It has been hammered into our brains ever since we were born that overpopulation was one of the fundamental reasons for the poverty and underdevelopment of nations. It holds an exalted position in the vicious cycle of poverty and has been a major thrust of the United Nations Development Program which has sponsored countless programmes to curb overpopulation in the least developing nations.
Many economists of the developed world have come out with papers and evidence to prove that overpopulation is directly correlated to low GDP.
However, Karl Marx, known to all the founding father of Communism, had a fascinating theory about the role of population in economic development of nations.
Marxian political economy theory talks extensively about the core and the periphery - the developed countries bossing over the developing countries, keeping them under their control economically and politically. The agents of control are MNCs, International Organizations and sometimes even NGOs. While this formed the main part of Marx’s theory and the consequent public policy adopted by Marxist governments, neo-Marxism took these assumptions a step further.
Marx stated that overpopulation is NOT a factor in economic growth and development. The neo-Marxists took it a level further by claiming that this agenda was perpetrated by the developed nations through international organizations and economic research agencies as a form of modern genocide. They believed that the developed nations took the developing nations to be inferior and by promoting population control as a feature of economic growth, the developing world would be outnumbered by the developed and soon the former would be eradicated completely.
I'm going to repeat this purely for effect. The neo-Marxists claim that ALL ADVOCATES OF POPULATION CONTROL ARE PERPETRATING GENOCIDE.
The audacity of the neo-Marxists’ claim was obviously met by unanimous opposition from the capitalist world. I am sure the reader of this article would experience similar emotions. Of course, all our textbooks, governments and everything we’ve ever heard has stressed on the primary importance of population control. China, today, stands living proof of the miracles that can be achieved through population control.
How then, does the neo- Marxists’ claim add up?
Marx believed that population growth was a problem in the capitalist world due to the gross inequities and inadequacies of the capitalist system. Inadequacies which the socialist economy endeavored to eradicate, to the extent where population growth was good. So good that the USSR implemented a tax on single child and childless couples and banned abortion.
Similarly, China was lauded for its massive rate of growth. Mao Zedong is quoted to have said that “A large population is a good thing. With a population increase of several folds we still have an adequate solution.”
Neo-Marxists took the cue from these sentiments and championed the cause of population growth. However, with the fall of Communism, their theories were unequivocally disproved by the capitalist world. China itself took a 180 degree turn from their existing policy and undertook the most stringent population control policy ever seen by the word.
The neo-Marxists were left out in the dark and their sole mode of self-defense was to call on dependency theory to explain this contradiction. They claimed quite shamelessly that any reference to population growth as a vice was a purely imperialist move, aimed at modern, hidden genocide and the developing world, including China had no alternative but to cooperate.
It is fascinating how such an unusual, unexpected line of thought has stayed alive long after its vehement disproval. No non-Marxist in the world today could, while in their senses, claim that population growth is an acceptable phenomenon. The world’s unanimous calls for population control in both the developing and developed world have been almost unchallenged, except for the lone voice of neo-Marxism that stands strong.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Satellite
"Maybe you will always be... Just a little out of reach" - Guster
The sky and the stars have an unexpected effect on people. It can send them over the edge in a good or bad way. But few people leave an observatory unaffected. I wonder why that is.
In the book I'm reading now, "A Fraction of the Whole", a small observatory is built in a little town. Suddenly everybody started showing more love - fathers bought gifts for their sons, husbands took their wives out and children shared their chocolates.
Its nice to know that something so far away can have such a strong impact on people here on earth...
The sky and the stars have an unexpected effect on people. It can send them over the edge in a good or bad way. But few people leave an observatory unaffected. I wonder why that is.
In the book I'm reading now, "A Fraction of the Whole", a small observatory is built in a little town. Suddenly everybody started showing more love - fathers bought gifts for their sons, husbands took their wives out and children shared their chocolates.
Its nice to know that something so far away can have such a strong impact on people here on earth...
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
House of Cards
What happens to a House of Cards?
It falls. Inevitably.
Its made to break. If you get lucky, you'll get out while it's intact.
But If it crashes while you're there - You die.
It falls. Inevitably.
Its made to break. If you get lucky, you'll get out while it's intact.
But If it crashes while you're there - You die.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
riddle
Like shadows, tip-top
'Boo'. incessant, unrelenting
Poison to his soul
Tumour to his heart
Static, stuck, daughter of earth
Revolves, but he stays
Rooted, the tumour feeds
'Boo' incessant unrelenting
Soaked with gasoline
He burns and seethes
Confession- don't douse the flames
They flare, they lick
The gates to his soul
And he can't see anymore
'Boo'. incessant, unrelenting
Poison to his soul
Tumour to his heart
Static, stuck, daughter of earth
Revolves, but he stays
Rooted, the tumour feeds
'Boo' incessant unrelenting
Soaked with gasoline
He burns and seethes
Confession- don't douse the flames
They flare, they lick
The gates to his soul
And he can't see anymore
permanent high
a high is a high because it preceeds/succeeds a low. otherwise it would just be a plateau.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
"Crisis"
The placement lists shrink, the names turn obscure, monthly allowance vanishes in a week, something is not right. In a nutshell, money is missing. This is the average young person’s view on the crisis.
The papers, the economists and the experts have analyzed the crisis to the point of exhaustion, and every contradictory point of view has been debated, supported and torn down. They discuss hundreds of theories that economics has spewed out, they talk about the definition and squabble about the semantics of it – is it a recession or is it a downturn? Speculations are unending about when the economy will rise again.
For the young world, definitions are irrelevant. We are not scholars or intellectuals, we are the masses. For us, the name of this situation is secondary to the solution. As far as we are concerned, what we see exemplifies the crisis perfectly – no work, no money. That is the extent of this issue. And our high school civics textbooks have more than sufficiently highlighted the many vices of unemployment.
Then we hear and read about the many hundreds of theories being pushed around. Yes, we understand how stimulating the economy might help, how increasing money supply is now the only option left. We do agree that these things will have a positive impact in the Long Run. But we don’t see these processed in action, the invisible hand is truly invisible and for the youth, inadequate.
What we want, need and strive for is practical solutions. In the practical world, we see our friends, our brothers and sisters, our families not being able to find jobs, unemployed, underemployed, settling for any job they can find. To ensure the same fate does not hit us, we are constantly reinventing ourselves, trying to do anything and everything to set ourselves apart from the mediocre – be it through extra classes, pursuing a higher degree, doing double degrees, more professional courses, dance lessons, internships. A perfect example would be the ricocheting level of competition in higher education. Everybody would rather pursue a Master’s degree than jump into work directly. And this means more demand for higher education and far more competition. And thus the need for flexibility.
We feel all organizations should be doing the same – being flexible, reinventing, offering more for less and being more efficient. Which is easy for the smaller companies, but for the rigid MNCs, it is a long and arduous process.
The way we see it, this crisis has its upsides. It makes the world and us re-evaluate the bubble we were living in, get realistic and become better equipped to handle the cut-throat competition that has emerged from the downturn. Natural Selection has spoken and no harm can come from that. Although socialism and the welfare state exist to buffer the impacts of this natural selection, they can do so only for a while. The world is going to catch up with us.
The papers, the economists and the experts have analyzed the crisis to the point of exhaustion, and every contradictory point of view has been debated, supported and torn down. They discuss hundreds of theories that economics has spewed out, they talk about the definition and squabble about the semantics of it – is it a recession or is it a downturn? Speculations are unending about when the economy will rise again.
For the young world, definitions are irrelevant. We are not scholars or intellectuals, we are the masses. For us, the name of this situation is secondary to the solution. As far as we are concerned, what we see exemplifies the crisis perfectly – no work, no money. That is the extent of this issue. And our high school civics textbooks have more than sufficiently highlighted the many vices of unemployment.
Then we hear and read about the many hundreds of theories being pushed around. Yes, we understand how stimulating the economy might help, how increasing money supply is now the only option left. We do agree that these things will have a positive impact in the Long Run. But we don’t see these processed in action, the invisible hand is truly invisible and for the youth, inadequate.
What we want, need and strive for is practical solutions. In the practical world, we see our friends, our brothers and sisters, our families not being able to find jobs, unemployed, underemployed, settling for any job they can find. To ensure the same fate does not hit us, we are constantly reinventing ourselves, trying to do anything and everything to set ourselves apart from the mediocre – be it through extra classes, pursuing a higher degree, doing double degrees, more professional courses, dance lessons, internships. A perfect example would be the ricocheting level of competition in higher education. Everybody would rather pursue a Master’s degree than jump into work directly. And this means more demand for higher education and far more competition. And thus the need for flexibility.
We feel all organizations should be doing the same – being flexible, reinventing, offering more for less and being more efficient. Which is easy for the smaller companies, but for the rigid MNCs, it is a long and arduous process.
The way we see it, this crisis has its upsides. It makes the world and us re-evaluate the bubble we were living in, get realistic and become better equipped to handle the cut-throat competition that has emerged from the downturn. Natural Selection has spoken and no harm can come from that. Although socialism and the welfare state exist to buffer the impacts of this natural selection, they can do so only for a while. The world is going to catch up with us.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Invictus
Why does life become so hard sometimes?
It feels like you’re always running towards this great something that will bring you happiness and personal satisfaction until the end of time. So every future action of yours feels like it should be motivated towards this great something which will fulfill you. Unfortunately, there is some higher rule which has somehow decided that only a select few can be awarded with this great big something and the basic prerequisites for this great something are having an excellent education, playing you cards right, having a good job of course because without that the world would just crumble and fall away.
And, if ever in life, for even a minute, you get this feeling that what you’re doing isn’t leading you to this great big something then it feels like the whole world is closing in on you, its like you are going to be a big fat failure because you will not have a wonderful job and get a fat paycheck to service your selfish needs and make you a perfect person. Why is everything so hard all the time? Why can’t we just be happy and experience life? It doesn’t seem fair that we have to be running towards something eternally – yes, some things need to be done – studying, working etc. but how can they become the very foreground for your existence, why should they control who you are and how you feel. If you love to sing, just sing... why worry if that’s cutting into your time of making yourself a better asset for the corporate world so some MNC or big conglomerate will hire you and give you a large paycheck for doing a job you secretly hate and wouldn’t be in if it weren’t for the money.
What’s worse is competition. You see somebody who’s made a little more money than you in a shorter period of time, somebody who’s done something a little more exciting and immediately the world comes crashing down, you feel that constriction in your chest, the panic sets in and al of a sudden you feel worthless, because the other person’s success just reminds you of your blinding failure. Ah, the woes of humanity. Pathetic as we are, we are perpetually held in this trap of the world, we don’t just live for ourselves and our loved ones. We live more for our boss, our teachers, the people we hate because they’re better than us, or so we think.
We’re all just caged in this cycle of impressing others and fulfilling this pre-existing mould of what’s right and what’s good. But what’s the point in life? Why waste our lives living it for somebody else. Every moment is gone when we blink it away worrying or just pointlessly working on something we hate.
If only there could be a way to exit this cage and this cycle and be completely free of it. Invictus – ‘I am the captain of my fate, I am the master of my soul.’
It feels like you’re always running towards this great something that will bring you happiness and personal satisfaction until the end of time. So every future action of yours feels like it should be motivated towards this great something which will fulfill you. Unfortunately, there is some higher rule which has somehow decided that only a select few can be awarded with this great big something and the basic prerequisites for this great something are having an excellent education, playing you cards right, having a good job of course because without that the world would just crumble and fall away.
And, if ever in life, for even a minute, you get this feeling that what you’re doing isn’t leading you to this great big something then it feels like the whole world is closing in on you, its like you are going to be a big fat failure because you will not have a wonderful job and get a fat paycheck to service your selfish needs and make you a perfect person. Why is everything so hard all the time? Why can’t we just be happy and experience life? It doesn’t seem fair that we have to be running towards something eternally – yes, some things need to be done – studying, working etc. but how can they become the very foreground for your existence, why should they control who you are and how you feel. If you love to sing, just sing... why worry if that’s cutting into your time of making yourself a better asset for the corporate world so some MNC or big conglomerate will hire you and give you a large paycheck for doing a job you secretly hate and wouldn’t be in if it weren’t for the money.
What’s worse is competition. You see somebody who’s made a little more money than you in a shorter period of time, somebody who’s done something a little more exciting and immediately the world comes crashing down, you feel that constriction in your chest, the panic sets in and al of a sudden you feel worthless, because the other person’s success just reminds you of your blinding failure. Ah, the woes of humanity. Pathetic as we are, we are perpetually held in this trap of the world, we don’t just live for ourselves and our loved ones. We live more for our boss, our teachers, the people we hate because they’re better than us, or so we think.
We’re all just caged in this cycle of impressing others and fulfilling this pre-existing mould of what’s right and what’s good. But what’s the point in life? Why waste our lives living it for somebody else. Every moment is gone when we blink it away worrying or just pointlessly working on something we hate.
If only there could be a way to exit this cage and this cycle and be completely free of it. Invictus – ‘I am the captain of my fate, I am the master of my soul.’
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