The MacBride Report in Twenty-first-century Capitalism, the Age of Social Media and the BRICS Countries

The MacBride Report was published in 1980. The report communicated the need for a New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). With the breakdown of what used to be called “actually existing socialism“ in the East and with the rise of the neoliberal commodification of everything, a NWICO indeed emerged, but one that looked quite different from that the MacBride commission imagined. Thirty-five years later, it is time to ask how the situation of the media and communications in society has changed. This contribution asks the question of what we can make of the MacBride Report today in a media world and society that has seen the rise of an economically driven form of globalisation that also has impacts on the media, the expansion of the information economy with a new young precariat at its core, and the emergence of the World Wide Web and its change into a highly commercialised system, including the emergence of so-called “social media“ whose capital accumulation model is based on targeted advertising

Qué vive y qué ha muerto en la Teoría Marxista de la Historia [Artículo evaluado por pares]

Durante los años 1980 y 1990, el debate sobre la Teoría Marxista de la Historia se focalizó, en gran medida, en el trabajo de Robert Brenner y su interpretación centrada en las relaciones de propiedad, y en el intento de G.A. Cohen de revivir la concepción determinista clásica. En este artículo examino dos argumentos influyentes, de Erik Wright y sus colegas, y de Alan Carling, que reconocen importantes debilidades en el trabajo de Cohen pero que también tratan de construir una versión más plausible de su teoría. Muestro que, en gran parte, los intentos de rescatar a Cohen no son exitosos. Y, en la medida en que tornan plausible al argumento, lo hacen al precio de convertirlo, les guste o no, en una forma de teoría de la lucha de clases. Concluyo en que esto marca el ocaso de la versión clásica del materialismo histórico, pero también observo que no nos deja con una comprensión voluntarista de la historia, como temen algunos de sus defensores

Capitalism, class and universalism: Escaping the cul-de-sac of postcolonial theory

Postcolonial theory presents itself as not just a criticism of the radical enlightenment tradition, but as its replacement. In this essay I will critically examine the basis of postcolonial theory’s claim to be a guiding framework for radical politics. I will show that, ironically, it is the very elements of its framework that postcolonial theorists present as genuine advances that count it out as a serious political theory. I am going to argue, in particular, that the strictures against universalizing categories ought to be rejected. I will show that they are both incorrect and contradictory. My argument is not, of course, that all universalizing claims are defensible. They may or not be, and some of them will be quite problematic. My argument, rather, is that there are some universal categories that are defensible. More importantly, I will suggest that certain of the key concepts that postcolonial theorists question or reject are not only legitimate, but are essential for any progressive politics. These are concepts that have been at the very heart of radical politics since the birth of the modern left – and are the ones that have, after a long hiatus, reemerged in the global organizing against austerity in the past few years

¿Reviviendo el estado desarrollista?: el mito de la “burguesía nacional”

En su discurso en un encuentro con banqueros locales en el otoño de 2003, y luego de la implosión calamitosa de la economía de su país, el presidente argentino Néstor Kirchner anunció su intención de rescatar a la economía argentina de las ruinas del neoliberalismo. Pero, declaró, “es imposible construir un proyecto nacional si no consolidamos una burguesía nacional”1. De hecho, este discurso fue sólo uno entre los tantos que hizo luego de su asunción en mayo resaltando la necesidad de un “capitalismo nacional”. Kirchner no ha estado solo en esto. En Brasil, el ascenso de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva y el PT al poder ha reavivado el discurso de un pacto social entre trabajo y capital, y la posibilidad de labrar un espacio para el desarrollo brasilero mediante una alianza con los industriales “nacionales” –representados más explícitamente en la elección del magnate textil José Alencar como vicepresidente de Lula. Y tanto Kirchner como Lula siguen la línea del presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez, quien frente a la abierta hostilidad de EUA ha denostado repetidas veces a la ortodoxia neoliberal, exhortando a los países en desarrollo a reclamar el legado de los modelos de desarrollo nacionales

American militarism and the US political establishment: the real lessons of the invasion of Iraq

In the haze of popular memory, and even in intellectual circles, the most common explanation for the American invasion of Iraq is a simple one: that it was the brainchild of the neo-conservative cabal grouped around Bush II, and it was motivated in large measure to open the door for American oil majors to take control of the region. Among intellectuals and foreign policy experts this line has been taken further, to the effect that the heightened militarism embodied in the invasion reflected a watershed in foreign policy more generally, evident along several dimensions--from soft power to hard power, multilateralism to unilateralism, economic coercion to military coercion, etc. One of the most common descriptions of the Bush ascension is that it signalled the turn to a New Imperialism--in contrast to the policy orientation that preceded it, and reminiscent of the global hegemony established by England two centuries ago. To some, like Niall Ferguson, this was a development to be welcomed, a sign that America was finally accepting the responsibility that comes with power; to more sober minds, of course, it was something to be deplored. If these diagnoses were accurate, then the implication of the set-backs in Iraq would be simple--a return to the status quo ante, a turn away from unilateralism, the abandonment of aggressive militarism, and perhaps even an abatement of the imperial impulse. The task is to assess the extent to which they are in fact true. How much does the Bush interregnum represent a break from the recent past, and how much of his agenda can we expect to continue into the next administrations? We are thus obliged to turn to recent history in order to place his decisions in the longer flow of policy

¿Revivir el Estado desarrollista? El mito de la" burguesía nacional"

The return to a kind of �developmentalism� is not only to be found among political elites, but also, emanates from the anti-globalization movement- -critical intellectuals, NGOs, and trade unions, and appears to many to be the �transitional programme� of our time. Defending a space for national capitalist development, under the direction of domestic groups, seems consistent with conscious direction of the economy--even if under the hegemony of the national bourgeoisie. Nostalgia for the bygone era certainly understandable. But with a half-century of experience with just such models of development, which relied upon, and fostered the growth of, domestic capitalists. It may, therefore, be of some relevance to turn to the historical record, in order to examine closely the political preconditions for, and consequences of, developmentalist projects.El regreso a un �desarrollismo� emana no solo de entre las elites políticas, sino también de entre intelectuales del movimiento crítico antiglobalización, organizaciones no gubernamentales, y sindicatos, y aparece incluso para muchos como el �programa de transición� del presente tiempo. Defendiendo un espacio para el desarrollo capitalista nacional, bajo la dirección de grupos nacionales, parece consistente con una dirección consiente de la economía, incluso bajo la hegemonía de la burguesía nacional. Nostalgia por una era pasada entendible, pero teniendo medio siglo de experiencia solo de esos modelos de desarrollo que descansan, y promueven, el crecimiento de los capitalistas nacionales. Puede ser relevante girar en los registros históricos para examinar de cerca las precondiciones políticas para y las consecuencias de, un proyecto desarrollista