Destroying Democracy , livre ebook

WITS University Press - Ingar Solty , Alfredo Saad-Filho , Mandla J Radebe , Devan Pillay , Alf Gunvald Nilsen , Dale T McKinley , Gunnett Kaaf , Linda Gordon , Jane Duncan

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

140 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

This book interrogates how capitalism is destroying democracy through the commodification of everything into market democracy, and affirms the need to reclaim and re-build expansive democracy.

Destroying Democracy, volume six of the Democratic Marxism series, focuses on how decades of neoliberal capitalism have eroded the global democratic project and how, in the process, rising authoritarianism is expressing itself in divisive and exclusionary politics, populist political parties and movements, increased distrust in fact-based information and news, and the withering accountability of state institutions. Over the last four decades, democracy has radically shifted to a market democracy in which all aspects of human, non-human and planetary life are commodified and corporations have become more powerful than states and their citizens. This is how neoliberal capitalism functions at a systemic level and if left unchecked, is the greatest threat to democracy and a sustainable planet. The authors home in on four country cases – India, Brazil, South Africa and the United States of America to interrogate issues of politics, ecology, state security, media, access to information and political parties, and affirm the need to reclaim and re-build an expansive and inclusive democracy. The book is an invaluable resource for all who are interested in understanding the threats to democracy and the rising tide of authoritarianism in the global south and the global north.

Acknowledgements

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Preface: Neoliberal Capitalism in the Time of Covid-19: Destroying Democracy and Rising Authoritarianism – Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar

Part I: Neoliberal Capitalism’s Destruction of Democracy

Chapter 1 The Crisis of Democracy: Neoliberal Capitalism, Authoritarianism and Reclaiming Democracy – Michelle Williams

Chapter 2 The Rise of Eco-Fascism – Vishwas Satgar

Part II: Neoliberal Capitalism Against Democracy Globally

Chapter 3 Populism and Fascism: Lessons from the 1920s Ku Klux Klan – Linda Gordon

Chapter 4 What Do ‘Unruly’ Right-Wing Authoritarian Nationalists Do When They Rule? The United States under Donald Trump – Ingar Solty

Chapter 5 Brazilian Democracy Facing Authoritarian Neoliberalism – Alfredo Saad Filho

Chapter 6 India’s Trajectories of Change, 2004-2019 – Alf Gunvald Nilsen

Part III: Neoliberal Capitalism Against Democracy in South Africa

Chapter 7 The Dialectic of Democracy: Capitalism, Populism and Working-Class Politics – Devan Pillay

Chapter 8 Democracy and the Right to Know in South Africa’s Capitalist Transition – Dale T McKinley

Chapter 9 South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Media and Democracy – Mandla J Radebe

Chapter 10 Securitising Protests as Domestic Instability in South Africa – Jane Duncan

Chapter 11 Prospects for a Left Renewal in South Africa – Gunnett Kaaf

Conclusion – Vishwas Satgar

Contributors

Index

Sujets

Economic Conditions

Political Science

General officer

Economics

General

Informations

Publié par	WITS University Press
Date de parution	01 août 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776147021
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0900€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Destroying Democracy
Neoliberal Capitalism and the Rise of Authoritarian Politics
Michelle WilliamsVishwas Satgar
Contents
Acknowledgements
Acronyms and abbreviations
PREFACE: Neoliberal capitalism in the time of Covid-19: Destroying democracy and rising authoritarianism
Part one Neoliberal Capitalisms Destruction Of Democracy
Chapter 1 The Crisis of Democracy: Neoliberal Capitalism, Authoritarianism and Reclaiming Democracy
Chapter 2 The Rise of Eco-Fascism
Part Two Neoliberal Capitalism Against Democracy Globally
Chapter 3 Populism and Fascism: Lessons from the 1920s Ku Klux Klan
Chapter 4 What do Unruly Right-Wing Authoritarian Nationalists do when they Rule? The us under Donald Trump
Chapter 5 Brazilian Democracy Facing Authoritarian Neoliberalism
Chapter 6 Indias Trajectories of Change, 2004-2019
Part three Neoliberal Capitalism Against Democracy in South Africa
Chapter 7 The Dialectic of Democracy: Capitalism, Populism and Working-Class Politics
Chapter 8 Democracy and the Right to know in South Africas Capitalist Transition
Chapter 9 South Africas Post-Apartheid Media and Democracy
Chapter 10 The Enemy within: Securitising Protests as Domestic Instability in South Africa
Chapter 11 Prospects for a Left Renewal in South Africa
Conclusion: Vishwas Satgar
Contributors
Index
Across the world, democracy is under threat from the wealth and power that is ever more concentrated in the hands of the few. But the rule of the few over the many rests on very shaky ground. When we have both the ideas and the power, and when we unite, we can overcome these crises and build a world of peace and justice.
This volume provides a space for campaigners from different places and different traditions to discuss, refine and share ideas, which is essential to building movements that can provide hope and real change.
Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the UK Labour Party, Member of Parliament and founder of the Peace and Justice Project
The democratic rights won under capitalism have always been limited yet crucial to gaining some control over our lives and allowing vital space for challenging capitalism itself. The volume poses neoliberalisms polarisation of this dichotomy. On the one hand, the various authors agree, neoliberalism represents an authoritarian turn; on the other, they argue, that threat poses the necessity and promise of deepening substantive democracy.
Sam Gindin, former Research Director of the Canadian Auto Workers
Contributors draw on Marxist theoretical tools to expose deep tensions between neoliberal capitalism and democracy while determinedly refusing repressive alternatives inspired by orthodox Marxism. Their project is one of democratic and ecological socialism. This book will constitute a stimulating and valuable resource to the many who are committed to that project.
Daryl Glaser, Professor of Political Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
This volume makes a compelling case for why fascist populist movements are manifestations of broad crises at the heart of modern globalising capitalism. Williams and Satgar have assembled an impressive range of scholars who have spent years reflecting on these issues. The book is timely and deserves to be read widely.
Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Professor of International Relations, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
A significant volume of wide-ranging scholarship that unpacks the two key phenomena that democracy faces today - fascism and neoliberal capitalism. With experiences from South Africa, India, the USA and Latin America, the authors address the paradox posed by the fact that institutionalised democracy now produces outcomes that run counter to the interests of the people.
Nivedita Menon, Professor in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Democratic Marxism Democratic Marxism Series
Series Editor: Vishwas Satgar
The crisis of Marxism in the late twentieth century was the crisis of orthodox and vanguardist Marxism associated mainly with hierarchical communist parties, and imposed, even as state ideology, as the correct Marxism. The Stalinisation of the Soviet Union and its eventual collapse exposed the inherent weaknesses and authoritarian mould of vanguardist Marxism. More fundamentally vanguardist Marxism was rendered obsolete but for its residual existence in a few parts of the world, including within authoritarian national liberation movements in Africa and in China.
With the deepening crises of capitalism, a new democratic Marxism (or democratic historical materialism) is coming to the fore. Such a democratic Marxism is characterised by the following:
Its sources span non-vanguardist grassroots movements, unions, political fronts, mass parties, radical intellectuals, transnational activist networks and parts of the progressive academy;
It seeks to ensure that the inherent categories of Marxism are theorised within constantly changing historical conditions to find meaning;
Marxism is understood as a body of social thought that is unfinished and hence challenged by the need to explain the dynamics of a globalising capitalism and the futures of social change;
It is open to other forms of anti-capitalist thought and practice, including currents within radical ecology, feminism, emancipatory utopianism and indigenous thought;
It does not seek to be a monolithic and singular school of thought but engenders contending perspectives;
Democracy, as part of the history of peoples struggles, is understood as the basis for articulating alternatives to capitalism and as the primary means for constituting a transformative subject of historical change.
This series seeks to elaborate the social theorising and politics of democratic Marxism.

Published in the series and available:
Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar (eds). 2013. Marxisms in the 21st Century: Crisis, Critique and Struggle . Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2015. Capitalisms Crises: Class Struggles in South Africa and the World . Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2018. The Climate Crisis: South African and Global Democratic Eco-Socialist Alternatives. Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2019. Racism after Apartheid: Challenges for Marxism and Anti-Racism . Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
Vishwas Satgar (ed.). 2020. BRICS and the New American Imperialism: Global Rivalry and Resistance . Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
Published in South Africa by:
Wits University Press
1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Johannesburg 2001
www.witspress.co.za
Compilation Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar 2021
Chapters Individual contributors 2021
Published edition Wits University Press 2021
First published 2021
http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/22021086994
978-1-77614-699-4 (Paperback)
978-1-77614-700-7 (Hardback)
978-1-77614-701-4 (PDF)
978-1-77614-702-1 (EPUB)
978-1-77614-704-5 (Open Access PDF)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.
This book is freely available through the OAPEN library ( www.oapen.org ) under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 Creative Commons License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).
The publication of this volume was made possible by funding from the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung and through a grant received from the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Project manager: Inga Norenius
Copyeditor: Lee Smith
Proofreader: Lisa Compton
Indexer: Margaret Ramsay
Cover design: Hothouse
Typeset in 10 point Minion Pro
Acronyms and Abbreviations ANC African National Congress ANCYL African National Congress Youth League ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act BEE Black Economic Empowerment BJP Bharatiya Janata Party Cosatu Congress of South African Trade Unions DA Democratic Alliance EFF Economic Freedom Fighters EU European Union GDP Gross Domestic Product GEAR Growth, Employment and Redistribution GHG Greenhouse Gas GS Goldman Sachs IMF International Monetary Fund IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change JCPS Justice, Crime Prevention and Security KKK Ku Klux Klan LARR Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act Nafta North American Free Trade Agreement Nato North Atlantic Treaty Organization NDR National Democratic Revolution NGO Non-governmental Organisation NPA National Prosecuting Authority Numsa National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development PAIA Promotion of Access to Information Act PCB Communist Party of Brazil ( Partido Comunista do Brasil ) PT Workers Party ( Partido dos Trabalhadores ) RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme RTI Right to Information Act SABC South African Broadcasting Corporation SACP South African Communist Party Saftu South African Federation of Trade Unions SAPS South African Police Service SRWP Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party SSA State Security Agency TPP Trans-Pacific Partnership TTIP Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership UK United Kingdom UN United Nations UPA United Progressive Alliance US United States of America USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WMC White Monopoly Capitalism WTO World Trade Organization
Acknowledgements
This volume owes a special debt to the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLF). Without the support given by RLF it would have been impossible to hold a contributors workshop in South Africa and ensure the manuscript was prepared for publication. We are also grateful for the support given by the Co-operative and Policy Alternative Centre (COPAC), which played a central role in organising the workshop convened with cont