- Jayati Ghosh on Democracy
- Civil Society Trends for 2025
- Saving the Planet
- Cuba: Yet Another Special Period
- New Formations
- Capital – The Cold Case
- Neoliberalism’s Hollow Promise of Freedom
- The Nyéléni Process
- UK Youth Vote
- Lessons from 20th Century Revolutionaries
__________
Jayati Ghosh on Democracy
New Socialist Initiative (New Delhi)
Many analyses of the recent erosion of democracy in India have dwelt on political and social forces. I will examine the role of economic forces unleashed by a particular form of capitalist development, and how they may have contributed to this process in recent decades.
__________
Civil Society Trends for 2025
Andrew Firmin and Inés M. Pousadela / Inter Press Service (New York)
It’s been a tumultuous year, and a tough one for struggles for human rights. Civil society has kept holding the line, resisting power grabs and regressive legislation, calling out injustice and claiming some victories, often at great cost. And things aren’t about to get any easier, as key challenges identified in 2024 are likely to intensify in 2025.
__________
Saving the Planet
Views from Africa on COP29 / African Arguments (London)
Adam Hanieh’s Crude Capitalism Simon Pirani / The Ecologist (Bideford UK)
An Indigenous Alliance to Save the Amazon Francesc Badia I Dalmases / openDemocracy (London)
Social Movements Advance Climate Justice Melina Dickson / The Round Table
__________
Cuba: Yet Another Special Period
Ernesto Teuma / New Left Review (London)
Cuba is navigating turbulent waters; we will need to hone our skills as sailors—to learn from past shipwrecks and avoid new ones, knowing how much the future depends on our own efforts. It will take time for the storm to abate.
__________
New Formations
South Africa: Zabalaza for Socialism / Links (Sydney)
Venezuela: Comunes / Links
European Left Alliance Janis Ehling / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Berlin)
__________
Capital – The Cold Case
Ingo Schmidt / Socialist Project (Toronto)
Marx died in 1883. So, a new generation of detectives have begun asking themselves how, despite his predictions, a sustained boom could have occurred. They started going through Das Kapital again. Did Marx miss something? Or had capitalism changed so much that his analysis needed to be adapted to the new times?
__________
Neoliberalism’s Hollow Promise of Freedom
Grace Blakeley / Jacobin (Brooklyn)
The economy we have now is based on a pervasive and invisible form of centralized planning that is very difficult to challenge and that rests on an ideology that tells people that you live in a competitive economy and have to compete with people around you. That’s what makes the system work. Even though it’s not true, this is part of the ideology.
__________
The Nyéléni Process
Nyéléni Newsletter (Brussels)
Seventeen years have passed since 2007, when the first Nyéléni Forum took place in Mali, bringing together social movements for food sovereignty from all over the world. The movement has been growing and gaining momentum, advocating at all levels for collective rights, human rights and food sovereignty. However, much remains to be done.
__________
UK Youth Vote
Michael Chessum / openDemocracy
Despite its failure to leave behind much grassroots organisation, Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership galvanised millions. This generation now knows what it’s like to have a voice in the political mainstream. It won’t tolerate being shut out of the political process indefinitely. The success of Green and independent candidates at this year’s general election was in part driven by this fact.
__________
Lessons from 20th Century Revolutionaries
Clara Zetkin Counsels United Front Jörn Schütrumpf / Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung
The Comintern’s Anti-Colonialism John Riddell / johnriddell.com (Toronto)
Eric Hobsbawm’s Historical Perspective Patrick Iber / The New Republic (Washington DC)
Overlapping Centuries with Marta Harnecker Miguel Enrique Stédile / Links
On the Second Declaration of Havana / Cuban Solidarity Campaign (London)
Lenin vs. Ultra-Leftism Peter Coffin / P on Stuff (New York)
Spread the word