The evolution of the pandemic is particularly contrasted in Asia where it is much more difficult to compare national situations and policies than in Europe. However, we can try to identify a few lines of reflection, which are necessarily fragmentary.
Emancipation and science: Ernest Mandel 25 years later
20 July 2020, byThis year marks 25 years since Ernest Mandel died. Mandel was one of the most significant Marxist economists of the second half of the twentieth century. In 1982, he was central to founding our Institute. A prolific scholar and activist until the end of his life, Mandel wrote dozens of books and hundreds of articles.
The Coronavirus crisis and the struggle for health
19 July 2020, byThe Covid-19 crisis in South Africa has resulted in welcome signs that our government, at last, is becoming serious about actually governing the country. It acted early and effectively by declaring a state of disaster, developed new legislation, and implemented a range of important measures, across government sectors, to flatten the curve of the epidemic. As the numbers of proven infections escalated, it acted decisively and appropriately to halt further spread by imposing a lockdown. It has done so openly and with an unusually high degree of transparency. Political parties seem to have dropped tit-for-tat politics in favour of a focused non-sectarian approach.
Capitalist agriculture and Covid-19: a deadly combination
19 July 2020, byA socialist biologist explains the tight links between new viruses, industrial food production, and the profitability of multinational corporations.
The new coronavirus is keeping the world in a state of shock. But instead of fighting the structural causes of the pandemic, the government is focusing on emergency measures.
Yaak Pabst, for the German socialist magazine Marx21, spoke to evolutionary biologist Rob Wallace, author of Big Farms Make Big Flu (Monthly Review Press, 2016) , about the dangers of Covid-19 and the responsibility of agribusiness and sustainable solutions to combat infectious diseases.
United States of America: Socialism for Big Capital and wild capitalism for the poor
18 July 2020, byPart 4 of the series: The pandemics of capitalism, CoViD-19 and the economic crisis.
An invitation to carry forward the Nava Samasamaja tradition
17 July 2020, by‘Yes. I joined the United National Party (UNP).’
‘I will lighten up the UNP’
‘Had Marx been alive today, he would shake hands with [former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and leader of the UNP] Ranil Wickremesinghe and embrace him’
The quotations above were extracted from recent statements issued by Professor Vikramabahu ‘Bahu’ Karunaratne to print and electronic media.
Statement (Mindanao): Anti-Terrorism Act cannot win against terrorism!
16 July 2020, by• Anti-Terrorism Act cannot win against terrorism!
• Fight for A Democratic, Ecological and Peoples’-Centered Philippines!
The struggle against authoritarian liberalism is more urgent than ever.
15 July 2020, by ,Rarely given any space in international media, Slovenia has recently been filling the (web)pages of newspapers like Le Monde, The Guardian, Courrier International and the BBC. Reports were about thousands of people protesting on bicycles against the new right-wing government, led by Janez Janša and his Slovenska demokratska stranka (SDS - Slovenian Democratic Party). They are known internationally for their ideological, political and financial links to Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz. Under the guise of fighting the coronavirus, the Slovenian government combined strict public health measures (broadly supported by the public) with a vicious attack on public institutions, journalists, NGOs and practices of formal democracy.
Elections see emergence of first left pole since country’s independence from Yugoslavia
14 July 2020, byOn Sunday 5 July, Croatia held early parliamentary elections. Turnout was only 46 percent, reflecting low levels of engagement with official politics.