mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (10/27/83)
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Poverty in India and other semi-colonial countries is not
caused by some failing on the part of the people there. It is caused
by years of imperialist domination, which has resulted in enforced
economic backwardness.
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Shouldn't this be in net.jokes? Surely there don't exist people who
seriously believe such stuff? Colonialism is surely bad, whether practiced
by European, Asian or American countries. It clearly can enrich the
colonial power (but need not). But there are lots of reasons for
poverty, and unless you define that imperialism exists because
poverty is there, you can't blame the imperialist powers for it.
Look at the inner cities or hill country in the US, for example.
It is the policies of the colonial power that matter, and how they
carry over after the imperialists leave. Would India have been better
off if Hindus and Muslims had worked together rather than massacring
each other on liberation?
Martin Taylorclaus@inuxa.UUCP (10/27/83)
Comparing India's population density to Britian's doesn't really prove very much. Other factors such as geography, climate, and economy play a much more important part in determing the ability to feed a certain sized population. Simply put, India has two choices to reduce hunger in its country, one is to slow population growth and the other is to increase the amount of food it can either grow or buy. With respect to the former, India has not been able to slow population growth appreciably in the last few years and is expected to pass China eventually. I don't see how this can be blamed on its colonial past. As I understand the food growing problem goes back to the way the land has been used for thousands of years and can hardly be blamed on the short period of time that the British were in power there. As far as buying food goes, trying to raise their food imports to keep up with their growth in need, would be a drag on even a healthier economy than they presently have(One which the US and Britian have been trying to help them build). In conclusion, trying to blame India's woes on its colonial past is ignoring their most important problem of uncontrollable population growth. Dave Claus AT&T CPL-Indy
tpkq@charm.UUCP (Timothy Kerwin) (11/02/83)
~ One of the responses to the silly, racist "cow-worship-causes-poverty" article sought to explain hunger in India by the equally racist "overpopulation" myth. In fact, the population density (people/km^2) is LOWER in India than in Great Britain, India's principal imperialist opressor. But we don't hear about "overpopulation" in Britain! Poverty in India and other semi-colonial countries is not caused by some failing on the part of the people there. It is caused by years of imperialist domination, which has resulted in enforced economic backwardness.