[Fsf-friends] IT sector

[Mani A]

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 5:26 PM, CK Raju <ck.thrissur at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 9:05 PM, Mani A <a.mani.cms at gmail.com> >>> All
> of the non-left State Governments in India and the Central Govt
>>>> are essentially being run by the big business and apart from the usual
>>>
>>>
>>> Its pointless to blame other governments, because they don't declare
>>> themselves to be followers of any particular ideology. There is no
>>> common concern in outlook of most such governments.
>>
>>
>> They certainly determine, most of what seems to exist and does not seem to.
>
> My point was that left governments today are never far off from
> non-left governments. In certain cases, it had been left which had
> blundered, allowing non-left govts to push harder on similar lines.
> Microsoft, Pepsi, Cola etc all got their foothold in respectable
> positions because of shady dealings of left governments, in states
> like Kerala and Bengal. Left had lost much of its moral positions

The performance of the left Govts has been good, despite the
right-wing media propaganda.

A state Government has hardly any constitutional right to stop the
corporate forces. The left is free to organize strikes, bandhs and
rallies and more. But the economy has already been completely handed
over to the MNCs by successive Central Govts.

This is going OT.

> because of such indulgences, at highest levels of democracy which it
> enjoyed (one must acknowledge that at lower layers of governance,
> things are pretty different - there are far too many sincere people
> around).


>
>>
>>> Most people would be silent if, for instance, left-front rechristens
>>> itself to "neo-liberal revolutionary front for individuals" - because
>> The Left has never really been in a position to implement 'truly
>> leftist' policies. They do admit that and their essential policy is
>
> But they were really in a position to implement extreme "right-ist"
> policies - whenever they got an opportunity to deal with big
> corporates. SEZs are living testimony to this - an area where markets
> enjoy unbridled freedom and unrestrained mobility to act and function
> on its own. A trade minister in Kerala recently said he's implementing
> SEZs primarily because he wants the world to know that the left is no
> longer against SEZs. How can any sensible person decode it differently
> ?

On SEZs, different parts of the left have different sets of
recommendations. This has been a heavily debated in all places... this
mailing list is NOT SUITABLE for debates on SEZs .


>
>> one of minimizing  damage in the present circumstances... beginning
>> from accepting to play democracy in a capitalist democracy and right


> Debates are good, but are those in power ever involved in such
> debates? Sensible people debate, lesser sensible ones
> decide-and-implement discreetly - why do they need to debate, when
> they already have freedom and power to do anything without it ?

State Governments in India have little power in their hands. It is the
Central Government that dictates. The Left certainly debates all the
issues involved at all levels of their organizations and outside too.

For the petit bourgeois, bourgeois and some other classes, should they
acquire mass media channels and give the FEELING of debate like the
corporates do?

>
<snip>
> Free Software, in that sense, shows a unhindered way of participation
> by those willing and in a direction that is tended to be away from
> corporate-culture - one driven by selfish interest, greed and
> profit-motive.

The free software movement is one of the many essential ways, but what
you said about scientists does not look all right.


Best


A. Mani






-- 
A. Mani
Member, Cal. Math. Soc