Following the work of scientist and Sinologist Joseph Needham, this talk by John Bellamy Foster illuminates the conceptual linkages between the ancient Greek and Chinese thought and modern dialectical materialism and ecological civilization. This interweaving of intellectual traditions, he writes, has created a “powerful organic ecological-materialist philosophy.” | more…
What is the state of health care in China? Wei Zhang analyzes the deep institutional issues that plague China’s health care system. Despite its timely and effective efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis, the system still faces deep-seated challenges, many of which can be traced directly to the marketization of hospitals and medical care. | more…
There is a growing sense in China, Alex Witherspoon, Amir Khan, and Yu Zhou write, that the timeworn methods of social advancement are yielding diminishing returns. Using an original survey of 301 individuals in Jingzhou City, the authors lay bare the roots of this widespread feeling of involution. | more…
What is the New Washington Consensus? In this month’s Notes from the Editors, MR editors discuss Washington’s fundamental shift in its approach to China, moving from an emphasis on neoliberal globalization toward a new, more aggressive policy pursuing U.S. military and industrial supremacy. | more…
Minqi Li asks: How can China, the world’s largest energy consumer, be “de-grown”? What policies and institutions must change, and what are the potential social implications? How can social ownership of production, redistribution of wealth the working class, and democratically controlled planning bring the country closer to a zero growth scenario? | more…
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…
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…