While I am deeply saddened at the loss of life in yesterday's attacks, if
such words can even begin to suffice, I am willing to stand up and admit to
a disturbing realization of some of the contradictions this raises in my own
analysis of the world.

I suspect that I am not the only member of this list that has supported, or
sympathises with, the criticisms levelled at cultural Americanisation (often
under the guise of Ritzer's McDonaldization thesis), or the anti-capitalist
demos that have taken place across the globe, or indeed the occasional
smashing of a McDonalds of GAP window.

If this is the case, do we have to confront the fact that the actions of
yesterday represent a possible extension of such ideas and principles? As we
do not know who carried out the attack at this stage we have to acknowledge
that the targets were clearly the most expressive symbols of American
(capitalist) economic and military might (or in old C. Wright Mills' terms
'the power elite'. They were a symbolic blow against the imperialism of
world capitalism. If we do accept this, how should supporters of the current
movements feel about it? Do we abandon critique because of the horrors that
occurred yesterday, or do we justify our continued critique with the use of
contingency statements?

I for one know that if these buildings had been destroyed without loss of
human life, in the name of those whose lives had been eternally damaged by
the action of not only the US state, but the system it so jealously
preserves, then I would not have shed any tears. As it is, I find myself
continually reflecting on how I should feel about this.

Certainly my fear is that the current US administration will act in a manner
that is itself equally inhuman and barbaric, indeed it already seems that
the talk is of declaring war on 'anybody who wishes the United States harm'
thus, in my view, undermining what little democratic credibility it has left
in the world.

As for the e-mail concerning the opposition to debate on this list and the
need for 'objectivity', perhaps we should treat such a comment with sympathy
rather than contempt.


-----Original Message-----
From: Steffen Bohm
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 9/12/01 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: debate platform

why this constant attempts to separate politics from management? i would
say
that what happened yesterday has a lot to do with the way global
anglo-saxon
management has colonized this world, and if anywhere, this is the right
place
and time to start engaging in a serious discussion about it.
what kind of academic objectivity are you referring to?, the one that
has
successfully managed to disconnect itself from the 'objective reality'
of
millions of people on the 'ground' who suffer as the result of global
corporatism?
i think we should mourn the thousands of people who lost their lives
yesterday.
but hopefully this will not lead to some sort of paralysis and hiding in
academic towers of babel. we need to discuss these issues maturely, we
need to
develop reasons that help us to understand what happened yesterday. the
media
won't do it for us. the mainstream management scholar crowd won't do it
either.

steffen



Erik Bush wrote:

> Peter:
>
> Frankly,
>
> I don't want the philosophical rantings of either side of the debate
to clog
> my email utility.  Save that for your dinner tables, I signed up for
this
> forum to discuss issues of work, organization and management.  While a
case
> can be made that obviously someone mismanaged something, somewhere, I
would
> hope this particular forum remains academically objective, which I do
not
> think will occur when we base the discussion on political issues.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Critical Perspectives on Work, Management and Organization
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of PM Hamilton
> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 3:55 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: debate platform
>
> Why not use this forum as a debate platform.  Given events like those
> today it kind of puts debates about critical management studies
> slightly into the shade.
>
> Peter