[Marxism] Zuma. my reply to Patrick Bond.

[Patrick Bond]

noah tucker wrote:
> My point is this- unless you do nationalise the means of production & take state control of foreign trade, and furthermore, unless you have large and technologically advanced foreign partners with whom you can trade with and source investments from on a non-capitalist basis, then it is simply not possible for you to have no relationship with the Citibanks and Merrill Lynches.
>   

Huh? Argentina 2002? Read some about their experience defaulting and 
recovering without recourse to new foreign loans (aside from trade 
finance), at www.cepr.net

> Also unclear is how your current web-campaign against the new leader of the ANC could improve the prospects for a step forward in South Africa.
>   

The small role I play reporting/analysing from here is partly to address 
illusions flowing from their traditions of left rhetoric, that the ANC 
is anti-imperialist and anti-neoliberal - when in fact it's usually the 
opposite. The step forward that people are taking here - in part by 
protesting on average 30 times a day in 2005-07 - is to decommodify and 
democratise basic services (like water and electricity), healthcare and 
AIDS medicines, education, land, housing and the like. The ANC, 
especially in government, usually tries to trip them up. After a bit of 
a wild time in which people will make some advances because of their 
renewed confidence, I fear that what lies ahead is quite a militaristic 
regime combining Zuma's rightwing populist tendencies (he apparently 
wants to reopen debate on the death penalty and has been incredibly 
misogynist in addressing his rape accuser) and the neoliberal economic 
policies he will continue.