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The crisis in the global economic system triggered by the banking collapse of 2006-08 has precipitated a new moment in the evolution of global capitalism. But its novelty is not generally understood.

Some previous crises, most famously the great crash and depression of the 1930s, produced radical social change: the welfare state and New Deal, as well as the rise of fascism. In the past five years protest groups such as Occupy have appeared, and resistance to austerity has grown. Yet there has been no rupture in the system or its governing ideology. Indeed, elites have used the crisis in Europe and north America to advance the neoliberal project, as unrelenting attacks on living standards, the NHS and the welfare state in Britain show.

The disintegration of the British postwar settlement was the central project of one of the new right's most politically divisive figures, Margaret Thatcher. Her funeral last week was designed to install her as the emblem of a unified nation, and set the seal on three decades of work by three political regimes – Thatcherism, New Labour and the coalition – to fundamentally reshape Britain. As David Cameron told the BBC: "We are all Thatcherites now." Thatcher is dead, long live Thatcherism.

What is new about this phase of capitalism? Its global interconnectedness, driven in part by new technologies, and the dominance of a new kind of finance capitalism mean that, while a crisis of this system has effects everywhere, these effects are uneven. So far the Bric countries seem relatively unscathed, while the impact of economic devastation has spread from Asia and Africa into Europe.

The breakdown of old forms of social solidarity is accompanied by the dramatic growth of inequality and a widening gap between those who run the system or are well paid as its agents, and the working poor, unemployed, under-employed or unwell.

The crisis has revealed a new, international and ethnically diverse super-rich. The Sunday Times Rich List is topped by two Russian oligarchs and an Indian billionaire. They live a life totally divorced from and almost unimaginable by ordinary people, fuelled by an apparently unstoppable appetite for profit.

[...]

This is no time for simple retreat. What is required is a renewed sense of being on the side of the future, not stuck in the dugouts of the past. We must admit that the old forms of the welfare state proved insufficient. But we must stubbornly defend the principles on which it was founded – redistribution, egalitarianism, collective provision, democratic accountability and participation, the right to education and healthcare – and find new ways in which they can be institutionalised and expressed.

All of us who oppose the current direction, whether from inside or outside party politics or other organisations, must invent. We must set about disrupting the current common sense, challenging the assumptions that organise our 21st-century political discourse. We hope our manifesto will open a dialogue with a new generation shaped by different political experiences. This is a moment for challenging, not adapting to, neoliberalism's new reality, and for making a leap.

Uzique The Lesser wrote:

13/f/taiwan wrote:

israel wants instability in syria and a new regime. syria is iran's #1 gateway to the arab world and border's israel. as long as syria is too busy fighting a civil war and tearing apart it's own nation it won't have time to focus on israel. assad won't fall at this rate and israel probably knows that. a devastated and ruined syria sided with iran is better than a healthy one.

the west can't touch this directly. NATO is broke and no country(not even the US) will go to war in the middle east, again. any security council resolutions will be blocked by russia and china. they're hoping the US and europe, mainly the UK and France who have been held back by the EU, will use this as pre-text to start fully weaponizing the FSA/alqaeda.

there are already clips out there on the internet with FSA rebels using barrett M82 rifles... european arms have been making it there for quite a while. it is very ugly.

Uzique The Lesser wrote:

HBO gettin real

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl … XmA#t=190s

isn't that lloyd from dumb and dumber?

Uzique The Lesser wrote:

treme was the last one.

13/f/taiwan wrote:

Iraq is heading towards a full blown sectarian-civil war. The war was probably the biggest mistake made by any nation during the 21st century.

Macbeth wrote:

13urnzz wrote:

Sudan, allowing South Sudan to secede and take their scenery, oil, and real estate with them.

That would be my first answer if I had to choose using my own definition.

Last edited by 13urnzz (2013-04-24 19:54:29)