Stories about Thinking Politically.
There are no Democratic or Green saviors: Get in the streets! « Systemic Disorder
Regardless of the outcome of November’s U.S. elections, what will count most is what happens in the streets. As Frederick Douglass put it plainly a century and a half ago, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will.”
All the advances of the 20th century (most of which are being steadily eroded in these early years of the 21st century) came about through organized movements, forcing elected officials to react.
Borón determines that present-day Marxism has to prove that alternatives to neoliberal capitalism exist, and that these alternatives can be useful as ‘guides to action’. Borón wittingly uses a prison break analogy demonstrating that in order to escape capitalism one must imagine a strategy and exit point for escape. Borón adamantly doubles down that in LACs (latin american countries) there is no other sustainable response, a revised socialism for the twenty-first century is the answer. The alternative – more capitalism – will doom human existence.
On Wednesday, Dilma Rousseff was formally impeached by the Brazilian senate. It’s another tragic chapter in the history of the Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT). After thirteen years at the head of government, the party was wrenched from office in a reactionary judicial and parliamentary coup orchestrated by the right wing.
In place of PT president Dilma Rousseff, Vice President Michel Temer assumed office. Temer belongs to the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), which allied with the PT in 2014 to form a coalition government. The party broke their ties with the PT in March, ahead of the impeachment. Since then, Temer has earned the support of the PT’s rivals, the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), and instituted massive cuts to public services.
Mark Weisbrot discusses the current economic problems facing Venezuela, suggests possible solutions, and debunks disinformation regarding the situation.
All of us on the Green Social Thought editorial board were terribly saddened to learn of the sudden passing of our friend, comrade and former editorial board member Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero during the afternoon of Tuesday, September 6th. Carmelo apparently had a sudden, fatal heart attack while at work in his home city of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Robin D.G. Kelley reports on the publication of a document expressing the guiding vision of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Dario Azzelini examines the increasing turn to worker's control in response to the ongoing crisis of capitalism.
The Working Families Party – darling of The Nation-reading liberals in New York State – is in trouble. The NY Daily News reported this week that major unions (SEIU 1199, United Federation of Teachers, and the Hotel Trades Council) had quietly dropped financial support of the organization in late 2014.
David battling Goliath is a cliché. But how else to describe the struggle between a rural electric co-op and its powerful supplier of electricity?
