[Marxism] What's new at Links: Socialism conference, Nepal, Malaysia, John Bellamy Foster, Venezuela, Thailand, Hadash, France, economics, India, Darwin

[glparramatta <glparramatta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What's new at Links: Socialism conference, Nepal, Malaysia, John Bellamy 
Foster, Venezuela, Thailand, Hadash, France, economics, India, Darwin

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    Sydney, April 10-12, 2009: `World at a Crossroads' 21st century
    socialism conference day-by-day agenda <http://links.org.au/node/974>

*W**orld at a Crossroads: Fighting for socialism in the 21st Century
Easter 2009, April 10-12, Sydney*
*Venue: Sydney Girls High* *School*
World At A Crossroads is a conference that brings together hundreds of 
socialists, progressive activists and Marxist thinkers from around 
Australia, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and North America in dozens of 
panel presentations and workshops dealing with the urgent questions that 
confront us all: war, imperialism, food security, racism, workers' 
rights, sexism, the media and culture.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/974>


    Eyewitness reports from the Nepal's revolution
    <http://links.org.au/node/973>

By *Ben Peterson*
[The following are a series first-hand reports from Nepal, by Australian 
socialist activist Ben Peterson.

First impressions and adventures in Nepal March 6, 2009 -- And here I 
am. After too long speculating from the sidelines (and sidelines 10,000 
kilometresm away) I have finally arrived in the land of Mountains and 
Maoists. On Tuesday night at about 10 pm, I landed in Kathmandu to see 
with my own eyes the processes unfolding here.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/973>


    Malaysian socialists' logo deemed 'violent', PSM warns of return to
    Mahathir-style repression <http://links.org.au/node/966>

[M. Sarawathy, a representative of the Socialist Party of Malaysia, will 
be attending the World at a Crossroads conference in Sydney, Australia, 
April 10-12, 2009. For more information, or to book tickets, visit 
http://www.worldatacrossroads.org <http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/>.]
March 19, 2009 -- Poor PSM (Parti Sosialis Malaysia, Malaysian Socialist 
Party)! Obstacles after obstacles the Parti Socialis Malaysia has had to 
face before it could be officially recognised as a political party.
The latest hitch is expected to make its recognition more elusive -- the 
authorities are now saying that the party's logo, a white-coloured 
clenched fist against a red backdrop, has "connotations of violence" and 
is "morally unsuitable".

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/966>


    John Bellamy Foster on the economic and ecological crises: `The
    common denominator is capitalism' <http://links.org.au/node/963>

*John Bellamy Foster* interviewed by /Links International Journal of 
Socialist Renewal/Green Left Weekly'/s *Ruth Ratcliffe*A 20-minute 
interview recorded with a handheld cam in Oregon, USA, in February 2009. 
John Bellamy Foster is editor of /Monthy Review/ and professor of 
sociology at the University of Oregon. He is co-author, with Fred 
Magdoff, of /The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences/ 
(Monthly Review Press, January 2009) among numerous other works./ 
/Foster discusses the global economic crisis, its implications for the 
world and particularly the Australian economy. He also discusses the 
ecological crisis and the potential for revolutionary change.

    * Watch at http://links.org.au/node/963


    Venezuela: Mass organisation, unity increases as revolution deepens;
    Coca-Cola plant replaced with `socialist commune'
    <http://links.org.au/node/972>

/ /By *Federico Fuentes*
March 21, 2009 -- "This government is here to protect the people, not 
the bourgeoisie or the rich", proclaimed Venezuelan President Hugo 
Chavez on February 28, as he ordered soldiers to take over two 
rice-processing plants owned by Venezuelan food and drink giant Empresas 
Polar. The move was made in order to ensure that the company was 
producing products subjected to the government-imposed price controls 
that aim to protect the poor from the affects of global price rises and 
inflation.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/972>


    Thailand: Class war for democracy <http://links.org.au/node/970>

By *Giles Ji Ungpakorn*
March 21, 2009 -- The current dispensation in Thailand is based on a 
political reaction to stem and reverse some of the populist measures of 
the deposed prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who himself was a 
neoliberal with a few pro-poor schemes. Even this was unacceptable to 
the elites who used the courts, the military and the monarchy to depose 
him and institute an anti-democratic constitution which protects their 
privileges. But now that Thaksin is gone, a grassroots movement of the 
poor is emerging to challenge the hold of the elites, the military and 
the monarchy over Thailand.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/970>


    PSUV document: Crack in the accumulation of world capitalism (march
    towards the global depression) <http://links.org.au/node/969>

The following document was produced by the *United Socialist Party of 
Venezuela (PSUV)* national leadership. It has been translated from the 
Spanish-language original by *Federico Fuentes* for /Links International 
Journal of Socialist Renewal/.
On March 21, all PSUV battalions met to discuss the document, together 
with an article written by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez . The day 
after, Chavez announced his government's anti-crisis measures.
The document is significant not only for what it says, but also because 
it is the beginning of a mass discussion on how to confront the crisis 
in Venezuela in the lead-up to the PSUV's August congress.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/969>


    Israel: An interview with Hadash MP and communist Dov Khenin
    <http://links.org.au/node/968>

March 8, 2009 -- *Dov Khenin* is a member of Israel's parliament (the 
Knesset) representing *Hadash*, the alliance led by the *Communist Party 
of Israel*. In November 2008, Khenin stood as mayoral candidate for 
Israel's biggest city Tel Aviv, where he received almost 35% of the 
vote. Dov Khenin talks to the editors of the British socialist journal 
/21st Century Socialism/ about the Middle East conflict and prospects 
for a renewal of the left in Israel. He also discusses the issues to be 
overcome in a negotiated Middle East settlement, international 
solidarity with the Palestinian people and the need for socialism in the 
21st century.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/968>


    Another left is possible: The protests in France and the New
    Anti-Capitalist Party <http://links.org.au/node/967>

March 23, 2009 -- It would be wrong to see the massively successful 
protest actions in France on March 19 as distant and exotic, of no 
particular relevance to us here in Canada. With the economic meltdown 
heralding a new political era, and with most of the country's left and 
social movements still stunned and disoriented following their embrace 
of the misguided and failed Liberal Party-led coalition plan, the French 
experience is instructive and inspiring.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/967>


    The economic crisis: Whose fault is it, and how can it be overcome?
    <http://links.org.au/node/965>

By *Aleksandr Buzgalin* and *Andrey Kolganov*, translated by *Renfrey 
Clarke* for /Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/
March 23, 2009 -- The period at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 
2009 was notable for a whole range of developments. Two of them, 
however, seem to the authors to be not only closely interconnected, but 
also of symbolic importance: a genuinely profound economic crisis broke 
out, and along with it, sharply increased interest came to be shown in 
the works of Karl Marx.
Over many years, various Marxists spoke of the crisis of capitalism at 
such length that the great majority of analysts ceased to take them 
seriously. The situation thus recalled the old story of the shepherd boy 
who continually cried "Wolf! Wolf!" even though there was no wolf there.
But one day, the wolf actually appeared ...

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/965>


    India needs a genuine Third Front, not an opportunist alliance
    <http://links.org.au/node/964>

/By /the *Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation*
[CPI (ML) Liberation representative Kavita Krishnan will be a featured 
guest at the /World at a Crossroads/ conference, to be held in Sydney, 
Australia, on April 10-12, 2009, organised by the Democratic Socialist 
Perspective, Resistance and /Green Left Weekly/. Visit 
http://www.worldATACrossroads.org <http://www.worldatacrossroads.org/> 
for full agenda and to book your tickets.]
March 17, 2009 -- On the eve of the Lok Sabha (national lower house of 
parliament) polls, which will be held in five phases between April 16 
and May 13, the launch of a ``Third Front'' spearheaded by the efforts 
of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and CPI (M) (the Communist Party 
of India-Marxist) has been announced. The front, it is claimed, is a 
non-Congress party, non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) front committed to 
``alternate policies''.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/964>


    Review: A materialist critique of pseudo-science
    <http://links.org.au/node/962>

Review by *Duroyan Fertl
/Critique of Intelligent Design: Materialism versus Creationism from 
Antiquity to the Present/
*By *John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark* & *Richard York
*Monthly Review Press, 2008
240 pages
March 13, 2009 -- In recent decades a form of militant creationism --- 
masquerading as science under the name of "Intelligent Design" --- has 
gone on the offensive, promoting the teaching of biblical creationism in 
schools, and carrying out a broader "wedge strategy", aimed at 
transforming the place and nature of science in society.
/Critique of Intelligent Design: Materialism versus Creationism from 
Antiquity to the Present/, is almost overdue in this respect. It traces 
the rise of the "design" phenomenon, and its relationship to 
conservative, right-wing politics, and places it in the context of a 
2500-year-long debate between materialism and creationism that lies at 
the heart of Western civilisation.

    * Read more <http://links.org.au/node/962>

* * *

Links seeks to promote the international exchange of information, 
experience of struggle, theoretical analysis and views of political 
strategy and tactics within the international left. It is a forum for 
open and constructive dialogue between active socialists coming from 
different political traditions. It seeks to bring together those in the 
international left who are opposed to neoliberal economic and social 
policies. It aims to promote the renewal of the socialist movement in 
the wake of the collapse of the bureaucratic model of "actually existing 
socialism" in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

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