SolidarityEconomy.net

Context

“Economic Democracy: A Worthy Socialism that Would Really Work” laid out a model that was to form the basis of my book Against Capitalism, published by Cambridge University Press in 1993. The article, like the book itself, was a theoretical response to the triumphalism of the TINA crowd (There Is No Alternative) that followed the collapse of Soviet Union and the rejection of socialism by its satellite states in Eastern Europe. “A Worthy Socialism” was intended to demonstrate rigorously that there is an alternative, at least in theory: an economically viable form of socialism that would be more democratic than capitalism and at least as efficient. Against Capitalism made the same point, but extended the argument (more…)

The picture in the ad immediately caught my attention. The photo was of a very dignified older African American man looking into the camera, very determined and equally pensive. Underneath his photo was a caption giving his name—T. Willard Fair—and the fact that he was the veteran of 40 years of struggle in the Civil Rights Movement.

This was certainly enough to pique my interest.

Beneath the caption was a statement declaring that the alleged threat to African Americans comes from documented and undocumented immigrants. He went on to suggest that any notion of legalizing undocumented workers was a slap in the face of African Americans. The ad is associated with a group called the “Coalition for the Future American Worker.”

Fair’s attack is not surprising, although the virulence and historical nature of it is very unsettling, particularly because it is bound to strike a chord among many African Americans.

Black America has been taking a prolonged economic hit since the mid 1970s. The economic reorganization which many people call de-industrialization has had a devastating impact on the (more…)

by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Phillipines

After the May 14 elections, are we any closer to the democratic society that our grade school textbooks proudly proclaim the Philippines to be? Unfortunately, the general picture emerging from the stories and the images that have so far dominated the tri-media and ordinary people’s accounts is that of a nightmarish elections and post-elections situation that has confirmed our worse fears. The farcical nature of the electoral process in this country has been laid bare, much worse than even our most dire predictions.

There was widespread disenfranchisement, vote buying, “flying voters” and innumerable delays, disruption and even failure of elections due to outright grabbing of election paraphernalia, bombing of polling places and terrorizing of poll officials and the voters themselves.

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has been flagrantly pro-administration. This is proven by the (more…)

by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Philippines

It doesn’t take a political scientist to tell us that this mid-term elections for 12 senators, 275 congress persons and scores of local government officials epitomizes what is so rotten and undemocratic in our postcolonial electoral system. The signs and symptoms of a sick and dying traditional political order are everywhere; its inevitable moribund convulsions are threatening to wreak havoc before a new and truly democratic alternative can take its place.

Ever since independence from US colonial rule in 1946, periodic elections in this country have been touted as the single, most visible proof that representative democracy is alive and well: the people of the Philippines could choose their leaders when the time came — wisely or foolishly, for good or ill. There was the presumed sanctity of the ballot that withstood generally accepted levels of cheating and violence that accompanied any and all electoral exercises; in this country, anyway.

In time it became clear that not much choice was ever given the electorate since the only ones who stood for office or could mount serious campaigns necessary to win were members of the same old socio-economic elite or their favored political (more…)

by Anton Caputo

Playing equal parts visionary, cheerleader and comedian, Al Gore brought his message of how to fight global warming to a capacity crowd of receptive architects Saturday in San Antonio.

The former vice president referred continually to a “new way of thinking” that is emerging in the country and offered hope in the battle to control the effects global warming will have on the planet.

“It’s in part a spiritual crisis,” Gore told the crowd in the Convention Center at the American Institute of Architects (more…)

by Daphne Wysham

As the Kyoto Protocol comes into force this month, a carbon rush is gaining steam in the financial industry. Investors predict that carbon could become one of the largest markets in the world, with a trading volume of $60 billion to $250 billion by 2008.

Supporters assert emissions trading allows the invisible hand of the market to do what the “command and control” approach to regulation of greenhouse gas emissions can not; that is, meet and even exceed expectations of emissions reductions.

Critics charge that carbon trading is a smokescreen: At best, it will represent a (more…)

by Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report

Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel is right to be scared of most of the Democratic field of presidential candidates. Except for Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the contenders jockey for the title of most-likely-to-attack-Iran. Impeachment “is the only way to discredit Republicans enough to insure a Democratic victory in 2008,” but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hear none of that. Even if the Democrats somehow triumph, nothing much will change, because the frontrunners are all beholden to Big Money and enthralled with war.

During the first Democratic presidential debate a little known candidate, former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, ended up with one of the most memorable lines of the evening:

“And I got to tell you, after standing up with them, some of these people frighten me - they frighten me. When you have mainline candidates that turn around and say that there’s nothing off the table with respect to Iran, that’s code for using nukes, nuclear devices. (more…)

by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net

.US hegemony rapidly disappearing

US economic and political hegemony has degraded further in the rapidly globalizing world. At the World Bank Paul Wolfowitz has lost control through his own corrupt crony capitalism. But his problems stem as much from Iraq as his current missteps. Globalists who fill the bureaucracy at the World Bank never were comfortable with the US unilateralist coming to their home and Wolfowitz opened the door for their attacks. That the US can no longer control the internal politics at the World Bank is a good indicator of how far its political influence has fallen. (more…)

by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net

. Income up for Venezuelan poor

A marketing research group, Datos, reports that the real income of the poorest Venezuelans, 58 percent of the country, have risen 130 percent under President Hugo Chavez. Although inflation is running at 19.3 percent that is lower than the 52 percent average in the early 1990s before Chavez took office.

. What they say

Neoliberal economist Adam Posen recently attacked Germany’s Mittelstand economic sector. These are the middle and small size business’ that employ 70 percent of the German people. Writing for the Peterson Institute for International (more…)

by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Philippines

There will be massive cheating by the Arroyo administration in the upcoming May elections. The elements of this unfolding crime of monumental proportions are all present. The fact that there is still no hue and cry is a testament to how crime does pay in this country, most especially when the brains as well as the perpetrators, are cloaked with authority and wield the powers of high office.

First of all, there is the motive. Despite the fact that the forthcoming elections is not about choosing a new president, everybody knows that the fate of the incumbent, de facto Chief Executive, Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, hinges on its outcome. The gelling of a (more…)

by Cliff DuRand, Center for Global Justice

It is now generally recognized that the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq is an unmitigated disaster –some say the biggest foreign policy mistake in U.S. history, meaning it even surpasses the U.S. war on Vietnam. At the same time it has helped to lay bare the reality of U.S. imperialism. But lest we think of that as an aberration peculiar to the Neo-cons running the Bush presidency, I want to argue that there are basic continuities between the Non-con view of the role of the U.S. in the world and the Liberal view that has characterized the foreign policy establishment since at least WWII and certainly for the last quarter century. Let me begin by characterizing the Neo-con and Liberal views in the (more…)

by Jerry Harris

.Viet-Nam’s stock markets grows

Viet-Nam’s six year old stock market is undergoing massive growth. Daily trading has gone from half-a-million in 2005 to $50 million a day in December 2006. Listed companies have risen from 30 to 107 and larger state enterprises, including commercial banks, are expected to be listed this year. Market capitalization has reached $14B. However Viet-Nam restricts daily share price movement for any stock to just five percent to protect the market from wild fluctuations and manipulation.

.India’s Muslims lack economic and social equality

India’s Muslim population faces similar social conditions as minorities in the US. They are unable to rent or buy property in many areas and their children are rejected from the better public schools. Literacy rates average 59 percent for Muslims compared to the national average of 65 percent. Average years in school for Muslim boys run only three years compared to the national average of four, and for Muslim girls the average is (more…)

by Gabriel Ash

Venezuela is changing. Fast. No other word captures the speed and magnitude of change as well as that weighty word–‘revolution.’ This is indeed the word used by many of the Venezuelans I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing during ten days in March. Venezuela is undergoing a ‘Bolivarian’ revolution. But what does ‘Bolivarianism’ entail? . . .

Contrary to the image often portrayed in the foreign media, Chavez has gone overboard in seeking to include as many as possible in the Bolivarian state. He has time and again extended an olive branch to his enemies. (more…)

by Jerry Harris, SolidarityEconomy.net

. IMF admits workers income is shrinking

The IMF has stated globalization is driving down the share of national income going to workers. The world labor force increased 400% over the past 20 years with China, India and eastern Europe integrating into the global economy. This has rapidly increased the number of educated workers which the IMF says has the biggest impact in the industrial countries, negatively effecting skilled workers. The IMF contends technology has a bigger impact on the unskilled and is responsible for the growing lack of income among workers in this sector. The IMF’s blame on technology sidesteps the question of who controls technology. Blaming “technology,” rather than how the capitalist class organizes its use, makes lower wages and more unemployment seem like a force of nature or the market. The IMF still defends globalization as increasing the overall pie, stating workers are doing better, they just have less of more. (more…)

by Lori Mcleod- Financial Post

Thursday, March 29, 2007–Gold Reserve Inc. stunned a skeptical market yesterday after winning a key permit to mine a significant gold-and-copper reserve in Venezuela, sending its stock up nearly 49% in heavy trading.

The news killed fears the foreign miner might never get the green light for the mine from socialist President Hugo Chavez, which it won after making rigorous commitments to invest in the area and its residents that will extend long after the mine is exhausted and Gold Reserve has packed up and gone home.

“I grew up in Canada and lived in small mining towns, and you always have to ask the question ‘What happens when the mine is gone?’ ” said Gold Reserve president Doug Belanger. (more…)