,
Social Studies Teacher, Taipei American School

Noam Chomsky: A corporation is a form of private tyranny. Its directors have a responsibility to increase profit and market share, not to do good works. If they fail that responsibility, they will be removed. They have some latitude for public relations purposes, and the talk about corporate responsibility falls within that territory. But it makes no sense to regard them as benevolent institutions, freed from their institutional role. It is a public responsibility to enforce decent behavior.


Morgantown, WV: Are there any salutary aspects of the
much over-used word, ‘globalization’?

Noam Chomsky: You are right to be skeptical about the term. What is called “globalization” is a specific form of international integration, designed and instituted for particular purposes. There are many possible alternatives. This particular form happens to be geared to the interests of private power, manufacturing corporations and financial institutions, closely linked to powerful states. Effects on others are incidental. Sometimes they happen to be beneficial, often not.


Bethesda, MD: What is your view on the explanations given for the US bombing of the Chinese embassy? Do you think it is affecting the MFN debate?

Noam Chomsky: The explanation given for the bombing of the Embassy was not very convincing, but could be correct. I doubt that the Embassy was chosen as a target. That would have made little sense. I also do not think it is a major factor in the MFN debate. It was a major issue in China of course. Not here.


NYC, NY: Does the transfer of wealth from the US to China (by reducing trade restrictions) really increase the growth of a Chinese middle class? And will this middle class accumulate enough wealth to spread the concentration of power in China?

Noam Chomsky: I wouldn’t expect the trade deals with China to transfer wealth from the US to China. Rather, in both countries it will contribute to transfering wealth to privileged sectors and away from the general populations — though as always, they might enjoy some benefits, as an incidental by-product. The largest effect will probably within China. Opening China’s borders to US imports and allowing a good part of its economy to be taken over by US financial institutions, and other concomitants of these agreements, are likely to be highly beneficial to elements of Chinese society that take part in these arrangements, possibly quite harmful to most of the population — who have no voice. They are not represented by their government, surely not ours.


Washington, DC: What exactly does America stand to gain from extending normal trade relations with China? Is it something that would benefit China more? China already seems to be a trade powerhouse. How would this trade be affected during a possible armed conflict?

Noam Chomsky: It is misleading to ask what “America” gains or loses. Or “China.” Gains and losses are distributed within the societies. The “normal trade relations” happen to include extreme forms of protectionism to benefit US corporations(for example, a patent regime that would have prevented development in today’s rich societies, including the US, had they submitted to it), but no meaningful protection for the rights of ordinary people, working people in particular, or Chinese peasants who are likely to suffer gravely. Working people in the US may lose, investors in the US and financial institutions will surely gain. When one says that China is a “powerhouse,” bear in mind that much of that is foreign-owned production. The effects on Chinese society are in fact complex. In armed conflict, all bets are off.


Washington, DC: Why is it that the groups that have organized the resistance to the WTO and World Bank/IMF have failed to bring blacks and latinos into the movement in significant numbers.

Mike Fekula
Washington, DC

Noam Chomsky: More generally, poor people are underrepresented. Race-class correlations in the US are significant, a fact which partially accounts for the correct observation you make. In general, more privileged people have more opportunities. That includes opportunities to take part in public protest and resistance. The costs are, roughly, inversely proportional to privilege, just as opportunities correlate pretty well with privilege. These are large factors to keep in mind.


Knoxville, Tenn.: The New York Times has written that the protestors against free-trade are wrong, including the AFL-CIO. Even the pro-environment/Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore favors MFN status for China. How and why can they be so wrong on the subject?

And while I admire the fact that students are getting involved in protesting something, there is a seriously anti-science component to the anti-globalization movement. Does this trou[ble you]?

Noam Chomsky: Did the NYT, Gore, etc., say why the protestors are wrong? Or even what their positions are? For one thing, the issue is not simply “free trade.” What is called “free trade” has highly protectionist elements. What is at issue are investor rights agreements, not free trade. The protestors, including the AFL-CIO, have good reasons to oppose investor rights agreements that insist on very high protection for property rights (often resulting, in fact, from taxpayer subsidy), but little or no protection for the rights of flesh-and-blood people, including rights of working people — both in the US and in other countries. That’s not oppostion to “free trade.” It is worth remembering that the press has refused even to permit the official positions of the labor movement to appear. Thus during the NAFTA debate, the labor movement had a clearly developed position, not opposed to a NAFTA, but opposed to this particular version. Its analysis and proposals happened to be rather similar to those of Congress’s own research bureau, the Office of Technology Assessment. But while the labor movement was constantly berated on false grounds, its actual position was never reported. The observation generalizes.


washington, dc: What are examples or principles of the sort of international trade that you think should exist?

Noam Chomsky: There can be no general answer to this, except banalities. Trade is not a value in itself. It’s good or bad, depending on its costs and benefits for people — including people of future generations (which is what environmental issues are basically about). Trade can have welfare benefits, it also carries plenty of costs, many of which are not counted, though they are severe (pollution, resource waste and depletion, etc.). We should compare the costs and benefits, case by case, and decide democratically how policies should be set in the light of the best assessment that can be made about these matters. Note also that what is called “trade” is to a large extent not trade in any meaningful sense. A substantial consists of intrafirm transfers that happens to cross borders, that is, centrally managed interactions in violation of market principles. The same is true of outsourcing, a way to increase profits but often harming people. There are also complex strategic alliances among firms. If we try to calculate all these factors, it would almost surely turn out that the majority of what is called “trade” is actually in large part centrally managed. Furthermore, the term “trade” is extended to cover capital flow, which is something entirely different — and is astronomical, if we take into account speculative flows, which have been liberalized under the mislabelled “free trade regime,” and are almost surely harmful to the economy, just as they serve to undermine democratic choice.
Marlborough, Mass.: (1) How many centuries will it take before the PRC becomes a serious trading partner of the USA or any other highly industrialized western nation? They may have over one billion people, but very few of them have any real money and they have a history of importing a $ value equal to a TINY fraction of what we historically have been importing from them.

(2)Why should we have “permanent” normal trade relations with any country? This seems to imply that we are locked into some kind of relationship from which exiting would be difficult if the original reasons change over time.

Noam Chomsky: We should bear in mind that a few centuries ago, India and China were the commercial and manufacturing centers of the world. As recently as the 1860s, England was concerned that it could not compete with Chinese manufactures — one of the reason why it forced Opium on China. What we look at today is the result of a few centuries of violence and conquest, which might be reversed and modified — surely should be. What China will become is very hard to say. Little is understood about matters of this complexity.

As for “permanent relations,” these do not exist. Relations can always change, and always do. But it makes sense to have some kind of relatively orderly framework for international relations, including economic relations. The question is what should they be. Should they be designed for the interests of investors, lenders, manufacturing corporations, investment firms, etc.? Or for the interests of the general population? The answers are complex, and lead to quite different conceptions of how relatively stable relations should be established. There is, furthermore, a very important point that your question brings up. It is now largely conceded that the point of NAFTA was not to yield the economic benefits that were widely proclaimed (and by now disproven).