One thing one can see time and again is that the corporate capitalism is suicidal by nature. The corporations are just unable by nature to stop maximizing profits at any cost. The ice caps are melting and they are rejoicing and escalating scramble for the Arctic oil and gas. I guess they believe if shit really hits the fan they can always retreat into their gated communities and fortified mansions…

I have many friends in Spain and I’ve been following closely what’s happening there. The way they just ‘lost’ a whole generation is quite telling. There is a lot of radicalized and marginalized well educated youth in Europe at the moment. Will there be another 1968? Maybe not. Maybe there will be something new.

I recall in the early 90s some could really foretell like Fukuyama about the end of history, and here we are in 2013 and history is going on and we don’t know where it’s all heading.

The left have been completely marginalized world wide in the last decades (maybe with the exception of Latin America), but the social grassroots movements are still there. And when you travel you can also see a lot of social movements in the developing countries. In China too, despite the media blackout, if you search you can see a lot of grassroots social protests are happening there. People organize to fight for their rights everywhere, they may be separate and they might fail to change the overall structure most of the time, but it’s inside human psyche to fight for justice. Even Indians paralyzed as they are inside their caste system, they organize, resist, challenge their system and sometimes they win, like with the Coca-Cola case in Kerala and many others. I really think we are living in interesting times 🙂

It would be lovely if that is the battle of the century — the end of transnational capitalism. I don’t see it, though. I don’t see the global poor and the more privileged Occupy folk aligning as they might. Though, who knows? It might be…

The big army is pretty much useless in modern warfare, so I guess it’s the same as the US, they seem to have a big army partly to dampen youth unemployment problem. But also it’s true in that modern armies in China, Indonesia, India and other countries are mostly employed to fight domestic population, suppress ethnic rebelions, grassroot democratic movements and keep their empires together.

I also think that what’s lost behind all these cold war rhetoric is that the biggest fight of the 21st century won’t be between China and the US as the neo-realist US propaganda machine tries to make people think, for me it’s the people of the world against TNCs and governments that are controlled by these globalized business elites 🙂

So glad you see that China’s largely non-militarist. There’s a misunderstanding about the size of the army, which is famously the world’s largest employer — and can’t afford to cut jobs in the current economic climate. The assumption is that they’re all massing around the Diaoyu or exploiting Tibetans. Most of the time, they’re managing crowds at tourist attractions or helping hand out the skates at ice rinks. Seriously.

Since industrial revolution Europe has dominated and pillaged the world. The US has taken over the imperial project in the 20th century and the US is still the only superpower in the world. But it’s an ailing stagnating empire which like all declining empires is quite destabilizing to the world.

Of course, due to its size Chinese leap forward looks very impressive but looking from a different perspective China only follows Japanese and Korean steps, and with a big lag, which it won’t close in any time soon. The sheer scale of political, economical and environmental problems China is facing now is staggering.

But to the rest of the developing world, growing Chinese presence is largely beneficial. Chinese philosophy of engagement with the global South is far more socially progressive and effective than what the West has been doing so far. China will be one of the world’s regional leaders together with Japan/SKorea, Russia, the EU, the US and Brazil. China wants to be a kind of leader in the Third world. This idea has been there since Mao and so far they’ve been promoting a new kind of more equal and mutually beneficial relationship between the Third world economies, which I think is good for humanity as a whole.

As far as empires go, so far China has not shown any intention of imperial quest. They do want to get Taiwan back and have lots of border issues with neighbours but even in Asia China’s power is checked by Japan/S.Korea, the US, Russia and India- all these powerful states fear Chinese military rise and keep China in check, so I don’t really see how Chinese can dominate the world in our life time. They will be an important player, but one of many others in an increasingly competitive world 🙂

Well, looking at the statue of Mao in the Chengdu town square, he looks positively imperial… I think the other factor to bear in mind is that China has never had democracy, so the notion of choosing one’s leaders, rather than them being chosen for you by fate and surviving due to their skill as good leaders — y’know, the fact that you are in power, proves that you are right — is ingrained. I wouldn’t say that the UK sharing an aircraft carrier with France is quite the cultural shift that Obama/capitalism are, but it’s still a massive one .

That is a good point about the American south – I guess since I’m there I hear more about about how unhappy they are with the switch and we just don’t hear as much dissent from China so it seems like there was this seamless click from one format to another!
Are you staying in China or going to England?

It’s interesting, isn’t it? I think the belief system switch is an interesting one. China had a long, long history of peasant revolts, stretching back hundreds of years, so the turmoil from 1911 (and the Boxer Rising and the Taiping in the previous century): and there’s a lot more continuity between the imperial cult and the personal cult of Mao than one would think. Did you see that book that’s in all the bookshops? Chairman Mao: Man not God. It’s by his bodyguard. Explains a lot, I think.

I’d agree the disparities are huge. But so are the disparities between one generation and the next. Mind you — in terms of transitions — the American South has gone from segregation to a black president in the same timespan between the cultural revolution and fervent capitalism. Our guide today grew up wishing that when he was an adult he had the money to eat meat once a month…

And, god, I don’t know China either. Looking forward to discovering more of it, though…

Thanks for your comment, Lluis. It feels much more obvious when you are here and can see not only the scale of the place but the wealth and the energy. I don’t really see another candidate out there at the moment, though, of course, times change. I wonder, also, whether we’re looking at a both more fragmented – Catalonian independence, Scottish independence — and more federated Europe. But time will tell. And, I think, I’ll plough on with Chinese for Z’s sake. It will stand him in good stead, I figure.