April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

Maybe the US ruling class can console itself with the results for France
which reveal that only 6% of the French population “strongly” supports the
free market. This is a further fall from the already low 8% back in 2002. If
one adds those who “somewhat agree” with the idea that capitalism is a
superior system the overall figure rises to 30%, but this is still a sharp fall
from the 42% figure in 2002. If we add to these figures Sarkozy’s popularity
ratings which reveal that only 29% of the population are happy with his
performance – his worst approval rating since he came to office in 2007 –
then we can see that French capitalism is also in deep trouble. Most of
Europe presents a similar picture. And even such an economic powerhouse
as Japan reveals falling confidence in the capitalist system, where 50%
either “strongly” or “somewhat” disagree with the idea that the market
economy is the best system.
Not surprisingly, the poll also reveals that those countries where a
significant majority of the population believes capitalism is working is in
those countries that are presently booming, such as China, Brazil and
Germany. What will happen when these economies slow down is not
indicated in the polls. We can confidently predict that people’s opinions
will sharply change in these countries also, as they have done in the USA
and most of Europe.
The poll quoted in The Economist was carried out by GlobeScan. Its
Chairman Doug Miller showed some surprise at the results when he said
that: “America is the last place we would have expected to see such a
sharp drop in trust in the free enterprise system. This is not good news for
business.” He added that, “The poll suggests that American business is
close to losing its social contract with average American families that has
enabled it to prosper in the world. Inspired leadership will be needed to
reverse this trend.”
This sharp turn in opinions in the biggest and most powerful country in the
world bodes well for the class struggle in the coming period. Gone are the
days when the USA was the country of the “American Dream” where
everyone was supposed to be able to become successful through hard work
and effort. Reality has come home to the United States and no amount of
“inspired leadership” will solve this dilemma for the US bourgeoisie. Of
course, we can think of another kind of “inspired leadership” that could
make a difference, a genuine socialist leadership of the US labour
movement capable of mobilising the immense power of the US workers.
That is something we are working on!
www.marxist.com
South Africa Hits the Green Wall: The Conference of Polluters
Patrick Bond 19 April 2011
Hosting the Durban COP17 – let’s rename it the ‘Conference of Polluters’ –
starting in late November puts quite a burden on the African National
Congress government in Pretoria: to pretend to be pro-green.
Embarrassingly, last week’s US Export-Import Bank loan of $805 million to
South Africa will feed huge profits to the notorious US corporation Black &
Veatch so that a vast coal-fired power plant, ‘Kusile’, can be constructed,
mainly on behalf of smelters run by BHP Billiton and Anglo American
Corporation – whose profits soar away to Melbourne and London.