Monday 29 October 2012

Red Green Forum Presents - Au Loong Yu author of 'China's Rise: Strength and Fragility'

China’s Rise - Strength and Fragility is the most penetrating and far-reaching contribution to the literature on the state of the Chinese political economy from 1990 to the present. Au Loong Yu provides the most thorough historical account of the extent and nature of the transformation of the Chinese state into an authoritarian capitalist government that serves the interest of its capitalist class through pillaging the working class and poor majority. This book is essential reading for all readers who seriously and soberly seek to understand and grasp the tangible dynamics Chinese-style capitalism and working class resistance to the despotic system.
Immanuel Ness, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Editor: International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, 1500 to the Present.

This collection of essays on the People’s Republic of China brings a rare and much needed perspective to the ever increasing literature on the rising star of the global economy. Most of the essays are authored by Chinese Marxist critics of the regime in Beijing. This ‘insider’ Marxist perspective translates into a discussion of issues rarely covered in the existing literature, including a special focus on the workers movement. Thus, China is seen not only as part of the ‘globalisation from above’ through its integration in the global capitalist economy, but also as part of the ‘globalisation from below’ that translates into an international convergence of social movements. Very useful.
Gilbert Achcar, Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London)

A collection of lucid and enlightening essays. Au Loong Yu shows the potential of the theory of Karl Marx – not to legitimize existing regimes but as a tool to analyze and criticize capitalist class societies. He leaves no doubt that China has become capitalist to the fullest extent – with the party bureaucracy as the new bourgeoisie. This leads to old and new contradictions, not to the end of history.
Bodo Zeuner, Berlin, professor in political science

A fascinating analysis of contemporary struggles in China situated in a rich theoretical overview of Maoism and class relations, as well as the country's position in the international system. A powerful and provocative challenge to many misconceptions on the Left that deserves to be widely read and debated.
 Adam Hanieh, School of Oriental and African Studies; editorial board member of the journal Historical Materialism.

Sunday 5 February 2012

Public Meeting: Events Since Nov30th

Red Green Forum Meeting – Events Since Nov30th
Tuesday February 7th CB2
Upstairs Library 7:30pm
What has happened to the momentum built up by the November 30th strike? Why has the Tory led Government chosen to fight over pensions? What has been the role of the Labour Party and the TUC leadership?

Jon Duveen will lead a discussion on where the pensions campaign is going after November 30th and how this will affect the campaign against the cuts and austerity

Thursday 27 October 2011

Feed the world without destroying the planet - A talk on agrarian reform and rural development

The Red/Green Forum is pleased to welcome
A TALK WITH: MARIA NERI FROM CONZARRD, AN NGO FOCUSING ON AGRARIAN REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES. To Cambridge to speak about sustainable farming, permaculture and land reform.
Maria will be speaking at
7:15PM THURSDAY 17TH OF NOVEMBER
FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, JESUS LANE, CAMBRIDGE.
OPEN TO ALL – FREE FOR ALL. 

Rapidly rising food prices are one of the most immediate ways
that the economic crisis hits the poorest people. It led to riots
in many parts of the world in 2010 and was a significant factor
in igniting the Arab Spring.

Millions are dying of starvation in Africa and it’s easy to assume
that this is because we aren’t producing enough food to feed
everyone. In fact food production has become increasingly
globalised and distorted since the 1970s with the result that a
handful of countries now dominate the trade in staple foods.
This leaves the most vulnerable countries at the mercy of those
who dominate the trade. Global warming compounds the
problem through drought, desertification and water shortage.
The rich countries of the north have imposed so called
“liberalisation” on poorer countries – often through institutions
like the International Monetary Fund – and subsidising
agribusiness at the expense of the most vulnerable.
Agribusiness and GM crops have pushed up yields in a way that
destroys the environment and denies food to hungry people.
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez hit the nail on the head when he said
that the food crisis is “the greatest demonstration of the
historical failure of the capitalist model.

War on Want runs a campaign against the power of the
supermarkets to make the lives of growers increasingly
intolerable. With the global food system in crisis it is organising
a day of action on food sovereignty on October 18.
Oxfam has produced a report into the growing phenomena of
land grab, produced by a drive to produce food for export, to
meet bio-fuels targets and speculate on land to make an easy
profit. Land grabs ignore the rights of people living on the land,
leaving them homeless and without land to grow enough food
to eat and make a living.

Socialist Resistance and Green Left argue for an ecosocialist
approach to the problem where the people who produce food
have the right to determine their own agricultural policies, free
from interference from the multinationals or international
institutions with their neo-liberal policies such as the IMF and
the World Bank.


Thursday 13 October 2011

How can we build a new party of the left – learning from the European experiences

A Red Green Forum Meeting

How can we build a new party of the left – learning from the European experiences.

With Liam MacUaid (Socialist Resistance) and Joseph Healy (Green Left)

Thursday October 20th
7.15pm
CB2 Upstairs Library, Norfolk Street.


For more information go to
redgreenforum.blogspot.com