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on the other hand, about five years ago there were scandals in france and in the u.s. almost simultaneously involving AIDS contamination of the blood supply. in france, the scandal brought down the minister of health (control of the blood supply is a public function) and nearly brough the government down along with it. in the states, the red cross controls the blood supply, and the red cross is private. because it is private, there were no political consequences to the contamination.
like it or not, the state makes what it administers political because it is involved with it: it is a public institution--citizens can organize themselves and bring political pressure to bear on it. nothing like that obtains in situations where private companies run the show.
the question was not whether you have an aesthetic preference for public or private, nor was it whether you like the state or not, nor was it provide me arbitrary anecdotes that illustrate a misunderstanding of the point i was making (ustwo). that the fine folk at halliburton saw fit to provide foul water to troops in iraq raises this matter--there is no accountability.
there is more on this, but once again i havent the time to say it.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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