A new book worth reading:
PLUNDER - When The Rule Of Law Is Illegal
Ugo Mattei and Laura Nader
Amazon Link
[what is needed is] world culture and of global political realism.
a need of social justice and solidarity
empowered by a political soul
justice
respect
empowering its bright side and fully exposing the dark aspects of the rule of law can transform it into a tool for taking control of a runaway world, fueled by an economic dynamic called neo-liberalism.
a new form of international scholar and citizen activism.
resist the empire of lawlessness
We need ... a philosophy for our own time."
law in action is about politics and power
a rule of law of the people
fundamental restructuring of the political field.
People have to be free to build their own economies.
+++
'The only truly political action . . . is threat which severs the nexus between violence and law'.
the incremental use of law as a mechanism for constructing and legitimizing plunder.
patterns of global plunder, ... continued by nations, in particular the USA, and multinational corporate entities independent of explicit political or military colonialism.
a need of social justice and solidarity
the rule of law has a bright and a dark side
empowered by a political soul
justice
respect
empowering its bright side and fully exposing the dark aspets of the rule of law can transform it into a tool for taking control of a runaway world, fueled by an economic dynamic called neo-liberalism.
a clear rejection of an ideology of inherent superiority of Western culture that does not recognize that the West is itself part of something much larger.
... the problems we are facing are systemic to a several-hundred-year-old system of Euro-American expansion and domination based on extraction and plunder, a system that is now adopted by India and China.
plunder as the rule rather than the exception allows the reader to get outraged.
organize radical alternatives to its destructive models of development?
a new form of international scholar and citizen activism.
differentiate between the light and dark sides of the rule of law
plunder may become the target of public opinion and legal challenges.
Lifting plunder from below the radar screen is a potential mobilizing force
persistence, networking, imagination
resist the empire of lawlessness
develop tools that expose the variety of Western colonial strategies used to deny history
develop a critique of ethnocentrism both conscious and unconscious.
We need ... a philosophy for our own time."
law in action is about politics and power
a rule of law of the people
fundamental restructuring of the political field.
demystify many taboos ... [including the] rule of law.
tell the historical truth,
to the people, to prove that truth is always revolutionary and might, if politically organized, pierce the thick veil of lies that shelters Western plunder and historical brutality.
Western spectacular and imperialist ideas of democracy and of the rule of law should be rejected.
On this planet, resources are scarce but, if the rich were legally forced to respect the limits of decency, there would be more than sufficient resources for all to live well.
admiring the rich and the powerful and the instruments used to secure such an unfair arrangement seems indeed paradoxical.
People have to be free to build their own economies.
There is nothing inevitable about the present arrangements and their dominant and taken-for-granted certainties.
[what is needed is] world culture and of global political realism.
+++
PLUNDER - When The Rule Of Law Is Illegal
Ugo Mattei and Laura Nader
Amazon Link
From the introduction:
'The only truly political action . . . is threat which severs the nexus between violence and law'. - Giorgio Agamben
... While theoreticians of Euro-American imperialism profess to recognize the rule of law as keystones of the 'civilizing process,' its dark side has been neglected. Law has been used to justify, administer, and sanction Western conquest and plunder, resulting in massive global disparities. Thus, we argue, imperial uses - past and present - of the rule of law are behind the current less-than-ideal practices of distributive justice.
...
Our story is about the incremental use of law as a mechanism for constructing and legitimizing plunder. Our intent is to examine the extent of the law's dark side and to explain the mechanics of such imperial uses of it.
...
What is of interest to us in this book are the mechanisms through which the transnational rule of law, as a deeply Western idea, has led incrementally to patterns of global plunder, a process initiated by the expansion of Euro-American society worldwide, and now continued by nations, in particular the USA, and multinational corporate entities independent of explicit political or military colonialism.
...
The transformation of the rule of law ideal into an imperial ideology has accompanied the move from a need of social justice and solidarity towards the capitalist requirements of efficiency and competition.
...
We argue that the rule of law has a bright and a dark side, with the latter progressively conquering new terrain whenever the former is not empowered by a political soul. In the absence of such political life, the rule of law becomes a cold technology, and the dark side can cover the whole picture as law yields to embrace brute violence.
...
A public shift from justice to profit, from respect to thefts, followed within an atmosphere of silenced political debate, overwhelmed by self-congratulatory rhetoric, such as the end of history, through the 1990s.
...
Perhaps empowering its bright side and fully exposing the dark aspets of the rule of law can transform it into a tool for taking control of a runaway world, fueled by an economic dynamic called neo-liberalism.
...
A reconfiguration would mean, first and foremost, a clear rejection of an ideology of inherent superiority of Western culture that does not recognize that eh West is itself part of something much larger.
... the problems we are facing are systemic to a several-hundred-year-old system of Euro-American expansion and domination based on extraction and plunder, a system that is now adopted by India and China.
Perhaps plunder as the rule rather than the exception allows the reader to get outraged. The Enron scandal, the mutual fund scandal, and other examples portrayed as exceptions ... in fact are the rule of corporate capitalist development; workers are victimized; people lose their savings; innocents are killed; peasants are starved. The distinction between what is legal and what is illegal blurs in a world in which the rule of law is reduced to a dull rhetoric or to Orwellian double-speak. How much more suffering do we need to realize that similar tragedies are the rule and not the exception? How much more time do we need to recognize the civilizing failure of corporate capitalism and the need to organize radical alternatives to its destructive models of development?
From Chapter 1
... In this book we are not moved by the desire to argue against the rule of law. We only wish to gain a better understanding of this powerful political weapon, to question its almost sacred status, by analyzing it as a Western cultural artifact, closely connect with the diffusion of Western political domination. We will try to disenatangle its connection with the ideal of democracy, and on the contrary recognize its close association with another notion, that of 'plunder.'
Let us clarify, before we continue, what we mean by the term 'plunder.' The American Heritage Dictionary defines 'plunder' as 'to rob of goods by force, esp. in times of war; pillage," and 'Plunder' (the noun) as 'property stolen by fraud or force.' It is the latter definition that especially brings to mind the dark side of the rule of law. We address both looting by force and looting by fraud, both wrapped in the rule of law by illustrious legal practitioners and scholars. We trace the development of the critical supporting role that the rule of law has played in plunder.
... the birth of the rule of law ... had nothing to do with notions of democracy, unless we wish to assert that the English Parliament of the time was a democratic institution! As widely recognized by contemporary historians, the birth of the rule of law was actually the triumph of medieval social structure over modernization. ... the false notion that progress and civilization were protected by the alliance between Parliament (democracy!) and the common law courts (the rule of law).
From the end of the last chapter
...
The preceding examples point to a new form of international scholar and citizen activism. The additive effect might in the long run cause people to be able to differentiate between the light and dark sides of the rule of law, between the seedlings that start with local law traditions and then grow and spread, as was exhibited with global outrage at the US's unilateral attack on Iraq. If more widely recognized for what it is, plunder may become the target of public opinion and legal challenges. Lifting plunder from below the radar screen is a potential mobilizing force, although there is no guarantee without persistence, networking, imagination, and recognition of the difficulties inherent in deconstructing the imperial rule of law, in some places still considered to be a social good.
...
If, however, you are a victim of land plunder, polluted drinking water, or loss of state oil revenues, if you have lost a job or savings, or are the poor target of a fishing expedition aimed at filling up privatized jails - that is where the spectacular hits the ground and the user of law grasps the difference between the light and dark sides of the rule of law. Can we resist the empire of lawlessness with a one-day protest or with a well-articulated suit in a US court of law? It seems unlikely.
The strategy is to develop tools that expose the variety of Western colonial strategies used to deny history, and to develop a critique of ethnocentrism both conscious and unconscious. Did Cicero not remind us: "Freedom is participation in power"? A vision that capitalizes on historical experience offers ideas based on whatever deserves to be saved in the name of justice, wherever it comes from in time and space. Realized Western capitalism and realized European socialism must be compared on an equal footing. Neither, with only few exceptions, have been success stories over time. We need, as Margaret Meed noted shortly before her death, "a philosophy for our own time."
In discussing the continuities between colonialism and neo-liberalism we have offered abundant evidence that capitalism has enough strength and its actors the capacity to deploy an impressive aggregate of effective strategies to overcome difficult moments created by temporary triumphs of legality. Given the fact that, ultimately, the law in action is about politics and power, possibly more than about efficiency or justice, we need to acknowledge the impossibility of significantly transforming the imperial rule of law into a rule of law of the people outside of a fundamental restructuring of the political field. Such an attempt, however, needs to demystify many taboos, one being the per se desirability of the historical experience hitherto known as rule of law. There is a renewed need to tell the historical truth, not only to powerful institutions but also to the people, to prove that truth is always revolutionary and might, if politically organized, pierce the thick veil of lies that shelters Western plunder and historical brutality. Western spectacular and imperialist ideas of democracy and of the rule of law should be rejected. What over time should emerge is a very simple notion, today hidden in plain sight over time should emerge is a very simple notion, by a centuries-old dominant ideological tale: in a world of scarce resources there is a limit to private accumulation to be respected, and the rich (countries, corporations, or, ultimately, individuals) cannot be rich beyond that limit without being responsible for the poor being poor. Trespassing over that substantive limit amounts to plunder, regardless of whether the rule of law, by protecting the bottom line and all externalized costs, enforces such disparities. On this planet, resources are scarce but, if the rich were legally forced to respect the limits of decency, there would be more than sufficient resources for all to live well. Nobody would admire and respect someone who at a lunch buffet for seven, obscenely ate 90 percent of the food, leaving he other guests to share an amount insufficient for one. In a world history of capitalism in which the rule of law has reproduced taht arrangement on the large scale, admiring the rich and the powerful and the instruments used to secure such an unfair arrangement seems indeed paradoxical. People have to be free to build their own economies.
There is nothing inevitable about the present arrangements and their dominant and taken-for-granted certainties. Indeed, it may be that the present legal and political hegemonies suffer from lack: the lack of world culture and of global political realism.
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