The World Crisis and Beyond

Alternatives and transformation paths to overcome the regime of crisis-capitalism

Reader of the conference “The World Crisis and Beyond” on the 28th of October 2010 in Brussels, organized by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Brussels in cooperation with the World Forum for Alternatives and the Transational Institute

From the text:

Neoliberal financial-market capitalism has dragged the world into a crisis which threatens human civilisation as such. It is characterised by an extreme form of the combination of, on the one hand, the expansion of production, transport and life-style, with, on the other, the destruction of its own foundations, and suffers from a crisis of social reproduction, societal integration, democratic identification and security. Climate destruction, resource wars, terror, the transformation of democracy into oligarchy, class divides, a new racism and fundamentalism, etc. are unavoidable. It therefore leads to a crisis of civilisation, and produces ever stronger elements of barbarism and authoritarian power, which can only be contained at ever greater expense. (Michael Brie)

In the contemporary global situation, the principal focus of the working masses in the world is on the ongoing and the unabated economic crises that lay centred in the US enveloping the world, as the brunt of this phenomenon is being borne by them. Bailouts and stimulus packages have been doled out by the governments of the imperialist triad – US, Europe and Japan in a bid to pull out their economies from the quagmire of this crisis variously named as – Financial Meltdown, Financial Crisis, Recession and Economic Downturn. (MURTHY PK) The current crisis marks an important historical moment, as it marks the end of a capitalist phase that has been unprecedented, from its very beginning with the industrial revolution of the 19th century and its undisputed victory over what had been its unfortunate “alter ego” for half a century: the rapidly dismissed experiment of Soviet socialism. This crisis is both fortunate and pertinent, as it is a result of capitalism itself; and that is why we must seek the reasons for the catastrophe – and why not also for its «passing» – in capitalism. (Ali El Kenz)

Content:

Part 1: Synopsis of thesis papers

Part 2: Thesis Papers

Elmar Altvater: The crisis and green ways out

Samir Amin: Exiting the crisis of capitalism or capitalism in crisis?

Pierre Beaudet: Beyond the crisis: North American perspective

Michael Brie: Five theses for the conference on alternatives and transformation paths to overcome the regime of crisis capitalism

Bernard Cassen: Short thesis

Sandeep Chachra: Socialising a socialist vision

Jennifer Cox and Cheri Honkala: Building the “Unsettling Force”: To make another U.S. and another world possible: the economic crisis, the new class and historyopportunities for organizing in the U.S.

Wim Dierckxsens: Requiem for the free market: towards a post-capitalist utopia

Bernard Founou: Prerequisites for an effective struggle against imperialism in sub-saharan Africa: a detour via the Bandung era

Mamdouh Habashi: I have a dream

Francois Houtart: The multiple aspects of the crisis and the way out

Dot Keet: Emancipatory transformation and alternative development paths within and from regions of the South

Ali El Kenz: An anthropological view on the crisis

Lau Kin Chi: Transformation of politics: The new role of the state and the social movements

Gustave Massiah: Opposition movements foreshadow ways out of the crisis

P. K. Murthy: India in the midst of the global econoic crisis

Paulo Nakatani: The world financial crisis

Pedro Páez: Towards an environmentally sustainable, culturally and scientifically sensitive planetary program of decent fully employment

Florian Rochat: A note on Switzerland

Vera Vratusa: Short thesis

Hilary Wainwright: From the heartlands of a persistent neo-liberalism: a union led alternative

Wen Tiejun, Liu Huaiyu, Li Chenjie: Global crisis and grain security in China

Rick Wolff: Short thesis (addressing especially the crisis in the US and a proposed new strategy to mobilize workers).

See also:

Building a New Global Solidarity – Conference Declaration

 

Beyond the Crisis ReaderPDF file