The success of the telecommunications industry in India has been heralded as a “miracle.” But a miracle for whom? The answer, Rahul Varman writes, has clearly been the capitalist class, who, over three decades, have amassed tremendous wealth and power through the machinations of large firms, in collusion with the Indian government. | more…
“There is no longer any question that the United States is waging a New Cold War,” MR editors write in this month’s “Notes from the Editors.” This war, waged not only against Russia, but increasingly against China, whose approach to global governance is seen as a threat to U.S. imperialism. | more…
In its 60th volume!
Scrutinizes possibilities for an equalised global order, in light of recent conflicts between the world’s major powers
The “post-Cold War era is definitively over,” asserted US President Joe Biden as he launched the new National Security Strategy, warning in late 2022 that “a competition is underway between the major powers to shape what comes next.” American leadership, the document declared, would be more necessary than ever to define “the future of the international order,” insisting that the US must marshal its unparalleled economic, military, and diplomatic resources to confront its rivals.
Socialist Register 2024: A New Global Geometry? takes stock of momentous changes
March’s “Notes from the Editors” revisits the Non-Aligned Movement and its growing role in the New Cold War. The rise of Russia, China, BRICS, and other nonaligned countries hearlds the emergence of a new, multipolar world, counteracting the global hegemony of the United States. | more…
The revival of a classic work of journalism which exposes the gap between the official story and reality
At the height of the McCarthy era and the inception of the Cold War, the great journalist I.F. Stone released The Hidden History of the Korean War, a courageous work of investigative journalism that demolished the official story about America’s so-called “forgotten war.” As the war spiraled to its conclusion, Stone closely analyzed openly available U.S. intelligence narratives on the war’s official start, and the actions of key players like John Foster Dulles, General Douglas MacArthur, and Chiang Kai-shek. The result of his investigations was a controversial book
This month’s “Notes from the Editors” takes on the Biden Administration’s recently released National Security Strategy, a bellicose document that rattles sabers towards the supposed autocracies of Russia and China while reviving the age-old lie of the United States as protector of democracy. | more…
Arianto Sangadji traces the relationship between the state and mining capital in Indonesia throughout the historical capitalist development of the country from Dutch colonialism to the contemporary practices of multinational mining corporations. While these powerful firms have generated significant profits, they are also associated with dispossession, environmental degradation, and ruthless labor exploitation, spurring resistance from the local populations. | more…
Bhima Koregaon is that rare sequence in Indian politics today that can challenge reveal the true powers of being able to retroactively “change the past” in order to liberate the future, much in the manner of Marx’s historical materialism. The case, Saroj Giri writes, forces us to revisit the question of historical oppression based on caste from within the present, and beckons us to reject the capitalist accelerationist-futurist “progressive politics” of much of the left, taking us closer to the class struggle of Marx. | more…
Over the last twenty years, China has gained recognition for its efforts to reduce pollution and remediate the effects of industrialization within its borders. To mitigate the adverse effects of this reality, communities are returning to grassroots projects that present an alternative to unchecked globalization. | more…
Increasing numbers of left-wing activists around the world are turning to Vincent Bevins’s The Jakarta Method to learn more about the horrific atrocities committed by the United States against peoples’ struggles for the right to self-determination in the so-called postcolonial era. In particular, the book describes how imperialist expansion destroyed revolutionary struggles in the third world. | more…
As we write these notes at the beginning of March 2022, the eight-year limited civil war in Ukraine has turned into a full-scale war. This represents a turning point in the New Cold War and a great human tragedy. By threatening global nuclear holocaust, these events are also now endangering the entire world. To understand the origins of the New Cold War and the onset of the current Russian entry into the Ukrainian civil war, it is necessary to go back to decisions associated with the creation of the New World Order made in Washington when the previous Cold War ended in 1991. | more…
The cold-blooded murders of activists by state forces in India represents a historical pattern of extrajudicial repression. | more…