MAS

One of the most important political parties in Latin America is MAS or, roughly translated, the Movement Towards Socialism. While not ideologically uniform throughout the region (and not always supportive of policies I favor) it presents an interesting platform of radical reform and stresses , even in it's name, the idea of transition. In Bolivia especially, it has gained power through the formation of a popular front including communist parties, indigenous movements for autonomy and factions of the progressive/democratic bourgeoise. I think this type of coalition building may provide lessons for us Norte Americanos and this interesting article by David Schweickarts deals directly with that type of organizing and the possibilities presented by the current global economic crisis.

I have written before of my struggle accepting any approach which accepts markets and I feel a clear acknowledgment that regulated markets are but a phase towards their elimination is necessary. Author Emir Sadir uses the term "post-neoliberal" and describes them thus in the NLR July/Aug 08 essay Strategies in South America:

"These are all anti-neoliberal social forces, but not necessarily anti-capitalist. They might become so, depending on the ability of the social and political leadership to bend the struggle in that direction... We use this term to denote approaches that combine the restoration of several state functions: it's regulatory capacity..; it's ability to carry out universally inclusive social policies, as the representative of the great working mass of society; it's scope for creating new mechanisms of political participation and for re-defining the links between the social and the political. In such economies the recast state will exercise hegemony, but in cohabitation with a sizeable private sector, and socialized properties may take different forms- cooperatives, small family concerns,etc. The goal is to create a new model of socialization by refounding the state around the public sphere, with the idea that 21st century socialism means the rehabilitation of the public domain, the universalization of rights, and thouroughgoing DE-MARKETIZATION."

Along the lines of Naomi Klien in Shock Doctrine and Mouffe/Laclau in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. It leaves nervous libertarian Marxists, anarcho-syndicalists, etc wondering if the State will actually ever be encouraged to "whither away"? Other Marxists wonder if "de-marketization" can ever be complete if you leave it's tentacles attached? A bigger question is whether the current crisis discredits "market fundamentalism" enough to create an opening?