Socialist Project

Bullet #1441: Macronism: Neoliberal Triumph or Next Stage in France's Political Crisis?

by Stefan Kipfer | June 29, 2017

'I really hope Macron can reform France, which is not doing well, you know.' These were the words of a young and stylish corporate lawyer, who started chatting with me during lunch in the cafeteria of the French national library. Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche had just won the Parliamentary elections. The lawyer tried to convince me of the benefits of liberalism but also expressed anxiety about whether Macron would manage to do what previous Presidents have not: overcome all the various social and institutional obstacles in the way of a full-fledged neoliberalism.

Bullet #1440: Populism in the 21st Century

by J. F. Conway | June 28, 2017

The term 'populism' has returned to the daily vocabulary of political pundits and analysts trying to make sense of the recent seismic shifts in the politics of many capitalist democracies. For the most part the term is used loosely, with no definition to guide the reader. There was the 'populism' behind the unexpected surges in support for Bernie Sanders in the U.S. primaries and for Jeremy Corbyn in the UK election.

Bullet #1439: Working Classes and the Rise of the New Right: Socialist Politics in the Era of Trump

by Socialist Project | June 27, 2017

The success of xenophobic right-wing political forces today calls for the development of a socialist praxis fit for this perilous political moment. Taking this seriously requires that we address the inroads of the far right into working class constituencies that were bastions of trade unionism for much of the 20th century, and traditionally voted heavily not only for New Deal Democrats, or Labour and Social Democratic parties on the centre-left but even, as in France, for Communist parties.

What's New: Reclaiming Public Services

| June 27, 2017

Reclaiming Public Services is vital reading for anyone interested in the future of local, democratic services like energy, water and health care. This is an in-depth world tour of new initiatives in public ownership and the variety of approaches to deprivatisation. From New Delhi to Barcelona, from Argentina to Germany, thousands of politicians, public officials, workers, unions and social movements are reclaiming or creating public services to address people’s basic needs and respond to environmental challenges.

Bullet #1438: The Neoliberal Writing on the Wall: Ontario's Basic Income Experiment

by John Clarke | June 26, 2017

Since 2010, the UK has endured a political regime that can be considered a cutting edge of the austerity agenda. Through the film, I, Daniel Blake, people around the world have become familiar with the institutionalized cruelty of the Country’s warped system of providing social benefits to those in need. To those who endure sub-poverty misery, the humiliating intrusion of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and the ever present threat of the sanctions regime, the conclusion that anything must be better than the present set up is an easy one to arrive at.

LeftStreamed: Trump, Right-Wing Populism, and the Future of the Labour Movement

June 25, 2017

Bill Fletcher Jr. has been an activist since his teen years. He has worked for several labour unions in addition to serving as a senior staffperson in the national AFL-CIO. Fletcher is the co-author (with Dr. Fernando Gapasin) of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice; and the author of 'They're Bankrupting Us' -- And Twenty Other Myths about Unions. Fletcher is a syndicated columnist and a regular media commentator on television, radio, and the web. Recorded in Toronto, 2 June 2017.

What's New: The Making of a New, Old Left

by James Wilt | June 24, 2017

The moment I knew Thursday’s U.K. general election represented something different than I’ve ever seen in my lifetime, even from the landmark Bernie Sanders run of 2016, was when some of the most brilliant yet oft cynical writers of my generation started to tweet sincerely. There was a collective outpouring of deep joy and hope in these online spaces, something I’d never seen before. This might not mean much to the members of older generations who don’t literally spend their lives on social media. But for many of us deeply cynical leftists in the under-30 bracket, it was monumental.

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