Articles by Socialist Action

Why the ‘Belt & Road’ region will be the main locomotive of the world economy

16th May 2017 Socialist Action 0
The following article by John Ross, explaining why the Belt & Road region is now the main locomotive in the world economy, was previously published by Socialist Economic Bulletin.

The importance of the Belt and Road (B&R) summit for China and participating countries is well known. What is not so widely grasped is that the B&R region is now by far the most powerful locomotive not only of the regional but of the global economy. To be precise:

· Measured at current exchange rates the IMF projects that in the next five years’ growth in the B&R region measured in absolute dollar terms will be almost twice that in North America and four times that in Europe.

Labour’s manifesto

14th May 2017 Socialist Action 0

By Ian Richardson

The radical policies outlined in Labour’s manifesto have galvanised wide layers of the Labour Party membership in the fight to defeat the Tories. Beyond committed Labour activists, the broad mass of voters do not care whether the manifesto is labelled too radical by its critics and are only interested in whether policies are likely to benefit them. The manifesto is replete with proposals that will do that.

Macron may have won, but he will fail

13th May 2017 Socialist Action 0

By Jane West

The French presidential elections ended with Macron sweeping into the Élysée Palace on 66 per cent of the vote, and Le Pen roundly defeated. But this is the beginning, not the end. Macron has no alternative to the politics of austerity that have destroyed the Socialist Party, and therefore he will fail. His popularity will be short-lived and the fight between the left and the far right as to which will succeed in hegemonising the increasing alienated French electorate will break out with renewed force.

Tories take on UKIP’s policies to win UKIP voters. Vote Labour!

8th May 2017 Socialist Action 0

By Ian Richardson

The run up to the local elections on 4 May saw a clarification in Theresa May’s election strategy – or more accurately Lynton Crosby’s strategy: a pitch to mop up the UKIP vote by rebranding the Tories as the anti-European, ‘hard Brexit’ and anti-immigration party. Her ‘strong and stable’ mantra is of course chiefly inflected against the alleged ‘dangers’ presented by a Labour-led coalition government, but it also works as a banner for a reinvented hard right Tory party that promises to drive through a full and thorough Brexit.

Is Trump losing South Korea?

8th May 2017 Socialist Action 0

The following article by Jude Woodward, about South Korea’s election on 9 May, was originally published by New Cold War.org.

A significant initial impact of the crisis that Trump has whipped up over North Korea was to push security issues up the agenda in South Korean politics, aiding the US in speeding up the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) and boosting the poll ratings of the more pro-US candidate in the Presidential elections due on May. But Trump’s more recent statements about this key US Northeast Asian ally have been so casually insulting that they have led to an upsurge in anti-US sentiment as the elections draw closer.

Notes from the front – of 4/5/2017

4th May 2017 Socialist Action 0

Oppose Israel’s attacks on Syria

On 27 April Israel launched missile strikes against an alleged Hezbollah arms hub near Damascus airport in Syria. Since 2011, Israel has launched multiple strikes inside Syria, mostly against Hezbollah. In March this year it launched several strikes near Palmyra.