A Conversation on our "Nihilistic Age" (tags)
As religious authority wanes, fundamental values—including the very value of truth—don’t die, but rather lose their absolute status and go a little haywire as a result... When the value of values declines, values don’t vanish but become trivial, fungible, instrumentalizable.
There is broad agreement that freedom should not only be measured in terms of one's own well-being, but also in terms of others, especially the socially disadvantaged, and in solidarity with those who lack recognition. The strong welfare state is widely accepted, even by those who pay more than they receive.
De-escalartion instead of war of attrition (tags)
The call for negotiations alone is no longer enough. In a situation in which parts of the Western alliance are struggling to find ways out of the war & at the same time more & more heavy weapons are being supplied for a war that will last for years, the social left should campaign more strongly than before for "mutual de-escalation" & security guarantees, for European independence
Why do the lambs remain silent? (tags)
James Madison (1751-1836), one of the founding fathers of the constitution, proclaimed that every form of government should be designed "to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority".
Is it possible to negotiate with Putin? (tags)
For Putin, the intention to admit Ukraine to NATO was a breach of "the agreement made with NATO after the fall of the Berlin Wall not to expand it" (2:34:20). As the Americans claimed hegemony according to their "Monroe Doctrine," Putin considers Ukraine his "backyard."
The final system question Parts 1 and 2 (tags)
The enrichment elites of the West in particular have been trying for decades to extend their influence to the whole world. That is their declared concept. The worldwide "final victory" has been part of capitalism and imperialism from the very beginning.
The fire of youth will never be put out. Don’t let them break your spirit. We are only called to plant the seed, to be truth-tellers and story-tellers, to redefine and expand work, to revive our welcoming tradition and decry the tradition of fear.
For a democratic polarization (tags)
The new world economic crisis has shown yet again that one can't leave it to the market to provide for a strong economy. In any case, it is a truism that a community with a certain quality of life depends to a great extent on resources that the market does not produce.
Collective working-time reduction is long overdue (tags)
The overall economic fact is further that from 1960 to 2019 the volume of work (despite reunification) increased only from 56.2 to 62.6 billion hours (by 11.4%), while the potential labor force grew from 26.3 to 46.5 million persons, i.e. by 76.8%.
The Way to Authoritarianism is Paved with Lies (tags)
Lying is part of the human condition. But democracy is in peril when politicians make lying into a "business principle." Lying is a second nature for Trump. Trump lies strategically and doesn't have a bad conscience. For Trump, the borders between true and false disappear.
Economic Stagnation and its Mastery (tags)
Corporate profits explode while investments stagnate.Social housing declines with privatization. According to neoliberal theory, higher profits lead to grater investments and more jobs. In truth, higher profits lead to more use of tax havens and companies buying back their stock.
Trump and the Consequences: Democracy at a Crossroads (tags)
What appears here is another form of democracy, without the constitutional state and without opposition. Trump could operate with enemy declarations. Today Donald Trump is a radicalized Nixon. Democracy is always endangered and never given as a present.
The Civilization Crisis: Post-Factual Criticism of Politics (tags)
In Trumponomics, falling tax rates for businesses should increase tax revenues. When businesses do not invest in an under-financed infrastructure, the tax gifts lead to lower stater spending and higher stater debts at the end.
Neoliberalism as a movement and ideology is a world of ideas where egoism and personal responsibiilty are celebrated, the social is faded out and no place exists for solidarity and social balance. Everyone is the creator of his own happiness here.
Tormenting Greece is about sending a message (tags)
Many of Germany’s leading thinkers, from Günter Grass to Jürgen Habermas, have issued similar warnings... The generation now in power in Germany seems to have forgotten everything. It is now not even a case of being “first among equals” – Germany is first in a new Europe of unequals.
Profit-Making is Different Than Profit-Maximizing (tags)
Discussions of jobs and the economy are often marked by trivialization, distortion, unreality and wishful thinking, The neoliberal model promotes profits, not investments and rationalization and digitalization lead to mass unemployment. System analysis and market failure are often glossed over
Neoliberalism has brought us back to Rockefeller's best times. Bill Gates is 1.4 million times as rich as the average American. A "feudal lifestyle" is made out to be worthwhile and in no way negatively described. Thus "re-feudalization" is dulled as a polemical term.
Normal Catastrophes and The Industrialization of Thinking (tags)
Instead of offering enlightenment about social reality, the media function as an amusement enterprise and immobilizing machine. Information mutates into infotainment... Advanced civilization is marginalized in many social areas into a sanctuary of the elites.
The Liberal-Regressive Modern Age (tags)
The financial crisis of the states-dramatically intensified by the costs of bailing out the banks-shifts the costs to the broad population without touching the wealth of the economic elites. Political governing is increasingly uncoupled from the approval and influence of citizens.
Shock Strategy for Europe (tags)
The cocktail of social cuts, deregulation and privatization struck societies like a blow. The economy hit the wall; social securities were taken away. The debt problems were used as "timely opportunities" to gain new ground for the free market.
Fukushima Mon Horreur - The Dream of Economic Reason Gives Birth to Tremendous Catastrophe (tags)
In "Anti-Duhring," Frederick Engels explained that nature also has a history and that capitalism tends to destroy its own foundations and nature. The negative is bound to the positive as conservation of energy is bound to transformation of energy.
From Obsuristan to Absurdistan: Barbarism or Human Future (tags)
Individual security can be emphasized so global vision fades. Half-truths and fish stories carry the day. "Communism is oppression of many by man and capitalism is just the reverse." Our challenge is to reawaken wonder and interdependence, to consider the way of nonviolent resistance.
"A new system of independence and self-economization replaces the old. The system of the click-economy breaks into the journalistic world." The world has changed politically and technologically. The print media is only a caricature of journalism.
After the Bankruptcy (Jurgen Habermas) (tags)
The privatization mania has ended. Politics is necessary for the public interest, not the market. A tension always exists between capitalism and democracy because the market and politics are based on opposite principles.
Bankruptcy of the Last Utopia (tags)
The economy should be a part of life, not a steamroller crushing creativity and self-realization. The economy should serve humankind; humanity should not serve bankers, SUVs and sports stadiums. The same Chinese letter represents crisis & opportunity.Will future be more human?
Social Contract and the Emergency Hour (tags)
The financial crisis is also an opportunity to reflect on our priorities and perspectives. Elite consciousness is a frozen consciousness where there are not alternatives and bankruptcy are only normal business practices.
Life is Gift, not Possession (tags)
In "Kaspar Hauser," Jacob Wassermann describes a town suffering under a long drought. With the wells dry, the town becomes enmeshed in violence and recrimination until a little boy plays so beautifully on his flute that water rises again in the wells.
Community Centers: Learning from O Canada! (tags)
The mosaic works in Vancouver, B. C. Community centers provide a buffer and cushion from the brutal and commodifying market. In happier days before Reagan and market fundamentalism, the Carnegie Center was bursting with activity, counseling, classes and circles.
Social Economies and Political Conflicts (tags)
Most of our serious social, ecological and economic problems can only be solved bottom-up with the insight and will of concerned citizens. The challenge consists in a radical democratization of the economy. Otherwise we put the cart before the horse and bridle the horse by the tail.
From the Market of Religions to the Religion of the Market (tags)
The democratic order became concrete as a form of the market. While a secular state forms around the market, the market ceases being merely profane. The market as a fate religion accepts and rejects like a Calvinist God,
Basic Income: Freedom for Every Individual (tags)
Katya Kipping rightly characterizes basic income as a democracy package. Solving a material question and strengthening civil rights and personal autonomy are joined.
Dialectic of Enlightenment (tags)
"War is the greatest evil requiring taxes and police so the few can control the many." (James Madison) In imperialism, sacrifices are made for corporations and the egos of the powerful, not for the country.
The Re-Nationalization of World Politics and the End of the Liberal Era (tags)
The empire has cut off its umbilical chord to the nation state and is no longer territorially limited..The US under George W Bush strives for a global monopoly.. Naked imperialist policy now replaces liberal globalization.. The US is resolved to undermine the existing world system.
Human Dignity is Inviolable (tags)
The Christian faith is obviously losing ground. Disorientation and superstition spread. The merciless religionof the market has long replaced faith in the humanitarian God..Act so you always trat people as ends in themselves and never as means to an end (Kant).
Construcción imperial y dominación (tags)
Las discusiones que se centraban en la "hegemonía" han resultado inadecuadas para explicar el nuevo énfasis que los constructores del imperio estadunidense ponen en la coerción militar, la invasión y la ocupación, y en el dominio impuesto por la fuerza
Lea Panorama Internacional. Actualizado 28/7 (tags)
Lea Panorama Internacional de la economía, la política y la lucha de clases. Actualizado al 28/7 con todos los articulos On Line.
Lea panorama Internacional del 28/7 (tags)
Panorama internacional de la economía, la política y la lucha de clases. Lea on line los articulos publicados en la semana del 28/7.
Democratic Socialism: A Transformational Project (tags)
Democratic socialism as a transformational process could remedy the social coldness and ecological blindness of neoliberalism and its total absolute market. This article is translated from the German in: Utopie kreativ 2000.