“... all believers, regardless of their faith, must refrain from ostentation and provocation and … practise their religion in humble discretion.” – French President Nicolas Sarkozy, writing in Le Monde in defence of the Swiss referendum that banned construction of minarets.
Marx and Engels’ establishment of the scientific basis of socialism was indispensable to the struggle for a better world because the fight against capitalism must be a conscious one in a way that capitalism’s fight against feudalism was not.
“Up to $63 billion of existing residential buildings” in Australia “are potentially at risk of inundation” from rising sea levels by 2100, according to Climate Change Risks to Australia’s Coasts, a report released on November 14 by the CSIRO and the federal government’s Department of Climate Change.
I was disappointed to see that your centre spread entitled “Charles Darwin: the Reluctant Revolutionary” (November 2009 edition) was a relatively biased presentation of Darwin and the relevance of his revolutionary ideas.
From its very beginning, capitalism has always created resistance in those it exploits and oppresses. Well before capitalism had overrun the rest of the world, in Western Europe, where it originated, it was engendering opposition, at times quite fierce: sabotage of capitalist property, illegal workers’ associations, local rebellions.
“... a year ago a lot of these [banks] were teetering on the brink, and the United States government and taxpayers came to their defence. They have responsibilities, and they ought to meet those responsibilities.” – David Axelrod, a senior adviser to US President Barack Obama, on bonuses being paid to bank executives.
On October 24, about 5200 actions occurred worldwide as part of a campaign organised by 350.org to demand that political leaders agree to aim to stabilise atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations below 350 parts per million (ppm). I attended the event at the Sydney Opera House, along with what I would estimate to be around 700 others.
When industrial capitalism developed in Western Europe in the 19th century, the great majority of businesses were privately owned. That is, they were the property of a single individual, or sometimes a family, or sometimes two or three partners with defined shares. There was no normal mechanism by which some outsider could become a part owner of the business.
A century and a half has passed since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, yet this book is still surrounded with controversy. It would not be an overstatement to say that the ideas of Charles Darwin on evolution sparked a revolution in human thought. But like most revolutionary ideas, Darwinism was, and still is, contested.
“Disappointing.” – A spokesperson for federal energy minister Martin Ferguson commenting on October 15 on the failure of the PTTEP drilling company to stop an oil leak off the north-west coast that has been emitting at least 400 barrels of petroleum a day since August 24.
“We must be part of the solution. We can’t just be part of the problem.” – Federal Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull.
District 9Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri TatchellStarring Shralto Copley, Jason Cope and Robert Hobbs111 minutes; in cinemas nationally
A revolution is needed in order to overcome the evils that capitalist society is subject to. But that doesn’t mean that nothing can be improved in the meantime. Quite the contrary: struggles for improvements – reforms – can be successful to one degree or another, depending on many different factors.
“If we continue at this rate, we’re not going to make it.” That was the verdict of Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), at the end of “informal consultations” held last month in the German city of Bonn to try to resolve issues complicating agreement on a new international treaty to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissio
“Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security” – Headline in New York Times, August 9.
Capitalism is a system based on exploitation. For Marxists, this has a precise scientific meaning. Capitalists take for themselves the monetary values created by or belonging to other people – usually workers, but also small farmers and, to varying degrees, small shop owners and nominally independent tradespeople. This value is what their capital consists of.
“I think it’s torture when I have to ride in the car with my kids and they have loud rap music on.” – John Brennan, a former CIA official under George W. Bush and now a member of President Barack Obama’s National Security Council, explaining why he thinks CIA “enhanced interrogation” isn’t so bad.
Only a few years ago, the economic “experts” quoted in the commercial media were assuring us that major recessions were a thing of the past. The economists had figured out how to manage the economy, and as long as governments followed their advice, there would be nothing more serious than the occasional statistical blip. Then the real world intruded.
“... the medium-term future of GM’s foreign operations will depend on whether they generate sufficient revenues and attract enough government subsidies to be self-sustaining.” – Anne Davies in the Sydney Morning Herald, June 2.
Marxists believe that a revolution is necessary to open the road to socialism. But what does a revolution actually consist of? Advertisers and capitalist politicians would have us think a revolution is a pretty ordinary event, with their talk of “a revolutionary new soap powder” or an “education revolution”. The reality is quite different.
It is meaningful to modify the word “democracy” with a word such as “capitalist” or “workers” because democracy always has a social content, specifically a class content. Democracy is a system of class rule, in which one class advances its own interests at the expense of another class.
“We are going to be doing things which ultimately – in order to get the credit flowing again – are going to benefit the institutions that are at the core of the problem.” – Timothy Geithner, former president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and now US Treasury secretary.
“This is a historic opportunity afforded us to give capitalism a conscience.” – French President Nicolas Sarkozy, prior to the April 2 G20 London summit.
If you conducted a random survey asking people what “democracy” means, probably the most frequent answer you would receive would be “government by the people” or “the people rule”. That’s not a bad answer; it’s the meaning of the Greek words from which “democracy” comes. Ancient Greece, particularly Athens, offers the best-known examples of early democracy.
2009 started off badly. The international economic crisis is top priority of governments, companies, international organisations and individuals whose worries have become having a roof to sleep under and food on the table. The situation has taken many nations by surprise, but not so much Cuba.