politics for the 99%

… Revisiting The New Deal – Published on Rozenberg Quarterly, by C.J. Polychroniou, 2016.

Few policies and programs designed to promote economic recovery and social reform have attracted as much attention as those associated with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal during the 1930s when the U.S. economy had plunged into its worst economic crisis in its history … //

… The economic environment of contemporary capitalism is shaped by three interrelated forces: financialization, neoliberalism and globalization. It is the combined effects of these three forces that have given rise to a new form of predatory capitalism in late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. As such, anyy project driven by New Deal aspirations needs to implement political processes that will undermine and bring to a halt all three of the above forces.

Having said that, it would be at least naive to think that the proponents of a New Deal, which tend to be nostly of social democratic ilk and remain firmly committed to a capitalist socio-economic order, have the political will to engage in such an undertaking. Indeed, their arguments for a New Deal for Europe and the United States rest on convincing the current economic elite that such a project would be best for the future of capitalism itself. Indeed, New Dealers do not call for the re-organization of the economy nor do they advocate anything resembling economic democracy.

The answers to the problems confronting today’s advanced capitalist economies and societies cannot come from within the logic of the very system that is responsible for causing massive unemployment, constantly widening the gap between haves and have-nots, and producing social malaise, alienation, violence, and social marginalization while at the same time destroying the environment and threatening the end of human civilization as we know it with the phenomenon of global warming, which is not simply caused by human activity but by the dynamics of a specific system of economic and social organization which thrives of capital accumulation.

The answers to the problems of unemployment, inequality, poverty, violence, and environmental degradation can come only through the end of capitalism and its replacement by democratically run forms of economic and social organization, which probably mandate a return to the nation-state and probably to economic localization.

In this context, putting an end to global free trade regimes, reversing the globalization trends of the last 40 years, resisting corporate takeovers and the privatization of national economies, and creating new networks of political activism based on class-politics and centered around a vision of democratic socialism — instead of political activism revolving around the politics of identity and multiculturalism, phenomena akin to contemporary capitalism and whose demands and claims mainstream power readily accommodates—is the only way to put an end to capitalist barbarism.

Whether today’’s Left is up for that task is however another story.

(full long text).

Finance, Socialism etc Related Links:

• Preview November 5: SOCIALISM VS CAPITALISM and WAR, Socialist Anti-War Conference in Detroit, on Socialism vs War,
• The CETA Trade Pact Will Add to the Groundswell of Discontent: Why We Need More Informed Decision-Making, on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Oct 7, 2016;
• The IMF and All The Other Losers, on The Automatic Earth, Oct 7, 2016;
• World Bank admits globalization leads to inequality, on RT, Oct 7, 2016;
• New WEA Book: Re-thinking Theoretical Economics, review on RWER blog, Oct 7, 2016: this book argues that mainstream theoretical economics has been a basically misdirected effort at creating and exploring imaginary worlds with little practical use, rather than focusing on developing instruments to understand and explain real-world economic phenomena, Gustavo Marques’ new book shows how economic theory could be redirected so as to help find solutions to real-world problems …;
• Matthias Weidner u. Franz Hörmann im Gespräch zum Finanzsystem, 50.40 min, von wirschmidt am 19. Sept 2016;
• Sahra Wagenknecht und wie sie uns vor dem Kapitalismus retten will, 58.36 min, (in der Sternstunde Philosophie), von SRF Kultur am 15. Mai 2016;
• Der weltweite (systemische) Bankenbetrug – Franz Hörmann, 57.12 min, von Dawa Ulm, am 3. Mai 2016;
• Buch: Der Währungscountdown, das verfehlte Geldsystem – Ursachen und Lösungen, Februar 2013, auf amazon.de;

Other Links:

One month to the US presidential election—what lies ahead, on WSWS, Patrick Martin, Oct 8, 2016;

Permaculture:

• on en.wikipedia is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered on simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems …;
• on Google Scholar-search;
• Introduction to permaculture, on Permanent Culture Now;
• Permaculture Principles, on Soil and Soul.co.uk;
• Permaculture Primer eBooklet, on Midwest Permaculture;
• What is Permaculture? on Garden Village ermaculture, Australia;
• Gaia University: Upcoming Courses, Workshops & Events;
• European Permaculture Study Credits Exchange System? on European Permaculture Teachers Partnership;
• Volunteering in Spain, Europe – Permaculture, organic gardening and earthbag building, on permies;
• … and many more interesting websites by Google Images-search.