Category: East Asia

The International Food Crisis and Proposals To Overcome It

By ERIC TOUSSAINT and OMAR AZIKI [Editor’s note: We reprint this article by the Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM). In 1989, the Bastille Appeal was launched, inviting popular movements throughout the world to unite in demanding the immediate and unconditional cancellation of the debt of the so-called developing countries. This crushing debt, along with neo-liberal macro-economic reforms imposed on the global South, has led to an explosion of worldwide inequality, mass poverty, flagrant injustice and the destruction of the environment.

Unemployment Growing in China

By ZHANG KAI HONG KONG-Since China embarked on the road for capitalism, enterprises with profit-making as their main concern have been laying off workers for cost-effectiveness. With China entering into global competition after accession to WTO, readjustments, bankruptcies and mergings of enterprises will accelerate; the post Sept. 11 impact on China's exports also added to … Continue reading Unemployment Growing in China →

Editorials

Editorials   Chinese Communist Party to include capitalists Taking the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, on July 1 the CP general secretary and president of the country, Jiang Zemin, called for welcoming capitalists into the party's ranks. It was a logical corollary of the policy of restoring capitalism and of … Continue reading Editorials →

Indonesian Gov’t Veers Rightward; Steps up Military Attacks in Aceh

As we go to press, Indonesia has plunged into a new political crisis. The legislature has begun impreachment proceedings against the president, Abdul Rahman Wahid. In response, he has called his supporters into the street to demonstrate on his behalf and even threatened civil war and the breakup of the country if he is removed. … Continue reading Indonesian Gov’t Veers Rightward; Steps up Military Attacks in Aceh →

The Destruction, Resurrection, and Eclipse of Japan

By PAUL SIEGEL John W. Dower's "Embracing Defeat" won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for 1999 non-fiction. These prizes were richly deserved. "Embracing Defeat" explains much about what has made present-day Japan what it is-and indeed, although Dower does not explicitly draw such conclusions, about what has made the contemporary world what … Continue reading The Destruction, Resurrection, and Eclipse of Japan →

Religious Struggle Highlights Crisis in Indonesia’s New Regime

By GERRY FOLEY Clashes between Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas, a chain of a thousand islands in the east of the Indonesian archipelago, have grown into another major crisis for the post-dictatorship regime. In the recent flareup that began on Dec. 27, reportedly around 300 people have been killed. Over the past year about … Continue reading Religious Struggle Highlights Crisis in Indonesia’s New Regime →

Separatist Movement Destabilizes Indonesian Government

In October, a new Indonesian government was installed in an attempt to put a democratic face on continued neocolonialist rule. Now the stability of the new government is already being threatened by a powerful rise of movements for self-government among various peoples of the diverse island country. These areas were pockets of chronic discontent compressed … Continue reading Separatist Movement Destabilizes Indonesian Government →

Military Shoots Protesters in Streets of Jakarta

By GERRY FOLEY   The Indonesian government and military have suffered their third major defeat in the last two years at the hands of student protesters with broad support among the population of the country's main city, Jakarta. The fighting in Jakarta Sept. 23-24 revived the image of a country gripped by a revolutionary crisis, … Continue reading Military Shoots Protesters in Streets of Jakarta →

Socialist Action’s World Resolution: A Contribution to a Discussion – Ex-USSR & China

Ex-USSR & China The road to capitalist restoration in the degenerating workers' states of Europe and Asia is more difficult than anyone expected. The world's capitalists acknowledge that these states have a long way to go before their economies are truly market-driven; that is, capitalist. While they have all made varying degrees of "progress" toward … Continue reading Socialist Action’s World Resolution: A Contribution to a Discussion – Ex-USSR & China →

Indonesian Gov’t Continues to Retreat in Face of Social Unrest

By GERRY FOLEY Although the government of Gen. Suharto's protege, J. Habibie, and its right-wing Muslim allies appealed for peace during the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan, social conflicts multiplied and sharpened. In this context, the political separation of the radical and the bourgeois wings of the opposition seems also to have widened. January (which … Continue reading Indonesian Gov’t Continues to Retreat in Face of Social Unrest →

Capitalist Politicians in Indonesia Outflanked by Student Radicals

By GERRY FOLEY Political polarization is increasing rapidly as the social and political crisis in Indonesia deepens. In the confrontation in mid-November between government forces and protesters who had rejected the legitimacy of the government of "constitutional continuity" that took the reins after the resignation of veteran dictator Suharto, the procapitalist opposition leaders were clearly … Continue reading Capitalist Politicians in Indonesia Outflanked by Student Radicals →