[p2p-research] Fwd: ZNet Daily Commentary: "Chaos as an Everyday Thing" By Immanuel Wallerstein

[Michel Bauwens]

worth pondering,

Michel

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <no-reply at zcommunications.org>
Date: Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 9:05 AM
Subject: ZNet Daily Commentary: "Chaos as an Everyday Thing" By Immanuel
Wallerstein
To: michelsub2004 at gmail.com


 [image: zspace] <http://ruby.zcommunications.org/>

Print <http://www.zcommunications.org/contents/167138/print>
"Chaos as an Everyday Thing"

February 17, 2010 By *Immanuel Wallerstein*

Immanuel Wallerstein's ZSpace
Page<http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/immanuelwallerstein>/
ZSpace <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/>

You know you're living in a chaotic situation when (1) the mainstream media
are constantly surprised by what is happening; (2) short-term predictions by
various pundits go in radically different directions and are stated with
many reserves; (3) the Establishment dares to say things or use words that
were previously taboo; (4) ordinary people are frightened and angry but very
unsure what to do. This is a good description of the past two years
throughout the world, or at least in most parts of the world.

Consider the recent enormous "surprises" - the election of a Republican
senator in Massachusetts; the financial collapse of Dubai; the near
bankruptcy of various large states within the United States and four or five
of the member states of the European Union; severe world currency
fluctuations. These "surprises" are commented on each day in the world press
and by leading politicians. They don't agree at all about what is happening,
and even less about what one should do to improve the situation. For
example, I have seen only two intelligent statements about the election
results in the United States.  One was by Barack Obama himself: "The same
thing that swept [Republican] Scott Brown into office [in Massachusetts]
swept me into office. People are angry, and they're frustrated." And the
second was by African-American op-ed columnist in The New York Times,
Charles M. Blow. He called his op-ed "Mobs rule." He said: "Welcome to the
mob: an angry, wounded electorate, riled by recession, careening across the
political spectrum, still craving change, nursing a bloodlust." First they
elected Obama; now they're rejecting him. Why? "The mob is fickle."

What are we seeing in California, in Greece, in most of the world's
governments? Government revenues are down, primarily because of reduced tax
incomes, which are in turn caused by the fact that everywhere people are
consuming less out of fear that their money is running out. At the same
time, precisely because world unemployment is considerably greater, the
demands on the states for expenditures have risen.  So states have less
money to meet greater demands. What can they do then? They can increase
taxes. But taxpayers are seldom in favor of having their own taxes go up.
And states are afraid of the flight of enterprises. Well, then, they can cut
expenditures - present ones or future ones like pensions. And then they are
faced with popular unrest, if not popular revolt.

Meanwhile, the "market" reacts. But what is this market that reacts - for
example, by shifting its currency preferences? It is very large corporations
and financial structures like hedge funds, which are working the world
financial system for very short-term but significant gains. As a result,
governments are faced with impossible choices, and individuals even more
impossible choices. They cannot predict what is likely to happen. They
become ever more frantic. They lash out by being protectionist or xenophobic
or demagogic. But of course, this solves little. At this point enters that
greatest of world pundits, Thomas I. Friedman, to write a column entitled
"Never heard that before." What had he never heard before? He heard
non-Americans talking at Davos about "political instability" in the United
States. He says that in his past experience such a phrase had been used only
about countries like Russia or Iran or Honduras. Imagine that. People
actually think the United States is politically unpredictable. And Thomas
Friedman never heard it before.

There have been some people who have been writing this, and explaining this,
for some forty years at least, but Thomas Friedman never heard it before.
That's because he has been living in a self-constructed cocoon, that of the
political Establishment in the United States and its acolytes elsewhere.
Things must be really bad for them to recognize this basic reality. The
United States is politically unstable - and likely to become more so, not
less so, in the coming decade. Is Europe more stable? Only somewhat. Is
Latin America more stable? Only somewhat. Is China more stable? Perhaps
somewhat, but there are no guarantees. When the giant teeters, many things
can come down with it.

So, this is what everyday chaos is like - a situation that is not
predictable in the short run, even less in the middle run. It is therefore a
situation in which the economic, political, and cultural fluctations are
large and rapid. And that is frightening for most people.


[Copyright by Immanuel Wallerstein, distributed by Agence Global. For rights
and permissions, including translations and posting to non-commercial sites,
and contact: rights at agenceglobal.com, 1.336.686.9002 or 1.336.286.6606.
Permission is granted to download, forward electronically, or e-mail to
others, provided the essay remains intact and the copyright note is
displayed. To contact author, write: immanuel.wallerstein at yale.edu. These
commentaries, published twice monthly, are intended to be reflections on the
contemporary world scene, as seen from the perspective not of the immediate
headlines but of the long term.]
 ------------------------------

*From:* Z Net - The Spirit Of Resistance Lives<http://www.zcommunications.org/>
*URL:*
http://www.zcommunications.org/chaos-as-an-everyday-thing-by-immanuel-wallerstein

The tool to turn commentary mailings off or on can be found in "My Account"
-> "Preferences/Edit My Details" option (Receives commentaries).
To view commentaries online go here:
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/
Comment on this commentary:
http://www.zcommunications.org/chaos-as-an-everyday-thing-by-immanuel-wallerstein

Print <http://www.zcommunications.org/contents/167138/print>

Temporarily toggle off commentary and other Sustainer
mailings.<http://www.zcommunications.org/my_account/remove_mailing_commentary/>
(You can turn them back on from your account page at any time. You will not
lose permissions or other Sustainer benefits nor will this interrupt your
donations.)

Visit your account page and make changes of any sort you may
desire.<http://www.zcommunications.org/my_details>
(You will have to enter your password in the field that appears.)



-- 
Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University - Think thank:
http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org

Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens;
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listcultures.org/pipermail/p2presearch_listcultures.org/attachments/20100217/921da44e/attachment.html>