1 China can ride out this crisis, but we are on
course for another (Seumas Milne in The Guardian) Seven years after the
collapse of Lehman Brothers brought down the global financial system and
plunged half the world into a slump, it’s scarcely alarmist to see the
financial panic as the harbinger of a new crisis in a still crippled world
economy.
The market gyrations that followed “Black Monday”
this week and the 40% drop in the value of Chinese stocks since June have only
underlined the fragility of what is supposed to be an international recovery. After
three decades of deregulation punctuated by financial crises and a systemic
meltdown, there is every reason to fear more fallout from casino capitalism.
Financial markets pumped up with credit and
quantitative easing to keep the real economy afloat are in any case ripe for a
crash – or “correction”, as the market players like to call it. The only
question is how far and fast they go – and how great is the price paid by the
rest of us.
Paradoxically, Beijing may be better placed than
others to ride out this storm. China’s economy is slowing down, as it shifts
from export-led growth to consumption. But it’s still growing at 7%, nearly
three times as fast as Britain and the US, which are supposed to be the west’s
current star performers.
China rode out the 2008 crash by pumping public
investment into the economy, delivering 78% growth between 2007 and 2014, while
the US managed 8%. That has left it with a huge debt pile, estimated at 282% of
national income, which some now believe will bring China’s economy to a
juddering halt. But that is mostly debt between state-owned institutions, so
there is no basis for a speculative Lehmans-type collapse.
A dysfunctional model of capitalism, built on
deregulation, privatisation and low wages, crashed and burned seven years ago.
But the fallout from that crisis is still ricocheting around the world. Any
idea that the western economies that generated stagnation have been fixed is
not serious. Their recoveries have been the slowest on record and interest
rates remain at a historic low – because owners of capital are prepared to
invest in anything except the productive economy.
The likelihood must be that this stagnation
continues indefinitely, punctuated by financial upheavals. Without far-reaching
change in economic policy, they can be expected to trigger crises that will tip
western economies, and others, back into full-blown recession.
3 Protests, clashes in India for job reservations
(San Francisco Chronicle) Clashes erupted overnight between police and members
of a farming caste demanding government benefits in western India’s Gujarat
state. Authorities sent paramilitary forces to help restore order Wednesday, as
the group's leader called for a strike.
On Tuesday, Patel leaders led a rally attended by
500,000 Patels from across Gujarat. Later, police detained the group's
22-year-old firebrand leader Hardik Patel, prompting members of the community
to rampage through cities in Gujarat.
The Patidars, also known as the Patel community for
the last name they share, are demanding the special status given to many
minorities in India, guaranteeing them a share of government jobs and school
places. The Patels, which make up about 20 percent of Gujarat's 63 million
population, say their livelihoods based on seasonal farming and small industry
have become increasingly difficult amid India's agricultural malaise and rapid
economic growth marked by high inflation.
India's constitution sets out affirmative action,
called reservations, for India's lowest Dalit and untouchable castes to help
them overcome centuries of discrimination. That has been expanded over the
years to include several other relatively disadvantaged low caste groups.
Because reservations allow easier access to
government jobs, schools and universities, they've become a huge political
bargaining chip in this country of 1.2 billion, and over the last decade
several groups have led violent protests to demand that they be counted at the
bottom of the country's complex caste system.
3 Art as a country’s heartbeat (Leonie Wagner & Gabe
Mbele in Johannesburg Times) If South Africa is flat-lining, then arts and
culture are the defibrillator. This is according to some artists at the launch
of the Department of Arts and Culture's Living Legends Legacy Project, which is
intended to promote cultural development through mentorship and master classes.
Minister Nathi Mthethwa has pledged R5-million as an
initial investment. Veterans such as Joe Mafela, Abigail Kubeka, Don Mattera,
Caiphus Semenya and Thandi Klaasen will run master classes and mentor
up-and-coming artists.
Director and playwright John Kani and musician
Simphiwe Dana said more funding was needed. Kani said that the lack of funding
was a reflection of the government's attitude to the arts. "It makes me
angry that arts and culture are not [on the government's] agenda. We've lost
our humanity because we are so focused on maths, science and engineering.
Ubuntu was not found in science, it's in the arts.
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