Consequences of the Weak Class Struggle and Some Problems of the Left in Romania
Finding the right strategy for the Romanian left is not easy either. Its politics is diluted in policies tending towards liberal-monetarist solutions suggesting a minimal state and no progressive tax. Social democratic economic policies could not have been and cannot be distinguished from explicit right wing economic policies. The author suggests that any reorganisation on the left requires to replacing the fight for improving the system by fight against the system.
Quo Vadis China? – Condition of the Workers in China
The study presents the economic development of China over the past two or three decades, reviewing economic policy and social dilemmas as well. Since the early 1980s, Beijing gave an ever increasing role for market initiatives and achieved immense success in the evolution of productive forces but had to face the specific outcomes of the market oriented development like unemployment and income polarization. State regulation and planning were used to tame these negative effects but it is questionable whether these two different "logics" can live together on the long term.
Kyrgyzstan is on its Way to Chaos
This analysis shows that the present conflict between the Kyrgyzes and the Uzbeks is not a rebirth of a traditional "ethnic conflict" but sprang from the internal fight between the different fractions of the Kyrgyz elite. The tension was artificially agitated to meet specific economic and political goals. The author also outlines the social roots and international background of the conflict.
The Greek Crisis – The First Battle for Europe
What kind of problems derive in the present Greek crisis from the fact that the launch of the euro was based on the relations of exchange and conditions of the German economy? It is possible at all for a less developed economy, during a lasting crisis, to successfully compete with more developed economies thus repaying its loans taken – when the Maastricht criteria seriously limit its economic policies making impossible to follow Keynesian, anti-cyclic and development policies.
Original: Dimitris Konstantakopoulos: La crise grecque : Première « bataille » d'une « guerre » pour l'Europe. Revue Internationale Utopie-Critique, mars, 2010
Lula’s Brazil – After Eight Years
The author presents a summary of the eight years in power of the Brazilian president that began in 2002. Lula had not broken with his successor's orthodox economic policy but his social programs in fact brought about substantial changes in the life of the poorest. His agricultural and industrial development policies have strengthened the international position of Brazil that was also supported by his foreign policy promoting the integration of Latin America. The most important achievement of the Lula ear probably is the increased self-awareness of the Brazilian society that is setting a further horizon than the limited results of the past eight years.
Original: Pierre Baudet: Le Brésil de Lula, huit ans plus tard . Memoires des luttes 21 jiun 2010