Tag: Socialism

Black Box East: The role of “the East” in the West’s radical imagination

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Black Box East: The role of “the East” in the West’s radical imagination

Now, the third itinerary is one of romanticism. When the cultural revolution took place in China, European Marxists who felt that the Soviet Union was too boring or gray began to fantasize. You get all these books exaggerating what’s happening in China based on a very little understanding. There is a story from the late 1960s that Ho Chi Minh met an Italian Communist Party delegation. They’re sitting in his secret house, a very modest place; he’s sitting there, characteristically, with a cigarette in his hand and the Italians ask him how they can help Vietnam, a very honest and sincere question as there are American planes above bombing the crap out of Vietnam. But Ho Chi Minh doesn’t say: send us this or that; he says “go home and make a revolution.” He’s saying: sure, we need solidarity, we need tons of it, but we don’t need romanticism. We are making our revolution. We are going to die and sacrifice and yes, we need you out there fighting against the lies that they tell about us. But go home make your revolution. What’s the point of fantasizing about Cuba? Cuba of course needs solidarity today more than ever. Venezuela needs solidarity today more than ever. But go home and make your revolution.

Crisis in Peru: the president’s party left the government of Pedro Castillo + Can Pedro Castillo Save His Presidency?

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Crisis in Peru: the president’s party left the government of Pedro Castillo | Peru Libre turned to the opposition

The new cabinet that Cerrón calls the right wing has resumed diplomatic relations with Venezuela, broken since the government of the business right of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016 – 2018), active promoter of the failed Lima Group. This decision has upset the right wing and the mainstream media, which promote a permanent state of war against the Nicolás Maduro regime and pressure the government in that direction. The new cabinet has marked a position on the issue, far from the right

Related:

Peruvian president reshuffles cabinet, changes seven ministers “in favor of governability”

In a brief television address, Castillo said that it was “time to put Peru above ideologies and isolated party impositions” and thanked Bellido for his services. The head of state added that he had “made these decisions in favor of governability” and that “the balance of powers is the bridge between the rule of law and democracy. It must seek tranquility and cohesion in government.” The president also said that his administration would “promote private investment,” but “without corruption and with social responsibility, and prioritizing productive diversification.”

Can Pedro Castillo Save His Presidency?

Indeed, it is that very identity that, along with widespread distaste for the political class, helped sweep Castillo, previously affiliated with the centrist Possible Peru party, to power. Despite Cerrón’s constant talk of supposed demand for revolutionary change from “the people,” recent polling shows most Peruvians are actually centrists, keen for incremental change to make the Peruvian state more efficient, clean, and responsive. Just 1 in 4 voters identifies as “left,” and that includes the center left. Nevertheless, with voting compulsory in a society worn out by the pandemic and never-ending political scandals, Castillo, with his humble, provincial authenticity, managed to strike Peruvians as the least bad candidate.

So, Castillo was always a centrist! Center-left, Progressive International, portrayed him as a Socialist! I’ve been skeptical since I know that PI is all about saving capitalism.

China’s Fortune Cookie Crumbles : Michael Hudson and Renegade Inc.

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

YouTube: China’s Fortune Cookie Crumbles : Michael Hudson and Renegade Inc.

Transcript & Final Notes

America doesn’t build infrastructure these days unless it’s monopolised. This is the political fight going on in the United States now. President Biden has a infrastructure plan that he’s scaled down from six and a half trillion to three and a half trillion. And essentially the bulk of the Democratic and Republican Party said if we can’t privatise infrastructure and make it a rent-extracting monopoly, we’re not going to do it, and we’re going to block the government from doing it. So in the United States, they’re going to have high priced infrastructure, high-priced health care and high-priced education while China is going to have low-priced transportation, low-cost infrastructure, free education, public health care. And you’re going to have a very high-cost United States unable to compete with the rest of the world. All it can do is make military threats or financial threats. If it tries to impose sanctions as it’s imposed on Russia, China and other countries, these are going to serve as protective tariffs for foreign countries.

David Rovics: My Anonymous Critic Speaks

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

My Anonymous Critic Speaks

Fascism, or National Socialism, set out from the beginning to be an ideology that would attract the left. This was the very point of the National Socialists using the term National Socialism in the first place. Of course fascists are trying to appeal to leftwingers! That’s what they do! And we leftwingers need to appeal to the fascists, in order to win them over to the side of class war, instead of race war, or war with other nations.

Listen on YouTube

It’s wrong to say China is heading for socialism, because it never really abandoned it

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

It’s wrong to say China is heading for socialism, because it never really abandoned it

Ultimately, what is behind the coverage you see in the West is a sense of dismay that China did not take the path they wanted. China was a socialist state, and still is, but refines its policies in pursuit of its national goals where necessary. It understands the difference between dogmatism and pragmatism, and that is why it so frequently succeeds.