BRICS

William Jefferies explores the usefulness of long wave theory for understanding the current moment, how globalisation reshaped the world economy, and the coming period of crisis.

Renfrey Clarke — In the view of Marxists, the rift that divides the world is a direct result of imperialism, whose core is always material and economic.

Michael Karadjis — Some of the states that have been most critical of Israel’s actions are also the ones who supply the majority of its oil and coal.

Jerry Harris — Some see multi-polarity as a new stage of non-alignment, and even the creation of an anti-imperialist bloc. But the economic and political elites of the Global South are too deeply tied to transnational capitalism to be truly independent.

Frederick Thon Ángeles, Manuel Rodríguez Banchs and Jorge Lefevre Tavárez put forward 18 ideas about the new world order, the dangers of rising inter-imperial conflict, and the need to build an independent pole anchored in the international working class.

Patrick Bond — Given declining living standards, an elite transition will not stick nearly as well as Nelson Mandela’s 1994-99 reign. It may be a matter of just months before the centre can no longer hold.

Michael Roberts — Imperialism can be quantified in economic terms: it is the persistent transfer of surplus value to the rich countries from the poorest countries of the world. This process developed some 150 years or so ago and remains. 

Patrick Bond discusses modern-day multilateral networks of imperial power, the role BRICS countries play within this framework, and the need to incorporate the concept of "unequal ecological exchange" to our analyse of imperialism.

Patrick Bond & Desmond D’Sa — The crucial point for the host-country president and his supporters in Western, BRICS+ and OPEC countries was to not concede the need to “phase out“ gas, oil and coal.

Esteban Mercatante discusses how recent global shifts in processes of capital accumulation have contributed to China’s rise, the new (and old) mechanisms big powers use to plunder the Global South, and its implications for anti-imperialist and working-class struggles today.