Contemporary socialist politics African Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana and theorist of African socialism on a Soviet Union commemorative postage stamp. African socialism has been and continues to be a major ideology around the continent. Julius Nyerere was inspired by Fabian socialist ideals.[179] He was a firm believer in rural Africans and their traditions and ujamaa, a system of collectivisation that according to Nyerere was present before European imperialism. Essentially he believed Africans were already socialists. Other African socialists include Jomo Kenyatta, Kenneth Kaunda, Nelson Mandela and Kwame Nkrumah. Fela Kuti was inspired by socialism and called for a democratic African republic. In South Africa the African National Congress (ANC) abandoned its partial socialist allegiances after taking power, and followed a standard neoliberal route. From 2005 through to 2007, the country was wracked by many thousands of protests from poor communities. One of these gave rise to a mass movement of shack dwellers, Abahlali baseMjondolo that, despite major police suppression, continues to work for popular peoples planning and against the creation of a market economy in land and housing. Asian The Peoples Republic of China, North Korea, Laos and Vietnam are Asian countries remaining from the wave of Marxism-Leninist implemented socialism in the 20th century. States with socialist economies have largely moved away from centralised economic planning in the 21st century, placing a greater emphasis on markets. Forms include the Chinese socialist market economy and the Vietnamese socialist-oriented market economy. They utilise state-owned corporate management models as opposed to modelling socialist enterprise on traditional management styles employed by government agencies. In China living standards continued to improve rapidly despite the late-2000s recession, but centralized political control remained tight.[180] Brian Reynolds Myers in his book The Cleanest Race, and later supported by other academics,[181][182] dismisses the idea that Juche is North Koreas leading ideology, regarding its public exaltation as designed to deceive foreigners and that it exists to be praised and not actually read[183] pointing out that North Koreas latest constitution, of 2009, omits all mention of communism.[184] Though the authority of the state remained unchallenged under Đổi Mới, the government of Vietnam encourages private ownership of farms and factories, economic deregulation and foreign investment, while maintaining control over strategic industries.[171] The Vietnamese economy subsequently achieved strong growth in agricultural and industrial production, construction, exports and foreign investment. However, these reforms have also caused a rise in income inequality and gender disparities.[185][186][187] Elsewhere in Asia, some elected socialist parties and communist parties remain prominent, particularly in India and Nepal. The Communist Party of Nepal in particular calls for multi-party democracy, social equality, and economic prosperity.[188] In Singapore, a majority of the GDP is still generated from the state sector comprising government-linked companies.[189] In Japan, there has been a resurgent interest in the Japanese Communist Party among workers and youth.[190][191] In Malaysia, the Socialist Party of Malaysia got its first Member of Parliament, Dr. Jeyakumar Devaraj, after the 2008 general election. In 2010, there were 270 kibbutzim in Israel. Their factories and farms account for 9% of Israels industrial output, worth US$8 billion, and 40% of its agricultural output, worth over $1.7 billion.[192] Some Kibbutzim had also developed substantial high-tech and military industries. For example, in 2010, Kibbutz Sasa, containing some 200 members, generated $850 million in annual revenue from its military-plastics industry.[193] European Alexis Tsipras, Greek socialist politician which led the leftist coalition SYRIZA through the 2012 elections, overseeing a swing of over 22% to the party, and becoming the Leader of the Opposition. SYRYZA won the 2014 European Parliament election.[194] The United Nations World Happiness Report 2013 shows that the happiest nations are concentrated in Northern Europe where the Nordic model of social democracy persists, with Denmark topping the list. The Nordics ranked highest on the metrics of real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, generosity and freedom from corruption.[195] The objectives of the Party of European Socialists, the European Parliaments socialist and social-democratic bloc, are now to pursue international aims in respect of the principles on which the European Union is based, namely principles of freedom, equality, solidarity, democracy, respect of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and respect for the Rule of Law. As a result, today, the rallying cry of the French Revolution – Egalité, Liberté, Fraternité – which overthrew absolutism and ushered industrialisation into French society, are promoted as essential socialist values.[196] To the left of the PES at the European level is the Party of the European Left, (PEL; also commonly abbreviated European Left) which is a political party at the European level and an association of democratic socialist, socialist[197] and communist[197] political parties in the European Union and other European countries. It was formed in January 2004 for the purposes of running in the 2004 European Parliament elections. PEL was founded on 8–9 May 2004 in Rome.[198] Elected MEPs from member parties of the European Left sit in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group in the European parliament. The socialist Left Party in Germany grew in popularity[199] due to dissatisfaction with the increasingly neoliberal policies of the SPD, becoming the fourth biggest party in parliament in the general election on 27 September 2009.[200] Communist candidate Dimitris Christofias won a crucial presidential runoff in Cyprus, defeating his conservative rival with a majority of 53%.[201] In Greece, in the general election on 17 June 2012, Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza) won 26.89% of the votes and became the second largest party in parliament. It came in first in the 2014 European Parliament election.[194] In Ireland, in the 2009 European election, Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party took one of three seats in the capital Dublin European constituency. In Denmark, the Socialist Peoples Party (SF or Socialist Party for short) more than doubled its parliamentary representation to 23 seats from 11, making it the fourth largest party.[202] In 2011, the socialist parties of Social Democrats, Socialist Peoples Party and the Danish Social Liberal Party formed government, after a slight victory over the liberal parties. They were led by Helle Thorning-Schmidt, and had the Red-Green Alliance as a supporting party. In Norway, the Red-Green Coalition consists of the Labour Party (Ap), the Socialist Left Party (SV), and the Centre Party (Sp), and governed the country as a majority government from the 2005 general election until 2013. In the UK, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers put forward a slate of candidates in the 2009 European Parliament elections under the banner of No to EU – Yes to Democracy, a broad left-wing alter-globalisation coalition involving socialist groups such as the Socialist Party, aiming to offer an alternative to the anti-foreigner and pro-business policies of the UK Independence Party.[203][204][205] In the following May 2010 UK general election, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, launched in January 2010[206] and backed by Bob Crow, the leader of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT), other union leaders and the Socialist Party among other socialist groups, stood against Labour in 40 constituencies.[207][208] The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition plans to contest the 2011 elections, having gained the endorsement of the RMT June 2010 conference.[209] In France, the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) candidate in the 2007 presidential election, Olivier Besancenot, received 1,498,581 votes, 4.08%, double that of the Communist candidate.[210] The LCR abolished itself in 2009 to initiate a broad anti-capitalist party, the New Anticapitalist Party, whose stated aim is to build a new socialist, democratic perspective for the twenty-first century.[211] On 25 May 2014 in Spain the left wing party Podemos entered candidates for the 2014 European parliamentary elections, some of which were unemployed. In a surprise result, it polled 7.98% of the vote and thus was awarded five seats out of 54.[212][213] while the older United Left was the third largest overall force obtaining 10,03 % and 5 seats, 4 more than the previous elections.[214] All around Europe and in some places of Latin America there exists a social center and Squatting movement mainly inspired by autonomist and anarchist ideas.[215][216] North American Members of the Democratic Socialists of America march at the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York. According to a 2013 article in The Guardian, Contrary to popular belief, Americans dont have an innate allergy to socialism. Milwaukee has had several socialist mayors (Frank Zeidler, Emil Seidel and Daniel Hoan), and there is currently an independent socialist in the US Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont.[217] Sanders has described himself as a democratic socialist[218][219] and has praised Scandinavian-style social democracy.[220][221] Anti-capitalism, anarchism and the anti-globalisation movement rose to prominence through events such as protests against the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle. Socialist-inspired groups played an important role in these movements, which nevertheless embraced much broader layers of the population and were championed by figures such as Noam Chomsky. In Canada, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the precursor to the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP), had significant success in provincial politics. In 1944, the Saskatchewan CCF formed the first socialist government in North America. At the federal level, the NDP is currently the Official Opposition, after winning 103 out of 308 seats (up from 37) in the 2011 Canadian federal election.[222] South American and Caribbean For the Encyclopedia Britannica the attempt by Salvador Allende to unite Marxists and other reformers in a socialist reconstruction of Chile is most representative of the direction that Latin American socialists have taken since the late 20th century. ... Several socialist (or socialist-leaning) leaders have followed Allende’s example in winning election to office in Latin American countries.[223] Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Bolivian President Evo Morales, and Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa refer to their political programmes as socialist. Chávez has adopted the term socialism of the 21st century. After winning re-election in December 2006, Chávez said, Now more than ever, I am obliged to move Venezuelas path towards socialism.[224] Hugo Chávez was also reelected in October 2012 for his third six-year term as President, but he died in March 2013 from cancer. After Chávezs death on 5 March 2013, vice-president from Chavezs party Nicolás Maduro assumed the powers and responsibilities of the President. A special election was held on 14 April of the same year to elect a new President, which Maduro won by a tight margin as the candidate of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela; he was formally inaugurated on 19 April.[225] Pink tide is a term being used in contemporary 21st-century political analysis in the media and elsewhere to describe the perception that Leftist ideology in general, and Left-wing politics in particular, are increasingly influential in Latin America.[226][227][228] Presidents Fernando Lugo of Paraguay, Evo Morales of Bolívia, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brasil, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, in Fórum Social Mundial for Latin America Foro de São Paulo is a conference of leftist political parties and other organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean. It was launched by the Workers Party (Portuguese: Partido dos Trabalhadores - PT) of Brazil in 1990 in the city of São Paulo. The Forum of São Paulo was constituted in 1990 when the Brazilian Workers Party approached other parties and social movements of Latin America and the Caribbean with the objective of debating the new international scenario after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the consequences of the implementation of what were taken as neoliberal policies adopted at the time by contemporary right-leaning governments in the region, the stated main objective of the conference being to argue for alternatives to neoliberalism.[229] Among its member include current socialist and social-democratic parties currently in government in the region such as Bolivia´s Movement for socialism, Brazil´s Workers Party, the Communist Party of Cuba, the Ecuadorian PAIS Alliance, the Venezuelan United Socialist Party of Venezuela, the Socialist Party of Chile, the Uruguayan Broad Front, the Nicaraguan Sandinista National Liberation Front and the salvadorean Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front. International The Progressive Alliance is a political international founded on 22 May 2013 by political parties, the majority of whom are current or former members of the Socialist International. The organisation states the aim of becoming the global network of the progressive, democratic, social-democratic, socialist and labour movement.[230][231]
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 06:49:58 +0000
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