Azzellini, Dario. “Venezuela: Revolutionary Bolivarianism Against the Colonial Nation-State.” Cörüt, Ilker; Jongerden, Joost (Eds.). Beyond Nationalism and the Nation-State. Radical Approaches to Nation. London/New York: Routledge (May 2021). 1st Edition

This book explores the battleground between neoliberal capitalist development processes in Latin America and the challenges to these systems that can be found through innovative community-driven buen vivir/vivir bien initiatives.

Encouraging insights in the face of global turmoil: case studies from five continents illustrate the central role of organized workers in struggles against authoritarianism, fascism, and dictatorships.

One Question is a regular series in which we ask leading thinkers to give a brief answer to a single question. This time, in the midst of economic and healthcare crises triggered by coronavirus, we ask:

How has the COVID-19 pandemic exposed inherent flaws in the capitalist system?

By Cihan Aksan And Jon Bailes

Dario Azzellini: The COVID-19 pandemic has not only exposed inherent flaws in the capitalist system, it is clearly showing that the question is capitalism or life.

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Much of what you read in the corporate media is pure propanganda, a fictionalized account of the world. Margaret Kimberley and other reporters unmasked these lies before a packed crowd in New York City; we’ll get a report on the racial dimensions of the struggle for socialism in Venezuela; and, activists say “F” the police and their brutal presence in the New York subway system. (…)

Millions of Venezuelans are building socialism from below, and most of them are Black, brown and female.

“The mainstream media, and even many people considering themselves leftists, cannot understand why the Maduro government is still in power.”

In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Dario Azzellini . Azzellini is a visiting fellow at the Latin American Studies Program, Cornell University. His book is Communes and Workers' Control in Venezuela: Building 21st Century Socialism from Below.

While the Turkish war of aggression against Rojava and North-East Syria continues, there are protests against it worldwide. Intellectuals and academics speak out and condemn this war and show solidarity with Rojava and Northeast Syria.

In the following, we publish statements of Prof. Noam Chomsky, Prof. Federica Giardini, Dr. Dario Azzellini, Dr. Joost Jongerden, Prof. Kariane Westrheim and Prof. Ueli Mäder who expressed their solidarity.

Prof. Noam Chomsky, linguist, philosopher and historian, USA:

“Hard to convey how wrenching all of this is.

Online platforms have disrupted parts of the capitalist economy, with allegedly severe consequences in the world of work. This study examines live music in Germany and the UK, where online platforms do not dominate, despite considerable digitalization of market intermediaries. The analysis shows that, as the degree of digitalization increases, matching services tend to work less as a workers representative which is traditionally the case for live music agents and more as a force of marketization that disciplines workers by orchestrating price-based competition.

From Economic Science Fictions to Labour as Commons 

Alternative Organisations & Transformative Practices (AOTP) Research Cluster Conference

(NB these are working panel titles now, subject to change)