Can't afford to kill the tourist trade, just let the tourists kill themselves, with alcohol of course ..... because in the eyes of some everybody who drinks alcohol is an abuser

Kerala has been doing just fine without input from Nigee and Jamie. They are a poor state that nonetheless has managed to have first world rates of life expectancy and human development indicators. They are a model of development for the rest of the world, regardless of what grumpy Brits with nothing better to do but to insist everyone have a right to be intoxicated think.

And if the ban doesn't work try explaining that to the dozens of Muslim countries that ban alcohol. Seems to work just fine. The people that need to grow up are the westerners who insist on telling everybody how to run their own countries.

Putin, I was merely commenting that it's interesting wealthy people and tourists will be exempt from the alcohol ban.

You weren't merely commenting, you were calling a communist-led state that leads impoverished regions in development 'classist'.

Please defend the exemption for luxury hotels and their clients, then, in that context.

And just for clarity, you called Kerala a "a communist-led state", which I find odd.

The state legislature in Kerala is currently dominated by the UDF coalition, led by the Indian National Congress - certainly a popular socialist party but not a communist one. The Communist Party of India is part of the *opposition* in Kerala.

Fermented palm tree sap is also exempt. OMG classist. Ever think that alcoholism disproportionately affects the poor the worst to begin with? Kerala has a serious alcohol problem. They also are dependent on tourism for revenue.

"The state legislature in Kerala is currently dominated by the UDF coalition, led by the Indian National Congress - certainly a popular socialist party but not a communist one. The Communist Party of India is part of the *opposition* in Kerala."

Thanks wikipedia.

Members of the Indian Congress's coalition in Kerala include the Communist Marxist Party and the Revolutionary Socialist Party. The Kerala variant of the Congress party is far more leftwing than the national party. But the point is communists have run Kerala for much of its history and made it into what it is today.

How is that relevant to criticism of one specific piece of alcohol-related legislation which is being sponsored by the current Kerala administration, not the Communist-led opposition?

I find it odd that you are suggesting I, as a communist, am not allowed to criticise the policies of a state because it *used* to have communists in power. That's a really weird position to take.

Prohibition on alcohol is not exactly a human rights violation, so why object? Kerala's own business.

Of all the problems in the world, our resident "leftists" want to target Richard Dawkins for taking a banal pro-choice position on twitter and one of the few developing regions in the world that has been led the right way because they want to get a grip on their alcohol problem. When they speak of rotating leftwing coalitions in Kerala that have run the country since the 50s, they speak of the LDF and UDF. The UDF would make your leftists in the UK look like American Republicans.

Because they have to object to everything Tendmote. The left in the west only knows how to criticize. They don't know what the fuck to do with themselves when a leftists are actually in power.

Because you have never criticised anyone on the left, ever.

And what's your excuse in that the communist opposition supports the anti-alcohol move?

http://www.ucanews.com/story-archive/?post_name=/2010/11/11/church-finds-common-ground-with-marxists-on-alcohol&post_id=59909

You'd be hard pressed to find many criticisms, even when they are demanded of me.

I was not aware of it, and I stand corrected. It would have been helpful to the discussion if you had drawn attention to that in the first place, rather than making a personal attack on me, but nonetheless, I stand corrected.

Sure, one group of communists supports an alcohol prohibition - I wish them well with this. However, communism isn't a hivemind, as between us we demonstrate pretty well.

I am a proud right handed individual an will not be ignored like this. Why do the left handed individuals always get the attention. This is bs

As a wider point, Putin, Jamie and I may all have pretty similar thoughts on economic policy, but there's a wide range of liberalism/authoritarianism between us.

We also have different views on internal criticism/democratic centralism.

Putin super-trolling, he must be bored.
I was referring to another country who tried prohibition .... the USA, they're not Communists, and it failed miserably there, and it will fail miserably in Kerala as well.

Idk, it's got a better chance of holding up there than it did in the USA for sure, though I still don't think it's a good policy. Having said that, it's certainly not going to do as well as in Islamic countries in general.

Prohibition has worked everywhere it has actually been tried. In Bangladesh the consumption per capita is .003 liters of alcohol (that's the total figure for all types). 94% of the population are lifetime abstainers. 0.2% are heavy drinkers.

http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/en/bangladesh.pdf

Utah's alcohol laws are very restrictive and overwhelmingly popular and effective.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fasd/monitor_table.html

Utah hasn't become mobbed out despite the mythos created by wet propaganda.

There are still dry counties in the US decades after Prohibition ended.

There will always be people drinking alcohol illegally. If an area wants to try then go ahead and do it.

"Wet propaganda"? What is this, 1930?

nobody is respecting my right to be a free right handed individual and this offends me.

What else do you call all the nonsense that passes for history when it comes to prohibition?

Putin33's bizarre advocacy for alcohol prohibition reminds me of that old definition of puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Happy? You drug legalizers always portray alcohol as the worst drug on the planet except when anybody wants to do something about its destructive effects. You just want to turn the planet into a giant crime infested toilet and call it 'liberty'.

I've never said that.

The root thing here is you don't believe in individual liberty.

The root thing here is you don't believe in human development, environmental protection , public safety, or public welfare of any kind.

Just the usual macho libertarian douchery that passes for politics these days.

Thinking it's a dumb idea to outlaw alcohol is not something only libertarians believe. Nice try, though.

everyone is ignoring me because i'm a right and not a lefty. lefties get all the attention.