Chittaprosad (India), Peace, undated. Our year has been eclipsed by the pandemic, the rush of a virus paralysing societies across the world. Some governments offered smarter, more scientific, and humane approaches to the pandemic; many (but not all) of these have been governments with a socialist orientation. Amongst them is the Indian state of Kerala, […]
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Before heading over to interview this subject, I was thinking of a possible epigraph for the piece. One from a Chilean: Discovery is not seeing what there is (that is impossible at any level), but rather allowing oneself to converge towards a continually freshly-created reality. ― Chilean economist, Manfred Max-Neef, From the Outside Looking In: Experiences […]
ORIENTATION In my last article I showed how the word “totalitarian” was used as a loaded vice word to attack the Soviet Union after World War II and to red-bait communists around the world. The use of the word totalitarian began in the 1930s, but even before then in the 1920’s, the word “dictator” began […]
The primary goal of politics in the environment and in the institutions of bourgeois democracy is, above all, to hold power. Power, on the other hand, is about getting a share from the monopolies. Obviously, this cannot be the objective of democratic politics. Even if democratic politics are to operate within the institutions of power (e.g., the government), their fundamental task remains the same.
Liu Bolin (China), Guernica, 2016
Dedicated to Soni Prashad, 1929-2020, who spent her life looking for a better world.
US President Donald Trump and his ‘war council’ – led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – have amplified their aggression against China. What began as a trade dispute in the 1990s has now escalated into the United States making an existential challenge against China.
Sunil Janah, Mallu Swarajayam and other members of an armed squad during the Telangana armed struggle, 1946-1951.
Starting around 1848, socialists flooded the world with pamphlets and manifestos explaining the basics of “wage-labor” vs. “capital.” Yet here we are in the 21st century, having to go back to basics — even though one would think that the dire economic situation for most people today “speaks for itself.” However, given the recent misguided detour into side-issues — notably, police-style racism vs. “anti-fascism” (whatever happened to “anti-globalization”?) — a basic reminder about the primacy of “class” seems to be in order.
Chief of Police: One man cannot move a mountain.
Charlie Chan: No, but two men can start digging.
— Charlie Chan in Shanghai (1935) calling a spade a spade
