By John Bellamy Foster
December 2, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Monthly Review — Aside from the stipulation that nature follows certain laws, no idea
was more central to the scientific revolution of the seventeenth
century, and to the subsequent development of what came to be known as
modern science, than that of the conquest, mastery, and domination of
nature. Up until the rise of the ecological movement in the late
twentieth century, the conquest of nature was a universal trope, often
equated with progress under capitalism (and sometimes socialism). To be
sure, the notion, as utilized in science, was a complex one. As Francis
Bacon, the idea’s leading early proponent, put it, “nature is only
overcome by obeying her.” Only by following nature’s laws, therefore,
was it possible to conquer her.
December 1, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Investig'Action — Murders of trade unionists and social leaders, paramilitary
activity, coca production… If we only paid attention to the mainstream
media we would not get the idea that these problems are actually growing
in Colombia, one year after the peace agreement between the Colombian
government and the FARC came into place. To get a better picture and
understand how all these elements connect to US policy and corporate
interests, we interviewed Daniel Kovalik, a lawyer and human rights
activist who has long been involved in the struggle for peace and
justice in Colombia.
Panel presentation for Socialism 2017 conference, Malaysia
By Peter Boyle, Socialist Alliance (Australia)
December 1, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal— There is much for us to learn from the Russian Revolution in which, for the first time in history, working people took power and held onto it for years against all the odds.
By Vaios Triantafyllou
November 30, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from MR Online — Following the intense revolutionary experiences and struggles of the past century, intense debate has emerged on the relationship between socialist theory and practice. How is socialist theory applied during struggles for civil and economic rights, and how is it applied when a revolutionary struggle is successful? What is the role of democracy in such a process, and how are democratic principles incorporated in the pursuit of socialism? Were the mistakes and failures in the effort to build a socialist society inherent to its premises, or were there other factors that led to those failures?
By Youngsu WonNovember 29, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières — Will a verbal war between a senile dotard and a little rocket man result in an actual war? Probably not, but at the very moment, the risk is unprecedented, the highest without question. The reason?
Simply because the consequent of any action will be beyond imagination, and extremely catastrophic in every sense of the word. This is the only imaginable deterrent of any possible war, unfortunately.
Introduction by Richard FidlerNovember 23, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Life on the Left — The Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) is a left pro-independence party in Catalonia that has emerged in recent years and developed around an anticapitalist program. With ten seats in the now-deposed Catalan parliament, it gave critical support to the Puigdemont government, ensuring a pro-independence majority, but was not a member of the government as such.
November 23, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Historian and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of History at the University of Western Australia, Dr Chris Owen has produced a monumental history of the “killing times” in the Kimberley region in the decades leading up to Federation.
It is estimated that 10,000 to 30,000 Aboriginal people lived in the area before police entered the region. It is impossible to calculate how many were killed in the decades of the land war.
