Of Gossip and Gossipers: An inter-disciplinary reflection

Albert Banico, 2004, mla
BS Journalism; MS General Sociology

If you love being in the company of gossipers and get excited whenever there are new gossip in town, circulating in your community or offices, definitely, this article is for you!!!

Gossips or rumors are common problems in any organization especially if communication is absent or inadequate.

Sources of Gossips
There are several causes of rumors and gossips. The most common are: fear, hatred, wishful thinking, jealousy, prejudice and selfishness.

People pass rumors to gain attention, to create excitement, to help them and to make others be interested in something he or she thinks that other persons want to hear.

Social Distinctions
If people in the neighborhood or in an organization are expected to exchange secrets and scandals, this norm will lead, at the very least, to a distinction between those who hold in high regard, those who really enjoy gossip, and those who offer tea and cakes as well, according to R. Dahrendorf, an American sociologist.

Motivations and Effects of Rumors
Of all gossips, those motivated by hatred and prejudice are the hardest to counter-act. Character assassination is one type of rumor that is very damaging. Gossips thrive and spread like wildfire and people easily believe them especially if they incite people to fear, to hate and to be hostile.

What Psychologists Say?
Psychologists emphasize that people who are not kept busy become nervous and anxious and if not well adjusted are more likely to be the source of rumors than others. This can be avoided by good channel of communication.

Lessons from Our History
Gossips would not be rumors if no one will do it and no one would like it. Historically, Filipinos love it because of our colonial past wherein our vulnerability and lack of freedom of speech resulted into different undesirable expressions.

Sociological Functions
Looking at the sociological functions of gossips and gossipers, we can find some interesting facts:
People don’t know how to use proper communication channels.
In relation to this, gossip exists because there is something wrong with the communication channel in an organization

Politically Correct?
In socio-political theory, gossips or rumors seem to be a means of social control mechanism in favor of those in authority to divide and rule the members in any social institution within our society.

Modern conflict theorist, like Randolf Dahrendorf, claim that gossip happens when the gossiper wants to control someone. It is born when someone desires to destroy the other person. By making gossip, rumors, chat, stories or any thing that will give attention, the gossiper gains certain power he wants. Therefore, it is a struggle for power. The result is the losing of one’s credibility at the expense of the other. If power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, gossip then deceives while sustained gossiping deceives us absolutely.

A Culture of Death
In 1983, Dr. Scott Peck, a psychologist and author of the best seller book entitled, “Road Less Travel,” earlier wrote a book entitled “The People of the Lie,” where he explained the nature of the psychology of evil and the hope for healing human evil within us. He explained that we human beings can become an incarnated evil once we manifest the darkness within us instead of the brighter side of us, which is our goodness.

On the other hand, gossiping as a habit is a sad trait and can be considered as part of the culture of death and a manifestation of that psychology of evil as coined by Dr. Peck. At the end, the worst victim is the last receiver of the said gossip.

Back to Kindergarten
Communication and self-respect are the most important elements in this situation. Anything that will improve the means and ways of communication reduces and prevents the possibility of prejudice, conflict and bias.

Proper use of communication, a good channel of communication and remembering what we have all learned from kindergarten can avoid this. As Robert Fulghum remind us;

Share everything
Play fair
Don’t hit
Put things back where you found them
Clean up your own mess
Don’t take things that aren’t yours
Say sorry when you hurt somebody
Wash your hands before you eat
Flush (Flush the urinals and the toilet bowl after we use them)
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
Live a balanced life. Learn some, think some, draw, paint, sing, dance, play, and work everyday some.
Take a nap every afternoon (But of course don’t if you have class, if you are cooking or driving a car)
When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.

With effective and kind communication, rumors can be handled and factual information is made available to all.

A Life Worth Living
There is commonality among great Asian beliefs from Buddhism to Confucian, in
Shintoism, Christianity or Taoism that in order to make a harmonious life, we must
always show our care and respect for life.

After all, as the Greek Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.”


Sources:

Cedeno-Refareal, Lourdes, So God Created Man, 2003
Javier, Jessie, D. et al, Introductory Sociology and Anthropology, 2002
ASI Sociology Papers, Advanced Sociological Theories, 2002
Banico, AB, Human Relations Training Report, 2001
Banico, AB, Of Gossip and Gossipers, first printing 2001
Ritzer, Social Theory, 2001
Goleman, Daniel, Emotional Intelligence, 1995
The Holy Bible, King James Version, Philippine Bible Society, 1987
Scott, William, Dictionary of Sociology, 1988
Fulghum, Robert, All I Ever Really needed to know and Learned in Kindergarten, 1990
Dr. Peck, Scott, MD, The people of the Lie, 1983
Constantino, Renato, A Past Revisited, Volume I, 1975
Beteille, Inequality, 1974
Mills, C.Wright, Power, Politics and People, 1939
The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, 1907
Plato, The Dialogue

Eks, Why, Z, the Nexs and Kikay Generation: Options and Hope for Youth Studies

(Toward a Framework to the Sociology of the Filipino Youth)
Institute of Youth Studies Position Paper on Youth Studies
____________________________________________________

Albert Banico, 2005, mla


Youth Studies is not a new idea in the Philippines.

It was conceived long ago without mentioning formally the name of the discipline. The physical evidence of this claim is the mountain of research, studies, facts, books, papers, outputs, blue prints, programs, history and struggle on the Filipino youth.

If we accept it sincerely, youth studies in the Philippines is rooted to our national history since the beginning of the first student reform movement was led by the first generation of the Propaganda movement entrenched in our Spanish controlled schools and colleges and influenced by the secularization movement of Father Burgos in 1770’s and up to the formation of our first republic in 1898.

Who can challenge the commitment and sacrificing generation of the youngest recorded officer of the Katipunan in the person of Emilio Jacinto and the “Boy” General Gregorio Del Pilar whose courage and heroism for the country are both unquestioned?

The only difference today is that we put a new name to that same interest on the Filipino youth by giving new institutional angle and of course an academic twist.

Youth Studies and Relevance

What is the value of any research without any bearing, importance or significance?

In any research, the significance of the study is always asked and put as a foremost priority before accepting the paper. These parameters determine the implication of the research to the larger society. However there are research because of novelty and “newness” to our ears and eyes, and because of that we entertain it as well as it entertain us.

This is not wrong in the spirit of academic freedom but on the other hand, the relevance not the just the significance of any study must be considered specially if we are talking about “government funds” in a time of “government tight spending” and is particularly directed towards a particular program. A P10, 000 can be an equivalent amount that can feed at least 65 poor and malnourished street children or juvenile delinquent for one day. An amount that can finance a better program that can be a sustainable initiative more than any other paper out puts.

It is in this line that we must put distinction between research for entertainment and real studies for the betterment of our society particularly the youth sector.


An Obligation for All

No person can separate him or herself to his or her beliefs and experience.

Any person is shape by his or her belief and experience. The more we expand our social experience for the benefit and the upliftment of the dignity others, the more we become involve to the lives of other significant or generalized others and as we move on from one experience to another, we expand our beliefs that we carry anywhere, anytime or whatever task we have in life. That is why value free thing in sociological research is an ultimate lie. It may sound as subversive to the principles of objectivity however, as advocates of progressive social change we must put the core values of service, truth and humility.

Youth Studies must not just be timely, but relevant to the need of the times.

Youth Studies for a Better Society

Recently, a screening committee for the candidates of the 5th National Youth Parliament at the National Youth Commission was held and the author was one of the panel member who asked the a question if what is the fundamental problem of the youth today to the candidates. The National Youth Parliament was the highest recommending body for the youth in the Philippines today and was a product of the Republic Act 8044 or the “Youth in Nation Building Act.”

The 10 candidates from the National Capital Region and the representatives of the marginalized sub-sectors of the youth pointed out the following as the main problems of the youth today;

Discrimination
Poverty
Education
Money
Fiscal crisis
Family
Self-centeredness
Health
Drugs
Low quality of life

One interviewee even mentioned that drugs as a severe problems in the country today seems very difficult because even if that there are regular news headlines about raids, discovered and captured big drug factories here and there and somewhere else but still in every localities or corner of the streets in the urban centers have drug users and pushers in the neighborhood. This kind of insight should be put into test so that social scientist can validate what is being reported in the news by mass media, by the government and what is visibly seen and experienced by young people or the general public as a whole.

If we will observed, most of the youth research in recent years often discussed the topics of reproductive health, sex, homosexuality, sexuality, gender, sex behavior, texting, sexting and other related topics that are being magnified and amplified by mass media.

In relation with this we can find a few end goals and after effect for the academe, mass media, general public, interest groups, lobby groups, private and public agencies;

To entertain us – the mentioned issues seemed entertaining for willing audience especially the latest sex behavior and drug stimulant among the young.

To influence or generate sympathy – lobby groups and interest groups are supporting these studies to generate constituencies for their cause of expanding the feminity among the males and for those who are in hiding to come up in the open than to resolve their personal confusion among themselves.

To get attention or constituency – the more forum for this topics the more constituency they can have not necessarily to understand but gain recognition that there is a phenomena such as the difference between the bi-sexual and the homosexuals/. That bi-sexual are separate entities and not totally gays. Straight gays will clearly say that this is a defense mechanism that they just can’t accept that they are totally gays and in a way this issues are entertaining for others.

To gain prestige – A professional and honorable researcher can mentioned that she is happy when her paper research is printed and accepted by her peers because it adds “prestige” to their institution and a validation from the people. Research that is not necessarily help for betterment of our lives, mindsets, behavior, quality of life and socialization but just to gain prestige. A research to get attention by organizing constituencies for our interests, sympathy and at the end to entertain our readers and ourselves especially the young.

Young people today have enough entertainment and perhaps so much of it that they less think and reflect among themselves to question the validity of their convictions and accepted perceptions of their social realities.

According to Epitacio Palispis, Vice President for Academic Affairs of the Asia Social Institute in (ASI) Manila, the Education Committee (EDCOM) spearheaded by the 10th Congress found out that in the last 50 years after World War II there are volumes of research pertaining the students which we never used.

This trend seems a prevailing culture in conducting research for research sake or for funding purposes and not to serve humanity specifically our countrymen particularly the youth.

Understanding the Filipino Youth

The Filipino youth according the Medium Term Development of 2000 constitute the 60% of our total population and increasing every year. This is significantly increasing in our young population of more than 82 Million according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

Nobel Prize Winner and Mathematician John Nash said that numbers, logic, equation and reason ruled his interest. Applied and Scientific Social Research was even concerned with these variables. Yet, unlike Nash, he questioned the deeper meaning of logic and the questioned that who decide reason. And without talking the factors of numbers on the issue of who belong to the category of youth, we can only serve the youth well by understanding them from their own perspectives significantly their world view, mindsets and visions about the present, the past and their future not mentioning their individual and collective aspirations.

On the Filipino Youth?

The National Youth Commission recently embark whom they said as an ambitious program of gathering youth research studies confronting the youth sector. The studies according to the NYC will be collated from the academe, government institutions, college and graduate students, youth organizations and people’s organization located in all regions, provinces and cities in the country on the issue of Employment, Education, Health, Values, Youth Participation and Youth with Special Needs.

The NYC was created by the RA 8044 as an expression of the youth empowerment institutionalization in the Philippines. It aims to involve the Filipino youth in a different form of adventure, which is in nation building. The youth nation building mechanism or youth empowerment vehicles in the country includes the Sangguniang Kabataan created in 1987 from a National Youth Consultation in Mariang Makiling, Laguna to end the Kabataang Barangay of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. This consultation produced three major proposals, which include the creation of the SK, the NYC and the National Youth Assembly in the expression of the National Youth Parliament.

Looking from the said proposals, it can be said that all of the three are tested and what is needed is to re-assess and evaluate the performance of the three youth representations in the country since all of them represent the empowerment institutionalization in the country today.

Several papers from Christopher N. Magno, Florante Gonzales, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines and Clarence M. Batan calls for re-thinking, reform or even radically reconstruct the current youth empowerment project in the Philippines.
The papers especially from Batan (2003) “Agenda for Youth Research in the Philippines, CEGP (1996) “SK and elite politics, Magno (2003) Wakas ng SK and others significantly consider the age in the political socialization of the youth and the corruption of the young people in the process of socialization in the said representation in our government institutions especially the paper of Magno and the CEGP.

It is significant to look into consideration the evaluation of the Youth Empowerment in the Philippines if it is really the expression and sentiments of the current generation or there is a need to change or abolish for example the Sangguniang Kabataan as what Magno said in his paper.


Liberating the Youth from their Adult Sentiments

Dr. Jose Rizal more than a century said that the youth is the fair hope of the Mother land. Philosophically speaking Rizal is rationalizing the natural necessity of a any society to put hope among the young especially if the rest of the adult generations are hopelessly corrupted by their own doing.
However, philosophically also the youth also are wasted in their young especially if they lack guidance among the peers and between good adult and elders in their formative years and environment. Idealism therefore is not the monopoly of the youth especially if they don’t have good role models.

In case of identifying the real identity of youth which is an obvious problem in determining the framework and starting point of any research and studies for the youth. Samuel Ulman said that the youth is a state of mind, which means that the elderly can also be considered as youth not in physical qualities but in emotional qualities and quantities.

Philosophically, this claim by Ulman can be a good consideration given by the fact that this idea established emotional solidarity among young and old alike. Giving the older ones to intervened on the aspirations of the young. Politically, the implications of this is that older generation can affect and influence to the leadership, goals and nature of organizations that young people want to effect or realized. This may lead to negative or positive effect among young people because the elders or adult than is leading them by determining their own way of right action or their own aspiration.

On the lighter side this philosophical input of Ulman can also promote a genuine inter-generational cooperation among generations. But this not mean that older people will exercise power or coerce younger generation to direct their aspiration from the context of their ideas of the older ones. In this premise the genuine biological and psychological characteristics and qualities of the youth must stand alone in the process of defining their own convictions, dreams and aspirations as long as it is not detrimental or coercive too to the other generations particularly in the Philippine setting.

From this framework of understanding we can generate options to produce more research papers and studies for the youth.


Power and Movements

In liberating the youth from the oppression of the older ones and from any other generational myths and delusions, we must also considered the movements of the youth today and the way they inter-act, cooperate and antogonised each other if there is?

The future youth studies must deepen the understanding how powerful really are the young today and who decide and determine their aspirations? Are they really intelligent compared to the older ones? Are they really more dumb than the more intelligent generations of the past and Are we really want to empower the youth or we are just using the idea of empowerment while corrupting and controlling the mindset and behavior of the Filipino youth?

The answer can be find from a sincere research that understand the youth and not just want to delude the public and entertain the young. And Youth Empowerment building and institutionalization that aims not just to generate the sentiments and pulse of the young but produce and generation that think, read and act for the welfare not only of themselves but for the common good.


Quo Vadis Kikay Generation?

Several years ago, children in the streets will dance and play as if this children’s play are part of the innocence of the child’s play. At the same time, not so long ago, nursery rhymes were the one being sung by these children in the school together with folk and songs from our provinces. Songs that expresses the lullaby from a mother to a dear loving child.

Decades ago, young people chant in unison as if they are praying and saying a sacred mantra from a Marxist perspective of the world such as learning from the masses and serving the people. In our time, children and youth dance, sing and behave in the tune of the same songs that we only hear during a child’s play. The only difference is that it is being danced and sings in our mass media with half-naked dancers chanting and moving in an erotic fashion.

Children and teens continue to sing and dance with lesser critical thinking from what there hear, sing and dance. For the young, life is a song and a venue to be entertained in a daily life of personal struggle, family problems, confusion and emotional misery.

Dr. Joel Rocamora of the Institute of Politics and Governance once said that one day the youth would find their place under the sun. Let us hope that this place under the sun is not an environment where dignity and self-respect are disregarded in exchange of their survival. If young people today love to dance like Kikay (playful and flirt full) is because of the reason that they don’t find anything wrong about it even if the dancers and singers of this musical song wears revealing dresses in a morning news and public affairs or in a noon time show where parental guidance is a must.

This phenomenon reflects the innocence of our dear young people on the implications of whatever choices they make. It sounds negative, but it is also positive on the other side because this innocence if we can only re-channel by producing more youthful and youth-friendly socialization can re-charge our own idealism and the imagination of the young for a good and sustainable future through a youth research and studies as a framework.


Bibliographies

Books

Bell, Norman, A Modern Introduction to the Family, New York, 1968.
Bradshaw, John, On The Family, Texas, 1988
Campbell, Williams, Forms and style, Theses Reports and Term Papers, Boston, 1990.
Cultural Patterns in Asian Life, Asian Studies Inquiry Program, 1969
Dacayanan, Felicidad M., Josefina Dy R. Isaac, Towards Building The Filipino Family, Asian Social Institute, Manila, 1974
Ethical and Pastoral Dimensions of the Population Trends, pontifical Council for the Family, 1974.
Giddens, Anthony, Sociology, A Brief But Critical Introduction, Cambridge University, 1984.
Green, Ernest J., Marriage and Family, 1977.
Kunezik, Michael, Communication and Social Change, Germany, 1992
Medina, Belen T.G., The Filipino Family, UP Diliman Press, Q.C., 2001
Mendez, Policarpio Paz, F. Landa Jocano et al., The Filipino Family in transition, A study in culture and education, CEU research center, Manila, 1984
Mendez, Paz Policarpio, F. Landas Jocano, The Filipino Family in its Rural and Urban Orientation: 2 Case Studies in Culture, CEU Research Center, 1974
Obusan, Teresita, Angelina R. Enriquez, Ed., Pamamaraan: Indigenous
Knowledge and Evolving Research Paradigms, Asians Center, UP, 1994
Palispis, Dr. Epitacio S., Elements of Research, Nueva Ecija, 1993
Palispis, Dr. Epitacio S., Introduction To Sociology and Anthropology, Manila, 1976
Passimio, Renato R., Family Code of the Philippines, Manila, 1998
Paul II, Pope John, Familiaris Consortio, Vatican City, Paulines, 1999
Parel, Cristina P., Social Survey Research Design, PSSC, UP, 1978
Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines, 1955-1995
Prophet, Elizabeth Claire, Family Ties, Karma and Reincarnation, Montana, 2001
Quito, Emerita S., Phenomenology, Edmond Husserl and Edith Stein, De La Salle University, 2001
Quisumbing, Lourdes R., Marriage Customs in Rural Cebu, University of San Carlos, Cebu city, 1977
Ramirez, Dr. Mina, Understanding Philippine Social Realities Through
Ritzer, George. Sociological Theory, USA, 2001
The Filipino Family, A Phenomenological Approach, Manila, 1984
Spandel, Vicki L., Portrait of a Family, California, 1991
Sevilla, Consuelo G., et al, Research Methods, Rex Publishing, 1992
Schneider, Louis, the Sociological Way Of Looking At The World, McGraw Hill, 1975
Vademecum For Confessors, Concerning Some Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life, Vatican City, Paulines, 1997
Walliman, Nicholas, Your Research Project, London, 2001

Related Studies
Adalia, Corazon MelitaC., Self-Acceptance and Security Level of Adolescents from Intact families and disrupted families in the Rural Settings, De La Salle, 1995
Alianan, Arsenio Jr. Parents with children undergoing psychological problems: exploratory study on the process of shifts in child-rearing styles. Thesis, Ateneo de Manila University, 1995
Almanza, Carissa, Siobling Family: Ang Bagong Samahan ng Lipunan
para sa mga batang Lansangan, 1995
Alvarez, Haidee S., Ang Epekto ng Pagkakaroon ng kapansanan at
paraan ng pagkaya ng pamilya, De La Salle, 1990
Alvarez, Marie Nieves, A Study of Subsistence level threshold family
Income and the Mainsteam Wage, La Salle, 1987
Araneta, Leticia M., An Explanatory Study on selected De La Salle University Married Undergraduate Students, 1993
Batan, Clarence M., Agenda for Youth research in the Philippines: Reflections and Challenges, presented in the 5th National Social Science Congress, PSSC, Quezon City, 2003
Batangan, Maria Theresa D. Ujano. Panimulang Pag-aaral sa mga Pagbabago at Tugon sa Pagbabago sa Relasyong Magulang Anak sa Panahon ng Adolesens, 5th National Social Science Congress, Panel K presentation, PSSC Diliman, May 2003
Berja, Claire L. Filipino Youth in Multigenerational Households, Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Survey III (YAFS3), 2002
Caampued, Pora C. Reported behavior problems of children of non-intact and intact families. Masters thesis, College of Education, UP Diliman, 1997
Concepcion, Christine R., Perceptiopn of Selected Metro Manila College Students on Responsible Parenthood, 1995
Dayrit, Nenita M., et al. The Intellectual and Social Development of Overseas Filipino Workers’ Children in Angeles City, 5th National Social Science Congress, Panel K presentation, PSSC, Diliman, May 2003
Decaesstecker, Donald. Poverty, family organization and peer group associations related to juvenile delinquency as found in the life-histories of delinquents detained at the Manila Youth Reception Center, MA thesis, Ateneo de Manila University, 1967.
Espina, Eillen Gay F. Maternal attitudes and other family-related variables as predictors of children’s personality characteristics. Thesis, Ateneo de Manila University, 1994
Francisco, Ethereda A. and Rennel Jose Ador C. Santos Effects of average family income and percentage of family expenditures on education on the drop out rates. Undergraduate thesis, School of Economics, UP Diliman, 1989
Intengan-Feliciano, Ma. Remedios. The impact of the employment of Filipino contract overseas workers on Filipino family values: an analysis. Doctoral dissertation, UST, 1994
Javier, Lourdes M. The changing life-style of the families of overseas Filipino: a case study. Doctoral dissertation, Centro Escolar University, 1983
Lamug, Corazon B. Revisiting Adolescent Perception of Parental Influence, 5th National Social science Congress, Panel K presentation, PSSC, Diliman, May 2003
Lopez, Jamael. Resolving competing commitments: An exploratory study on the ways of integration of youth radicalism and the academic culture among CSSP students. Undergraduate thesis, Department of Sociology, Up Diliman, 2000
Macrohom, J.W. Roles of Husband, wife and both husband and wife as perceived by college students. Doctoral dissertation, Centro Escolar University, 1978
Magno, Christopher N., Wakas ng SK? (Isang pagaaral sa kaangkupan ng SK bilang lunsaran ng pulitikal na partisipasyon ng kabataan sa Camarin, Caloocan City)
Mayor, Ma. Lourdes, Consuelo Q. and Helen Morco. The personality adjustment of father-absent and father-present adloscents: A comparative study. Undergraduate thesis, Department of Psychology, De La Salle University, 1989
Pacis, Constance M. Pre-marriage adolescent relationship- a study from a selected group of girls. MS thesis, University of the Philippines, Diliman, 1967
Remigio, Ma. Rosario and Naomi Ruiz. Development of an instrument on parenting styles as related to self-concept among students of Manresa High School. MA Thesis, Ateneo de Manila University, 1984
Ricarte, Annaliza, Catherine Haw, Isang Pagsusuri: Mga Mahahalagang
Pangyayari sa Buhay-Pamilya, Da La Salle University, 1986
Sarmago, Eileen D. Female Scholars with Separated Parents: Coping with Life Away from Home, 5th National Social Science Congress, Panel K presentation, PSSC, Diliman, May 2003
Torres, Amaryllis Tiglao. The urban child and family in especially difficult circumstances: The case of Metro Manila. Final Report. Manila. October 1990.
Umali-Acosta, Violeda. The family antecedents of premarital sexual intercourse among Filipino adults: Male-female differentials. MA Thesis, population Institute, UP Diliman, 2000

men are oppressed too, Mon, 18 Dec 2006 : Discussion with atty. rita linda jimeno, manila stadard today

Dear mam,

Thank you for your reply. You know men are also exploited. We also suffer especially when women coerced us physically, emotionally, verbally and others.

I hope that this observation will be articulated by men in a first all men solidarity congress in the Philippines. Men too are harassed and powerless from public opinion and legal structure as women invoked their "weakness" and "suffering." Men too suffer. There are moments that husband are neglected, abandoned and physically abused.

Women today as they uphold by our society, men becomes more disempowered. Women are more employable. If you are looking for a space to live and a room to sleep, ladies are more welcome and accomodated. Are you familiar with some ads that goes like this " Room for Rent or Bed space for rent? Ladies only!

Our society today is experiencing a breakdown not only of manhood but also the virtue of womanhood. Men must be protected before the law to manifest that all are created equal before the law and opportunity.

I have seen and know men who are battered verbally by their wives, physically abused by their partners, harassed by women, discriminated by society and public opinion.

If we desire to live in a better society, i guess we need to reflect on this ideas. Reconstruct our laws to be equally sensitive not only for the children and women but also to men and to all gender. We are all exploited by our own social reification.


we are set to behave according to the limitations set by law

Dear Mr. Albert:

Thank you for your comments. Yes, I know that Nicole had a fault too.

If only she was not dumped on the sidewalk, Smith may have been acquitted. I am not a feminist, thank God.

I find it corny that the feminists claim that women are equal to men in every way when the truth is their physical make-up and even their mind set are different. The fact that there is a law called 'Violence against women and their children Act' shows that the lawmakers and even the women who lobbied for the passage of this law recognize that women need special protection from the state.

Women are not necessarily lesser nor Unequal to men. They are just different and physically speaking, they cannot match the strength of most men. Also, historically speaking, women suffer from discrimination especially in employment because they take maternity leaves and have to be absent every so often when their young children are sick. So in a way, the sexes are not equal at all.

Thank you so much again for interacting with me.

Atty. Rita Linda V. Jimeno , Manila Standard Today

_________________

On 12/18/06, banico albert wrote:

Thank you for your article.

It helps us males to know our limitsEspecially when we interpret a wrong signal from a female. Although I shared with the opinion of your male friends, you also pointed out some good points in conducting a proper behavior in terms of sexual acts with a friend, acquaintance or a partner as set by law.

However, my question is that there are some who are saying that women are of lesser sex and therefore must be respected accordingly, however, women and feminist movements are articulating that women are equally capable and strong in everything and I find this two as a very contradicting issues.

With regard to Nicole, let us accept that both of them, Smith and her'victim' have their own shortcomings. It so happen that Smith have agreater accountability over the law but it doesn't mean that Nicole is not accountable for her action. By anyhow, I admire your article recently. And I hope that we will share or exchange views more often as i read your article from time to time.

Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Sin opposed the Vatican order:The truth revealed: Editorial Philippine Tribune, 01-22-2008

Catholic bishops have been denying they had worked to plot a coup d’etat against then sitting President Joseph Estrada in January 2001, claiming the Edsa ll revolt was a “spontaneous” popular uprising against Estrada.
This, despite the fact that the Tribune prior to the mounted coup by Gloria Arroyo, her military and her elite forces, had already published as its banner, some seven years ago, the “confidential report” from the Vatican forbidding the bishops and clergy from staging a revolt against Estrada, stressing in that report that Estrada was a popularly and democratically elected president and that the Church should not interfere in political matters as the Vatican feared that the Catholic faith would be compromised, if not lost among the Filipino faithful.
Seven years after the fact, the Inquirer came up with its banner saying that Jaime Cardinal Sin opposed the Vatican order and pushed Edsa II, as he had threatened to resign as archbishop of Manila.

The truth is, having been given that Vatican order, the entire community of bishops in the Philippines all disobeyed the Vatican, including the then papal nuncio, as the order was for all the bishops, and the bishops knew of this Vatican ban, but disobeyed it — and the Pope — which does not speak well of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
As for Jaime Sin threatening to resign, that’s a laugh, considering the fact that when it was his time to retire, he still didn’t want to do so. More: Even as he had already been retired, he insisted on staying at the Villa San Miguel, despite the fact that a new archbishop of Manila was appointed by the Vatican.
Still, the Inquirer report, seven years late, establishes more proof that indeed, Edsa II was not a spontaneous revolt, but a well-planned coup d’etat by Gloria Arroyo, the Supreme Court (SC) justices, bishops, the military and business groups, led by the Makati Business Club.
As reported, Sin, as archbishop, could easily call on the students from Catholic schools to make up a crowd at Edsa.
There was no real trigger. Gloria and the then political opposition, along with her elite coup plotters, merely used the second envelope excuse to make it appear that Edsa ll was a spontaneous revolt.
The Inquirer reported that as Sin opposed the Vatican order, a mediator, in the person of then Associate Justice Artemio Panganiban, worked things out between Sin and the Vatican.
So what was the business of an SC justice acting as mediator, if not for the fact that he was also in on the Gloria coup plot to oust Estrada?
It has been recorded in Panganiban’s book, Reforms in the Judiciary and admitted by him, that he and then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., decided to swear in Gloria even when they were aware of the fact that Estrada had not resigned and was in fact still in Malacañang.
This just proves that the high court justices willfully violated the Constitution and covered up their crime by inventing the doctrine of “constructive resignation” to legitimize the illegitimate and unconstitutional. Davide swore in the usurper knowing that there was no vacancy in the high office and, it must be stressed, as the so-called Angara diary was not even published as yet. How then could the SC justify the unconstitutional removal of Estrada when the court did not even know of the diary’s existence when they swore in Gloria Arroyo as president?
The justices were in on that coup plot and they know it.
Even Davide was already in on that plot, which was why he did nothing to stop the prosecutors and the evil civil socialites during the impeachment trial.
As early as October, 2000, the Tribune also exposed the coup plot by Gloria and her elite forces, with the plot called “Oplan in Excelsis,” which detailed a meeting of the coup plotters to depose Estrada and install Gloria.
That was October 2000. The Edsa revolt was staged in January 2001.
But long before that — a year before, to be exact — Gloria Arroyo was already plotting the ouster of Estrada with her military, the bishops, the leftists and the business groups. This, she herself has admitted publicly before her then allies, the members of the Council of the Philippines (Copa) in a posh hotel in Makati sometime in late February 2001, and even proudly introduced her co-coup plotters in the military and police.
If there continues to be division today; if there is no enthusiasm for Edsa II anniversaries, it is mainly because there never was a true popular uprising against the popular Estrada, who continues to hold the trust of the Filipino masses.
The elite staged a coup and succeeded in installing Gloria and her government. But they succeeded, too, in destroying the rule of law, the Constitution and democracy.

Seven years of 'deceit'

On the seventh anniversary of the EDSA 2 uprising, Estrada’s supporters and the groups that ousted him in 2001 were together in sending the message that seven years of the Arroyo administration are enough.

“This government has been deceiving us for seven years," said Bro. Armin Luistro, president of the De La Salle University System, during the indoor activity.

“A government that bases its false claims to victory on an election that has legitimacy problems of its own has no right to govern us," he said.

Erning Ofracio, an urban poor leader from the Kilusan para sa Makatarungang Lipunan at Gobyerno, told about a text joke he had earlier received, in which a man told his daughter that liars do not grow tall, and get protruding teeth and moles on their faces.

“Anak daw po ‘yon ni Presidente Diosdado Macapagal," Ofracio said. “Pero ang batang ‘yon ay Presidente na ng Pilipinas."

Danilo Ramos, chairman of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas talked about the peasantry’s worsening poverty and hunger under the Arroyo administration, and reminded the audience about the Fertilizer Funds scam of 2004. “Yong pondo para sa abono, iniabono sa kampanya," he said.

Josie Lichauco, convenor of the Concerned Citizens Group and former Transportation and Communication Secretary, discussed the various corruption scandals under the Arroyo regime.

Vergel Santos, editor of Business World and a board member of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, talked about the Arroyo regime’s repressive measures: the “Strong Republic" policy, Presidential Proclamation No. 1017, and the Human Security Act.

When Arroyo was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2001, she promised, among other things, “government by example."

But early on in her continuation of Estrada’s term (2001-2004), Arroyo had come under fire from people’s organizations for her government’s refusal to address long-standing economic demands such as a P125 legislated wage increase for private-sector workers; and for inaction amid relentless increases in the prices of basic commodities like water, power, and petroleum products due to the policies of privatization and liberalization imposed by the Bretton Woods Twins. Human rights violations especially extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances also started to escalate early on.

By 2003, Arroyo’s name had been enmeshed in no less than ten large-scale corruption scandals.

Having spent only three years continuing her predecessor’s term, Arroyo was constitutionally allowed to run for the 2004 presidential elections – where she won amid allegations of massive fraud.

Discrepant figures in the election returns and certificates of canvass cast doubts on the credibility of the 2004 presidential elections. In the end, however, she was proclaimed winner by more than 1 million votes against her closest rival, the actor Fernando Poe, Jr. who died without seeing the conclusion of his electoral protest.

In mid-2005, Arroyo faced a major challenge to her government following the surfacing of the so-called “Hello Garci" tapes.

The “Hello Garci" tapes were a series of wiretapped and recorded conversations in which a voice similar to Arroyo’s is heard instructing an election official – widely believed to be former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano – to rig the presidential polls. There is a specific instruction that a victory of “more than 1 M" be ensured for the woman.

Both Arroyo and Garcillano were forced to admit that they talked to each other during the counting period following the 2004 polls. They have, however, denied rigging the elections.

The surfacing of the “Hello Garci" tapes triggered widespread demands for Arroyo’s resignation or removal from office. Here the EDSA 2 forces and the pro-Estrada groups found a common cause.

Human rights violations would become rampant from 2004 – underscored by present figures from Karapatan pointing to more than 880 extrajudicial killings and more than 180 enforced disappearances since 2001. Likewise corruption would also worsen – with the latest cases being the National Broadband Network deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp., and the distribution of “cash gifts" to congressmen and governors in a Malacañang meeting last October.

Arroyo has been the subject of three impeachment complaints citing her for bribery, graft and corrupt practices, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution – the same charges against Estrada. All impeachment complaints were thrown out through the sheer tyranny of numbers at the House of Representatives.

Jan. 20, 2008, marks Arroyo’s seventh year in office – making her the longest-serving Philippine President since the late Ferdinand Marcos. - Bulatlat

_______________________________
7 bad years, 01/22/2008, former Amb. Ernesto Maceda, Tribune
After seven years of GMA, there’s almost unanimous opinion that the life of the Filipino has worsened in many ways. Consider the following:

1). More Filipinos have become poorer and hungry as consistently reelected by all surveys. More and more Filipinos, including doctors, nurses, engineers, IT professionals and skilled workers are leaving to seek jobs abroad.

2). Government corruption has reached record high levels earning for the Philippines the title of the “most corrupt country in Asia” and GMA as the “most corrupt President” of 14 Presidents in Philippine history, and condemnation by the US Senate and State Department. From the standard “10 percent kickback before GMA’s tenure, it has now risen to 40 percent for government contracts. Kickbacks/commissions on government contracts have increased from thousands to billions.

3). The crisis in education has resulted in a lowering of quality of graduates and reached record levels of dropouts. Only 10 percent of applicants qualify for call center jobs principally because of poor English and there are now almost 12 million youths of school age not in school. Thousands of teachers are seeking jobs abroad including working as domestics or caregivers. The shortage of school rooms, teachers, textbooks and desks is continuing. The Philippines is way behind its Asian neighbors in computerization.

4). Health services have deteriorated greatly. Many government hospitals have closed down due to lack of doctors, nurses and facilities. More than 200 towns have no doctors including many towns in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Southern Leyte and Samar. The price of medicines and hospital services for major diseases, including CT scan, MRI, chemotherapy, radiation, dialysis and heart surgery has become unaffordable to 90 percent of the population.

5). The electoral process as shown by the conduct of the 2004 and 2007 elections is seriously flawed with vote buying, including dagdag-bawas “special” operations reaching unbelievable proportions. Even barangay elections go for P1,500 per vote. The Comelec has become a damaged institution. It costs as much as P500 million to run for senator and P50 million to run for congressman. A City Councilor of Manila spent P17 million to get elected.

6). The twin insurgencies of the New Peoples Army (NPA) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front/Abu Sayaf are still raging. The NPAs raids on municipal buildings, police stations, plantations and mining companies are continuing. Communist Party of the Philippines Founder Jose Maria Sison disputed General Esperon’s claim of success in the anti-NPA campaign by announcing the NPA is increasing its guerrilla fronts to 130. The Muslim rebels continue to inflect heavy casualties on government forces, especially in Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and the Cotabato province.

7). A crime wave is raging with murders and assassinations and kidnappings, a daily fact of life. Carnapping has graduated to carjacking. Cellphone and car mirror snatchings have increased. The incidence of drug use is up and drug dealing is largely unchecked due to corrupt police and PDEA agents abetted by corrupt local officials. Extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances has become a hallmark of the GMA administration noted by international human rights watchdogs and has resulted in a downgrade of our freedom and democracy by New York based Freedom House.
Yes, it was been seven very bad years of the citizens and the above record of seven sins is the legacy of GMA that will be historically remembered.
Resumption. Extra-judicial killings have resumed. Teldo Rebamonte, 45, a leader of the Masbate People’s Organization, was abducted and killed in Claveria, Masbate. Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas has accused Regional Mobile Group policemen of being the killers.
Other killings over the weekend include Ret. Police Col. Bonifacio Cacho, 56 as he was cleaning his car inside his garage in Reyes Subdivision, Limay, Batangas, Businessman Joselit Jumahon, 28, was shot dead 8:00 p.m. Friday night while his car was traveling Morayta street near España in Sampaloc’s university belt. His companion, Marciano Pangan, 36, an OFW was seriously wounded.
In Matnog Sorsogon, retired Army Sgt. Leonardo Gazis, 57, was abducted and killed by suspected NPA members. In Tagaytay, two unidentified men were found dead inside an abandoned pickup truck. In nearby Dasmarinas, Cavite, former Vice Mayor Vicor Carungcong was ambushed and shot dead by four men riding a multicab.
Drug addicts stabbed to death Michael Batica, as he going home at Parola, Tondo. Teenagers Norial Grefal, 18 and Usman Bonifacio, 16 were shot dead by a motorcycle riding assailant at Batasan Hills, Q.C.

Students from the Catholic schools used to overthrow Erap in 2001

01/22/2008

The Edsa ll crowd was made up of students from the Catholic schools who were ordered by Sin to come to Edsa and provide the warm bodies, Estrada said in an interview with the daily tribune.

In an article published in tribune, former President Estrada warned the Catholic Church not to meddle in choice of opposition bloc bet. He also lambasted Edsa 2 as a conspiracy using the students from Catholic and other schools instigated by a Church-elite conspiracy following a report from the Philippines Daily Inquirer yesterday.
“That was not a popular uprising. That was not the voice of the Filipino people. That was a coup d’etat against me and my government,” he said.

Mrs. Arroyo, also in early 2001, admitted to a group of civil society supporters that she, along with the military and police officials, plotted a coup to oust Estrada a year before the ouster. Her admission is caught in videotape.
_________________________

Vindicated Estrada warns bishops:
‘Don’t meddle in choice of opposition bloc bet’01/22/2008

Former President Joseph Estrada, aware of the ways of Church meddling in political affairs by Church leaders, especially the Catholic bishops, yesterday warned them against meddling in the selection of a united opposition’s presidential and vice presidential candidate for the 2010 elections, following a newspaper report that the late Jaime Cardinal Sin disobeyed a Vatican order for him and the Catholic bishops of the Philippines not to meddle in politics and not to engage in ousting the then sitting president.

The Daily Tribune, in late 2000, bannered a report culled from the “confidential memorandum” submitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs by then ambassador to the Vatican, Henrietta de Villa.

In it, she stated that the Vatican was strongly opposed to the position of the Catholic bishops in the Philippines to move for the ouster of Estrada, taking the position that Estrada was a popularly and democratically elected president supported by the people and that the church people should not engage in political matters, expressing fear that the Catholic faith would be eroded.

After seven years, a newspaper reported that Sin had opposed the Vatican Order and went ahead to call for the ouster of Estrada.

The Tribune in 2000, reported that “the Vatican is opposing the local Roman Catholic Church’s active participation in calling on Filipinos to oust President Estrada, saying such outspokenness is putting the entire church in a “precarious” situation, a report from the Philippine Embassy in the Holy See disclosed.

“Philippine Ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa reported that the Vatican is “very concerned” with the Philippine church’s involvement in the move to boot the President (Estrada) out of Malacañang.

“In Manila, the church’s cause was further doused by an admission from its Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) that Mr. Estrada still enjoys popular support among the Filipinos.

“The charges against the President and (the) popular support (for him) show how formidable the task of renewing political life is, even as the church beats its own breast in saying mea culpa for whatever responsibility it may have had for social and political evils,” Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, CBCP president, said.

“The Holy See believes that the position taken by the local clergy could affect the church itself, the country and the presidency negatively, De Villa also reported.
This, according to the Philippine envoy, was expressed by the Vatican during a private meeting last Dec. 12 with Msgr. Luis Montemayor, head of the Asian Desk in the Second Section of the Vatican’s Secretariat.

“The Vatican believes that respect should be accorded the Constitution and the legal processes as well as the Office of the President since these are the symbols of a democratic system that cannot simply be discarded or tampered with regardless of who holds that office as long as he was elected freely and fairly by the people,” a part of the report said.

“The Vatican also stressed that it is “dangerous” for the Church to be a party to destabilization moves especially since there is no guarantee that succeeding events in the Philippines would not develop into violence.”

“De Villa said the Vatican has been communicating with Archbishop Antonio Franco, Papal Nuncio to the Philippines, to relay the reactions of the Holy See to the current political developments in the country to the Manila archbishop.”
The Inquirer report also stated that then Supreme Court Associate Justice Arturo Panganiban acted as mediator between Vatican and the cardinal.

Sin and his bishops ignored the Vatican order and actively mounted a coup d’etat against Estrada, along with then Vice President Gloria Arroyo, the military generals and even Supreme Court justices.

It will be recalled that both Panganiban and then SC Chief Justice Hilario Davide were aware of the fact that Estrada had not resigned and was still in Malacañang, but Davide went on to swear in Mrs. Arroyo as president, despite the fact that there was no vacancy in the high office.

“I am now being vindicated,” he told the Tribune. “The truth is now coming out.”
At the same time, Estrada warned the Catholic Church not to interfere in the selection of the political opposition’s candidate for the 2010 polls.

“In 1998, the Catholic Church was engaged in destroying my candidacy. They (bishops) even came up to tell the nation not to vote for me. ‘Anybody but Erap’ was their battlecry. They didn’t want to see me in Malacañang. But the Filipino people voted for me. They should respect the voice of the people. But even in 2001, they did not respect the voice of the people, which is the voice of God,” Estrada said, stressing that it is the Church that always says this.

Estrada also complained that even as the bishops in 2001 claimed that it was corruption in his government that made them go against him, he wondered aloud why the bishops today maintain silence over the same issues that are even graver than during his time.

“There is more than enough evidence of corruption and immorality in the Arroyo government, but the bishops have not come up with any pastoral statement calling on the government to account for its sins, even on the Hello Garci cheating in 2004,” Estrada pointed out.

“True, the Catholic Church should not interfere in political matters. There is a clear principle separating the Church and the State. They can speak out on matters of morality. But in the case of the Arroyo government, they say nothing about the lying, cheating and stealing and the many scandals that have erupted. Why is their (bishops’) treatment very different today?” Estrada asked.

Speculations are rife that Estrada will be running for the presidency in 2010, even as Estrada has denied that he has plans to run for the top post at this time.
He has been quoted as saying however that he wants just one candidate to run as the opposition standard bearer, rather than have several bets from the opposition camp, saying more candidates will make cheating easier in 2010 for the presidency.
But he has also said that if the opposition fails to unite behind one candidate, he make a run for the presidency.

But it appears that even Malacañang is interfering in the affairs of the opposition, as yesterday the Palace called on Estrada to to “gag” Makati City Mayor and United Opposition president Jejomar Binay.

In a phone interview, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol said the opposition was given time to substantiate the Hello-Garci wiretapped scanda.
“Mayor Binay had been reviving old issues that is causing division of our people,” he said. “What is their proof? A spliced tape (Hello-Garci)? There’s no original tape there’s a lot from them (opposition) claiming to have an original tape but there was none. There was a hearing conducted in the House but what was played (for congressmen to hear) is different a spliced tape,” he said.

Apostol said Binay was only politicking to boost his presidential bid in 2010.
“The Hello-Garci issue was already been settled. There was an impeachment but it failed in the House. So, its high time for us to move on and let’s stop looking at the past. Binay is losing new issues to throw against the President,” he stressed.
Apostol said they are calling on former President Estrada to gag Binay.

“Erap should reprimand Binay to stop dividing the country, stop talking. Binay is not helping his own presidential bid. Let’s concentrate on how we could move this economy forward,” he said. With Sherwin C. Olaes and Tribune wires

Church-elite conspiracy, Newsreport from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 01/21/2008

By Juliet Labog-Javellana
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:32:00 01/21/2008


Church-elite conspiracy
On Jan. 17, the second night of the vigil, Sin exhorted the people in his homily in a Mass at the Edsa Shrine to “stay here until evil is conquered by good.”
He said there was “only one immoral President and 11 shameless senators” while there were “millions and millions of people who will safeguard the truth and, if necessary, die for the truth.”

Before and after his ouster, Estrada said he was a victim of a grand conspiracy between the elite and the Church.

On Jan. 20, Arroyo was sworn in as President by Chief Justice Hilario Davide.
The first source said the Vatican’s order might have changed the outcome of the anti-Estrada uprising.

“Edsa II could have failed, or it could have become bloody,” said the source.

Archdiocese ‘chopped up’

“At his call, each of these parishes and schools could easily produce 500 warm bodies, or a total of nearly 200,000, who could stay in rallies indefinitely without much logistical problems (they bought their own provisions), and who were so organized they marched to the beat of a single drummer. Indeed, he produced the critical mass, who were joined by many, many others,” Panganiban wrote in his column.

Indeed, in his homily at a thanksgiving Mass after Estrada’s downfall, Sin expressed amazement that food never ran out for the throngs at Edsa. He remarked then that “people power was also food power.”

Panganiban noted in his column that the archdiocese was “chopped up into six groups” after Sin’s death. He did not say whether the chopping up was deliberately done to undermine a Sin-like hold on the archdiocese.

Panganiban was a member of the Supreme Court which, in March 2001, unanimously ruled that Ms Arroyo was the country’s legitimate President. This was after Estrada had petitioned the court to declare him the lawful President.

Davide and Panganiban inhibited themselves from the court decision.

With reports from Nikko Dizon and Cyril L. Bonabente, Inquirer Research

Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. See the complete material from the archives of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

To subscribe to the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper in the Philippines, call +63 2 896-6000 for Metro Manila and Metro Cebu or email your subscription request here.

William Robinson's Theory of Transnational State

A Theory of Global Capitalism: Production, Class and State in a Transnational World, by William I. Robinson. Baltimore : John Hopkins University Press, 2004. Pp. 200.

William Robinson has added another important book to his growing body of work. His new effort, A Theory of Global Capitalism, argues that globalization is a new stage of world capitalism. Unlike his previous explorations into the affects of globalization on particular countries and regions, this book has a larger canvass, developing a framework to understand change and conflict in today’s world. Robinson’s focus is on three key issues, transnational production, transnational capitalists and the transnational state.

The first chapter argues globalization is a new era characterized by the rise of transnational capital. The transnational economy is based on global assembly lines where production is coordinated across borders and where capital flows unrestricted from one country to another. Information technologies laid this foundation by giving capitalism greater mobility that allowed it to establish a worldwide command and control structure. These changes led to key differences between the old national industrial economy and the new global economy. The old international system was based on national production linked to the world through export trade. But today’s world system is based on “the rise of globalized circuits of production and accumulation.” (p.11) This means transnational corporations produce anywhere, employ everywhere and sell in markets spanning the entire world. Transnational capitalists coordinate this vast network of relationships assuming leadership in the world economy from which they dictate global patterns of accumulation.

Robinson has contributed important insights into the development of the transnational capitalist class (TCC). He argues that a new global capitalist class has emerged with the integration of finance and production through foreign direct investments, cross border mergers and acquisitions and global assembly lines. Hence these transnational capitalists emerge as the dominant fraction of capital that, “imposes the general direction and character on production worldwide and conditions the social, political, and cultural character of capitalist society.” (p. 48) But Robinson is careful to draw attention to the continued existence of national capital, showing that many of today’s political and economic struggles reflect the competition between national and transnational capitalism. Both have their own forms of organization and patterns of accumulation. As with the first chapter, the author offers a range of economic data to support his views. Here Robinson examines the growth of transnational corporations, cross border mergers and acquisitions, the global interlocking of directorates, strategic alliances and the rise of Third World transnational elites.

The second chapter ends with the argument that a new dominant (or hegemonic) bloc has emerged, creating new globalized capital-labor relations. This bloc has its own political project carried out by agencies such as the IMF, World Bank and WTO, as well as national governments that work to adjust their economies to the demands of global capitalism. The author also points out that a unified vision of the global system has not been developed and that “conflicting solutions to the problems of global capitalism based on the historical experiences of their regional systems” lead to debates and differences within the TCC. (p. 76)

Chapter three offers what is perhaps the most controversial section of Robinson’s theory, the emergence of a transnational state (TNS). The author challenges the idea that states by nature have a national form, arguing that nation-states arose from a particular epoch of capitalism with historically determine capital-labor relations. These relations, when replaced by new forms of accumulation, produce new institutions through which class power is expressed. Robinson links three key ideas: first, that the TCC has brought into existence institutions that express their authority; second, that the nation-state is being transformed and absorbed into larger global structures; and lastly the transnational states “institutionalizes the new class relation between global capital and global labor.” (p. 88). As Robinson shows, the transnational state is not a “fully functioning political, administrative and regulatory structure…there is no clear chain of command and division of labor” (p.117). Rather it is emerging from the “political consequence of the social practice and class action of the TCC” (p. 121) as it attempts to build a new economic, social and political framework. It takes form not as a preconceived plan, but from the process of historic change itself.

One problem for Robinson’s transnational state theory is the role of military force, a key element of state power. His argument is that since the TCC controls the US government it follows all policies are on behalf of the global TCC, including US military goals. This fails to see a split between national and transnational factions of US capitalism and fails to recognize unilateralism as the counter hegemonic project of the nationalist wing of US capitalism. If history proceeds by two steps forward and one step back, then Bush is certainly one step back from globalism. This is easy to see in the widespread rejection of the war in Iraq by globalist regimes throughout the world who certainly do not see US leadership on their behalf. The problem is no functioning definition for translateral politics has been developed. There are clear lines of difference between transnational and national economic practices. In the transnational economy global capitalist share leadership and control and have many institutions through which they set goals and settle disputes. But transnational capitalists outside the US have no institutional means to affect US military policy. There are multilateral links developed in the old international system, but these lack the deep integration seen in the economic realm. The US state still maintains sole leadership of the US military. But wouldn’t a transnational state by nature have integrated and translateral political governance where global military policy would be worked out in such world institutions as the UN? It seems there is still a disconnect between the advanced state of economic global integration and the emergence of a fully developed world political structure.

In the book’s last chapter Robinson looks at many of the inherent contradictions within global capitalism as well as possible alternatives. The problems of over accumulation, global poverty and the social crisis are analyzed through a Marxist framework that the author shares with many critics of globalization. Robinson’s books are always informed by the work of Antonio Gramsci. Once again he puts the Italian Marxist to good use in a discussion of the battle over hegemony within the TCC, as well as examining the anti-capitalist social movements. Although this section is not as original as the preceding chapters there are still excellent insights into the current stage of political struggles and debates. Central to the author’s view is that “Social conflicts linked to the reorganization of the world economy will lie at the heart of world politics” (p. 175). He states that although the TCC has been unable to sustain hegemony in civil society, neither have social movements been able to offer a viable alternative. Here Robinson calls on popular movements to breakout of their local and isolated oppositional struggles to build a transnational movement and transnationalized class consciousness.
Robinson’s book is a major achievement in theorizing globalization and perhaps the best defense of transnational capitalist class theory to date. Whether or not one agrees the book is a must read presenting a powerful theoretical thesis that needs to be contemplated and responded to by all who consider globalization a key question for our time.

Jerry Harris
Global Studies Association, Chicago

notes:
He is the author of A Faustian Bargain: U.S. Intervention in the Nicaraguan Elections and American Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era (with Kent Norsworthy); Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention, and Hegemony; Transnational Conflicts: Central America, Social Change and Globalization; A Theory of Global Capitalism; and co-editor with Richard Appelbaum of Critical Globalization Studies.