This criminal "economy," which I call the bazaar, is an economic platform that connects transnational crime with local global guerrillas.
Global Guerrillas: JOURNAL: Thriving in Nigeria
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3 comments:
"It's the system, man."
John Robb writes in his March 1 post "Big Bangs":
"Also, the complexity of this system puts the lie to the idea that we know how to actively dampen its behavior through centralized systems of control. We neither have the scale nor the collective intelligence to pull it off. The only real solution rests on redesigning the system itself, to enable it to become more tolerant of rogue feedback."
The observation about the current prosperity of global gureillas, "Thriving in Nigeria" being a "classic sign of a dynamically unstable system" is insightful.
Via Emeka Okafor's "Africa Unchained" blog a link to http://www.id21.org/id21ext/s8akm1g1.html
"Unofficial cross border trade: globalisation in west Africa" making the point:
"Policy-makers are left with two choices: cross-border trade can be suppressed and criminalised, or it can be brought into the formal economy."
Robb writes in the "Big Bangs" post: "The best approach I can think of is a highly interconnected but fundamentally decentralized system" but then suggests that not only are we far from progress towards that end and further that progress towards it will be slowed by our current worldview.
John Robb draws attention to criminality and terrorism whereas the ID21 piece points to the better angels of informal networks of trade.
I'm afraid I misunderstand Robb, but it seems he imagines that "the system" is designed and imposed by a very narrow elite. He's almost certainly right about that, but if the solution for a better system is "highly interconnected but fundamentally decentralized" its construction and implementation is unlikely to emerge from central authortity and narrow elites.
Your interest in alternative currencies is something that gives me a glimmer of hope about actually doing something towards more dynamically stable systems.
Thanks, that's a very interesting link.
Not sure if Robb thinks it's all imposed by elites, but there are certainly elites that are complicit. (In fact most educated middle-class people who kind of assume that more trade must be a good thing, are complicit.)
I suppose there is a question as to who his policy proposals are actually for. Maybe just "people in general".
You're right that there's an angelic and diabolic side to networks, and the challenge they pose to traditional political (hierarchical) structures.
Alt.Money is a big part of that. Bernard Lietaer's "The Future of Money" is a good outline of one way of thinking : multiple currencies keep us civilized as the world falls into tribalism.
I have some notes I started writing here : http://www.nooranch.com/synaesmedia/wiki/wiki.cgi?NetworkNotes
It's the usual stuff, but I wanted to write it in a slightly different way.
A recent discussion on the Klan morphed into a discussion of John Robb's "global guerrillas" over at Coming Anarchy
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