The Limits Of Privatized Climate Policy

For many in the climate movement, Donald Trump’s defeat in 2020 was a moment of euphoric optimism. With Joe Biden in charge, we could look forward to a possible return to climate action and diplomacy. No longer would policy be shaped by denialists, politicians proudly in Exxon’s back pocket, and a media fixated on the “costs” of public investment. A year on, it’s become easier to see the limits of the Biden administration’s approach, and how little has really changed.

There have been moments of genuine ambition from the Oval Office. The clean electricity pledges of the fall 2021 budget package and the climate-related investment promised in early versions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act were among the most significant climate commitments we’ve seen from the U.S. government (hence the staunch resistance to their passage from Exxon’s man on Capitol Hill, Joe Manchin).

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An Interview with Kamau Franklin Of Community Movement Builders

Well simply put I think his policies, as predicted by any serious left analysis, have continued the terrible predicament of Black life in america. Biden by his own admission was a moderate and was not destined to do anything particularly helpful for the larger collective Black community. His inability to direct his own party to pass his signature legislation, Build Back Better, is a clear indication of how weak he is politically. His refusal to challenge to do anything on voting rights, to extend the housing moratorium to expand healthcare, to cancel student loans, and lastly to have a coherent national policy on fighting the COVID pandemic shows that his loyalties were always to just keep capitalist markets chugging along without the bombast of a Trump-like figure. That is what both the white political and economic elite wanted and the Black political elite wanted.

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The Profit-Motive Didn’t Create The James Webb Space Telescope

We have two examples of economic systems and of individual scientific workers and business people doing what they do that offer a instructive illustrations of why the US is so screwed up, and why it doesn’t have to be that way.

The first is the extraordinary new (if unfortunately named) James Webb telescope heading rapidly towards it’s parking orbit at the Lagrange point 2.2 where its telescope, reportedly 100 times more powerful than the already extraordinary orbiting Hubble telescope, will be able to show images of early galaxies formed only a short time after the Big Bang.

That telescope, which has had to go through over 300 automated or remotely controlled steps — in order — to open up from its fetal position crammed inside the oversized faring of a European-built Ariane rocket — was designed and built by scientists and engineers working on salary and launched on a rocket designed and built by a multi-European government agency.

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The President Who Can’t Resist Defying The US Is At It Again

Since 1987, I have been coming to Nicaragua to show solidarity for its upstart band of merry men and women known as the Sandinistas. They, of course, led the unlikely successful revolution against the US-backed dictatorship of the Somoza family – a regime installed in 1934 and backed to the bitter end until finally overthrown in 1979.

Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans were killed by Anastasio Somoza as he attempted to cling to power by gunning down his own people and bombing towns by air. And still the Sandinistas triumphed, led by Ortega.

The US, which has been intervening in Nicaragua for more than a century, never accepted the Sandinista revolution and its leader. It has never abandoned the idea of the Monroe Doctrine announced in 1823 – a statement which declared the US claims sole dominion over the Western hemisphere…

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What Are The Fundamental Differences Between Capitalist And Socialist Democracy?

The United States hosted a “Summit for Democracy” on December 9th and 10th in an obvious attempt to legitimize its unipolar and hegemonic claim of leadership over the so-called “rules-based international order.” While on the surface this appeared to be an unproductive move on the part of the world hegemon, it aligned well with the U.S. strategy of cloaking its aggressive and exploitative policies under the guise of “democracy.” Joe Biden’s administration has repeatedly hyped the differences between “autocracy” and U.S.-led “democracy.” So-called allies were summoned to give the U.S.’s vision for democracy credibility on the international stage.

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China Plays Crucial Role Supporting Progress, Sovereignty In Latin America

In the last two decades, economic links between Latin America and the People’s Republic of China have been expanding at a dizzying rate.

Bilateral trade in 2000 was just $12 billion (1 per cent of Latin American’s total trade); now it stands at $315bn. In the same time period, China’s foreign direct investment in Latin America has increased by a factor of five.

Since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, 19 of the 33 countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region have signed up to the China-led global infrastructure development strategy.

Infrastructure projects have been a particular focus for Chinese firms. Writing in Foreign Policy in 2018, Max Nathanson observed that “Latin American governments have long lamented their countries’ patchy infrastructure.”

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How China Is Taking On Billionaires And Big Tech To Combat Inequality

China is imposing harsh regulations on private education, big tech, and billionaires. The new Cold Warriors in the U.S. government and media call these moves authoritarian, leftward tyranny, and bad for business. But Chinese president Xi Jinping calls it part of a “common prosperity” agenda to create a more equitable society on the road to building socialism. To help understand the Chinese point of view, Rania Khalek was joined by Tings Chak, a writer and researcher with Dongsheng News and the Tricontinental Institute.

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Sandinistas Won A Landslide Victory Because They Uplifted The Poor

As predicted by multiple polls, the Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega, won a resounding victory on the November 7th elections in Nicaragua. The elections were a referendum on the path that the Sandinista government has taken the country, which is grounded on large investments in social programs that have benefited people, especially the most disadvantaged, in every nook and cranny of the national territory.

Support for the reelection of the Sandinista government was astounding. Of the entire patron electoral (eligible voters), about 65% came out to vote and, of those, about 75.9% voted for the FLSN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) alliance ticket.

The victory of Sandinistas generated expected attacks, which seek to delegitimize the newly elected government in Nicaragua.

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Seven Day March In Defense Of Democracy Concludes In Bolivia

March for the Homeland reached the Bolivian city of La Paz on November 29 after covering a distance of more than 180km over seven days. Over a million people had joined the march by the time it reached La Paz. The demonstration was organized in defense of democracy, in support of President Luis Arce’s government, and in rejection of the recent destabilization attempts promoted by the far-right opposition sectors.

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Thousands March Against Right-Wing Maneuver To Impeach Pedro Castillo

On November 25, Peruvian opposition legislators from three right-wing parties, presented a motion in Congress that seeks to remove socialist President Pedro Castillo from office. The motion, which alleged “moral incapacity” of the head of state to govern, was presented with the signatures of 28 legislators of the Popular Force, Popular Renewal, and Go on Country parties.

The motion will go to a vote in Congress scheduled for December 7 and will need 52 votes from the 130 legislators for impeachment procedures to begin. If it manages to receive support to begin debate in Congress, a final vote to oust Castillo, would require 87 votes, which is an unlikely scenario. The ruling Free Peru (PL) party, with the support of the progressive Together for Peru party and the Purple Party, has the endorsement of 45 legislators.

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Bolivia: Massive Six Day March To Defend Democracy

Bolivia – On Monday, November 29, the massive “March for the Country” led by social movements and indigenous peoples will culminate in the capital, La Paz, for a large rally in defense of democracy. Just over a year ago, the Bolivian people overthrew a violent US-backed coup regime at the ballot box with the election of President Luis Arce. The Bolivian people have continued to fight off attempts by the US government to undermine their restored government.

To raise awareness of the attack on democracy and to show the great support for the current government within the country, tens of thousands of people have been marching for the past five days. The total length of the march is 180 kilometers. Here is a series of tweets that tell the story of the march from Kawsachun News and others who are there:

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Venezuela’s Socialists Win Elections In Landslide

After years of boycotting previous votes, Venezuela’s right-wing opposition parties agreed to participate in these elections, through a series of negotiations that were held in Mexico and sponsored by Norway and the Netherlands.

A delegation of US National Lawyers Guild members traveled to Venezuela to monitor the elections, visiting 12 voting sites in Caracas and other states. They reported, “We observed a balanced and transparent voting process which voters expressed confidence in.”

“From a technical point of view, we observed an electoral system that was fundamentally transparent and facilitated by a workforce (poll workers, coordinators, table presidents) with strong technical competence regarding the functioning of the machines and the integrated election systems,” the National Lawyers Guild members wrote.

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Five Reasons Why The Left Won In Venezuela

For the first time in four years, every major opposition party in Venezuela participated in elections. For the fifth time in four years, the left won in a landslide. Voters elected 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 state legislators and 2,471 municipal councilors. The governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won at least 19 of 23 governorships (one race remains too close to call) and the Caracas mayoralty in the November 21 “mega-elections.” Of the 335 mayoral races, the vote count has been completed in 322 of them, with PSUV and its coalition taking 205, opposition coalitions 96 and other parties 21. Over 70,000 candidates ran for these 3,082 offices, and 90% of the vote was counted and verified within hours of polls closing.

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A Glimpse Of China’s ‘Whole-Process Democracy’

The notion of Chinese democracy is not the same as that in the West. The political system in China is more about consensus building within a greater voice rather than the protracted bargaining to arrive at decisions common in the West.

The country’s application of democratic principles follows an approach Chinese President Xi Jinping has termed “whole-process people’s democracy.” The concept was put forward about two years ago, during Xi’s visit to a civic center in Shanghai.

Based on people’s congress system, the “whole-process people’s democracy” enables the Chinese people to broadly and continuously participate in the day-to-day political activities at all levels, including democratic elections, political consultation, decision-making and oversight.

The story of Chinese lawmaker Liu Li gives a glimpse into how China’s whole-process democracy operates.

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Propaganda War Against China To Eradicate Socialism

Friends of Socialist China formed out of what we saw as a dire need to gather all information, original and otherwise, to counter the misinformation being spread about China. We didn’t include the word “socialist” in our title for gimmick or display but rather to send a firm message of respect and admiration to the Chinese people’s socialist path. In many ways, the propaganda war against China possesses a dual mission: the ramping up of a dangerous U.S.-led New Cold War against China and the demonization of the socialist mode of development.

We at Friends of Socialist China have identified an immense gap in the political development of progressive forces in the Western world. Progressive forces in the West reside in the most propagandized societies in the world when it comes to China.

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